Close to Seattle but a world away, Camano Island Camping offers a mellow, less bustling, but equally friendly alternative to its busier neighbor, Cama Beach State Park. 

Forest loop trails provide cool, tranquil hiking, while shoreline strolls offer birding, shell and rock exploration and sweeping views of Puget Sound, Olympic Mountains and Mount Rainier. 

Are you happiest in or on the water? Go boating, crabbing, saltwater fishing and sailboarding in Saratoga Passage. Curious about the restored 1930's fishing resort at Cama Beach? Hike the 1-mile trail to check out this neighboring state park. 

After a fun day exploring the trails or cavorting in the water, you will probably want to kick back in your forested cabin, pitch your tent or get cozy in your RV. There, you can cook up the delicious crab you have caught, or your dinner of choice, and enjoy a bit of sublime R and R before heading back to the world.

Camano Island State Park Campground

Great spot for living by the water for a few days. Plenty to do as long as you're into beach-combing, hiking, crabbing, fishing, kayaking, or just watching the water. There's a sweet spot late summer when you can add berry-picking to the activities list. It gets quite busy, but not as overrun as other parks in the islands. This place is ideal for tent camping and hiking around the green trails with pretty awesome views of the sound. If you'd rather go RV/cabin experience, you might be better off down the road at Cama (?) I think.

easy camping by the beach

Camano Island State Park has a beach, camp sites and a hiking trail. They even have little rustic cabins for rent. That would be a fun low key weekend trip. The hiking trail is a little 3 mile loop with beautiful views.

When you enter the park if you keep driving to the end of the road you’ll get to a large parking lot. Drive to the furthest point of that and you’ll reach this beach access. This is a great place to walk on the beach or let your dog go for a swim.

On your way home I recommend stopping at the Camano Island Inn and getting a glass of wine and a snack. They have a big back yard with tables and will allow your dog to dine out there with you if it’s not too crowded. There is a lovely view of the water and you can pick a table on their deck or right on the lovely grass.

Beautiful Spot!! 

This is a fantastic campground with amazing views and a terrific pebble beach.

Beautiful Views!

I was a volunteer camp host for this park for a month. It’s a busy place on the weekends especially. The system in Washington is sometimes showing how overwhelmed and understaffed they are, and this park is so severely understaffed it’s sad. Many folks do not understand how to cleanup and leave no trace. As volunteers, we learned a lot about the area, the fight with the Tulalip Tribe to have the land, the desecration of indian burial grounds, the full sale of the land by a private owner to the state because of a haunting and a family curse... there’s a ton of local drama in these lands. If you’re a ghost nut, this place is for you - ask the campground staff for the history. 

Busy but an amazing view

Campground and facilities were clean. Easy walk to the beach for exploring, which made it a great spot for kids. Good amount of privacy - we could see our neighbors but I never felt like they were too close.

Easy getaway from Seattle

Really happy with our stay. Quiet, great views, humming birds buzzing around. Off season camping, only the lower loop was open.

Happy Campers

This is a nice campground. Bathrooms were clean and plentiful. Showers available and present camp host and rangers. It was a quick walk to views of the water, and there were plenty of walking trails around. 

It was relatively quiet minus the one kid screaming the whole time, god bless his parents and our patience. The goal is to enjoy the serenity of the great outdoors, but anytime you go to an established park you have to deal with people. 

The sites are somewhat private but not very, many have peekaboo views of the water. This site was okay, close to the bathrooms which was convenient. Downside is that there’s a path people take to the bathroom next to it so you constantly have people walking by. People in the site across the way also left food at the water spigot which attracted animals. The camp host came and cleaned it up, big kudos to him for being so patient with inconsiderate people. Other people didn’t observe the leash rules for their dog, which was an issue for other campers whose dog wasn’t interested in an impromptu meet and greet. 

So I would say great park, but since it’s popular, you will need to deal with people who aren’t always considerate.

Verizon worked fine here for the most part. 



Nice Spot on Camano Island

Great site for camping with the family. Only complaint is the shower didn't full drain.

Weekend away 

Has no hookups what do ever but you can have your generator from the hours of 8am to 9pm that a plus and depending on the month it 20 nights stay or 10 nights 

Grateful to found this place

The sites at this campground are pretty close together but you can find a few that have some foliage in between. Luckily since we went during the winter we were able to find a spot without neighbors. In the summer I’m sure it is packed and you’d be very close to everyone.

The campground is close to lots of great trails. The beach is a short walk away and has nice picnic areas and super clean bathrooms. Firewood is available for purchase for $7/bundle. The camp host, Marshall, was very friendly and helpful during our stay.

The one complaint was the dump station was closed and the winter water spigot was not working well, neither of which was reflected on the state park website. Fortunately we were able to use the winter water spigot, it just took a long time and sprayed water everywhere because it had been broken and they were still working on repairs.

There are some sites with beautiful views of the water (7-10 I believe), which I would recommend if you can get them. Overall, nice campground.

Nice trails, decent location for winter campinf

We stayed with several families at the group site with a mixture of trailers, tents, and tents on cars. The trailers ranged in size from 22’ to 36’ and we found ample space for each. 

This site has close access to the bathrooms shared with those staying in the cabins. Peekaboo views of the water between the trees. 

The site has several campsites that branch off of the road through the site which is also a trail. It has a central gravel area for a large group or trailers next to a large field area. There is no kitchen shelter, just picnic tables, fire pits, and a grill. 

The site feels very private but you have people passing on the trail/road, which runs through the middle of camp, at regular intervals.

The park is full of steep hills which can make those with mobility challenges or kids wanting to ride bikes tough. The road to the beach is very steep. 

Bring bug spray as mosquitoes were vicious as well as the yellow jackets. 