Best Tent Camping near Olympic National Park

In Northwest Washington, you’ll find one of the most popular parks in the US, Olympic National Park. Located near Port Angeles, WA, this expansive park embodies the best of the PNW. If you want to enjoy camping in some of the best greenery in the country, this is the place you want to hike.

There are a number of developed campgrounds in the park, with just a few (Kalaloch, Sol Duc, Hoh, and Mora) offering summer reservations. With a variety of campsites throughout the park, you can find a spot that best fits your schedule and interests. Nine of these campgrounds are RV-capable, though Olympic has some rough roads that RV’s may struggle on. The best camping near Olympic is in the park itself though there are some dispersed options surrounding the park and a few small cities to stay in.

Best Tent Sites Near Olympic National Park (112)

    1. Elk Lake — Olympic National Park

    6 Reviews
    Olympic National Park, WA
    3 miles
    Website

    "This is a pretty simple camping area along the backpacking trail in the Hoh rainforest.

    The lake is small but lovely and means there is a pretty consistent water source."

    "The water access to the lake was a pain in the butt, and the lake is nothing special (no swim access or anything like that)."

    2. Graves Creek Campground — Olympic National Park

    15 Reviews
    Quinault, WA
    18 miles
    Website
    +1 (360) 565-3130

    "This was a campground that we passed during our time in Olympic national park, and as we checked out the sites we decided we want to camp here. Just the drive to the campground was beautiful!"

    "We stayed here during our trip to Olympic National Park. The campground was in one of the National Park's rainforest areas and felt quite magical."

    3. Lunch Lake — Olympic National Park

    3 Reviews
    Olympic National Park, WA
    8 miles
    Website

    "This is not a campground, but one stop on the amazing Seven Lakes Loop or High Divide Loop backcountry trails. You can also do a one night out and back just to Lunch Lake."

    "We hike the High Divide Loop in 2 days and backcountry camped at Lunch Lake overnight. This was one of my all-time favorite campsites."

    4. Olympus Guard Station — Olympic National Park

    2 Reviews
    Olympic National Park, WA
    5 miles
    Website

    "It's still just as amazing backcountry campground nearly 10 miles into the backcountry of Olympic National Park with tons of spots to choose from and enough space that even in the busy summer months you"

    "We did a 2 night backpacking trip along the Hoh River Trail. We decided stay 2 nights at Olympus since there was still snow pack up the mountain."

    5. Five Mile Island — Olympic National Park

    3 Reviews
    Olympic National Park, WA
    7 miles
    Website

    "Plenty of privacy and picturesque views."

    6. Lillian — Olympic National Park

    5 Reviews
    Port Angeles, WA
    13 miles
    Website

    "We were backpacking the Elwha river trail in Olympic National Park and decided to stay at Lillian base camp for a night. We hiked 4miles into the forest from whiskey bend road and we were astonished!"

    "I wish we would have just kept driving though, because the weather wasn't too good. We woke up and were socked in with fog and rain."

    7. Mount Tom Creek — Olympic National Park

    2 Reviews
    Olympic National Park, WA
    9 miles
    Website

    "But for first backpacking trip with little kids, a good option. The site is very leveled, well spaced apart, super close to a beautiful river, and easy to find shade and sun."

    "As easy as it is to get to this campground along the Hoh River Trail there are surprisingly few people here, most opt to go a little further up the trail to Five Mile Island or even further to Olympus"

    8. Willaby Campground

    20 Reviews
    Quinault, WA
    25 miles
    Website
    +1 (360) 288-0203

    $25 / night

    "Willaby Campground is right on Quinalt Lake in the southern part of Olympic National Park -- a great spot to hit if you're coming into the peninsula from Oregon or Southern Washington."

    "Pretty campground in Olympic National Park! Visit the lodge to shower for $3 with access to the sauna. Easy access to trails for exploring! Quiet and first come first serve campground."

    9. Enchanted Valley — Olympic National Park

    6 Reviews
    Olympic National Forest, WA
    18 miles
    Website

    "It's impossible to say too many good things about the Enchanted Valley trail. Amazingly beautiful river, massive old growth, elk, bears, an abundance of huckleberries and blueberries, waterfalls..."

    "Located 15 miles from Graves Creek Campground on a backcountry trail, this is a campsite that any true backpacker must experience."

    10. Deer Lake — Olympic National Park

    1 Review
    Olympic National Park, WA
    9 miles
    Website

    "Back country permit required. The lake is accessible by a couple of routes. There is a short but steep hike in from the Sol Duc area, so you could potentially do this as a day hike."

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Tent Camping Reviews near Olympic National Park

1502 Reviews of 112 Olympic National Park Campgrounds


  • Amy & Stu B.
    Oct. 3, 2022

    Dosewallips State Park Campground

    Gorgeous location

    This campground is right next to a state park. It’s also very close to a river and lots of woods. We stayed here to see Olympic national park, (I wouldn’t recommend this location to travel to Olympic every day, it was very far.)

    The amenities were nice, bathrooms with warm water (one shower per bathroom.)

    No laundry, no Wi-Fi and both Verizon and AT&T worked with about one bar.

