Best Tent Camping near Winthrop, WA

What else can I say than we truly loved Chelan! We fell in love with this campsite last summer and already have our reservation confirmed for this summer!

This RV and tent campground is huge and we got a spot right on the lake, which was unforgettable! We made fires by the lake and had a very private tent site. The restrooms were quiet and clean, and there is so much to do in the nearby surrounding area! Highly highly recommend!

We used a tent site which was in excellent shape. The views from our site were of the North Cascades. Only a short block walk into the heart of Winthrop which has all amenities, restaurants, micro brews, shopping etc. Very clean restrooms, ( $1.00 for a 2 minute shower) laundry available

This is a small, free campground (with pit toilet), picnic tables and fire pits. It's a long drive on bumpy backroads to get here from Winthrop. Four wheel drive isn't necessary, but if you can air down your tires, you'll enjoy the drive much more.

The campground is a the trailhead for Tiffany Lake. I think it's about a mile hike to the lake, without much elevation change. The lake is very pretty and had a nice bench to sit on and eat my lunch.

No bugs in May, but also pretty chilly at night because of the high altitude.

Definitely no cell signal out here!

Nice quiet campground with grassy sites. One loop contains hookup and non hookup sites and waterfront tent sites. Playground, day use and swimming area. The swimming area is overrun with geese and their mess.

We had a tent site up on the hill that was semi-private with beautiful views. Plenty of birds to wake you with the sunrise. I could see how the lake could be busy in peak months but it wasn’t while we were here.

We were surprisingly pleased with this campground. Our site was was a tent site only. The sites are spread out and do offer a little privacy. The sites have a picnic table, fire pit and a bear box. The restrooms a bit dated and you could defiantly tell they need to be updated. Diablo lake is beautiful and plenty of hiking trails to keep you busy. We will be back.

This is one of the most amazing campgrounds I’ve ever visited. It doesn’t look like much but it boasts waterfront tent camping and the showers and bathrooms are always clean and stocked. Sites are relatively small but big enough for two tents, their picnic table, fire pit, and some camping chairs. With two docks for fishing and floating as well as the adjascent boat launch, you’ll be able to play with all your water toys on Wapato Lake! I would highly recommend staying here if you want to visit the Chelan area without camping in downtown proper.

What can I say that others haven't!? Some of the best car camping in the Cascades. The lake is shockingly blue and COLD, but after a sweaty day of hiking is the ultimate in refreshment! Camp sites are close but feel secluded enough. If you walk into the tent sites on the north side of the campground you have some better options if you want to lug all of your gear with you.

Neve Camp is another far off adventure that is totally worth taking; located in the North Cascades not too deep off the thickly forested Thunder Creek Trail.

When planning our trip, we read reviews on other sites where folks thought the trail was boring, but we disagree. It is thickly forested but we were still able to glimpse the icy blue creek through the trees here and there and there was so much more to see! We found snails, mushrooms, wild flowers, all kinds of edible wild berries, trees large enough to stand inside, a rock cave in the hillside, and, of course, the sweet wooden foot bridge leading across Thunder Creek right into the first camp of the trail, Thunder Creek Camp . We bypassed this camp for two main reasons; 1) it’s located uncomfortably close to the trail, and 2) it’s only 1.5 miles into the trail (though not a bad spot if you got a late start and wanted to skip spending the night at Colonial Creek campground at the trail-head) and we wanted to see what lay ahead. We trekked another easy 1 mile before finding signs to Neve Camp. We wandered the nicely spread out campsites until settling on the dope site with the awesome river views from the fire pit/cook area. The tent sites for this camp are located on a small side trail up the hill a bit. They even have a nice pit toilet which isn’t enclosed so you can enjoy the surrounding forest while there. We had originally planned to head out the next morning, heading further up the trail but at breakfast our group of four decided we weren’t going anywhere as we were all in love with Neve Camp! We had an amazing view and sounds of the river to help lull us to sleep at night. During the day we watched all kinds of birds use the river as a freeway to head up or downstream. We saw many osprey, herons, a few formations of Canadian geese, a family of woodpeckers and more small birds we didn’t have names for. Did I mention the berries? The boys wandered the forest collecting all kinds of berries; blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, salal berry, salmon berry, and strawberry. We assume all those berries is why we found fresh bear scat on the trail, and spotted a black bear across the creek from us on our last morning in camp.

This location could be used as a mini base camp to hike up or down the trail a bit more. Neve Camp is also located very near the trail fork leading to Fourth of July Pass.

