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Best Tent Camping near Chesapeake, VA

584 Reviews

Tent camping options near Chesapeake, Virginia include several established campgrounds within an hour's drive, ranging from beachfront primitive sites to forested settings. False Cape State Park Campground offers a unique tent camping experience on Virginia's southern coast, while Sandy Bottom Nature Park provides walk-in tent sites closer to the Hampton area. Both locations cater specifically to tent campers seeking natural settings away from developed areas.

Access to tent campsites varies significantly between locations, with False Cape requiring a challenging 5-7 mile hike or bike ride through Back Bay Wildlife Refuge to reach the primitive tent sites. Sandy Bottom Nature Park features walk-in tent sites approximately a quarter-mile from parking areas, with sand platforms for tent placement. Most tent-only areas provide basic amenities such as picnic tables and fire rings, though False Cape prohibits campfires entirely. Drinking water is available at select locations, and toilet facilities range from flush toilets at Sandy Bottom to pit toilets at more remote sites. Reservations are required for most tent camping areas, with some sites being first-come, first-served.

The tent camping experience near Chesapeake offers varying levels of solitude and natural immersion. False Cape provides oceanfront tent camping with minimal crowds due to its difficult access, allowing campers to experience pristine beaches and abundant wildlife including shorebirds, waterfowl, and marine life. Sandy Bottom Nature Park offers a more accessible tent camping experience with hiking trails and lake access, though highway noise is noticeable throughout the park. Merchants Millpond State Park, just across the North Carolina border, provides canoe-in tent camping in a unique swamp environment with cypress trees and diverse wildlife. A camper noted that False Cape "was quiet and felt very removed from the beaches several miles north in Virginia Beach. Even on the fourth of July weekend, with every campsite booked, this place was quiet."

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Best Tent Sites Near Chesapeake, Virginia (8)

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Recent Tent Camping Photos near Chesapeake, VA

11 Photos of 8 Chesapeake Campgrounds

Tent Camping Reviews near Chesapeake, VA

584 Reviews of 8 Chesapeake Campgrounds

  • liz J.
    Aug. 21, 2023

    Sandy Bottom Nature Park

    A great place to hike and camp if you can't get out of the area

    The park is centrally located with easy highway access.  Plentiful parking, lots of trails to choose from.  The staff was top notch and super kind and helpful.  They were very insistent about the "no alcohol" rule.    

    Sites are first come, first served.  Must reserve in person.  Visitor's center is open 9-6.  

    The sites were located about 1/4 mile from the parking lot down a trail.  They were spaced nicely apart and had nice sand tent platforms with a picnic table and a fire ring with a grate.  Trash cans were very close by, which was super nice.  The bathrooms were flush toilets and running water faucets and located behind the parking lot, so a bit of a hike in the dark if you need to go.  Other than that, expect no amenities.  Bugs weren't terrible but were present.  Definitely bring bug spray.  

    The biggest negative was that no matter where you were in the park, there was significant noise from the highway.  Horns honking, sirens blaring, the general rush of cars going by.  There is no sound barrier between 64 and the park so every noise just filters right through the trees.  Not anyone's fault, but definitely a downside.  

    Overall when you consider the dirt cheap price of 10.60 per night, this campground delivers as advertised.

  • NThe Dyrt PRO User
    Jan. 1, 2022

    Sandy Bottom Nature Park

    Nature in the County

    Sites: 11 primitive tent sites 2 of which are group sites 

    4 tent cabins that sit right on the edge of the lake

     The individual campsites are FCFS and you must park and hike in. It is a short hike along the lake and placed a short distance from the trail so hikers will not be hiking through the sites. You have a sand bottom tent site, picnic table, fire ring/grill and trash. This is a beautiful 456 acre education and wildlife facility. Born from garbage dumps and it is great example of what can be achieved. This really is a great site.  There is an amazing nature center that overlooks Sandy Bottom Lake. Hiking, and biking trails, fishing, boating with boat rentals or bring your own, birding and wildlife viewing. 757-825-4657 

    LNT

    Travel safe

  • Chip G.
    Apr. 12, 2017

    Family Campground — Merchants Millpond State Park

    These February days are why we live in the south...

    The 12 trips in 12 months’ progress well. February’s outing was Merchants Mill Pond. What a great place. It probably helps that the bath house had just been redone with fresh paint. But that wasn’t the only thing. The park staff was friendly and the camp sites are nice and spaced well apart. Each site had a fire pit, tent site and picnic table. I am not sure that all the tent spaces were leveled, but if you pay attention when you set your tent up you should be fine.