    The sites were level spacious and had a fire ring and picnic table at each. We chose the full hookup option. Firewood could be purchased through the camp host.

    The best part about this day was the surrounding area. Every night, my husband and I would walk to the wildlife viewing platform to see lots of birds, or walk down by the river and see lots of elk and bald eagles.

  • Jenn B.
    Jul. 1, 2018

    Fairholme Campground — Olympic National Park

    Lakeside Camping

    Great backup site if your beach camping plans get rained out. If you can get there early, grab a site on the water. $10 per person, per night. Campground has clean bathrooms, potable water, fire pits, picnic tables and bear boxes for food storage.

  • Ashley Y.
    Jul. 10, 2017

    Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground — Olympic National Park

    Away we go in Olympic National Park!!

    If you camp anywhere in the Olympics let Sol Duc be your home base! Right smack in the middle of Olympic National Park we had access to not only the Hurricane ridge area but were close enough to spend a day at Kalaloch on our way home! The soak in the Sol Duc Hot springs were amazing especially after a hike. We saw some great wildlife and wildflowers on this trip. Sol duc is about an hour from Port Angeles. Happy Adventuring! And remember to practice leave no trace ethics.✌❤

  • Carrie J.
    Aug. 29, 2016

    Fairholme Campground — Olympic National Park

    Beautiful campsite

    These sites are situated right next to Lake Crescent. They are open from May to October and have fairly standard amenities that you would find in other primitive sites. There are picnic tables as well as fire rings at every site. There are tent sites as well as RV sites. The entire Olympic National Park area is beautiful! Be sure to give this site a stop if you want to stay in the park.

  • Bobbi L.
    Aug. 2, 2018

    Heart O' the Hills Campground — Olympic National Park

    Beautiful campground

    A must do for Olympic national park. Cold at night because of elevation and be sure to have a rain fly, but you're surrounded by magnificent old growth trees. Head up to the lookout and take a short walk about to see marvelous view of the north cascades and Victoria on a clear day.

  • Shari  G.The Dyrt PRO User
    Apr. 9, 2025

    Kalaloch Campground - group — Olympic National Park

    Busy but OH SO Beautiful!

    This Olympic National Park Campground along the Washington coastal route is highly coveted, and frequently packed. If you’re lucky enough to get a reservation, or a cancellation (see the Dyrt Alerts), you’ll be treated to some of the best sunsets that the Olympic Peninsula has to offer, if you don’t mind a little traffic noise. 

    Many of the campsites are tucked away under the spreading canopy of trees and moss, and little sunlight filters in. While others face the ocean and have more expansive views of the sky. We were lucky to grab one of the latter and had plenty of open sky for solar power and satellite internet. 

    The bathrooms offer clean flush toilets and sinks, but no showers. The sites all have the typical picnic table and fire ring, but pay close attention to size limits within each site on recreation.gov because the sizes vary widely as does the space between sites. 

    Activities abound in this park of the park, road cycling, nearby hiking in the forest, or miles and miles and miles along the wide sand beach. The shore is quite shallow here so the tidal flats are very wide. Many different beach access areas within a short drive bring you to different types of beaches, some with sea stacks, stellar tide pooling rocks and backcountry trails.  Head to the Kalaloch Lodge for a tasty dinner out!

    Many NPS Park Ranger programs meet at these different beach locations. The Hoh Rainforest Visitor’s Center is about an hour and 20 minutes from the Campground. Also be aware of the traffic congestion at any of the visitor centers in Olympic NP, which can have you waiting for several hours to get into the park. 

    The nearest town with groceries, laundry and restaurants is Forks, about 45 minutes away, but the nearby Kalaloch Lodge served an excellent table, reservations suggested.

  • Lee D.The Dyrt PRO User
    Jun. 13, 2019

    Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort Campground — Olympic National Park

    Not my favorite NP campground

    One of two reservable campgrounds in Olympic National Park, I chose this because we would be here over a weekend and didn’t want to chance not being able to find a campsite. It’s a long drive in so you would not want to arrive and not find a place to rest your head. By late Friday night, the campground was full. There is an RV section with hookups and two other loops with no hookups. Our site(B70) was a bit awkward and we ended up pulling our van in forward instead of backing in, otherwise our heads would have been lower than our feet. This space could easily accommodate two cars if you were tent camping. Our senior lifetime pass was not accepted at this campground as it was listed as an RV campground. However, upon arrival, I didn’t understand why they called it an RV campground. There were no hookups or other amenities that would make it any different than a tent-only facility in the A and B loops. In fact, many of the sites had pads that would not accommodate anything larger than our 17-foot van. The bathrooms were reasonably clean and had soap. No hot water or showers but again, typical of National Park campgrounds. Quiet hours were not enforced and, in fact, the people in Site 65 were loud until 2:30 am. The next morning, garbage was strewn all over their site, an ax was still stuck in wood, and food was left out all over the table, including a jar of honey(I swear I am not making this up). This campground has signs at the entrance and on every site picnic table that it is an active bear area and how important it is to keep a clean campsite. By 10 am, everyone at the site was still asleep, and neither the camp host nor ranger had done nothing to roust/oust them. (By the time we returned from our hike/soak in the hot springs, they were gone but the people who came after had to clean up the site.) The main draw to this campground is Sol Duc Falls and the hot springs. It is over a six-mile hike roundtrip from the campground to the falls and there is a trail to the hot springs(or you can drive to the trailhead and walk.08 mile to the falls). There is an additional charge for the hot springs($15 for adults,$11 for 62 and older; optional towel rental for$3) but it is so worth it to soak your weary muscles after a hike, despite the crowds. The bonus is being able to take a shower since there are none in the campground. No cell service. We would stay here again only if we wanted to visit Sol Duc Falls or the hot springs but it was not my favorite campground.

