Best Glamping near Shenandoah National Park

tl;dr- We stayed in a cabin February. The park and the cabins are very clean and well maintained. We enjoyed the many trails and walking our dog along the river. We would highly recommend and will come back.

Shenandoah River State Park has a variety of camping/RV/cabin options for everyone.  They have: climate controlled cabins, rustic cabins, RV sites, and tent camping sites.  Great for groups, especially those that have different ideas of the enjoying the great outdoors/nature

And if you, like me, are less enthusiastic about winter camping, the cabins are a great way to enjoy the park with climate controlled amenities.  

Two bedroom climate controlled cabin: Very clean, simple/minimalistic furniture, with kitchen necessities included.  It's reminiscent of a dorm-style apartment. Cooking utensils and cutlery, dish soap, a couple of dishwasher pods, toilet paper, and paper towels are included.  Mattresses and pillows had actual protectors on them and you are expected to bring sheets, pillow cases, and towels (not sure if it's always expected you bring sheets/linens but was true but at least with COVID/our latest stay).  There is a nice big kitchen table to play games.  We did have phone service and watched some shows on our tablet.

Restroom/shower: Very clean, spacious restroom although with a small shower (we stayed in cabin 6, showers may be bigger in others/handicapped accessible cabins).  Included mounted container with hand soap and shampoo/body wash.

Bedrooms:  Queen bed w/ box spring mattress.  I prefer memory foam so it was not my favorite, but it was still decent/firm.  The other bedroom had 4 bunkbeds.

Outside space:  There is a nice space with a picnic table and fire pit.  There are also rocking chairs on the porch of each cabin.  Very cute and a great way to appreciate the views.  

Area: Many trails throughout the park.  We enjoyed walking our dog along the river.

Looking forward to coming back either staying in a cabin again or staying in our camper van.

We had a great stay at Spacious Skies Shenandoah Views in Luray, VA. 

We stayed in a level back-in site(#39) with picnic table on a concrete patio, Adirondack chairs under a pergola on a second concrete patio, clean gravel surface, and fire pit. The site was big enough for our motor home and Jeep. Full hook-ups with 50-amp service. 

Wow, what a view! Sunset over the mountains from our campsite each evening. Who could ask for more? 

The campground is close to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive as well as Luray Caverns and a few smaller tourist attractions including the Luray Zoo and Bear Mountain Zip-lines. 

They have a clean pool and playground for little kids. The nearby dairy cow farm is fun too. 

You can tell the new owners are making some upgrades including improving the utilities and adding wi-fi. 

The drive in requires about 25-miles through the roller coaster of steep grade(7+%) hills. There’s no way around that, you’re in the mountains. Just be aware and be prepared. 

THINGS I ESPECIALLY LIKED: 

1. The best view from a campsite we’ve ever experienced 

2. Less than 20-minutes from Shenandoah National Park and Luray Caverns 

3. Clean campground

Normally we’re tent campers, but this time we opted for the climate controlled cabins of this state park. Cabins were wonderful. Essentially a little house off in its own little “cabin neighborhood.” Kitchen was fully stocked with just about anything you’d need. Only thing you need to bring are linens (because of COVID) and food). Outside there is a large wrap around porch, picnic table, grill, and fire pit. All tucked right against the trees. Rangers at the visitor center were wonderful, and gave our kids a tour of the small animals they kept inside the visitor center. Lots of hiking trails, and we didn’t see a ton of people on them. Good fishing in the river too. Drove through RV campground and spots looked nice with lots of pull through sites and pretty level too. Tent area is in another part of the park. For that you have to park in a lot and take a short walk to each site (though I did see a wagon there for campers to use). We will totally come back.

Nice facilities (shower, bathrooms, garbage, etc.), but the campsites themselves leave a bit to be desired.

Pros: deer wander the grounds, making for some beautiful morning animal encounters. Seems to be family-friendly. Very fair quiet hours. Easy access to a number of great hiking trails! We had a blast hiking the Rose River trail and part of the AT for one whole day.

Cons: Uneven ground all over the reserved site made it so our tent had to be pitched at an angle. The fire pit was strange due to the grilles covering half of it (would prefer to have just had a simple pit instead). Also the firewood we were sold was abysmal; it sputtered and smoked instead of burning cleanly. This made cooking extremely frustrating, so I will be bringing my own (certified and labeled) firewood next time.

Me and my son stayed for 2 nights and the park is very clean but we did have the unexpected torrential down-pour each night.  Bathroom and shower facility are very clean. Must keep your trash organized and they do have the Bear prevention lockers available on each campsite. Less than 75 miles one-way from Northern VA to arrive.  Bugs and ticks are not bad at all. Each campsite comes with dedicated grill stand and wood fire pit with option of grilling as well. We had an excellent time and did some tubing down the Shenandoah River but it was a bit shallow.  Did see some deer and the occasional wild bunny and turtles in the water.  Generally a very nice stay except for the heavy rain.  NO cell phone signal or WIFI available unless you are near/at the Visitors Center.  So BE PREPARED.

Beautiful views of the mountains from campsite. Shenandoah River is right there on the campsite, would be great for the summer months. Tons of trails great for families with dogs or those wanting to get out and hike. The campsite featured some of the best bathroom/ shower houses, they were super clean and well maintained. Each campsite had tons of space and was gravel and featured a picnic table and fire pit. We had electric and water hookups at our site. There was a dump site available. There were several gas stations nearby and we were less than 30 minutes away from Front Royal and the entrance to Shenandoah National Park. We paid$46 a night for the campsite and felt it was worth it.

We stayed at a "group" site D167, which allows up to 15 people and 4 cars. While the campground is very nice, with clean conveniently located bathrooms, the site itself is probably not suited for a large group of people. First of all, it's located in the middle of a large patch of grass right next to other family campsites, so no privacy at all. If you travel with friends you might want to stay up a little longer and have a good laugh around the fire, but this site isn't really designed this way. The quiet hours are after 10PM and it's enforced. Second, the space is really limited, especially if your group members have larger tents. Also, there's no overflow parking, except at the entrance to the campground.

The showers are nice and clean, but they are coin operated.

The rangers are very strict. We had some food related items left on the table (salt/pepper shakers) and they were confiscated while we were hiking. I'm not saying it's wrong, but be aware, because these rules are not enforced at the same level in different places. We ended up with a $80 fine.

Also, since this is a national park, you cannot bring the firewood from outside, have to buy it in the park.

Other than that, we enjoyed our stay. The campground location allow an easy access to many trails within Shenandoah National Park, as well as close by, such as our favorite Old Rag Mountain. It's also technically a part of the NP, so keep your entrance receipt to show at the Old Rag's parking lot.

Make sure you taste blackberry ice cream at the general store at the entrance. It's a local specialty and it's delicious!!!