    I happened to be a glorious weekend in February and the temperatures were good enough for a hike in shorts and tee shirts. The trails were well maintained and it was a day well spent on the Lassiter Trail. The park also rents kayaks and there are marked water trails as well. Next trip will include a boat ride and a search for alligators (from a safe distance).

    Good hikes, good campground and evenings by the campfire. Definitely on the places to return to list.

  • Myron C.The Dyrt PRO User
    May. 30, 2019

    Family Campground — Merchants Millpond State Park

    Campground with a Different Ecosystem--Woods and Swamp

    Merchants Millpond is a great state park if you want to explore a different kind of ecosystem.  The heart of the park lies in its swamps filled with cypress trees and cypress stumps.  There are several camping areas of different kinds.  You can canoe in to one of their primitive campsites, which is on an island in the swamp.  There are other hike-in primitive sites, group camping sites, and there are also the family camping sites.   I stayed at the family camping site and decided to set up my hammock instead of a tent.  If you stay at Merchants Millpond, make sure you take and use insect repellent and lots of it.  I had the biggest problem with mosquitoes and ticks.  If you stay in a hammock, make sure it has mosquito netting.  The family camping sites have tent pads, lantern poles, and fire rings.  The bath house is centrally located within a short walking distance of all of the campsites.  The showers have hot water, but the bath house itself looks outdated.  The canoe-in site that I explored only has a pit toilet, but it did have fire rings and picnic tables.  You can hike to the island by way of a wooden bridge across the swamp, but it is mainly for those who want to canoe in.  If you can go off trail, you can see lots of wildlife.  I had the opportunity to do so since I was invited to participate in a search and rescue exercise.  I only saw one snake, which is unusual not to see more, but I also saw a deer and couple of turtles.  There is a bicycle trail, but the one I hiked on the most was the Lassiter Trail, which has a few wooden bridges and opportunities to experience the eastern woodlands and great views of the swampy millpond.  Fortunately, I did not run into any bears or alligators, which are common in this area.  The visitors center is large and modern, and there is a meeting facility.  The person that I talked to at the visitors center was pleasant and was able to answer my questions.  The staff is great to work with, and I know this because I volunteered to teach camping skills to 4H kids a couple of years ago at this state park.  Overall, it’s a great state park, but it lacks the amenities of modern RV parks.

  • Sarah C.The Dyrt PRO User
    Jul. 16, 2017

    Family Campground — Merchants Millpond State Park

    Cool & Unique Paddling

    What a rare and beautiful eco-system the cypress swamp is! The state park offers several camping options: drive in, hike in and canoe in.

    Each drive in site has a picnic table, fire ring/grill and tent pad. There are showers, spigots and restrooms for campers staying here. There are three canoe-in sites, two of them have pit toilets and the third requires you to pack out all waste. If you want to enjoy the amenities of the drive-in sites but want to spend time canoeing the pond (which I highly recommend) then that's certainly an option, too.

    There aren't many eco-systems like this left so it's absolutely worth checking out.

  • Janet R.The Dyrt PRO User
    May. 25, 2025

    Kings Creek

    Kings Creek Tent sites at Cheatham Annex

    There may be a bit of confusion about camping opportunities at Cheatham Annex Bass. It used to be that there was only one campground for the whole base, with a combo of RV sites and tent sites. The options have expanded and changed: a brand new RV park was built several miles away on the northside of the base, and it has its own brand new Rec Center and bath facilities etc. The Kings Creek Campground is on the south side where the old RV park used to be, but is now for tent camping only. There are still the remnant water and electric hookups available, and each site has plenty of grass for setting up tents, or you can set up on the cement pad. Each site has a picnic table, only some have fire rings. Sites 11 through 18 are in a loop around a nice kids playground, with trees surrounding the sites and glimmers of Kings Creek in the background. Sites 1-10 in the adjacent loop are right on the water where Kings Creek enters the York River, and the sites circle round a nice picnic area. Sites 6-7 are currently not being rented out as it has been discovered that the gravesite of a Revolutionary War soldier is located right there. Both tent loops have close access to a nice clean bathhouse, and there is good proximity to the base golf course and a really nice outdoor swimming pool. A great fishing pier nearby extends out into the York River. The MWR office rents kayaks and other equipment and has a coffee shop if you want hot breakfast

  • C
    Aug. 10, 2019

    First Landing State Park Campground

    Beautiful but noisy (updated)

