Best Glamping near Cape Charles, VA

Very nice, as all Virginia State Parks are, but crowded, noisy, and lit up like an amusement park. Not a place to “get back to nature” but a place to camp, meet new people, and a place to stay for the great activities the park has to offer and visit Cape Charles.

Virginia has some wonderful state parks and this is one of my favorites. Its got a nice beach, boat launch and a couple miles of hiking trails. The lovely town of Cape Charles  with an even better public beach and restaurants is close by. I use the park as a base for exploring the barrier island on the ocean side by kayak.

There were a lot of events and options for the family. Cape Charles is also a nice place nearby.

Open meadow camping; some cabins and bunk houses available. Nice swimming beach and fishing pier. Many people bring their boats to put-in at the boat launch. Several easy hiking trails around. Recommend heading to Cape Charles (20 minutes north) for ice cream!

My husband and I were very pleased with this park. We got one of the campsites at the back (F1) much more secluded area then the sites at the front. The sites at the back were not right on top of each other which was perfect. Easy beach access and staff was friendly. Cape Charles is just a short drive North and is a cute little town to check out while you're there!

We loved this campground. We were in site 317 with full hookups. We missed the shade a lot, but the evening breeze off the bay made up for it. The sunset over the old pier is breathtaking. I hope they rebuild the pier. My kids loved catching tiny crabs in the mud every night.

Customer service is amazing. They even warned us about a thunderstorm.

Easy access to Cape Charles and Chincoteague/Assateague. We will be back.

First time here and will definitely be going back. Many trails, beautiful beach and well maintained campground. Trails were marked well and taken care of. Beach was clean and water was gorgeous. (F Section) Campsites are decent sized. Bathhouse was aged but clean and kept stocked. Camp staff and patrons were very friendly. Also there is Cape Charles, which is about 10-15 mins away. Awesome little town with many things to see, do and try. From good food to distillery to local art gallery. Highly recommend this place.

The family and I were on the fence on if we wanted to start camping or not and then we found cape Charles. We rented a camper and headed out. Being that we knew nothing about trailer camping and basically showed up without anything we needed, the staff and community made it one of the greatest memories for our family. The grounds were kept clean and the camp sites were fairly spacious and very well up kept. The staff literally held my hand through everything and 100% turned us into campers. We are beyond impressed with views the staff, the location, the restaurant, the dog beach/park, the activities and the list goes on. We will 100% be revisiting and hopefully next time we will know what we are doing!

Very large beachfront area with lots of room to spread out during the pandemic.

They also have a separate dog beach, where my dogs lived their best life.

The Jackspot Restaurant has really good snacks and drinks.

It is super convenient that the resort staff picks up your trash for you right at your RV site daily.

Location-wise, you are not too far away from downtown Cape Charles, where you can enjoy lots of shopping, restaurants and bars.

The closest grocery store is about 15 minutes away. It’s a Food Lion and it’s just okay.

You can fishing or go crabbing right at the resort, or you can go just down the street to Kiptopeke Park and fish/crab for the day.

In my opinion spot 818 is the best spot at the resort. You have the best of both worlds, sun and shade and it’s a large spot with room to spread out.

Have you ever wanted to go to a beach where the water is calm, clear, warm and shallow? With hardly any people there? Kiptopeake is the beach for you! Located on the bay there aren't huge waves to worry about or big beach crowds. Kiptopeake is my favorite Virginia State Park campground, hands down. 

Camping:

If you are a primitive tent camper like us, you'll want to get the site-specific sites. They are more secluded, bigger, and walkable to the beach. The sites in the site-specific loop are conveniently located to the bathrooms which have nice hot showers! Each site has a pretty standard picnic table and fire ring with enough room for two tents. Our site didn't have tons of room for two cars though, we had to squeeze in to our space awkwardly. We've been here in pretty much all months of the spring, summer and fall and have never had a problem with mosquitoes or biting flies.

To Do:

The beach at Kiptopeake is so beautiful! Most of the time we post up and spend all day there. I highly recommend watching the sunset from the beach. Check out the concrete fleet on a kayak. There's some great hiking, butterfly garden, bird watching. Virginia State Parks has some great programs for the kids as well! The town of Cape Charles nearby is very charming and worth a visit for cute shops and restaurants. 

Highly recommend this park! It is a really special place you'll want to keep coming back to!

