Looking to go glamping near North Charleston and enjoy a rustic retreat into nature? Glamping is not only a fun alternative to traditional tent camping, but also allows you to pack more or less gear as you see fit. The Dyrt makes it easy to find glamping for your North Charleston adventure.
Enjoy the natural beauty of James Island County Park, with year-round fun for the entire family. Just a short drive from downtown Charleston, the 643-acre park offers an abundance of exceptional recreation offerings and natural beauty.
With the Campground and Cottages at James Island County Park, it has never been more convenient to explore historic Charleston and the Lowcountry. Come discover our history, charm, fine dining, antiques, plantations, parks, and sandy beaches. Just minutes from all of these attractions is your private retreat within the 643-acre James Island County Park.
$35 - $70 / night
For overnight accommodations, furnished cabins sit nestled in the woods for rent, as well as campsites which can be found along the Edisto Island oceanfront or in the shaded maritime forest. Wifi is also available in select areas, as well as bathrooms, showers, and electrical hookups in most campsites. In fact, 120 sites can accommodate RVs or tents, with 115 sites offering 50 amp electrical service.
Buck Hall Recreation Area offers a premier location to enjoy the outdoors. It is situated along the Intracoastal Waterway and provides great access to Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, 65,000 acres of marsh, tidal creeks and beaches; and Bulls Bay, the coast's best shrimp baiting area.
The area is primarily used for shrimp baiting and fishing. Anglers can expect a huge variety of fish, including bass, flounder, sea trout, snapper, mackerel, swordfish, crab, shrimp, clams, oysters and more. The campground provides access to boating and ocean sailing. Fishing boats and often very large pleasure boats can be seen as they travel the popular Intracoastal Waterway. A long portion of the Palmetto Trail, which leads from the marshes of the ocean to the mountains of South Carolina, is accessible from the recreation area. Most of the trail is unpaved and can be used for hiking, biking or horseback riding, although a few sections are restricted to foot traffic only.
The popular campground sits at sea level, alongside the Intracoastal Waterway. It is part of the Francis Marion National Forest in South Carolina. The campground itself is grassy and open, with very few trees and limited shade.
Charleston, South Carolina is about 30 miles southwest of the campground.
Reservation Fees In addition to camping fees a non-refundable reservation fee of $8.00 for telephone bookings and $6.00 for website bookings applies. Cancellation Fees Cancellations up to 2 days before a reservation start date incur a $10.00 cancellation fee in addition to the non-refundable reservation fee. Late Cancellations A cancellation the day before or on the day of arrival incurs a $10.00 cancellation fee and will also forfeit the first night's use fee (not to exceed the total paid for the original reservation). Cancellations for single night's reservation will forfeit the entire use fee but no cancellation will apply. Non-refundable reservation fees still apply.
$20 - $45 / night
Ranger
Nice RV Site if you are visiting Charleston, South Carolina. The site is very hot due to no trees. Currently the restrooms and showers are down, so you need to have a self contained unit. However, very quiet. No pull thru sites. Must back in.
Traveler
There are two sections to Edisto Beach State Park. The Ocean side campground is the best with the ocean breezes, but the marsh side campground is an easy bicycle ride from the beach.
It's South Carolina in the summer, so there are mosquitoes. And the raccoons are pretty fierce so you want to make sure your food is stored securely, so you don't wake up to critters eating your potato chips.
The restrooms and showers are clean.
Edisto Island is one of the least developed islands in South Carolina. There is a Piggly Wiggly grocery store to pick up all the things you may have forgotten. There is an ice cream shop and several restaurants, but it is pretty quiet. My favorite thing about staying at Edisto Beach State Park is bicycling to the beach, bicycling along the paths in the state park that lead to a shell mound, built by Native Americans around 2,000 B.C., and bicycling for beers at one of the little bars overlooking the ocean. Another plus is the park's proximity to Botany Bay.
Legend
Reservations during the main season are key if you have any hope of getting a campsite in this awesome Francis Marion National Forest campground which sits just along the gorgeous intercoastal waterway, about 40 minutes northeast of Charleston, SC! We pulled in without reservations and nearly every site was booked out. The campground host was super helpful, though, finding us an empty spot (due to a cancellation) for a couple nights, then moved us to a non-reservable site for the remainder of our time.