    Updated after a second trip (August 2020) This campground is generally really lovely, lots of trees, good Chesapeake beach access, but not very well designed for tent camping. Some of the sites are as I observed on our first trip, but all are not created equal. A lot of them are small and close to the camp road and run right into each other (no privacy) and lack sufficient flat space to pitch two tents. So many of the camper/RV sites have lots of flat private space behind where the RV would be parked, which would be great for pitching tents. The map is not to scale; sites 130, 132, and 133 back on to site 84, for example. Site 83 backs on to site 93, which in turn is open to 94. These three would be nice for a large group camping together. The sites on the east side of the campground back right on to the boundary fence of the neighboring military base (barbed wire fence). Restroom capacity (in COVID times) is supposedly limited to the safe number of 10, but 10 would be way too many. Four stalls and three sinks do not work out to 360+ square feet of space.

    Initial review (August 2019) The tent sites at this campground were gorgeous. Deep and private-feeling and well shaded. But so close to the road. I saw the map that clearly indicates Shore Drive running alongside the campground and I thought, “It can’t be that close!” But it is. Four lanes of 55mph traffic running within 25 yards of all the tent sites on the south side of the campground.

    We had such a fun time, despite the noise and lack of sleep, that we will almost certainly go back, but will definitely book one of the interior loop sites or maybe even one of the 20’ camper sites instead. Additional points: multiple daily nature programs for all ages in summer, really helpful staff, but the “camp store” doesn’t sell many camp supplies or groceries except ice and firewood.

  • RL
    Aug. 1, 2020

    Chippokes State Park Campground

    Beautiful Plantation

    Awesome things to see here! It’s been a working farm since 1619 with beautiful gardens and livestock. The mansion and outbuildings are pretty cool as well.

    Restrooms were not very clean. Each time I went to the ladies room, the door was propped wide open, and when I went to brush my teeth in the morning the counters were covered in moths and bugs and gnats. Yuck. The showers were ok.

    Ice is $3 and you can grab that from the camp host if it’s after 4pm which is when the store closes. It’s cash only, exactly change. Wood is $6 and there’s a metal box - pay on your honor.

    The beaches were very nice. You’re on the Cobham Bay vs. right on the river and in the dead of the summer, the water is sooo unpleasantly warm. You can wade out at the very least 100 yards and still be less than knee-deep, water still hot. The access to the little beaches are short but moderately steep, especially with lots of beach gear or strollers. It also seems to get washed out so watch your steps.

    The little visitor center near the water access has cold drinks, souvenirs, ice cream, etc. They obv. accept credit cards. You can bring your dog into this area. There’s also a little wildlife info center and restrooms in the same buildings. There are also areas for day use and a good sized parking lot near the water access.

    Straight across the river is Jamestown and Williamsburg, which is cool. I think I was told it’s about four miles across. That being said... those are your closest grocery stores and you have to take the Jamestown Ferry to get there. There is a Dollar General near the park, for odds and ends. Just make sure to stop in advance for what you need because you won’t find much in Surry.

    Stopped at the Surry Seafood Co. for lunch and it was ok. Food and service was mediocre, but there was a nice water view from the deck. Was looking forward to stopping for some shrimp to cook that night from Colonial Seafood market but after walking in, I walked right back out. It was so unclean and didn’t smell fresh at all.

    We took a beautiful drive around the plantation. The cabins look great and we’ll definitely try those out next time. There were corn fields and soybeans for miles. Such a great park due to its history.

    Campsites themselves were pretty nice; not too close together. Our site had the tent pad down away from the picnic table and fire ring which was kind of nice. It was really shady, too. Room for hammocks.

    Each site has a picnic table, fire pit, tent pad, lantern pole. Verizon service was great.

  • Gary G.
    Oct. 27, 2020

    First Landing State Park Campground

    Outstanding campground with easy access to the beach!

    We were very pleased with our camping experience at First Landing State Park.  The campground is well maintained and has a knowledgable and friendly staff.

    The drive thru campsite we chose was clean, level, and came equipped with a fantastic fire ring and picnic table.  There was lots of room on the site, and we could have set up a couple of tents toward the back if needed.

    Access to the beach and surrounding hiking/biking trails was the real strength of this location!  It is certainly not wilderness camping, but with water and electric hook ups, we set up a successful basecamp for exploring the region.

    The weather was great for late October, and the crowds were minimal.  We will likely make this an annual trip.

Guide to Chesapeake

Tent camping near Chesapeake, Virginia offers campers a variety of environments from coastal marshes to forested wetlands. The region's mild climate allows for year-round camping opportunities, with spring and fall providing the most comfortable temperatures and fewer insects. Summer humidity can be intense, with temperatures regularly exceeding 85°F and high mosquito activity, especially in wetland camping areas.

