Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Akron, OH

West Branch is one of the best-known family campgrounds in NE Ohio. And it's not hard to understand why. Full amenities, clean facilities, and a nice lake round out the picture of a great place to get some family R&R.

Here's what you can expect:

1. It's Busy. 

Like, really busy. Be sure to book early as spots fill up often. Sites are fairly close to each other, but most people seem respectful of space and limits. 

2. It's Accessible.

West Branch is a quick drive from Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Youngstown - hence the draw. if you live anywhere close, there's no reason NOT to check this place out!  

3. It's Fun (but a bit loud) 

If you're looking for quiet, West Branch might not be the place for you. Since the lake has not real HP limits, you'll hear boats motoring quite a bit throughout the day. 

4. It's got everything :) 

Seriously. There's nothing else you could want. Hiking trails, swimming, a fully stocked office for the essentials you forgot. 

Quick tip: Bring swimsuits. There are plenty of places to swim in the well-kept beaches or off a boat. West Branch is a great family getaway for summer swimming!

Alot of campground unfinished, poor wifi, no dog park

Stayed on a premium patio site and loved it. The campground and staff were awesome. Level site, great hook ups, awesome WiFi and cable. Clean facilities, 3 lakes (one with a fishing pier), 2 dog parks, and super friendly staff. 30 min to Cleveland. Walmart, gas stations and restaurants within 5 miles. Just off Ohio Turnpike, but can't hear it. Definitely recommend this KOA

best barhrooms around! showers great. bathrooms great. lots of “lakefront” spots. dog park is pretty great, too! good spot to camp for cayahoga falls national park.

Stayed here to be close to the NP and it is a great little campground for a reasonable price. Big dog park with pond on the other side of the park. Sites are uneven but my favorite part was the wooded path.

Whispering Hills Jellystone is a great location for family fun. I can not say enough about how accommodating and helpful the staff was during our visits. There is plenty of activities for families and the dog park was a bonus.

The sites are huge. The dog park is amazing. Theres so much to do here. Swimming, boating, fishing. We love it. Only bad are no real bathrooms except at the front of the park. No place to wash dishes. Rough if you're tent camping. But we love the sites so much that we keep coming back.

My wife, 2 dogs, and I came with no reservation. They gave us a temporary tag to drive around and see what site we wanted. We ended up going to site 190 which had a decent amount of space to tent camp. The amenities were great. Clean shower and toilets in a well lit building.  There is also a dog park with a pond 2 minutes up the road which was great to wear the dogs out at. The only complaint I have is the site was a little close to our neighbor for our liking but we would go back!

Relax, breath, and camp. Perfect spot.

This Campground is quiet, full of fun, for families or older people. Beautiful area.
Many pull through lots, with patios. 50. 30. Full hookup, (sewer and Electric) back in, pull through, tent sites, cabins, teepees. Swimming pool, private bathrooms and showers. Fishing lake, swimming lake, trails. Children play areas. Basketball, bad mitten/volleyball, Dog wash, dog parks (2), private fenced dog sites. (2)- pull through site. Golf cart rentals, and seasonal sites that are being updated, but all are decorated nicely, and kept up.
KOA is revamping some of this campground. Work in progress, but awesome stay.

The campground was nice, clean and had friendly faces. There is plenty to do-disc golf, sand volleyball, basketball, playground, dog park, not to mention the lake and beaches. There were a lot of dogs the weekend I went but nothing to complain about. Fire pit was nice and functional and the bathrooms were clean. The showers are private in your own “room”separate from the toilets. My favorite feature of the campground is the wash basins outside of the bathrooms to wash your dishes. Very nice amenity when tent camping. Our site was private enough, good sized with close bathroom access.

Great park! Sites are spacious and level. Very clean park. There are several full hook-up sites. Electric sites near the lake. We stayed at site #96. New Bathrooms are under construction. Campground is flat and great for bike riding. Nice playground for kids. Dog park nearby. Camp is near beach & marina. Also many shops and restaurants within a 10 minute drive. We will definitely be coming back to Mosquito Lake!

