Best Campgrounds near Chester Gap, VA

KOAs have a standard formula that you can count on: clean, full RV hookups, easy in and out etc. This one has all that - and more! One of the features I look for in campground is hiking trails right out of the campground. Most KOAs don’t have that - but this one does! Great hiking trail info the hills and woods at the back of the property. Gave me and my pups a chance to run, walk & stretch. Also, many KOAs are right near highways or big roads. Not this one. It’s about 3 miles off highest 81, and no highway noise at all. So peaceful. We will return!

We absolutely love camping here. There are numerous locations to choose from. I wouldn't recommend taking a camper larger than 26 ft in some of the locations.

Easy entry after dark. Sites were mostly level.

Big Meadows Campground, located in Shenandoah National Park, offers a great camping experience with spacious sites and essential amenities. The campground is a popular spot for those looking to explore the park, with easy access to scenic hiking trails like Dark Hollow Falls and other beautiful park features. While there are no electric hookups, the campground allows the use of generators during certain hours, ensuring comfort while enjoying nature. Visitors appreciate the clean facilities, which include bathrooms and a camp store offering laundry and showers.

Wildlife, including deer, adds to the charm, and the nearby Big Meadows Lodge provides a cozy dining experience after a day of hiking. The campground is situated right off Skyline Drive, offering stunning views and plenty of outdoor activities, making it a great base for exploring Shenandoah National Park. The campground is open from spring to fall, with reservations required, and it offers a peaceful escape into nature.

One downside is that the campground closes for the season from late November to March, so be sure to plan your visit during the operating months.

Virginia has the best state park campgrounds. Water and electric. Large sites. The bathrooms are clean with separate shower rooms. Nice hiking in the park. Near SNP. Responsive and friendly rangers.

We camped here the last night of the season (Nov30) and shared the campground with a mix of tent campers, car/van campers, and a few larger units. The bathrooms were plentiful, heated, hot running water, and a utility sink available. Our site had some privacy and some extra due to about 50% occupancy. Showers and laundry were closed for the season but are centrally located near entrance area of campground. Elevation above 3000 feet and plenty of deer! It was an especially cold night hitting a low of 14F. Very happy for the nearby heated restrooms with hot running water.

Not bad for a long or short trip. Only problem is you need to book in person.

Campground is meticulously clean with daily restroom cleaning and trash pick up. Very small campground store on site but a much larger store at visitor center. Nice amphitheater with interesting ranger programs. Busy traffic in park but nice trails are accessible from campground. Visitor Center, gas station, food walking distance from campground.

Best and cleanest campground we have stayed at. Great amenities and close to the national park for hiking and exploring. Luray is a nice little town with some good food options

I was only stopping for single night. I could not access water as the spigot was broken. Was not informed next door there was a outdoor concert that went until 10pm extremely loud

Love staying here for just a night couple small trails around the area not any great views but it is very peaceful in the woods. The only thing is it is next to an off-road vehicle trail and there was a lot of action coming down until about 7 PM. Wouldn’t have bothered me, but it did bother my dogs. 😅

The tent sites are ON TOP of each other. No trees. Zero seclusion. This is an rv resort.

Sites are located less than a mile from the paved highway. We found 5 spots just off the road. All were easily accessible by cat or with a small teardrop trailer.

True boondocking, haul it in, pack it out. Evidence of a cat hole in the site we picked

Sites were quiet at night. Some traffic related to logging activity. Looks like a popular weekend camp spot for locals.

We camped during the week and had nobody else camping on weekdays.

Present! Lytle noise..

And the host are very kind and very friendly, event near Rt. 95, not very loud noise with big tall trees, happy stay!

Reservations are made through the National parks service "recreation.gov" website. Arrived for tent camping for 1 nights, park ranger met me at the entrance to ensure i could find my site. My stay was quiet and the bathrooms were clean and well stocked with HOT water in the private showers. This is a great base camp for getting out to hike the various trails in Prince William Forrest. Firewood is gather your own from fallen limbs in the park.

Reservations are made through the National parks service "recreation.gov" website. Arrived for tent camping for 2 nights and found that my original planned site wasn't very hospitable to tent camping due to the slope, Conferred with park ranger who easily changed my site to a better one with no fee. My stay was quiet and the bathrooms were clean and well stocked. This is a great base camp for getting out to hike the Appalachian trail and the local water falls in the area. Firewood and some camping supplies can be obtained onsite and there is a park wayside store and cafeteria a short distance away (i highly recommend the honey breaded chicken).

Busiest train corridor I’ve ever experienced, with several every hour all night. To add to the noise, there is a one-way tunnel a few feet from the campground. The practice is for cars to stop, blow their horn to announce their presence, then proceed into the tunnel.

I have a 14’ trailer, and it wouldn’t fit into my site perpendicular to the road. I had to pull past then back in so that I was parallel to the road. Ordinarily no big deal, except that the road isn’t a loop. It’s a single lane straight road in. No place to turn around, no way out except to back all the way out.

I stayed here with my family this summer and the park itself is a perfect spot for nature near DC. My son loved the giant playground and full water park at the campground, they even had discounted entry to the water park for campers. We stayed in site 20 which is an easy pull through and had a direct trail to the water park and the full network of trails in the park.