Best Glamping in Rhode Island

I've never camped in Rhode Island, so I was curious to see what a state park campground had to offer. Rates are reasonable for state residents, but quite high if you are out-of-state, given the amenities. There are no hookups, but dump stations are available. Bathrooms have flush toilets and coin-operated showers. There's a small beach at the pond, a boat ramp, and proximity to wildlife refuges and the ocean. It's a HUGE campground, with 700 sites and 20 cabins. Canoes are available to rent.

There's a nice playground, a camp store, and a naturalists cabin. Trails are available for hiking and biking. The beach is sandy and there's a small parking lot there, but I suspect most people walk to it. No alcohol allowed. 

I didn't see more than a handful of level sites, with varying degrees of slope, but many are quite large. If you have an RV, plan to level; if you have a tent, be sure to bring good mattresses to protect you from the roots and rocks and orient your head to the uphill side. Most of the sites have some degree of visual separation from their neighbors, but there are places where it's hard to tell where one site ends and the next one starts. Site have fire rings and picnic tables, but if you plan to cook over the fire, bring your own grate or plan to use sticks and/or aluminum foil. 

If you don't have a tent, consider reserving one of their rustic cabins. These offer two sets of bunks (no mattresses) and a small porch with a picnic table and fire ring outside. Some are located along the pond.

3-4 bar cell phone coverage. No road traffic. East Beach is nearby, but parking fills early.

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.

Okay, I will try to update this information on the Dyrt site, but I’ve had mixed success getting that to stick. So if you are confused about things like location, let’s knock that out first:

This campground is located near 2185 Putnam Pike, Chepachet, RI 02814. It’s by Bowdish Lake, near the Connecticut border. This is a cool area of Rhode Island that I enjoyed getting the chance to explore a little bit. Great Italian restaurant if you don’t feel like cooking (Mr Z’s By The Lake) and some historical sites like a very nice covered bridge to the northwest.

Full water and electrical hookup and a very unique and fun play area for kids. The lake access is excellent, obviously. Pay showers of varying degrees of cleanliness. Open to tents, but clearly preferred by the RV crowd.

Camped out here for two nights after reading about this place in the"Best Tent Camping: New England" book. It's better than the other campgrounds in Rhode Island that I looked at (Burlingame, Fort Getty) but isn't my favorite campground. If you're not a Rhode Island resident the fee for most sites is$36/night. Is it worth it? Eh, probably not unless you're really jonesing to camp for a weekend in the Ocean State. 

It does have some great things going for it, namely the hiking trails and views of the lake. There are some tent-only sites which are numbered T1-T5. I stayed in T5 and it was the best of the bunch because it had the most privacy and space, including a grassy area. The other tent-only sites were fairly small and if you go to any mixed use sites you run the risk of having an RV next to you. The A1-A7 sites are remote and hike in, but you're going to have to hike either 0.4 or 0.6 miles through some uneven terrain. The next best group of sites would be 19-24 which are on their own small loop near the lake. 

The things I didn't like were the streetlights over the port-a-potties that shine all night. There is a manned gate where you check in and you have to get let into the campground during the day, but at night the gates are wide open and it seems like some people know this because there are a few oddballs around in the early morning. There is swimming at the lake but it looked way too dirty. 

Overall the place was managed very well, the sites were cleanish and the grounds were taken care of. The employees drove by at least once an hour, I thought they were collecting trash from dumpsters but the only place with a dumpster is near the entrance. I couldn't figure out why they kept driving by so often. I had a good time, it was relaxing and scratched the camping itch.

Bowdish Lake Camping Area is the worst campground we have ever been to and we travel fulltime! Their website states: $1,800-$3,600 per season (look for yourself on their website if you don’t believe me). We get there after reserving site Blue 65. They then charged us $3,900. Why? We have no idea! Then they charged us an additional $75.00 for our truck. Why I don’t know? Then they charged us an additional $50.00 for having our own kayak. Then they charged us an additional $50.00 for a small dog, $100.00 for large dogs (by the way they have no dog park). Then they charged us an additional $100.00 for cable. Then they charged us an additional .50 cents per kWh ( which cost us an average of$250.00 extra per month). The public facilities are filthy. They do not supply any toilet paper, hand soaps, hot water, etc. They charge you an additional charge by coin operated showers (cold water only) that are crawling with spiders, bugs and cobwebs.