The majority of the sites are designed for very large RVs, with a few very nice waterfront sites designated for tents. Each site is spacious, complete with a picnic table, firepit, 2 lantern poles, and electrical hookups, with a dump station at the back of the campground. The bathrooms are equipped with flush toilets, sinks, and a shower and kept relatively clean.
The campground itself is dripping with live oaks and speckled with Palmetto trees, so lots of shade is available, especially in the tent areas. The boat launch is walking distance from the campground and has a nice picnic area adjacent to it. We watched a pods of pelicans and dolphins come through the area, as well as many other sea birds.
We kayaked along the intercoastal waterway and out into marshy sea grass areas and had one of the most amazing wildlife encounters to date (and we’ve been all over the country). We saw a pod of dolphins in the distance, which appeared to be feeding. We stopped about 150 away and just enjoyed watching them dance and dive in the morning light. Then, two of the dolphins peeled away from the pack and headed straight toward us. As they approached our kayaks, the larger one gave an extra tail fin flap and dove under our boats, coming up just a bit on the other side. As naturalists, our hearts were pounding with excitement! We also hiked and mountain-biked along the gorgeous Palmetto Trail (which is a mountains-to-sea trail across South Carolina, and this campground serves as its coastal terminus).
Also, don’t miss the famous Sewee Restaurant for some downeast coastal Carolina fare, as well as the Center for Birds of Prey just across the highway from this restaurant. This wildlife conservation and rehabilitation center is doing some amazing things for birds and in the region and doing a great job of public education. If you head up the coast, be sure to stop in Boats & Hoagies in McClellanville for a bite to eat. Cute place, great food, awesome service!
The $20 per night fee is a great price for the amenities this campground offers, especially with full hook-ups and showers, and a boat launch. Check out our blog on The Dyrt's Online Magazine about our experience on the coast of South Carolina.
Guide
There are quite a variety of things to do at this state park, and the camp sites are spacious. There is a little store where you can buy any of the little things you may have forgotten. There were not too many people camping during our visit, but it could be that not many people want to stand the South Carolina heat! Either way, it made the visit quiet. There are also plenty of geocaches around, if you're into that. There are 2 places to shower in the campground, so I imagine that once it fills up, you may have to wait to shower. It was pretty clean and the water was clear, so I guess you could just go for a swim! I wish we had brought our tubes and some rope to float out on the water!
Traveler
When making reservations at James Island County Park we had modest expectations, but we were going to tour Charleston most of the time, so we decided anything close to the city would be good enough. The campground turned out to be very nice. We wished we had stayed there longer to enjoy not only Charleston, but the nature beauty of the park itself. The campground is located in a huge park with lots of amenities. The sites are spacious, covered with trees, full hookups with 50 amp service. There are a lot of shaded picturesque walking and bike trails in the park. The dog park was amazingly big, with a little doggy beach for water lovers. There is a big kids playground with a fun looking spray play fountain. It is located just 15 min drive from the campground to downtown Charleston. It is a great campground to stay when visiting Charleston. We have a video on our YouTube Channel- Summertime RV Rovers- about this park- Great Campgrounds in Coastal South Carolina: Charleston and Hilton Head Island. Please check for yourself. We camped at James Island County Park in a Motorhome.
ScoutWe were here in 2018 and park was great. Not so much now. Several sites are out of commission and the grounds are in bad need of maintenance. No bathrooms,showers,laundry,wifi,cable, and Verizon is sketchy. Host is not very helpful. The place is pretty quiet though with only a few rv'ers staying. Pads are cement and level but close together. Can't recommend staying here even for half the money.
