Burlingame State Park Campground

General: HUGE state park with over 700 sites. It does not fully open for the season until May 1 and when we were there in mid-April, only two sections, Fish Camp and Mills Camp were open. The Ranger station is staffed 24 hours a day, with a ranger on site until 11 pm. You need to show your pass to get inside the gate leading to the campsites. There are no hookups in any site (as far as I could tell). Sites are designated for tents, small trailers, large trailers, and RVs. As with other RI state parks, non-residents pay double the price of residents which kind of ticks me off (I don't mind a nominal upcharge but double is excessive IMO).

Site Quality: The site numbers throughout the park are painted on rocks but the sites themselves are not very clearly defined. There is no designated camping pad. Our site (114) had a water view but was not level. It was large enough for us to park horizontally and make it work for one night. Some sites had excessive roots and also were not level. Some picnic tables have been replaced with new ones, but others badly need it.

Bath/Shower house: The one in Fish Camp was adequate and clean. There is hot water, but you need to run it for a while before you get any. There was no garbage receptacle, and the toilet paper is so thin, that you can see through it. Showers are $.75 to get it started for the first three minutes. After that, the amount per minute increases to $1, $1.25, $1.50, and so forth. Machines take up to 22 quarters. There is a change machine at the Ranger Station. I did not use the shower so I cannot comment on how well they work. 

Activities/Amenities: There is a camp store that offers wood, ice, coffee, basic groceries, propane, and canoe rentals. It was open with limited hours during our stay. Fishing, boating, swimming - all in season. Even though the park was only about 10% occupied, there was a strong Ranger presence. He circled our small loop three times just before check-out time and wanted to make sure we were leaving not a minute past the designated time. 

This was just an overnight stay for us in a convenient location but there is no way I would stay at the height of the season!

Stayed for a week mid-July; during the week had almost an entire loop to ourselves which was wonderful - it felt like having the entire park to ourselves. Things picked up on Friday/Saturday but overall we lucked out with no neighbors who were disrespectful of the quiet hours (10p - 7a). Bathrooms, dumpsters, and portapotties are plentiful, but not always well maintained. Staff are seen frequently throughout the park and are very willing to be helpful when asked - our site had a few Yellowjacket nests and they took care of them for us almost immediately when asked. It’s worth investigating the various sites ahead of time - there are a number of sections much more likely to be busy than others, and lots of low-lying sites that show signs of easily being washed out in anything more than a moderate rain. With multiple great east coast beaches minutes away (as well as conveniences like fuel/stores) we will definitely be back.

We camped here from Friday to Sunday. The staff in the main office was very inviting and friendly, the rangers kept everyone in check . The bathrooms were kept clean, but the showers in the Legiontown area are kinda crappy, it's mainly the shower heads...they feel like bullets hitting you and you can't even adjust the shower head nozzle. The showers are $1.50/8mins I only put $1.00 in for 5 minutes which was more than enough time for me. There's a beautiful lake and you can rent Kayaks or a canoe for the day I believe it was around $45.00. there's a nice general store, an arcade, playground, trails, cabins... And the sites are pretty big. No real big complaints, except that the staties are usually waiting for you to come back from the bars since there's no alcohol allowed on the property. So if you are to drink off the property, make sure you have a Designated Driver. They love handing out DUIs. (I did not have this issue, but my friends did.)

This is a great spot that’s perfect for a weekend camping. I ended up getting a cabin here and stayed the night. It was thwir opening weekend and the weather was pretty cold so we didn’t have to foght the crowds too much. That said, they have a huge capacity and during summer the place is swarmed by RV’ers and folks staying for longer stays.

Burlingame state park campground is 3100 acres and many of the 739 reservable campsites are well spaced out and you could obtain great privacy if you know which site to pick. The condition of the park has steadily declined since about 2016. Plans are in the work to update all bathroom facilities, but it keeps getting pushed back year after year. Burlingame State Park campground is the only state park managed by an outside corporation who assumes the day to day responsibilities for campsites, dumpsters and bathrooms. Ongoing issues, especially on holiday weekends have been noted by hundreds of campers.  The new pre-registration offered through Reserve America has been a great improvement. It allows to avoid the long lines at the check-in station and drive straight up to the gate. Lack of staff on the management level, and Rhode Island state park department level definitely shows. Rhode Island DEM is allowing this wonderful campground to deteriorate. Flooding issues during even minor rainfall is apparent in a large portion of sites, so beware which campsite you reserve. Camper created group called Bound4burlingame has filmed every campsite and put them on YouTube and has created a private group on FB where the camping community of Burlingame contributes daily to an extremely popular public forum. Best place to gain info and insight. Get campsite recommendations straight from the people who actually camp there.

The sites in the 500 section are nice and big, and that’s about where the positives end :( There was a huge party that went on till 3 AM with crazy loud music, if you like quiet nights this is not your place. I really don’t mind loud people though so if that had been the worst of it I would have been ok. For me the bathrooms and dumpsters were absolutely unacceptable 🤢 I think the bathroom was cleaned once the 3 days we were there. There was feces on the toilet 2 of the 3 days, people washing dishes in bathroom sinks, floors covered in garbage. The dumpster smelled so bad and you couldn’t even throw garbage away, it was so full people just kept tossing it on top. Most of the time there was one person checking people in at the desk and trying to let people in the gate which takes forever since they have to check papers and license plates. Also, the mosquitoes are relentless so bring bug spray, lots of it.

Burlingame is a HUGE state park campground with over 700 sites. The location is fantastic, but with this many sites (so, with this many people), there are bound to be pros and cons.

Pros:

Lovely location - it's in the middle of the woods, has a pond, has pond swimming. It's just minutes to the ocean by car. Hiking and biking for miles.

Camp store - well stocked.

Price - dirt cheap if you are a RI resident, but pricey if you aren't.

Spacious - even with all those sites, there's plenty of room between sites and tons of open space for kids to run around, fly a kite, play tag, hide and seek.

Real camping atmosphere - fire rings at each site, wooded sites (and open grass sites if you like that better). Wildlife (listening to the several types of owls is a favorite pastime at night). While RVs are welcome (and we have tent and trailer camped here), this is NOT an RV resort. No hook-ups.

Cons:

No hook-ups, lol. This is a con in the heat of the summer if you want/need AC. 

Bath houses - are usually pretty filthy, and that's because there are too many people per bath house, and people are gross.

Noise / Parties / Drunks - again, too many sites means too many people and nowhere near enough park staff. On the weekends people can get out of hand with the partying and it's not uncommon to have to listen to noise late into the night. Do not come on a holiday weekend, it's packed.

Overall, if you are a camper's camper, this is a great place. Close to CT so a day trip to Mystic is easy, close to several gorgeous beaches, close to great restaurants, ice cream, and shopping. Swim in the pond. Fish in the pond (catch and release). Bike. Hike. Hammock. Avoid holiday weekends and the heat of August if you can. Be prepared for dirty restrooms and come armed with hand soap (they no longer provide any), paper towels, and Clorox wipes.

This is a huge campground (700 plus) sites. I stayed in 505. Smaller but nice. The bathrooms in the 400 are not great. Go to the back of the park by the boat launch if that is important to you. Very small beach, trail around the pond, and enough to do for kids. 20 minute bike ride to the ocean! Pretty nice and packed all week long.

Beautiful sites, great staff, plenty of space, minimal mosquitoes

Great park to camp at. I'll be back for sure.