Best Tent Camping near Beckley, WV

Recent Tent Reviews in Beckley

456 Reviews of 29 Beckley Campgrounds

• 

  Benjy B.

  Traveler

  

  Nov. 14, 2024

  The Outpost at New River Gourge

  Loved it here!

  As a car camper I was initially hesitant about paying for a partial hookup RV spot knowing that I wouldn’t be fully utilizing what I was paying for, but man am I glad I chose to stay here.

  The location is great for getting in and out of town and the park alike, and it was the ideal location for a hike base. In terms of the campground itself, I think it set a new standard for me that’ll be pretty hard to beat. The bathrooms were incredible, and the shower was so good that it was almost annoying (I’m jealous and want it at home now too).

  Checking in and out was easy, and the staff was very kind in accommodating me extending my stay another day on two separate occasions. I’d been most in and out in the dark, but finally on the last day got to check out the rest of the place and it really is super nice with a great aesthetic to match.

  The big kicker for me was the lodge/Wi-Fi situation. As someone camping in a Prius, it can get pretty tight at times, so having a nice big space with great internet to get some work done was a huge bonus. Even in my car, the WiFi was plenty good enough to use, albeit not quite as snappy fast as the lodge.

  All in all, I’d happily come back here again and again if I were to find myself back in the area. Could not more highly recommend.

• 

  licia S.

  Guide

  

  Nov. 14, 2024

  Meadow Creek Campground — New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

  Calm Tent-Only Campground- with Trains

  I’ve stayed here several times. It’s always been a great visit. There are around 12 sites with tables, grills, and fire rings. Pit toilet and dumpster. The place is monitored via videocamera as signed. No RVs- that is enforced. 1 bar of unboosted cell service with ATT with some drop off if raining, but fine for streaming videos. The coal trains run through at all hours of the night- and blow their horns (earplugs). Open year round- a no hunting campsite.

• 

  Kim L.

  Ranger

  

  Nov. 5, 2024

  Rifrafters Campground

  Nearest CG to New River Gorge bridge and visitor center

  Very comfortable and quiet campground. Camp hosts (owners?) and staff are very friendly and helpful. Close to local towns for services. The full hook up RV sites seem crowded, but the electric only sites were spacious and shady. I had a little deck with a picnic table. Even though the land is hilly, almost every site was level. The area where I camped had a single porta potty, but the main service area had clean showers and reasonably priced laundry. Short hiking trails are nearby. A children’s area is available but looked little used.

• 

  Molly R.

  Scout

  

  Nov. 1, 2024

  Rifrafters Campground

  Well managed everything you need.

  Beautiful area, close to New River National Park. Very accommodating staff. Includes wifi, PBS TV, small dog run, small playground, picnic shelter, laundry, bathhouse, firewood, ice,etc. Clean, friendly without all the fancy extras. Reasonably priced.

• 

  Anna S.

  Ranger

  

  Oct. 29, 2024

  Blue Jay Campground — Camp Creek State Park

  Simple but sufficient - great location with miles of trails!

  All 12 non-electric sites appeared to have fire ring, picnic table, trash can, flat parking area. They did vary a bit in size. I was there on Friday and Saturday and there were no more than 4 other sites occupied. I was surprised that the bathrooms had running water! Overall, everything was quiet and relaxing. Some traffic from people driving by, but not bad at this time of year. It was delightful falling asleep and waking up to the sound of the creek! There are miles and miles of trails, I hiked 16 and only encountered 1 couple. The other campgrounds in the park have more amenities, too.

• R

  Rhys R.

  Guide

  

  Oct. 24, 2024

  Army Camp — New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

  Very relaxing spot

  Very nice spot, right by the river with plenty of spaces to hammock down by there. We were lucky and got one of the last spots, there’s only 11. Fire rings with grill, and bench at each site. The ground is great for tents, no rocks. If you’re planning on coming here, make sure and come early. Pit toilets also available.

• 

  Dane J.

  Guide

  

  Oct. 22, 2024

  Glade Creek Campground — New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

  Large isolated sites

  Great place along the river. Low traffic, spots are large and spread out, there is s nice trail (5.6miles). Down side, no tmobile cell service, and a train runs on the other side if the river every few hours

• 

  Lee D.

  Legend

  

  Oct. 18, 2024

  Blue Jay Campground — Camp Creek State Park

  Peaceful now but....

  One of three campgrounds in Camp Creek State Park; this is the primitive one (the other two are a horse camp and a developed one with hookups). Most sites are on the creek, but the road runs right past them. On a weekday in the fall, the road was very quiet, but I imagine that in the summer when carloads of people head to Campbell Falls, it would be a different story and would take away from the peacefulness of the campground. 

  This campground would not be suitable for large RVs, but our campervan fit just fine in the mostly level (but rooty) sites, Obviously, good for tents. 

