Best Equestrian Camping near Williamsburg, VA

We've stayed here pretty often as it's only a few hours from home and near everything in Williamsburg, Virginia. The park is against the James river and theres easy access to the riverside. There's also a large pool during the season with a camp store, snacks. The staff are always great, the sites are level and not too close together, with plenty of shade. The bathrooms and showers are kept clean and the showers are huge! There's plenty to do on the grounds, hiking, biking, touring the plantation, geocaching, and yes, even Pokemon Go! About 5 miles away is the ferry to Williamsburg...its free and usually a highlight of the trip for the kids! You can follow history or ride plenty of roller coasters at Busch Gardens.

Largest State Park in Virginia - nearly 8,000 acres. We stayed two nights and paddled around Swift Creek Lake on Sunday. The staff was amazing. Camp store has ice, drinks, snacks, souvenirs, and wood is $5 a bucket (honor system). Bathhouses (showers separate of restrooms) were very clean. The first campground you come to definitely has more shade than the second loop so if you're looking to hammock camp, pick the first campground. In both campgrounds, some sites are a bit close together and/or close to the road. Tons of trails, some for mixed use and other for mountain bikers, some for horses, and some for hiking only. Great location! Will definitely be back!

We spent three nights here (May 17-19, 2022). This is an awesome State Park CG with wide, level pull through and back-in sites.

There is a small gift shop at the main entrance. The camp store was closed during our stay. We did not make use of the laundry, bathrooms or showers.

Activities include: hiking/walking, mtn biking (three levels of difficulty– wish I brought my mtn bike), boating, fishing, swimming, equestrian, etc. The trails are excellent. The forest and lakes are absolutely amazing. There is so much to see and do.

This is the kind of park that you hate to leave. We would most definitely stay here again (and again). How fun!

The trails at this park are very well maintained. They are designated as hiking, biking, and/or horseback riding, so you'll know which trails are best for your activity.

This park has some of the best bike trails in the state - over 25 miles. Several new mountain-bike-only trails opened just this year. The difficulties are clearly marked as Novice through Expert. They even installed maintenance equipment at the entrance of each new trail so you can make minor adjustments without carrying your own equipment.

A number of the hiking trails through this park are wide fire roads. Smaller paths wind throughout the park connecting the larger trails together. Be sure to get a park map before you start your adventure. This is the largest state park in Virginia and it's easy to get turned around.

If you're into Geocaching, or want to learn how, you can pick up a hand-held GPS from the park office along with a list of the geocaches located in the park. The geocaches are rotated on a fairly frequent basis, so there will always be new caches for you to find.

Pocahontas State Park has a great Nature Center where you can pet or hold some of the smaller snakes, and watch the box turtles wander around. Here you can learn about the local plants and wildlife so you know what to look for out on the trail. There are even craft activities for the little ones. Just check with the park office or the Nature Center for a schedule of events.

For water lovers there is a large swimming pool that is open during the summer months. If you're camping for the night, your entrance to the pool is included in your stay. Or, if you prefer kayaks and canoes, you can put in at Swift Creek Lake for a flatwater paddle. The park has rental equipment if need to borrow gear.

The southern end of the park has been designed for the horse lovers. There is ample parking for trailers and miles of wide trails so you don't have to ride single file. The park includes new facilities for your horses including two exercise rings. There are no overnight facilities for horses at this park.

The camping sites are nothing special. Tent and RV camping are in the same area. They do provide plenty of room for your tent, and include a picnic table and fire ring. Many of the sites are in almost full sun, so you may want to bring a shade of some type with you.

Beware that there is a huge tick population in this park. Be sure to wear bug spray if you'll be out in the woods at any point.

All-in-all, this is a fantastic park for families. There is a little bit of everything for everyone in your family.

Awesome things to see here! It’s been a working farm since 1619 with beautiful gardens and livestock. The mansion and outbuildings are pretty cool as well.

Restrooms were not very clean. Each time I went to the ladies room, the door was propped wide open, and when I went to brush my teeth in the morning the counters were covered in moths and bugs and gnats. Yuck. The showers were ok.

Ice is $3 and you can grab that from the camp host if it’s after 4pm which is when the store closes. It’s cash only, exactly change. Wood is $6 and there’s a metal box - pay on your honor.

The beaches were very nice. You’re on the Cobham Bay vs. right on the river and in the dead of the summer, the water is sooo unpleasantly warm. You can wade out at the very least 100 yards and still be less than knee-deep, water still hot. The access to the little beaches are short but moderately steep, especially with lots of beach gear or strollers. It also seems to get washed out so watch your steps.

The little visitor center near the water access has cold drinks, souvenirs, ice cream, etc. They obv. accept credit cards. You can bring your dog into this area. There’s also a little wildlife info center and restrooms in the same buildings. There are also areas for day use and a good sized parking lot near the water access.

Straight across the river is Jamestown and Williamsburg, which is cool. I think I was told it’s about four miles across. That being said... those are your closest grocery stores and you have to take the Jamestown Ferry to get there. There is a Dollar General near the park, for odds and ends. Just make sure to stop in advance for what you need because you won’t find much in Surry.

Stopped at the Surry Seafood Co. for lunch and it was ok. Food and service was mediocre, but there was a nice water view from the deck. Was looking forward to stopping for some shrimp to cook that night from Colonial Seafood market but after walking in, I walked right back out. It was so unclean and didn’t smell fresh at all.

We took a beautiful drive around the plantation. The cabins look great and we’ll definitely try those out next time. There were corn fields and soybeans for miles. Such a great park due to its history.

Campsites themselves were pretty nice; not too close together. Our site had the tent pad down away from the picnic table and fire ring which was kind of nice. It was really shady, too. Room for hammocks.

Each site has a picnic table, fire pit, tent pad, lantern pole. Verizon service was great.

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