GuideWould be great but as stated you must qualify to stay
ScoutOk.... So it was only $35 per night, so keep that in mind! IF you meet the qualifications to stay (military affiliated), this is REALLY close to the Navy Nuke School! Yes - the camp hosts are salty, as are some of the long term residents (like the people in the first spot on the right), but... It's $35! Spots are flat, full power and water, bathrooms MAY now be under construction, and the lady you book with in building across from the bowling alley is super sweet! 😁
ScoutThe staff (manager Kim) thinks she owned the place. She makes up rules when she pleases. Doesn’t allow dog fences because she doesn’t want to deal with them if a storm comes. This is a military owned campground, but she runs it like it’s hers. I won’t stay there again because Kim is not a nice person. The campground is not kept up. Playground is closed and the park is just dirty. If the Navy saw the condition this place was in, they would be embarrassed. Not coming back.
TravelerGreat place for a couple days
ScoutThis county park makes an excellent base camp for visiting the Charleston area. Tent camping is done festival style, with no specific sites. Everyone is in a big open field which is a lot of fun but does not offer much privacy. Staff was very friendly and helpful. There are many activities available at the park, including a dog park and dog beach, a waterpark, and a lake. It is just a short 20 minute drive to get into Charleston or down to Folly Beach. Make reservations. Would definitely stay here again.
ScoutBeing a new full time rv-liver, lol, I am unfamiliar with many of the parks and camping areas around the country, my plan is to quickly change that! Since this is my first time as an adult alone in an organized camping area.. tons of experience just camping out in the woods, being a hillbilly from Tennessee! My view might be a little from ignorance, but I know lots of people are choosing to give up their big house payments (mine was $3100 a month!) and now exploring and choosing to live instead of just exist to pay bills! My reviews will be geared to others like me, first timers. A little nervous, a little scared but amazingly excited about this new adventure we call life! So here goes.
Make your reservations early! Which is hard to do if you just want to be spontaneous and take off, like me. The first two nights I was in what was called overflow… overflow is a great big treeless field covered by power lines and absolutely NO SHADE! No plug ins and no water. The park itself is great. There are so many things to do and an amazing dog park with a huge lake, all the amenities are great! But the reservation system doesn’t seem logical to me. I had to move three times in the 6 days I stayed there. Just seems if I’m already in a spot and someone is coming in for a night they could be placed in another vacant spot instead of the person who is already set up, unpacked etc, pack up all their gear and move to that empty spot?!? I could understand if a space is specifically requested by another camper and of course that should be honored but if someone is just coming in to spend a night, why move the person who is already in the existing set up camping spot? Since I’m a newbie, maybe someone can explain that to me?
Beaides rhe reservation issues, the park is set up well… great spot for families.. climbing wall, miles of trails, fishing and so close to downtown Charleston and folly beach but it feels like you are out in the country. Very clean and and the staff I dealt with were all very friendly. Recommended!
ScoutThe wooded areas needed to be trimmed and it had a lot of poison ivy. But the rest of the grounds was pretty awesome. Brand new remodels in the bathrooms. Tons of activities for children. Very pet friendly. Close to Charleston and Folly Beach.
ScoutWe found this campground well maintained and quiet. The bath house was recently remodeled and now has air conditioning. I found it to be one of the nicest bath facilities we have ever used. The campsites have full RV hook-ups and come with a picnic table and fire ring. The park does allow pets and has a dog park with a beach; it seems like the pups were having a marvelous time playing chase on the beach.This is a County Park with trails for walking or leisure biking. A new water park is under construction and should open this summer. The camp store is well stocked and the staff was very friendly and helpful. One downside was the WIFI (one of the perks at this place) did not work the entire 5 days we were there. I need to work remotely so this was a BIG problem. I had to go to the Starbucks to work...bummer! Positives were the easy drive and parking at nearby Folly Beach during the week, and the close proximity to Historic Charleston.
ScoutLots to do all year; splash park, paved trails, climbing wall, frisbee golf, dog park, and Christmas lights with Santa Claus
GuideThis is one of the best "all around" campgrounds we have visited. Sites are spacious and clean. plenty of sights to see in Charleston. It has a fantastic dog park and several miles of paved walking/biking paths. Great local restaurants, carriage tours, forts, shopping and more! Awesome place to stay!
RangerEasy access to all of the tourist spots and nice that it was gated.
