Best Tent Camping near San Antonio, TX

We started with day passes, then graduated to renting out the loft cabins, then tried tent camping, and eventually and recently parked our travel trailer in the reservable RV spaces. All in the same vicinity. Made great memories at each stay.

Pro’s: Best rate in town for military (active, retired, $ disabled). Water is beautiful. Fishing can be fantastic. Lots of water activities available for rent or bring your own. Pet friendly, Great for families, most people are very respectful and wonderful to talk to. Good food and stores nearby. Lots of wildlife. Quiet. Close to town and short drive from San Antonio.

Cons: Hard to get ahold of staff to make reservations. Market is extremely expensive and staff isn’t very friendly. Lost and lots of fire ants.

We recommend it to all of our friends and family and bring them often. We love staying in the loft cabins. Some are pet friendly. We have stayed in the mobile homes on the other side of the lake once but that was not a great experience as our things were stolen off our table and covered patio (on Veterans Day) and they were only left unattended for 15 min or less. The mobile home wasn’t very nice but functional at least.

Government Canyon State Natural Area is conveniently located near San Antonio, TX. Many visitors visit from San Antonio for the day or for the weekend. The staff sometimes limit the amount of visitors during busy times, so it is best to arrive early - before 10am. The Info Center is nicely designed and they often host educational events. The main attraction of this campground is hiking through the forest, exploring above or below the canyon, seeing the old 1880’s period Zizelman House and locating a few of the notable dinosaur tracks. There are a number of walk-in campsites with well defined pad sites, campfire rings and a table. There are often burn bans in effect at this campground so come prepared with a gas stove.

This is a very small family operated campground. It offers basic RV and tent camping facilities and services. There are full hookup sites for RVs. There are tent camping sites with water and electrical hookups.

The main feature of this campground is that a number of the sites are right along the banks of the Guadalupe River. There is a little sidewalk and stairs that lead down to the water which makes it easy for families and kids of all ages to access the river.

During the winter, it is easy to reserves sites at this campground. During the summer, it is wise to reserve a site in advance. Any of the RV sites 1 to 30 are right along the river. Any of the tent sites 1 to 9 are along the river.

The campground does allow day access for $7/person.

The campground is located about 15 minutes from the town of New Braunfels where you can find grocery stores, restaurants, banks, hardware stores and other entertainment. If you're looking for Texas BBQ, check out the Rudy's or Cooper's BBQ in New Braunfels. Also located within the town is the Schlitterbahn Waterpark which is I believe the largest waterpark in the US and has an incredible amout of fun rides, slides and pools. It's a bit pricey, but it is a full day of fun for the family.