Best Campgrounds near Dayton, VA

We found this campsite well-maintained and just as it is described on the Dyrt booking website. There’s no running water or facilities but as long as you come prepared it’s an easy one or two night campsite. It’s super close (only an hour drive) to Shenandoah NP! Host is super responsive to questions/concerns that arise but it’s not necessary to communicate with them if you prefer the privacy. The site is located off of a road in a quiet neighborhood. Not very well marked but if you follow the directions after booking you’ll find it no problem. The houses as well as the road in the vacinity produce noise but nothing out of the ordinary. We hiked up the hill that the site is on the base of which was a fun excuse to explore/stretch our legs and watched the sunset from up there. Great little spot for our 2p tent! Anything bigger might be a tighter squeeze but you could probably manage with some creativity.

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!

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.

First time camping here in RV. Run/hiked the AT to Hanging Rock. Bath house was warm and clean! Quiet but quite a few other friendly after Christmas rv campers. Great time, just wish the rain would have held off!

Every year we my family does a "friends and family" camping trip.  We always try to stay somewhere where there are a lot of activities and the campsites are spaced far apart.  (My family tends to be loud).   Jess Judy fits this build.

We have camped at Jess Judy at least a half dozen times and I aways enjoy it.  We normally go in August so that we can swim, fish, hike, go tubing, rock climbing or just go exploring.  Our last trip was in late September and even though it rained the entire time, it was still a nice trip.  

Jess Judy is:

Remote - Jess Judy is in the middle of nowhere, in order to get to the campsites you have to drive 3 miles down a gravel road that tends to wash out into the river.   In addition to the access road, there is no cell service with in a 20 min drive.

Small - Jess Judy only has 3 group camp sites and there isn't too much separating them from each other. 

Primitive Sites - Jess Judy doesn't offer any running water, or other amenities besides two latrines that may or may not be clean.  Be prepared to bring in all of you water and be ready to clean a latrine. 

Tent Camping Only - Jess Judy only offers tent camping for groups, works for us but not for everyone.

Lots of Activities - Jess Judy offers a lot of outdoor activities including fishing, hiking, kayaking, rafting, river swimming, star gazing, rock climbing, etc.

In short, we love Jess Judy, but I know that it really isn't for most people.

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.

This was such a awesome campground!! First time ever staying and everybody was so helpful and friendly. He had the camp host come and check on us to see how things were. We stayed at the group 105 site and could not have been happier with that pick. It was off all by itself with the other 4 group primitive sites. Sites were huge and you could arrange and set up however you liked. Really loved that having 2 vehicles and 3 tents we had so much room. Loved the bathhouse being close too. Just a quick little walk/or drive around the corner the showers and stalls were so clean as well. Fire ring was huge too and they have wood on site. We even checked out the restaurant and bar/brewery on site. Everything looked so cool loved the way everything was set up. We will 100% be coming back and do the group site again. ur original plans of going off into the national forest and dispersed camping got canceled so we hated we couldn't do that. But this site the way they are set up really makes you feel like you are still out there disperse camping but with the luxury of a campground being so close. Loved it so much!

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

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. 😅

I love this campground, it’s 5 to 10 minutes from BV, right on the river, primitive with bathrooms, which is fine with me, I sleep in my forerunner with my two dogs, plenty of land and trails, it’s perfect for what I need👍

Less than 10 campsites, all with fire circles and a public bathroom site. each campsite is on the river, very beautiful.

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

My Rv sustained damage from a tree. The staff were awesome but the owner wasn’t. She wouldn’t even acknowledge me or say how sorry she was. Then she had me assigned to the worst site in the park. I have never been treated so terribly. She was only interested in her revenue and not the people.

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..

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).