Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Cape Charles, VA

Beautiful recently renovated family owned/run campground since 1954. Super friendly staff! All sites provide 50/30/20 amp electric, water, cable and WiFi. Premium to standard include sewer. Big rig friendly, log cabins and cottages. Only campground to provide shuttle service to area attractions, events and restaurants. Pet friendly. Features: beach park, dog park, nature trails, play grounds, corn hole, tiki toss, arcade..... Beautiful new bath house. Discount tickets to attractions available. Reservations recommended, deposit required.

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!

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.

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!

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.

This is our home base camping resort. It’s a deeded membership that allows for 14 day stays with a single deed. We’ve stayed a few times prior to owning with friends who sponsored us. There are both paved and unpaved sites with full hookups, and tent sites that feature water and electricity. Bath houses throughout property, and a laundry, community center, two pools, a large pavilion and ball court. We love having play areas for the kids and a dog park for our fluffy kid.

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!

We stayed for the weekend with our 4 kids and dog. There were lots of other pups there and tons of activities for the kids. There’s a leash-off dog park, 2 stores, 4 pools, countless playgrounds, a bike trail to the beach (a little under 3 miles one way, but flat and an easy ride). There was so much to do! The campground is HUGE, so it may seem crowded, but it’s quiet! The naval base is practically right next door and they do scramble the jets every day, but we didn’t mind the noise. The kids loved watching them fly over. Besides, they don’t scramble at night, so you’ll be able to sleep with little issues. The bath houses are clean and there’s trash service several times a day (just leave your trash bag by the site post and they’ll pick it up!). We loved it and hope to stay longer next time.

We live on the other side of Virginia, but have enjoyed returning to First Landing whenever we get the chance. We love the fact that we can visit the beach AND camp.

Campsites are within walking distance to the ocean. VA Beach boardwalk is a short drive away. Beach is dog friendly, obviously pick up after your dogs. Park Rangers patrol and help you feel secure without being overbearing. Visitors Center offers lots of info about things to do. Camp store offers firewood and ice as well as odds and ends you might have forgotten. They also have some really nice bathhouses although not all of them have been renovated.

Bring flip flops for the shower and sandals/walking shoes. Bring bug spray.