Really the only remotely negative thing I can say about this spot was that the tent sites were a bit small. We rock a Marmot Limelight 2P and we hardly had enough room to set up our tent! Once we jammed it in the tent site, however, we were good to go and the tent site size no longer mattered.

Alta Lake is a nice, clean park with decent tent sites. We had a site in Loop 2 on the right (on the lake side). It was away from the main area, parking lots, boat launch or store, so pretty quiet. Our site was sweet, it had a trail down to a small open sandy stretch of beach that was basically our own private beach. Took the cooler and a pop up tent and enjoyed the beach all day. We went in August and it was hot, the lake was super refreshing! (photo from WA State Parks & Rec commission)

We stayed at Lake Chelan State Patk and had a wonderful experience. We rode our bicycles, but admittedly not a lot of options away from the road. However, we did a lot of kayaking early and later in the day and had a wonderful time. The water was calm like glass and so clear. We stayed in a tent site which was perfect for our campervan. Although we were next to the boat trailer parking lot, really didn't notice the traffic. Friendly staff and clean restrooms.

General: A variety of different campsites in two sections ranging from economy to basic to popular, with and without hookups, and priced according to peak or non-peak season. There are also three cabins and two group camp areas. 

Site Quality: We are happy we were able to book a basic tent site with our campervan (there were more than a few others with RVs in these sites). Parking was on grass and not completely level, but we made it work. Each site had a picnic table and fire ring (although there was a fire ban in effect when we were there). The sites with utilities had paved camper pads. 

Bath/Shower house: Clean with soap and air dryers. The showers are free but you are asked to not use more than three button pushes. My shower in the afternoon was completely COLD and I am not sure if it was the time of day, the particular shower, or user error. My husband’s shower got hot midway through. 

Activities/Amenities: All things water-based including jet skis, water skiing, kayaking, SUP, and fishing. There is also a boat wash. There are also numerous trails used for hiking, running, and mountain biking. Other activities include volleyball and horseshoes.

Despite my cold shower and the fact that state parks are becoming increasingly pricy (with reservation and out-of-state fees, we paid $ 77 for two nights for a tent site), we enjoyed our stay here.

Stopped to check out Goose Creek Campground which was pretty much empty when we got there, but had loads of trash left behind by previous campers. The waterfront sites were awesome and you had your pick between tent sites right at the creek's edge or some more spacious sites that could accommodate RVs and trailers up higher overlooking the water. IMO the creekside sites are the better ones if you can score them since passing cars would kick up the fine dust in the dirt lot RV/trailer sites.

Disclaimer - I never camped here, but we visit the park all the time during the day whenever we are in the area to let our dog swim and just enjoy the lake.

This place is BUSY. There is no real privacy as most of the sites are clumped together on loops in a grass field by the lake.

The lake is fun - people are always boating (there is a boat slip) and floating and swimming. So if you want to be around a large community, (and don't mind no privacy) then this could be the place for you.

If you are tent camping, there are MUCH better campgrounds in the area that offer more privacy.

a short 3 hours from seattle on beautiful lake chelan is the Lake chelan state park at First Creek. This park is about 10 miles from town and has tent sites that are right on the lake, its amazing. There is a boat launch and large swimming area. because chelan is such a lake tourist town in the summer, do not expect that this is a quiet serene camping experience. But if you are looking to come to chelan book your site early. Also the fourth of july fireworks show is directly across the lake from the state park.

This is a great park and a premium camping location on the popular Lake Chelan. A favorite location for west siders to escape the rain for some guaranteed sunshine in Central Washington.

This little town fills up in the summer time. The lake is filled with boats and all of the hotels and rentals sell out. This campground is a wonderful place to enjoy the area and set up camp. The campground is fantastic and still goes for dirt cheap rates of $12 for a tent site, they also offer full hook ups for RVs and everything in between if you want an outlet at your camp site.

Good news.. you can reserve your spot in advance. Bad news... the summer months fill up a year in advance so book early. I also recommend going in Spring or Fall when the weather is still warm and dry but there are slightly less crowds.

We stayed in site 65 on the marina and beach loop. I definitely recommend this area over the west loop.

