Top Tent Camping near Bethel, PA
Looking for the best tent campgrounds near Bethel? The Dyrt can help you find the best tent campsites for your next trip. Each tent campsite offers quick access to one or more of Bethel's most popular destinations.
Best Tent Sites Near Bethel, PA (20)
1.
Susquehannock State Park Campground
Drumore, Pennsylvania6 Reviews3 Photos66 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- Tents
2.
Hibernia County Park
Coatesville, Pennsylvania8 Reviews14 Photos99 SavesThe campground is open Friday and Saturday nights only. Two camping units are permitted at each site, one unit must be a tent. Sleeping in personal vehicles is not permitted.
- Pets
- Fires
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- Tents
- Equestrian
$15 - $50 / night
3.
Group Camp — Ridley Creek State Park
Gradyville, Pennsylvania10 Reviews10 Photos181 SavesGroup Camping only by arrangement/reservation
Qualified organized groups can use the 120-person area from April to October. A restroom with flush toilets, but no showers, is available.
To reserve a group tent campsite, call 888-PA-PARKS (888-727-2757), Monday to Saturday, 7:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. except on the Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day holidays.
- Pets
- Fires
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- ADA Access
- Tents
4.
Lancaster County Mill Creek Camping Area
Lancaster, Pennsylvania2 Reviews4 Photos15 Saves- Pets
- Fires
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- Tents
- Group
5.
Patapsco Valley State Park-Hilton Area
Catonsville, Maryland18 Reviews94 Photos153 SavesHilton is a place for kids of all ages to play and explore. Located off Hilton Avenue, this area is within walking distance for many residents in Catonsville. A popular spot for afternoon walks and morning workouts, the trails are active with local residents and visitors from far away.
You can also gain access to the Patapsco River by traveling down into the river valley along the Forest Glen Trail. This trail follows the Saw Mill Branch Stream and can connect with several trails to make for very interesting hiking adventures. The area also has a small campground with six mini-cabins and 12 basic campsites.
- Pets
- Fires
- Electric Hookups
- Phone Service
- Reservable
- ADA Access
$20 - $51 / night
6.
Mill Creek Camping Area
Lancaster, Pennsylvania1 Review10 SavesThis primitive tent-only camping area spans 10 acres and has five campsites; each with a picnic table and fire ring.
The Mill Creek Camping Area is located in the southern end of Lancaster County Central Park, in the woods and fields behind the Environmental Center. A driveway leads from Eshelman Mill Road to the camping area parking lot. It is bordered on the west by Mill Creek and includes both woodland and grassy areas.
A permit is required to camp. The maximum stay at the Mill Creek Camping Area is 7 consecutive days (6 nights), followed by a 7 day absence. View the camping brochure for more information.
Parking: Please park your vehicle in the cul-de- sac area. No parking is permitted at the campsites. • Water: Water spigots are located next to Campsite #2 and near Campsite #5. • Electricity: There is no electricity in the camping area. • Restrooms: A port-a-pot is provided near the parking area. Full-service restrooms are available at the Environmental Center from 8 am - dusk. Please note there are no shower facilities. • Trash: Please place all trash in the trash receptacles provided in the cul-de-sac or take it with you. • Fire Rings: Each campsite is equipped with a fire ring. Fires are permitted only in the provided fire rings. • Firewood: A cooking pile of firewood (10-12 pieces) may be purchased for $10. Any dead wood on the ground may be used for fires. The cutting of standing trees and operation of chain saws is not permitted.
- Pets
- Fires
- Reservable
- Tents
- Group
- Trash
$23 / night
7.
Blackbird State Forest Campground
Townsend, Delaware5 Reviews19 Photos90 SavesOpen for camping 365 days a year at a cost of $25 per night per site. Online reservations only and credit card is required. Blackbird State Forest, located on the border of New Castle and Kent Counties, is Delaware's northernmost state forest. It is only a 30-minute commute from Wilmington and Newark. The ten tracts of Blackbird State Forest are open year-round at no cost to the public for nature walks, hiking, jogging, and horseback riding. The forest features a 1/2-mile, wheelchair-accessible wildlife and nature interpretation trail on the Tybout Tract as well as the Blackbird Education Center on the Meadows Tract.
- Pets
- Fires
- Phone Service
- ADA Access
- Tents
- Group
$25 / night
Showing results 1-10 of 20 campgrounds
Recent Tent Reviews In Bethel
786 Reviews of 20 Bethel Campgrounds
Susquehanna State Park Campground
Good Near by Camping
Good near by camping less then 90 minutes from me. Relatively quiet campsite, family friendly. We stayed in site 38 on the Acorn loop, which had a fair amount of roots and took some work to get leveled , but was manageable once the camper was leveled. Electric worked great. Hiking trails were infested with yellow jackets and stung myself and my wife while hiking. Also Steppingstone farm was closed , but was not indicated on the website prior to camping. If you like beer I recommend checking out Hopkins Brewery, which is about 8 minutes away from the campsite.
Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park at Quarryville
It’s a Kid’s Campground
Granted it’s a Yogi Bear campground, so the kids were expected. However, adults carrying on well beyond the 11pm quiet time, outrageously loud hay rides well past 9pm on Friday, combined with a ton of golf carts and under age drivers it’s unanimous, we won’t be back.
Country Acres Campground
Park-like campground
Beautiful and very clean campground. Nice bath houses. Well maintained with friendly staff. Reasonably priced and great location.
Codorus State Park Campground
Convenient escape!
I've stayed at Cordorus a number of times as it's not too far away for a weekend getaway. Last time was in Sept. 2023 when some tropical storm poured rain for three days. I'm booked for next weekend now in Sept. 2024, so I hope it's a dry one. I pulled up The Dyrt to see if anything has changed, but I see it's still the great place it always is.
I usually end up in a dry site as I book late and the electric sites are all filled.
Philadelphia South/Clarksboro KOA
Peaceful New Jersey
I arrived on a Tuesday a few days after they closed the pool, and by Wednesday I had the whole row of tent sites to myself. Maybe that's why it was so peaceful, but every night after my cacophonous conference in Philadelphia, I couldn't wait to turn down Timberlane Road and see that little KOA sign glowing in the darkness. In addition to the peaceful vibe, the people are friendly, the little office store has everything you forgot to pack, and if you look around the campground edges or follow the walking trail into the woods, you will find wonderful native plants like blueberry, viburnum, clethra, and meadow beauty.
Codorus State Park Campground
Enjoyable & comfortable
Codorus state campground provided a comfortable and quiet stay. The trailer sites in loop C are spacious enough with plenty of shades and trees. The open field pet friendly sites are also large but provide no shade and it gets hot! You can feel the difference between these sites and the interior loop sites. No cross winds, no breeze, just hot! The trails from
Campground are ok for a short walk, not much of a lake view but mostly shaded trail. The pool is conveniently located maybe even walking distance for some. But be advised, this is a public pool open to everyone and folks start showing up at 7am, separate entrance road and entry fee was around $10 pp. The lake is great! Lovely areas to relax and explore. No swimming allowed anywhere but you can find places to sneak a dip 😉 just look past marina near state park public recreation area. The park staff won’t give you a hard time they just ask that you don’t go further than waist deep. It is a very large lake. We highly recommend that you rent a pontoon boat to head out and explore! Very worth it! All grounds and areas are clean and kept in great condition.
Hersheypark Camping Resort
Excellent staff clean and level sites
We stay here once a year. Always a good experience. Our site was very spacious. Close to area attractions. Shuttle bus yo the park and arena.
French Creek State Park Campground
Excellent State Park campground
We stayed in loop C that allows pets. Very spacious sites. The paved parking spot was tight but a short walk down to the spacious fire pit picnic table area.
Deep Creek Campground at Green Lane Park
OK, but camping gets a low rating.
The park is lovely, but the camping facilities are subpar, primitive and lack any kind of privacy. I bike toured there. The only potable water was from a near-broken water fountain at the public rest rooms and no electrical connection to recharge electronics. There was also a fair amount of road noise at night. Bathhouse OK, but just basic. Tent spots are just lined up against one another facing a service road.
Philadelphia-West Chester KOA
Persied Peak Watch
I'd have stayed at a different site on different conditions, but they have a spot for just about anything, from what I could tell. Staff and grounds are awesome!
Hollofield Area Campground
Nice place to camp
This campground is pleasant, but the sites are situated quite close to one another. The camping area is away from the main parts of the park through gates, so you won't be bothered by non-camp traffic. A few hiking trails lead to many more extended trails, but it is a steep slope down to the river.
Beacon Hill Camping
Small, but nice quiet campground w/ good services
Stayed 2 nights. Located w/in walking distance of small town of Intercourse, PA, with plenty of shopping and Amish crafts. Very friendly people. Inexpensive stay.
Hersheypark Camping Resort
Nice location close to the park
When we first checked in at the resort, we enjoyed the easy check-in and the location was an easy to get to location. After checking in, we drove all around the campground just to get to our site which is a little out-of-the-way, but it was manageable. Our site was very unlevel, but we made it work. We did like being at the end of the road therefore there was less traffic coming through. we didn’t have a neighbor who had a lot more tents than they were supposed to have on their site and they were slowly encroaching on our site. We loved how our kids were able to walk to the playground and play every day before our outings. The campground had two pools and a child’s pool the pools seemed to be slightly under maintained the last day. It had a weird smell, which I believe the chlorine levels were not correct. However, we still enjoyed our time here and went to the pool almost every day at the end of the day off. It was one of the hottest days of the year. I feel like we still had a great time and enjoyed the camp. The trolley was a great addition to getting to and from the Hershey attractions
Pequea Creek Campground
Peaceful, beautiful location
Beautiful picturesque campground with large spots and a lot of trees. Very quiet and close enough to Lancaster for shopping. Covered bridges and road side shopping are close by. Enjoyed river tubing which is close by to this campground. Music bingo on Saturday night was so much fun. Owners are very nice and helpful.