The Preserve Club and Residences is a members/owners only community which is New England's most amenity rich properties, in fact it may be the only place in the world that has such a diverse amount of outdoor offerings.  Check it out.

My mom and I were having some camp withdrawals. It was Midweek and we couldn't go far because of work- but we just wanted to cook a meal over a fire and sleep on the ground for a night. That's when we found this place. It's about an hour away from us-- but it felt like a different place. We loved how close this camp was to the beach- and to Iggys (nothing better than some clam chowder and doughboys after fire cooked hot dogs!) the mosquitos at the site were nasty- so just bring your spray and be prepared. Not too crowded- but was considered off season.

Burlingame a HUGE state park (over 800 sites) with several different loops. The office is open 24/7 for check-ins, questions, and managing such a large number of sites and people. I had never stayed at a park near this size. Our site we booked was right near the pond, fairly quiet environment. Bathrooms were clean, had pay showers (bring quarters). We stayed here during the Newport Folk Festival, which worked out for us, but was quite far away from Fort Adams (over 1 hour each way).

A couple friends and I camped here one night in July. The campground is absolutely massive - like bigger than any other campsite I've been to. The staff were friendly but pretty clueless and took a long time to get us checked in. At the site, I felt like we were sleeping with the neighbors next to us because of our proximity to them. There were tons of kids around that were up all hours and the bathrooms were pretty dirty (flush toilets though!) There's potable water and a huge convenience store with food, supplies, and firewood. The next morning we walked over to the lake within the campground, which is really beautiful. This place definitely worked for a camping stopover, but that's about it.

We've camped here many times, and it can be pretty packed during peak season. Like anywhere you can't pick your neighbors, some get a little out of hand. Overall it is a nice place to stay, the lake is pretty, and there is a boat launch if you are looking to fish. Depending on the loop or location you can have a secluded spot, or be pretty close to others. It's a nice getaway.

It is nice being so close to the beaches here. The campground has gotten pretty strict, which is good for those looking for a quiet campground to go to. The sites are fair size and some have more privacy as others. the best quality of the campground is access to the RI beaches

This is a great family campground. Lots to do and it is massive! You can bike for ever and go to the lake! Camp store literally has anything you would need. Usually pretty busy, you will have neighbors, who can get loud. Make sure you set up your tent in preparedness for rain! Bathrooms are usually always busy, and are pretty dirty from people coming back from the beach. SAND EVERYWHERE!

Gates at check in can take some time, as well as finding your site.

Coin operated showers but besides that, it is very nice and clean.

I have spent many many summers camping with family and friends growing up here. This place is great. A pond, boat rentals, playground there's a store. Never had a bad experience

Burlingame is huge. We were there the weekend after Labor Day weekend in 2014, and it was pretty quiet. Nice for biking, cute little beach, dog friendly. Bring quarters for the showers. Westerly is nearby with a 24 hour WalMart in case you forget anything (which we did, being pretty new to camping at the time!) also, I got stung by a wasp, so watch out for those guys.

Very affordable (around $14 per night). We stayed near the camp store and playground. Lots to do with kids including fishing, game room, and hiking. Bathrooms were clean. No electricity at the sites. Will try a cabin next time.

Burlingame state park is a giant campground with plenty of space in each site. There are bathrooms and a store on site, as well as several dump stations and water fill ups. There are no hookups. The pond has a nice beach area with a life guard. No outside firewood is allowed, so make sure to buy it in park.

Great camping especially by the pond

The campground itself is beautiful with the trees and lake. However if you are bringing an RV there are no hookups and there are very few level sites. We camped in our tent when we stayed. And even that was a challenge because the site was so unlevel. The other negativity is that the sites are literally on top of one another. There’s no privacy and all you can see is other people. One positive is they have a bath house with coin operated showers and regular toilets.

for a family or couple looking for a quick and close to home getaway with out paying a fortune it’s a good place to stay.

Nice shade, beautiful “pond” but little privacy. Great family getaway!

Super large sites, store is adequately stocked, nice lake/pond. I came here because of the location. Super close to the beach. This is a state park, no alcohol is allowed, quiet time strictly enforced. Nice family campground. No hookups.

Great family place. Not much for privacy. Nice pond for fishing and swimming. RV, Tent and Cabins with a store on site.

the park is big and wild but the staff is rude and useless. Campgrounds are very close from one another.