We had a great time here. We camped in the tent camping side towards the lake (site 89) and had a decent amount of privacy. There was a stream leading to the lake right behind our site which was beautiful and so relaxing to listen to at night. Only downside was the site is fairly dusty/lots of loose dirt. The kids were covered from head to toe. There is a sprinkler in the middle of the site so we really couldn’t move the picnic table to accommodate our tents better or we would have been tripping over the sprinkler. The site next to us (88) also looked amazing and had a good amount of privacy as well. I recommend booking early. I booked in January (for an early June trip), and it was almost full already. There is no privacy in the grassy spots in the center. Nice swim area with plenty of spots to sit, but fairly rocky so don’t forget your swim shoes. Nice playground and plenty of grassy areas for kids to run and play. Great for families. Everyone around seemed very respectful of the quite times.

We are all familiar with KOA and that the company prides itself in bringing more features to their campers. But many times I have found that comes with a hefty price tag. On some occasions I have been ready to spend it and other times I have to be convinced a little more due to the location. 

When pulling into Winthrop I really wanted to find out a little more about their KOA and if it was more of a hit or miss. Themed much like the other portions of the community in western decor, the campground welcomed me immediately. I found that the rustic them of the stacked fence and the cabin like exterior of the main office was just a taste of the what was to come within the community. 

It only continued with their other offerings. They had many old pieces along the way which would be perfect for taking photos, enjoying a piece of the old west and setting the tone.

 This park offered camping for RVs and tents but also had cabins. Cost was on target for the other options in the community and came with many luxuries which others did not including a store, pool and play area. Laundry was offered at this location as well and they had kayak and boat rentals if you were wanting to go and enjoy some of the many waterways in the area. 

I really enjoyed the spacing of the sites, however many were not well covered by trees and left something to be desired. The gravel roadway was muddy from recent rain and made it a bit sloshy to get to the sites themselves. So while they were nice overall that particular thing would something I would say is a bit of a let down in comparison to the rest of the facility. 

The play area was another area which would be perfect for grabbing a few memorable photos, with oversized brightly colored chairs which could fit then entire family. Additionally they offered a nice outdoor space with patio chairs and umbrellas by the office which was a nice place to stop in and enjoy some time. 

Overall the biggest asset to this campground still laid in their proximity to the community itself. From here you can drive only a few miles and be in the middle of the historic downtown western themed community and enjoy some very unique activities. For that I would say that the benefits outweigh the downside of cost which is between$30 and$50 for tent or RV camping. 

Tips: 

• Book online in advance of your stay if you are wanting a tent site, they are more limited. 
• If you are in a larger rig, bring a detachable vehicle to navigate in town as there are not a lot of places to park larger rigs in the community itself.

Nestled just short distance off the main highway through this area, the Klipchuck campground is remote feeling and quiet. Sites here are beautiful with tall trees and lush greenery. This campground was so beautiful and as the fog lifted in the early morning following a rain it was something out of a movie with the cascading sites lining the flatter areas and also the gentle climbing slopes. 

Despite the nature of this site being semi-primitive you do not feel as though you are without as there is running water located at centralized spigots throughout camp and vault toilets scattered throughout. No matter the site number you select you will be within close proximity to walk to these features. 

Each site is equipped with a parking space large enough for a mid to large size vehicle, with some large enough for larger RV units as well. I found on a quick drive through camp there were sites to accommodate all camping styles depending on your personal preference of size. 

Standard site amenities include picnic tables and fire rings with clear area perfect for tent camping. Garbage collection areas are placed along each of the 2 loops, a great bonus feature not all forest camps offer. 

Pricing was very friendly and could be deposited into a self pay station at the entrance. This is checked by a campground host daily. Additionally the campground host when I was there was extremely friendly offering great tips for adventures in the area within driving distance. 

3 trails lead out of this campground making it the perfect setting for exploring, though the area does have bear awareness signs located throughout so it would be wise to come prepared for the possibilities of animal encounters. I suggest the scenic trail which has some amazing views of the forest and the many features of the landscaping around. 

Perhaps my favorite feature of this camp is the constant sound of the water around you which makes it extremely peaceful. If you are interested in getting a bit closer to the water make sure to camp along the back side of the campground. 

**TIP: **

• Bring everything you will need to this site, there are no stores on property to purchase anything, including fire wood you will need to come prepared!! 
• Consider one of the hikes from camp for a day trip instead of preparing to only hike at a trail away from camp.

Needed a campground with easy access as we were just passing through for the night. Lots of privacy, clean facilities, and plenty of sites for either tents or small RV’s. Easy access to trails, river, and the towns of Mazama and Winthrop which are known for great hiking, climbing, mountain biking, etc. Very quiet, family oriented campground with clean, well-kept facilities. Definitely worth the $12 per night.