  There are two vault toilets – one for women and one for men. They were in reasonably clean condition. 

  Campbell Falls is just down the road from the campground and there is access to many hiking trails.

  No one other than us was there on a weekday in mid-October so it was very peaceful and quiet.

• 

  Patrick C.

  Scout

  

  Oct. 15, 2024

  Mash Fork Campground — Camp Creek State Park

  Great Stay

  Stopped here for a quick overnight and this beautiful campground had us wishing we could stay longer.

• 

  Casey L.

  Ranger

  

  Oct. 7, 2024

  Meadow Creek Campground — New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

  Spacious Sites with No Shade

  Nice NPS campground. There are 17 sites, all free FCFS tent only sites. We thought we’d have a hard time finding a spot on a Friday night but it was less than half full the whole 4 nights we were there. Only one vault toilet was open. Sites are flat, large and spaced out. However the trees are very newly planted so they provide no shade or privacy. Quick access to 64 and Sandstone Visitor Center. The biggest con to this is the multi-track railroad right next to the campground. They go by pretty frequently at all hours of day and night and are so loud you can feel the vibrations. But otherwise was a good base camp for exploring New River Gorge.

• 

  Ioan P.

  Legend

  

  Oct. 7, 2024

  Little Beaver State Park Campground

  Super nice

  This campground is situated in the woods, near Lake. Has a good WFI everywhere, very clean and quiet.

• H

  Heather E.

  Guide

  

  Oct. 6, 2024

  Little Beaver State Park Campground

  Nice stop

  Nice spot to stop for a night on our way north - level private spot for our rooftop tent. Sites 38-45 have the most privacy. Check website as we were there during a fire ban.

• 

  Tanner W.

  Scout

  

  Sep. 21, 2024

  Arrowhead Bike Farm

  Great spot

  Great spot and very close to the national park, but site 5 was very un-level.

• J

  Julie M.

  Traveler

  

  Sep. 10, 2024

  Rifrafters Campground

  Great overnight stop very shaded and peaceful

  We stayed overnight on our way up the coast and had a great visit. I wish we could’ve stayed longer. The campground was very peaceful and shaded people were very friendly and the facilities were exceptionally clean.

• 

  Hazel S.

  Scout

  

  Sep. 5, 2024

  Glen Lyn Town Park & Campground

  Campground

  Cute place off the freeway with water access and a playground, 6 mile hiking trail to waterfall and not far from town. There is a train station nearby and the trains are loud. They come by every now and then night and day, they do live music some nights and church gatherings where a man basically yells all night long. Lots of freeway noise so the nightly fee is kinda stupid considering you won't get any sleep if you stay here. The river is super planted so I wouldn't swim here either sadly.. and the showers have NO water presser yet you gotta pay for a bathroom key otherwise there's porta-potties by the dumpster.

• Z

  Zachary P.

  Traveler

  

  Sep. 4, 2024

  Kanawha State Forest

  Not bad

  Overall not a bad campground. Very pricey in my mind, $43 after taxes for 1 night of primitive camping. Got there at 4 on a monday and no one was in the office, ended up riding 45 minutes up the road to call to reserve a spot, they said everything was a 3 night minimum. I ended up booking online for just 1 night. Campground was clean and quiet, directions aren’t super clear as to where the campground is. Would stay here again if I had to, but wouldn’t be my first pick.

• Z

  Zachary P.

  Traveler

  

  Sep. 4, 2024

  Glade Creek Campground — New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

  Great spot!

  Great quiet spot. All primitive, does have a bathhouse with toilets only. Pretty good drive to any stores, so pack in what you need. It is about a 7 mile ride down a gravel road. I did the trip on a motorcycle so the road isn’t bad. I got there at 6pm on a tuesday and got the last spot! Get there early to make sure you get a spot. Very well maintained.

• 

  Susan B.

  Traveler

  

  Sep. 4, 2024

  Army Camp - New River National Scenic River

  2-3 dispersed sites before this campground

  The Campground is small...Maybe 15 sites. It was full when we arrived. Luckily, there are 2 or 3 dispersed sites along the road into the Campground. They are on the river, too. Perfect for an overnighter.

• 

  Ryan B.

  Scout

  

  Sep. 3, 2024

  New River Junction Campground

  Ear Blaring Trains, Gross Bath house, Rocky River.