Small open campground with pretty basic sites, electric only with no water or sewage at the sites amd no shower facilities. There are portable bathrooms located throughout campground. Some sites have trees and some are full sun. The campground attendant was a very friendly man who asked several times if we had questions about the area. We stayed here so we could go to a concert at Blossom Music Center which was around 20 minutes away. Bow Wow Beach Dog Park (in the same park area as the campground) was awesome if you have dogs that like to swim or just need to get some energy out after being leashed while camping. Would visit again especially if another act we like plays at Blossom.

Silver Springs Campground is a small 27 site campground in Stow, Ohio, a convenient 17 minutes from Cuyahoga Valley National Park and a bargain at $18/night for a site with electrical hookups. 

While there isn't much to say about the privacy at this campground, because you are generally just staying in a field, the manager was absolutely wonderful and gave us all kinds of maps and information on Cuyahoga National Park when he came around to check us in. 

The campground can get very muddy during the wet season- the town offers a good description of each campsite on their website and we found the descriptions, as well as their warnings about flood potential, to be very accurate. Our site had a large mud hole, so we joked that we had a waterfront campsite and just rolled with it- the sites were large enough that we didn't have to park near the water. 

Despite having a dog aggressive dog, we were able to check out Bow Wow Beach nearby because we went early enough in the morning that nobody was around. The dog park is really fun and offered a great opportunity for our dog to run around before we got back on the road. 

We were really happy with this campsite and would definitely return at some point if we needed to visit Cuyahoga again.

Make reservations! (6 months in advance).  Waterside sites fill up quickly! Check in is very easy as you pass the camp store on your way in. All campsites have a fire ring and picnic table.  West Branch has private, spacious, shady sites. We can launch our kayaks right from our campsite. The shower house and bathrooms are large and clean. There is even a book exchange shelf at the shower house in case of rainy days. The park office loans games and sports equipment to campers. Washers and dryers are also at the shower house. There is an outside sink to wash up dishes. Bring your boat or kayak. There are many inlets to explore or fish. There is a small beach at the campground but a larger one on the other side of the lake. There is a boat launch at the campground.  There are playgrounds for the children. An ice cream social is held on Saturday evenings that my children always love to attend. There is a newer dog park near the intersection of Rock Spring  and Esworthy roads. There are many scenic hiking trails at West Branch. Bridal trails are located on Esworthy Rd. West Branch is our favorite campground and we make sure to visit every year.

This is a test area on the Ohio Turnpike. Rv owners can self pay $20 to stay overnight. Quiet area away from the semis and common parking lot, but super close still to the plaza. The plaza offers 5 restaurants and vending machines, a gift shop, and clean restrooms. Sufficient area to exercise pets.

Love this campground and lake! The campground is clean and well maintained! Pets allowed witch is a must for us! And I love that you can go across the lake and rent a pontoon boat for the day!

We just got back from our first trip to Mosquito Lake State Park Campground. All in all, it was a great experience. 

We stayed in site 67, which is a waterfront site, with electric. The water is about 25 yards from the pad, but is visible from the entire site. The site was spacious, but not as private as some of the others. There is some woods between this site and the sites on either side, but other sites are visible. The fire pits and picnic tables were staggered, so it created some distance to make it feel more private. 

The campground as a whole, was very quiet. We stayed from Wednesday to Friday. The group next to us seemed a little rowdy when we first pulled in, but by 10:00 there was no noise anywhere near us. 

Most sites seemed pretty level from side to side, but where we were, several had a slope from front to back. Away from the waterfront, most sites looked pretty level. The amount of space between sites varied from site to site. Some sites had woods on both sides, while others were pretty open. Some had nice large grassy areas, others were much smaller. Sites from 214-224 are in a cul de sac and are water front, but they were pretty close together with very little privacy between sites, if any. They are very close to the water though. 

There are bathrooms and water scatter about, but from what I saw there was only 1 shower house. 

Wal-mart and other shopping and restaurants were about 3 miles away. Park was easy to get to, only one turn for us off the highway. Lake was great for kayaking and paddleboarding. Very nice dog park in a different part of the park. There is a boat launch accessible from inside the campground. 

Dump station has 2 lanes which was nice when checking out. Fresh water fill up was also located near the dump station.