Best Campgrounds near Stephens City, 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.

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.

My family and I have gone camping all over Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, but had never visited Green Ridge before this weekend.  My son's and I decided to do some cold weather tent camping and to explore the Pawpaw tunnel while doing some hiking.  Greenridge Forest didn't disappoint.  I've added it onto my go to spots for Maryland but not one that I'll bring my wife to (true primitive camping).

The Pros:  

The forest is beautiful, the campsites are large and very spaced out, firewood is bountiful, the area feels very remote.  From our campsite, we could not see or hear the next closest campsite, in fact, I'm not exactly sure where it even was.  All of the sites are primitive sites with only a fire circle and a picknick table.  Many of the back sites require high clearance,  4 wheel drive vehicles to get to. (These can be a cons too). 

The Cons:

The area is beautiful,  but it is a working forest so don't expect a ton of old growth trees and some areas will have been freshly logged.   All of the campsites are primitive sites, and some require high clearance and 4 wheel drive in order to get to the site.    You can't make a reservation in advance, you have to take a chance that there will be a site available.   There are no latrines, bathrooms or showers anywhere to be found and the closest store is 30 minutes away. 

My boys and I all loved it there even though it was only 14 degrees at night.  We will definingly return.

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

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..

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.