Bath house is located at top of steep hill and bathrooms were not very clean. So if you don’t have a camper to use, you might not like the bath house situation.
I would definitely stay here again due to the beauty and quietness of the camp sites. Thanks Lori and John for a great 4th of July extended weekend!
Hersheypark Camping Resort
Very tight spots and dirty!!
This RV camping spot has been my least liked place we have ever stayed.we stayed in a RV site so I can only speak to that and not cabins. The ONLY good thing this RV park has going is the Hersey park bus that runs all day back and forth. Even though the bus is very loud and drives very close to the sites, so it is a constant disturbance too if your looking for some calm and quietness. This is not the right RV park if you want quite!
These RV sites are the tightest I have ever seen. So tight that the people next to you using a picnic table or fire ring are 3-4 feet from your camper. We didn’t even use our fire pit and table because it felt so incredibly close to our neighbor. Inside our camper I could hear every word of the people next to us who were using their fire ring, it was directly outside my bedroom slide. I saw several people including us being asked to move trucks just so you can get into position to hook up and pull out of your spot!
And the sites are dirty! Littered with cigarette butts, trash, old rusty batteries! This place looks and feels like a dirty trailer park! There were several sites that looked like the campers had been living there a long time, clothes lines strung up from trees, cluttered mess of personal belongings. We will never stay here again after experiencing it. The website does not show the true picture!!
Susquehanna State Park Campground
Good State Park
We camped here to hike and visit Havre de Grace. For a State Park it's pretty nice. We have a tiny camper so we stayed on the Acorn loop which has a few sites with power. Our site was really good and I love that it had it's own access to the bathrooms. Quite a few of the inner loop sites do. If you're a tent camper Acorn has some very private and secluded sites. Beechnut sites are more open and close to the road. It also seemed more crowded and noisy over there. There is a hiking trail right off Acorn loop which was nice, with options for easy or difficult. The staff were super friendly and the bathrooms were kept clean. There was quite a bit of poison ivy though and we had to keep the dogs on tight leashes. Phone service is very spotty but if you wander around Beechnut you can pick some up. Lots of great hiking and there are a couple of great tubing and fishing areas. I would camp there again.
Thousand Trails Hershey
Overall nice
This is a first come first serve campground in terms of picking sites. I made a reservation months in advance, but it only guaranteed me a site. By the time I arrived all the full hookups were taken and I was stuck with a water and electric which is the same price as full hookup apparently. I did manage to find a nice spot which had no other sites on either side. It has plenty of grass and the hookups were close. It’s a very large campground, but the pool was clean and nice. They offer tons of activities too on the weekends at least. We stayed here for chocolate world and it was about a 20 minute drive to there. The only negative was the first come First serve for sites and paying the same as a full hookup site.
French Creek State Park Campground
Unique campsites
Staying in C loop and here are some tips. If you want starlink, stay toward the entrance of the loop for a good view of the sky. If you want to be away from everyone and don't need a site that has good accessibility, stay in C27. You park at the top of the site and walk your tent and gear down a small slope where you can set up your tent. A little further down is a large-ish area with a fire pit and table. You can't see the roady from there and it looks like a great place to get away from it all!
Other sites around C27 have similar set-ups but not so far off the road.
Otter Creek Campground
FANTASTIC Campground!!
FANTASTIC Campground!! Its close proximity to the Susquehanna River, Otter Creek, and the Mason Dixon Trail is absolutely ideal! Sites are spacious and nice! Restrooms clean! Showers good; cost 50¢ for 6 min, but that's fine...ensures enough hot water for everyone and no waste. Most of all, I really liked the campground managers, Scott and Mandy!! They are extremely helpful and friendly, and all around great people!!
Old Mill Stream Campground
Super relaxing and easy camping
My husband stayed here as a kid and wanted to revisit it. It was a great stay! Very easy going place and so well kept up. Some of the cleanest camp bathrooms and showers I have seen. A small amusement park to the side (very local and quiet sound never bothered us) and a small creek to the back of it. Off a busy road but never heard any traffic at all - guess they are far enough away. Was a tranquil little spot right in the thick of it so kind of perfect! Peaceful grounds and friendly people. Pretty perfect and highly recommend. Weather was sublime. Easy to drive to bird in hand too!
Pequea Creek Campground
Loved our stay!
