Best Campgrounds near Rice, VA

My partner and I were traveling to Richmond, we needed a quick place to stop and rest. We reached out the day of and the owners of the property were so kind, accommodating, and understanding. They set us up with firewood, and all the necessary equipment to have a wonderful night under the stars. The icing on the cake was waking up and spending some time with their horses and goats and this really sweet orange cat. The property was gorgeous and the experience was wonderful.

Truly enjoyed this CG. Staff are very friendly and helpful CG is clean. Bathroom rooms are dated (compared to the ones at Twin Lakes State Park near Farmville, VA). The dump station is two-sided - helps on busy mornings when campers are leaving. Spent time touring the civil war sites around Petersburg. Lots of breweries in Richmond - a much needed place as a cold beer was very needed during the extreme heat occurring during my stay.

Absolutely great folks. The produce is excellent. They let me camp on the farm while visiting nearby family. They mowed the field for us, and it was great. MID August and near no bugs. The camping area is the overflow parking lot across the street. It is big rig accessible. But do not try to cross the rail road tracks. The tracks are busy and close but not so much at night. Only 3 trains Sunday night. Thank you Sun Spoke farms for a great visit.

Probably a great place to camp during the fall. During the summer they lease space to the 4-H club that teaches people to shoot black powder muskets for the civil war reenactments. From 8:30am until 3-5pm it sounds like a gun range. It’s not a shot here and there, its volleys of black powder guns (think cannons) being shot all at once. It echos off the water and is the opposite of peaceful. The ranger said it would only be for an hour a day, unless it was a competition day, well for the 5 days we were there it must have been competition. We ended up leaving the park during the day.

The sites are good. Most need lots of leveling help (bring spare wood!). The newer part has a nice bathhouse. The older part had a really old bathhouse. (So old it’s hard to tell if it’s dirty or just old.)

It’s not a bad place to visit. But combat veterans should avoid during the summer months.

The sites are nice. The ones in the newer area (laurel ridge) are close to the nice bathhouse. Both bathhouses have WiFi. No cell service to speak of. (We have Verizon but most of these places have none.)

Nice campground in line with expectations for most Virginia state parks. Verizon service is spotty 1 to 2 bars and unreliable data but with a directional cell booster we are able to get enough signal for our Verizon Jetpack to work

Our site was nice and level. Covered by shade the majority of the day. Playground was decent and pretty centrally located on the campground. Firewood for sale by QR code was convenient. The trails were nice and it was a nice walk to the aquatic recreation park. Access to the aquatic park is free for campers. The bathrooms were clean but the one close to my site the outside was falling apart. Don’t know how the camp store is because it is only open Thursday to Sunday and has almost different hours every day. Overall great campground we will be going back

Spent 4 nights here (during a heat wave, no less) and really enjoyed it. Campsites are large and not right on top of each other, and especially if you can book one of the campsites that are on the water, they really do have beautiful views (see pictures).

Pros: 

Kid-friendly. We spent an afternoon at the splash pad, which is a great way to cool off in the summer and free once you're in the park. I never felt unsafe with my kids running around up to the bath-house or the loop, felt very secluded and safe.

Lake is scenic, we saw fireflies at dusk, it was a great setting for a camping trip.

Everything seems pretty well-maintained. Bathrooms are aging but were cleaned at least once a day, it was fine. There is firewood at every bathhouse you can take on the honor system and pay for via cashbox, which is nice. Campsites are clean and well-maintained.

Lots of lake recreation options (boat rental, fishing, etc.) in or near the park. 

Cons:

Maybe it was just our campsite, which backed up to a large wooded area, but they were the most aggressive squirrels I've ever come across. If we went to the bathroom for five minutes and left food on the table, the squirrels would be there eating it when we came back. And would hover at the edge of the campsite or get into the car if the hatchback was open.

Camp store is....fine, pretty minimal in terms of provisions. But not a big deal because Clarksville is five minutes or so away and has plenty of stores.

Tents pads are all gravel. Didn't bother us but definitely would not want to tent camp here if you didn't have a good high-quality sleeping pad.

The biggest con was that there is no swimming area/beach in the park. You can try to wade in from the campsite but that generally requires scaling up/down some fairly treacherous rocks, and navigating driftwood and rocks in the water. We drove a few minutes away outside the park to find one, but would be really nice to have some kind of little swimming area inside the park, very strange to me they don't have one.

But all in all a lovely place for a camping trip, we all had a great time.

This state park is amazing, it is close to the Richmond metro but allows an easy and wonderful retreat to nature. I was there in early June, and it wasnt crowded, though I can imagine it might be later in the summer. There are numerous camping options here, ranging from tent camping to RV’s to camper cabins to yurts, to regular full service glamping cabins, all in different sections. There is also an area set aside that could be rented for a group retreat or group summer camp, with groups of cabins around meeting space and dining hall area. The full service cabins are new and very upscale; the camper cabins are older but well maintained. The yurts are lovely too. I car camped in a standard site, all the campsites are wooded, shady, fairly private and well spaced. The park is huge and has lots of recreation, from miles of hiking and riding trails, biking and more. Very family friendly, with playgrounds, an incredible waterpark and pool, and nature programs at the visitor center. There is also a summer series of concerts etc in the park. Highly recommended!