  THE TRAINS: HOLY HELL. The trains alone are reason enough not to camp here. Especially with a tent. Five trains between midnight and 5am. Every one of them blew the horn well past the crossing. This is not an exaggeration; it sounded like the trains were going to come through the tent. We might as well have been on the tracks themselves. We had to cover our 3yo daughters ears to keep her from getting scared awake during every train passing. The tent camping is closest to the tracks which makes zero sense to me as the RV's would be less subject to the noise and would block a lot of it from reaching the tents. The train schedule probably varies, but I assure you, it's not worth the roll of the dice. I would find somewhere else to camp, especially if you like the peace and quiet(which is a huge part of camping). I know this isn't really in their control, but it kind of is. They do mention that the trains do come through and that the guests don't usually mention it after the second night(probably because they leave after the first night LOL JK). They definitely sugar coat it. However, they need to have that in BOLD RED LETTERS"THE TRAINS ARE LOUD AS F**K". I would've just canceled the trip immediately and camped elsewhere. They need one of those huge sound blocking walls you see along the interstate. The Bathrooms: Bathrooms need work. The toilet seats are gross, the walls have mold on them, the shower curtains are piss yellow. All of which would cost around$80 to fix. Those are the"Campers Only" bathrooms. The"Tubing Showers" are basically a wooden shack with a pull string valve. Looks like something out of a horror film. Not sure why they even have them because the river will get you cleaner than those ever will. The River: The river is beautiful. Great views of the mountain sides. The views and fishing were the only saving grace. I was able to catch a small-mouth bass pretty quickly and missed a few others. The water ranges in depth, but nothing deeper than waste deep really. It's rocky and slippery so it's dangerous and not very family friendly. Especially for young children and older people. Honestly, my wife hated the river because it was so hard to move around. So while it looked nice and fished well, that was about it. Tubing: I didn't do the tubing, but I had family with me that did and they said it was NOT worth the money. The water level was said to be good for it, but they said they dragged their butts the majority of the way. I also think that their base level tubes they rent out are not enough to keep you high enough out of the water. They look like inner tubes from some sort of truck and they are not beefy enough for this application, you'll just droop through the middle. If you do tube, bring your own river tube or rent the premium versions with the bottom sewn in. The People: The people were very nice to us during our short stay. This was a non-issue. However, I think they should worry less about the grass and more about the amenities getting updated(build a new bathhouse building). For Young Kids: Nothing really available for younger kids to play on. No playgrounds or anything other than a few ride around toys and a basketball hoop. They have plenty of room for an awesome playground for much younger kids, but I don't think that's their focus. Conclusion: Would I ever stay at New River Junction again? Absolutely not. For me, camping is about getting away from the noise and my house is quieter than this place and I live on a busy street. The trains are awful for tent camping and I'm sure the thin-walled travel trailers too. Had it not been for the trains, the place would have been okay, but even the good parts weren't that great. I didn't set this trip up, a family member did. I'll never let her live this one down lol. Don't let the positive reviews mislead you. The majority of the reviews are from people there just for tubing. In all my years of tent camping, this was the worst trip I've ever had.

• 

  Kel J.

  Traveler

  

  Aug. 31, 2024

  Army Camp — New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

  Free Camping & Beautiful Scenary

  Pit toilets, but was nice to have something ++ FREE. Super cool river near by, great scenery.

• 

  Tia B.

  Traveler

  

  Aug. 19, 2024

  Stone Cliff Campground — New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

  First come first serve river front camping

  We arrived from Cleveland late on a Thursday evening and every one of the 7 sites was full, luckily we met another couple who let us share their site for the night which was great because they let us have their site when they left in the morning. We were on site 2/3 which are right at the bottom of a large staircase down from the parking lot. We put our tent a few feet away from the water facing the river and our canopy further up in the woods by the firepit. Access to a hiking trail at the end of the parking lot - Stonecliff Trail, garbage bins and bathrooms available, no running water so bring hand sanitizer, Dunloup waterfall ~8 min down the road right off the side of the road was beautiful and a great place to swim, hiked a few trails down to town of Thurmond which is a a great little historical train town with a nice visitors center

  Cons - No picnic tables on any of the sites, carrying our things up the 3 flights of stairs to the parking lot was a little exhausting but not bad if you’re more of a minimalist camper, road access to campground is well paved but is very very narrow and windy so be careful of other cars flying around the bends, trains go by on other side of the river ~2-3 times per night, be careful of glass in the sand as well as bees, sites 2-5 are all right on top of each other (within 10 feet) with minimal trees in between so they’re good for groups but not if you don’t want to be right next to people.

• 

  Pete M.

  Scout

  

  Aug. 16, 2024

  Rifrafters Campground

  Nice location and a great location.