Lori was great with booking process, the general store has ice, and anything else you could forget. They deliver firewood to your site. We brought our 7 year old and we visited the playgrounds, hiked the trails and explored the creek area. Boat ramp near by, we had site 54 which was nice and private. Site had fire ring, picnic table, water and electric. 25 mins from dt Lancaster which we visited as well. I’d definitely stay there again.
Codorus State Park Campground
Great
Spacious, beautiful, clean, quiet, easy, and lots to do and see.
Gifford Pinchot State Park Campground
Nice and quiet.
We camped in a tent. It was nice and quiet. Lots of birds singing, and owls at night. The bathroom is older, but ok.
Lums Pond State Park Campground
Great place to hike
Had a nice time camping for two nights. If you like small breweries, about 20 minutes away is Stewarts Brewpub. They have been around since the 1990s!
Tinicum Island
Tinicum Island
A great place to stay if you have a watercraft
Lums Pond State Park Campground
Great Campground some wuitks
Great secluded campground, peaceful. Great bath houses, always super clean.
Some engineering genious put the bath houses furthest from the people that need them most. Tent campers….keep your shoes handy, its a hike. Meanwhile Mr and Mrs 12 slideout supernova with 5 bathrooms and a washer/dryer get the closest spot to a quick potty/shower break.
Elk Neck State Park Campground
Favorite place to camp close by
Accessible and pet friendly. Great trails and great staff
Guide to Bethel
Camping near Bethel, Pennsylvania, offers a mix of beautiful scenery and fun activities for everyone. Whether you're looking for a peaceful retreat or an action-packed adventure, there are plenty of campgrounds to choose from.
What to do:
- Hiking and Biking: Explore the trails at French Creek State Park Campground. One reviewer mentioned, "Hiking and biking this park is fun," highlighting the great outdoor opportunities available.
- Fishing: The Susquehanna River near Susquehanna State Park Campground is perfect for fishing. A visitor noted, "Has access to Susquehanna River, nice hiking trails," making it a great spot for anglers.
- Family Activities: At Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park at Quarryville, families can enjoy a mini water park and laser tag. One camper shared, "Kids enjoy the water park and nighttime laser tag parties," emphasizing the fun for younger visitors.
What campers like:
- Clean Facilities: Campers appreciate the cleanliness at Elk Neck State Park Campground. A reviewer said, "The bathrooms are immaculate," which is always a plus when camping.
- Spacious Sites: Many enjoy the roomy sites at Lums Pond State Park Campground. One visitor mentioned, "Nice smaller campground with large spacious sites," making it a comfortable choice for families.
- Friendly Staff: Campers often rave about the helpful staff at Lake-In-Wood Campground. A guest noted, "The staff is very nice," which can make a big difference in your camping experience.
What you should know:
- Site Selection: At Thousand Trails Hershey, sites are first-come, first-served. One camper said, "I made a reservation months in advance, but it only guaranteed me a site," so be prepared to arrive early.
- Limited Amenities in Off-Season: Some campgrounds, like Merry Meadows Recreation Farm, may have limited activities during the off-season. A visitor mentioned, "Activities schedules are a little hit or miss for us," so check ahead.
- Noise Levels: Campers at Susquehanna State Park Campground noted that weekends can get busy. One reviewer said, "The sites are well kept and the tent pads are in great shape," but it can be crowded.
Tips for camping with families:
- Choose Kid-Friendly Campgrounds: Look for places like Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park at Quarryville, where there are plenty of activities for kids. A parent shared, "There is now an arcade and a mini water park! This place is awesome for kids and families!"
- Pack for All Weather: Be prepared for changing weather conditions. A camper at French Creek State Park Campground mentioned, "Weather was great, the lack of people was perfect," indicating that conditions can vary.
- Plan Group Activities: Engage in group activities like fishing or hiking. One visitor at Lums Pond State Park Campground noted, "If it rains, some sites are flooded," so have a backup plan for indoor fun.
Tips from RVers:
- Check Site Levels: Many RVers recommend checking the level of your site. A camper at Circle M RV and Camping Resort said, "Must have leveling blocks," which is crucial for a comfortable stay.
- Be Mindful of Space: Some sites can be cramped. One visitor noted, "The place was packed, the lots were cramped up," so choose your site wisely.
- Wi-Fi Availability: If you need internet, check the campground's Wi-Fi situation. A reviewer at Philadelphia-West Chester KOA mentioned, "The Wi-Fi at our site worked well," which can be helpful for planning your days.
Camping near Bethel, Pennsylvania, has something for everyone, from families to solo adventurers. With a little planning and the right campground, you're sure to have a great time!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Bethel, PA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Bethel, PA is Susquehannock State Park Campground with a 4-star rating from 6 reviews.
What is the best site to find tent camping near Bethel, PA?
TheDyrt.com has all 20 tent camping locations near Bethel, PA, with real photos and reviews from campers.