TravelerGreat place for families. Not very secluded. It is pretty much one big open green space with tent sites circling in a loop around the green space. You cannot park your car right at the site. There is a parking lot so you have to hike in just a little bit. The park there is really nice though and nice trail that takes you to the dock and marsh. There is a shower and they even have laundry facilities. Great play area for kids during the day also with a spray play. Volleyball nets throughout the area and you can rent bikes, kayaks, sup, and pedal boats. Also have a climbing wall. This was a great place to get our feet wet when we first started camping.
ScoutWe didn’t see a bad spot in the whole place. RV sites are secluded, allowing you privacy. The shower houses looked pretty new and were very clean and roomy. There is coin laundry available. It is in a state park and there is a water park, amazing dog park, picnic and outdoor games area. Book early b/c they fill up quick. It is close to just about anything you would want to do in the area.
LegendThis is a great campground in a great area! The staff is super helpful and the facilities are all great. We have been living in Charleston for the past 10 years or so and after selling our house we found ourselves at this campground three different times in the past 2 months!
This is in a super convenient location for visiting Folly Beach. Folly has a cute downtown with lots of restaurants and bars. There is a fun night scene there as well. The campground is on James Island and not far from Wal-Mart, drug stores and anything else you might need. When we visited during the summer break there were kids all over the campground riding bikes and having a ball!
This is also the most convenient campground for visiting gorgeous downtown Charleston. There is so much to do in Charleston and so many great restaurants to try. Definitely take a walk on The Battery (ideally at sunset) and take a carriage tour.
Here is a little more info on the specific sites we were in:
Site 115: This site is on the pathway to the bath house so there isn't as much privacy when you are sitting outside of the RV as one might like. However, it was really convenient for doing laundry!
Site 48: This was our favorite of all of the sites. It is more private and had the best cell service of the ones we were in. It's a little bit further from the bath house than the other sites we stayed in, but we thought the privacy was worth it.
Site 117: This was the first site we were in. All of the sites in the park are great, but this one was shady and very wet. It rained pretty much the whole time we were there and the site seemed to never dry out!
Site 71: This is a pretty big site so that was nice. It got morning sun and was much drier than 117. Site 71 is a shared site, but it didn't really matter since we were in the site that faced out to the big yard. Site 72 had to stare at our RV the whole week.
We also heard from a campground host that sites 86 and 88 flood when it rains. FYI!
When you are driving into the campground, make sure to follow the brown signs leading you to the campground. The live oaks in Charleston are gorgeous, but some of the limbs definitely hang a little low in places! Following the brown signs will help you avoid them.
ScoutAwesome dog park with separate areas for large and small dogs, a water park, climbing wall, bike/walking path and much more. Close to historic Charleston and Folly Beach. Friendly and helpful staff, nice clean bath houses with laundry and kitchen facilities. Super nice campground!
TravelerWent camping there when my son was young lot of room to camp (tent) keep an one ear on creters. Great trials clean bath house good fishing
RangerPerfectly situated near folly beach! Awesome trails. Pet friendly ,great fishing. Clean restrooms.
GuideIf we had more time then we would have stayed longer to enjoy the lake and more. We pulled in late in the afternoon and then headed right into the city. There were a few sites remaining when we got there but virtually no one in the back lot tent area. They have a large tent only area and big parking area. They could do something to cater to van campers with their big lot out back. The showers were nice and they had a nice park and splash pad next to the pond. They have a nice game room, some yard games, and other amenities. Hookups at all the sites except for the tent area.
GuideWater park in the summer and Festival of Lights in the winter. Clean fun and friendly park.
ScoutThis is simply the best places to camp when visiting Charleston, especially if you have 4 legged family members. The off leash area is fabulous. Bike and walking trails are all paved and flat, no hills. Convienient to beaches and Charleston attractions. Come and relax or go and enjoy. It's hard to get it wrong.
GuideNear downtown Charleston. Easy to get in and out. Reasonable rates. Near everything around Chai.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near North Charleston, SC?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near North Charleston, SC is Campground at James Island County Park with a 4.6-star rating from 57 reviews.
What is the best site to find glamping camping near North Charleston, SC?
TheDyrt.com has all 12 glamping camping locations near North Charleston, SC, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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