This campground is a resort KOA - those are campgrounds with more amenities - and we found this to be true.  It's on a peninsula that has a National Wildlife area on the ocean side and campground on the bayside. With the campground on the bayside its so close to the oceanside that the beaches still have that ocean feel - you can hike on the shore for miles.  It has a great camp store (lots of items for sale) with a cafe/ice cream place.  And it has Jackspot - a restaurant right on the beach - very yummy.  This campground rented golf carts out of which I am not a fan - but realize with it being so large some people need a way to get around.  They are usually driven by kids or drunk adults and blaring radios - we found this to be true.  We stayed a week at this campground and found that the weekends are very loud as the partiers come out and during the week its quiet great place to camp.  But I will say that the campground is great at keeping the peace and keeps the quiet hrs.  It's close to Cape Charles that has a nice beach too and lots of great restaurants (brewery and a distillery!).  We wondered why this area wasn't built up more and really it's not allowed much with the National Wetlands being right there - which we enjoyed.

What could be better than camping and kayaking on a beautiful river? Maybe try fishing off the new pier or taking a bike ride on a nice long trail after visiting Jamestown or Colonial Williamsburg or Busch Gardens which are all within a very short driving distance! Or even a Ferry Ride across the river to a lovely waterside restaurant where you can experience delicious food and the most amazing sunsets! And no worries if you don’t have a tent or camper, because they have cozy yet roomy glamping tents available!We love camping at CRP! Everyone is always friendly and helpful! Facilities are always clean and well maintained. We have stayed in the spring as well as late summer without any problems. There is a camp store, two bath houses, and a convenient dump station. Playground and fenced pool. A boat ramp for motorized boats as well as a launch site for kayaks. Bring your own or rentals available. Looking forward to our next visit this Spring!

This was our first time staying in a yurt at Kiptopeake State Park. We love staying in the yurts at Virginia State Parks because they are always an affordable, easy way to camping without having to set up a tent or spend the extra money for a cabin. The ones at here are $75/night. This one was awesome! It is hidden down a long walkway from the parking area and is very secluded. The one we stayed in, Yurt 4, only has neighbors on one side. It comes with two picnic tables, a water spigot, fire pit, grill, a big deck around the yurt with rocking chairs, and a refreshing breeze coming off the bay. Unfortunately, the way the yurt is situated, none of that breeze gets inside the yurt and it was very hot inside. Especially if staying here in the summer, I would suggest bringing some fans or a portable a/c for a more comfortable nights sleep. The bathrooms are farther away than I would like with little kids. You have to walk through to the tent campground loop to get to them. Even with a couple negative things about it, I think this is the way to stay here at Kiptopeake and I am already planning our next yurt trip here for next year!

Love this park so much! The beach is amazing. This time we discovered the dog-friendly beach, which was less crowded than the main one. I always like to go out and watch the sunset over the bay, it is magical!

Honestly, I forgot to put the pics on my other review. Here’s picture of the yurt. Only complaint was the the yurt windows were not facing the bay breeze, so we had to make a wind tunnel

We really enjoyed camping in a yurt. Great dog beach as well!

Stayed in the yurt and also stayed in a cabin. Great location. You feel the wilderness bit are only one mile from grocery stores and restaurants.

One of my favorites. Nice and close to beach, restaurants (hot tuna) (shore break). 7 eleven close by for ice and late night ice cream. Negatives, they need electric and ac in the yurts. Overall good.

Beautiful wild beach covered with crabs, access to kayaks and paddle boards and fishing within walking distance. rangers are very considerate and keep it family friendly. they have yurts for rent as well as tent sites, bathrooms are posh with hot water. convenient water spigots throughout park.

First Landing was great. There are several campsites that range from basic to rv. They even have yurts and cabins to stay in. Easy access to bathrooms, fresh water, and the boardwalk down to the Chesapeake bay. There are so many options for water activities, but since I went during October and it rained, I stuck to hiking the trails and walking the beach. The staff was very accommodating and knowledgeable. The campsite was great too even if a bit close to the main road.

Kiptopeke is absolutely beautiful. Situated along the Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore, campers can participate in tons of water fun. There is a boat launch (with tons of parking), a swimming beach, a huge (24-hour) lighted fishing pier, kayak, paddle board and bicycle rentals, a camp store stocked with a little bit of everything, designated campsites for RVs and tents, clean bathhouses with laundry facilities, and miles of beautifully-maintained (easy-to-walk) hiking trails. In addition to campsites, they have one yurt (with electric), four brand new cabins, and several six-bedroom lodges. The concrete ships are an interesting piece of history, and if you look closely along the road leading to the boat launch, you might even see the old motel marquis that used to welcome weary ferry travelers to one of the only motels along their journey.