The sites at North bend are far superior than other campgrounds in the area. The shower houses and bathrooms are always clean and taken care of. Sites in B and C are the best.

Bike packed in from my house yesterday evening, camped for the night, and heading back this morning. Shower/toilet facilities are clean, good water/power, etc. This park isn’t bad for just chilling out and getting some nature time in, but there aren’t any breathtaking views and so on. Most campsites are on a very slight slope, shouldn’t have any issues if you set up right.

Very basic campground, nothing particularly exciting to do but has everything you need!

I stay here at least once every summer. Has beautiful pool and lake, playground, arcade, and boat rentals. Fishing, hiking, basketball. Very friendly staff all the time. Close to stores and restaurants but far enough out to not hear any noise. Phone service is superb. Clean shower and restrooms. Hot water. Electric tent sites!!! Has everything I live and will continue to go here as long as I’m in the state of Va. def recommended

I am a premium DYRT member and purchased this campsite for reservation this past weekend oct. 14-15th 2023. My reservation was followed by a email giving me a confirmation and coordinates to the location I reserved. Upon viewing the coordinates it shows you at a main road with no entrance…. Skeptical but confident we showed up to the area Irish road which has no cell service and what do we know we are taken to a location that is a gravel side shoulder off of a 50mph road next to us being nothing but dumped trash and woods , no entrance for a vehicle or even a person, No trespassing signs everywhere … after driving around the area on having to back in and out on the narrow roads in order to turn around we found multiple locked gates all stating no trespassing, we then decided to contact the owner of the facility through the number and email provided we were not able to get into contact… turns out we had service the number provided was not in service at all. We got stranded and rained on with no response or proper coordinates. I wish to get my full refund and I do not recommend wasting money on this site .

Stayed just one night on our way to Maine. Nice, well-kept park and very friendly staff! Will definitely come back when we can stay longer. Stayed in a pull-through site with lots of space and privacy.

This is a real gem in the woods . I have no idea why it is listed as closed when it is open and very nice. Call them to book a site as the apps will not let u

The campground needs some updating- there’s only one bathhouse with just 2 showers- if the campground would’ve been full, it would’ve been miserable. Also only one dumpster and it’s on the way out of the campground. BUT it’s a designated dark sky park & the stars were amazing. They also lend out telescopes. They also have nice walking trails & if you like to paddle, the river is nice & flat. There is little to no cell service.

This site had great reviews and maybe it's a lovely place to camp, but I will never know. I booked this site on Hip Camp. The site was for 6 people, but only allowed one car. Since 6 people don't usually fit in one car, I asked the host about where we could park other cars, even if it is off the property so we could shuttle. 

The host, JJ, was unwilling and unable to be helpful. He simply said he did not know where we could park other cars nearby, and the people parking on the public road were doing so illegally. I asked if there was a lot nearby we could shuttle from, he said he didn't know. I asked if there was cell service so I could communicate with our friends once we figured out parking, he simply said no. A host'sjob is to be helpful since they know the area better than I do. JJ was useless. 

Then, I woke up the day before our reservation to see that he had canceled our booking. He said there were branches they couldn't clear before our reservation tomorrow. There was no storm or anything last night, how would he have not known this further in advance? Luckily, I found another site in Scottsville that could accommodate us, and were helpful about parking, so JJ wasn't able to ruin my birthday weekend.

Such a clean and well maintained State Park. Sites relatively level, surrounded by beautiful trees and well spaced out. Great hikes and gift shop at office.

Nice well kept park and campgrounds. Most of the sites looked pretty level. Sites in B are small and mostly have deep drop offs beyond the railroad ties. Sites are a little more spread out in C but still pretty small. But plenty of oversite parking. Both campgrounds very wooded. Beware there are LOTS of squirrels and not too afraid of humans. If you have dogs like we do that hate squirrels they drove them nuts- squirrels running around in our campsite and up trees in our campsite. And while walking around. They also climbed on a small table right next to the rv door and shredded my paper towels! Lots of areas to walk. Campground C had only two clean bath houses with only two toilets and two showers. Which I imagine with the many no hookup sites could get pretty busy.

Not sure why this is showing up as “closed for the season” because we stayed here in June 2023. The “festival” Bateaux and Banjos was underwhelming to say the least. There weren’t any good places to swim besides the kayak/boat launch areas, which as you can imagine is crowded and busy. We stayed in the primitive campground and there is nearly ZERO ranger presence. Our neighbors were noisy, obnoxious, and trashy into the wee hours of the morning, and were up again at an ungodly hour carrying on and cursing. On more than one occasion during quiet hours they woke another neighbors kid, so that kid was screaming all night. If you want to camp at a redneck state park, go for it. Otherwise, stick to a day trip because the river is pretty and there are plenty of picnic tables and grills and shelters for day use.