  Rifrafters is a wonderful family run campground that was the perfect location for us to explore New River Gorge NP and the surrounding area. The area is very hilly and the campground is no exception but they did a good job of creating roomy, mainly level campsites. Unlike Bear Mountain Campground, Rifrafters is far enough off of US 19 to avoid most of the road noise. The bath house was VERY clean and the showers had great water pressure and plenty of hot water. Cell reception for Verizon was 3 bars, but the campground Wi-Fi was awesome! It was strong enough and had enough bandwidth for my wife to work remotely while the kids and I went whitewater rafting(go with ACE Adventures, they're great). The details make or break your stay and Rifrafters gets them all right. Good, steady power and water at the site, Wi-Fi, dry firewood, great bath house and clean/tidy everywhere. Lastly, the location was perfect for us. You''re just a few miles from the bridge and visitor's center to the north and a few miles to shopping/necessities to the south. Having stayed here made us realize we'd rather camp near US 19 and use our toad to drive the windy roads into t

• 

  Tomas R.

  Traveler

  

  Jul. 29, 2024

  Gentrys Landing

  Nice but noisy

  The site is nice, tent stakes went in easily, and the shower is close by, clean and has hot water. The people running this are also very nice. The issue though is the highway the camp is next to, and the railroad across the river. The train do use it every other hour and do use their brakes and horns.

• 

  David M.

  Traveler

  

  Jul. 22, 2024

  Cavitts Creek Park

  Not suitable for motorcycle tent camping, wouldn't stay again

  Most campground reviews are from the RV crowd.  This is from the tent camper perspective, particularly motorcycle tent camping.  The roads/lanes in the park are paved, but otherwise where you would ride are lousy for motorcycles.  The "gravel" parking lot from the road to the office and in the RV/electric loop is more like rocks, and you stand a good chance of dropping your bike.  Park your bike on the asphalt drive and walk up to the office.  In addition, the tent parking spots are sloped upwards with some very slick crushed rock and are challenging for a motorcycle.  The office closes at 5 (4 on Sunday and probably Saturday) and there is no campground map posted to see where the tent camping area is. They have copies of the campground map in the office and I suggested they put one on the outside of the office door so people arriving after they close have a map to view.   The tent camping (primitive) is off a paved lane a lot further down the hill past the office.  The sign for the lane says primitive.  Straight up at the top of the hill for that lane is site 6 which is somewhat acceptable for motorcycle parking although you are not going to get good enough of a cell signal there to use any internet apps. You might get one bar to make calls or text.   At the top of that hill, take a left and go up a steep hill to the shower house and where sites 1 &2 are at.  At sites 1&2 and outside the shower house you can get a good enough signal (2 bars) to use internet apps.  The campground does have an open wifi, but it doesn't reach to the tent camping sites.  They should add some directional antennas to extend to that area.  Sites 1&2 are best for motorcycles if you can reserve one of them.  2 has a wide enough turn around that you could easily park a group of motorcycles there.  When you check in you are assigned a 4 digit code to unlock the shower house doors.  If you arrive after hours you'll have to ask another camper if they'll share their code with you like we had to.  Don't bother trying to call the campground number after hours to check in or ask for a code because you'll just their voicemail.  Bring a hammer or find a rock to hammer your tent stakes in because the ground where you would want to pitch a tent is mostly rock.  Being primitive there is no electric at the tent sites.  There is an outlet by the sink in the shower house if you need to charge your phone.  There aren't any external outlets at the shower house.  There is a spigot outside the shower house, but I did not open it to make sure it worked.  We got our water using the shower house sink.  The rate as of July 2024 is $10.50 PER TENT per night.  There is no discount for only using one site with several tents.  We (four bikes with 4 tents) stayed there four nights.  We would have left after the first night, but had paid for all four nights and also didn't want to have to pack everything up to look for a different campground.

• 

  Jeremiah S.

  Guide

  

  Jul. 22, 2024

  Meador Campground — Bluestone Lake State Park

  Quiet, Underrated, and Dated

  This campground rests by Bluestone Lake, which is where the Bluestone River runs runs into the New River. Meador CG is up the Bluestone portion of the lake and the backwaters do have a swampy appearance. The area is gorgeous with tons to do at both Bluestone State Park, Pipestem State Park (short 20 min drive, and the broader New River area.

  The campground is very quiet and well spaced. Our site was one of only a handful with water and electric but there is a dump station on the way out of the campground area.

  The bathrooms and other facilities are a little dated but the campground is very clean. There is an outdoor pool within walking distance of campground but the playgrounds need upgraded. Lots of space to run around for the kids. It rained one day we were there and we took a quick drive to Pipestem and swam in the heated, indoor pool that is included in camping fee.

• 

  Jeff E.

  Traveler

  

  Jul. 16, 2024

  The Outpost at New River Gourge

  Great location and nice updates

  Stayed in the tent area. Site was good. Bathhouse was great and newly remodeled. Had a band and food trucks.

• 

  Jeff E.

  Traveler

  

  Jul. 16, 2024

  Meador Campground — Bluestone Lake State Park

  Decent bathhouse but skunks

  Stayed here with friends and everything was good except the fact that there were about a half dozen skunks. Kinda kept me on edge.