What to do

Paddle the cypress swamps: At Merchants Millpond State Park, located just across the North Carolina border, rent canoes to explore a unique ecosystem. "The cypress trees, swamp flora and fauna are amazing. One of my kids caught a gar, we saw a bald eagle's nest, snakes, frogs, turtles, and lily pads everywhere," shares Becky E.

Wildlife viewing: Sandy Bottom Nature Park offers excellent opportunities for bird watching and turtle spotting along the lake shore. Gracie B. reports: "Lots of hiking trails to walk & turtles in the lake!! Plus you can rent boats for a cheap price which we will probably go back to do. It was so pretty & so fun."

Beach fishing: Bring your fishing gear to the shoreline at False Cape State Park. "The saltwater fishing in the area was great. My cousin even caught a few baby sharks," notes Sam M., highlighting one of the unexpected activities at this remote beach location.

What campers like

Remote beach access: False Cape State Park Campground provides a secluded beach camping experience that requires effort to reach. Kailyn U. shares: "We had a wonderful time. It was super windy at the beach but at our campsite under the trees it felt great. Spacious enough we weren't right on top of each other."

Urban nature escape: Sandy Bottom Nature Park offers convenient camping without leaving the Hampton area. Brandon W. appreciates this aspect: "This campsite and park is a ton of fun. There are miles of trails around the lake and through the woods you can follow. It is extremely dog friendly with a fenced in dog park as well."

Primitive camping with amenities: Tent sites at Sandy Bottom Nature Park provide a balance of wilderness feel with convenient facilities. "The sites were located about 1/4 mile from the parking lot down a trail. They were spaced nicely apart and had nice sand tent platforms with a picnic table and a fire ring with a grate," notes liz J.

What you should know

Access challenges: False Cape requires significant physical effort to reach. Chyna K. explains: "Beach side camping or sound side camping. Primitive camping. About a 6 mile hike into the park. About a mile walk to the beach if you camp on the sound side."

Noise levels: Despite natural settings, some campgrounds have noise considerations. At Sandy Bottom Nature Park: "The biggest negative was that no matter where you were in the park, there was significant noise from the highway. Horns honking, sirens blaring, the general rush of cars going by," according to liz J.

Navigation issues: Bennetts Creek Canoe In Campground requires careful planning. Mark N. advises: "The water there does not move therefore is not recommended for filtering for consumption. The scenery is TOP KNOTCH! Absolutely beautiful in the lake which is not well marked due to limited visibility in the swampy environment."

Tips for camping with families

Plan for distance: When tent camping Chesapeake, Virginia area with children, choose sites based on hiking distance. "We're both in good shape, and on bike we made the trek in less than an hour. I rode my mountain bike, and my wife road her hybrid commuter bike without issue. We brought a collapsible 5 gallon jug that I had to ride back to the visitors center (about 2 miles from our campsite) to fill up," shares Tim R. about their False Cape experience.

Consider water activities: Merchants Millpond State Park Backpack Campground offers excellent canoeing opportunities for families. One camper noted: "Our first time to Merchants Millpond State Park was awesome and we're already planning on coming back. We did the canoe-in camping and brought out Hobie kayaks."

Bug protection: Pack extra insect repellent, especially for wetland camping locations. Stephanie J. warns about False Cape: "Bring bug spray--we went in May and the bugs were already overwhelming--including many, many ticks."

Tips for RVers

Limited RV options: Traditional RV camping is scarce near Chesapeake, with most sites being tent-focused. Carter's Cove Campground offers some RV capacity but has limitations. N I. notes: "More of a long term stay but there are a few spots for RV's Laundry, trash, restrooms, picnic table, fire pit (day use only). Mature trees and over all space is very large. Sites are level with some spacing."

Electrical considerations: For those requiring power, prepare for limited options. At campgrounds like Carter's Cove, electrical hookups are available but primarily 30-50 amp connections, which may require adapters for some RV setups.

Alternative accommodations: Consider the yurts at Sandy Bottom Nature Park as an alternative to traditional RV camping. Brandon W. mentions: "This park has plenty of camping spots and also has some yurts that are available to rent out."

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the most popular tent campsite near Chesapeake, VA?

According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Chesapeake, VA is False Cape State Park Campground with a 4.8-star rating from 11 reviews.

What is the best site to find tent camping near Chesapeake, VA?

TheDyrt.com has all 8 tent camping locations near Chesapeake, VA, with real photos and reviews from campers.

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