  • Shari  G.The Dyrt PRO User
    Apr. 9, 2025

    Ozette Campground — Olympic National Park

    Worth the Drive x10!

    We’re not even sure that we should be reviewing this one… maybe we just need to keep it to ourselves?  Cuz, it’s that cool!  But since it's part of the Olympic NP campground list, it's publicly known, so here goes...

    Upon arrival, we grabbed our beverages, our chairs, and walked the short path from our campsite to the shore of Ozette Lake. No sooner had we settled in to watch the evening’s color change than scores of water fowl claimed their nightly roots and an otter swam by on its way into its home in the grass – already totally worth the drive in. 

    This small campground lies at the end of a long winding, but well paved, road in Olympic National Park. Getting there is part of the adventure, but from here one can hike out to the western most point of the contiguous 48 US states, Cape Alava. The sheltered lake offers many great miles of paddling and small boat fishing holes, as well as access to some great backcountry camping spots. 

    We paddled from the campground to Ericson Bay and then hiked the very wet trail out to the Pacific coast, which was a great day trip.   The next day we took the path more traveled out to the coast via a boardwalk trail which will take you  to Cape Alava and you can walk along the beach for miles and miles.  Be mindful of the native territory in this area though and head the warnings.  Absolutely worth every moment!

    The campsites are smallish and most won’t accommodate large RV’s but have a lot of grass area for tents, picnic tables, and fire rings. The toilets are a bit of a walk as they are located at the Ozette Visitor’s Center.  They have clean, flush toilets and running sinks, fresh drinking water, but no showers.  The campground could really use a couple of vault toilets as the toilets are a 1/4 mile away, and it's the only reason we gave this a 4 out of 5.   Trash and recycling is located near the visitor's center as well lots of information about hiking in the area.

    Many of the sites have good to decent open sky for solar power and satellite internet, the mobile phone service was non-existent. Nearby towns with any services are Neah Bay and Clallah Bay, which are both super cool to check out.

  • Eby H.
    Aug. 31, 2016

    Kalaloch Campground - group — Olympic National Park

    Beauty near the beach

    I loved our night at Kalaloch Campground.

    As we made our way up Highway 101, we were able to get a last minute reservation at Kalaloch for the night (which apparently can be rare).

    It is about 11 minutes south of Ruby Beach (photos!) and has immediate beach access as well. There are fire pits, picnic tables, potable water and restrooms. No showers however. Its a pretty decent sized campground with over 160 campsites. No cell service at all which is good and bad (depending on if you need to to find the place!)

    One of the only campsites on the west coast of Washington that is technically part of/near Olympic National park. We loved it!


Guide to Olympic National Park

Tent camping near Olympic National Park in Washington offers a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in stunning natural landscapes, from lush forests to serene rivers. With a variety of campgrounds available, adventurers can find the perfect spot to set up their tents and enjoy the great outdoors.

Tent campers should check out Graves Creek Campground

  • Graves Creek Campground is known for its peaceful atmosphere, with the soothing sounds of a nearby creek providing a calming backdrop for your stay.
  • This campground features a mix of tent and RV accommodations, making it suitable for various camping preferences.
  • While there are no picnic tables or fires allowed, the natural beauty and tranquility of the area make it a worthwhile destination.

Some prices for tent camping range from $25 to $30

  • At Gatton Creek Campground, the fee is $25 per night, offering a charming lakeside experience with walk-in sites.
  • Upper Clearwater charges around $25 for spacious sites along the river, perfect for those seeking a peaceful retreat.
  • For a more remote experience, Graves Creek Campground provides a budget-friendly option with no potable water, encouraging campers to bring their own supplies.

Local attractions and activities to enjoy

  • The scenic trails near Enchanted Valley offer breathtaking views and opportunities for wildlife spotting, including elk and bears.
  • Campers at Lunch Lake can enjoy hiking the Seven Lakes Loop, which features stunning alpine scenery and clear waters.
  • Deer Park Campground is a great base for exploring the Olympic Mountains, with incredible sunrise views and abundant wildlife.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the most popular tent campsite near Olympic National Park?

According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Olympic National Park is Elk Lake — Olympic National Park with a 3.7-star rating from 6 reviews.

What is the best site to find tent camping near Olympic National Park?

TheDyrt.com has all 112 tent camping locations near Olympic National Park, with real photos and reviews from campers.