Bridge Bay Campground — Yellowstone National Park

Beautiful view of Yellowstone Lake right across the street! Clean and inviting surroundings, wildlife sightings, close to all the geysers. Nice marina and store. Would stay again for sure!

We got what may be the best spot in the campground or world so it’s hit and miss… you don’t get to choose.

Booked three nights, stayed two of them in our van. Sites are sort of level, some are on a hill so will need some leveling.

Pull through sites are turnout style, so it can get a little cramped, and navigating a larger vehicle could be difficult if your neighbors arent courteous and park fully out of the road.

Generator use is allowed between 8AM - 8PM, did our neighbors listen to this rule? NOPE 5AM loudest generator on the planet was started up right across the road from us. Staff did nothing, even though it ran until 9am.

Other than this the campground was reasonably quiet. 

We opted not to stay the last night we had booked here because of how much smoke there was from people and their campfires. You can visibly see it roll of the hill and onto the lake come dusk and if you open your door its almost instant campfire smell/smoke in the RV (Van). Stayed at Fishing Bridge the rest of the trip because no campfires!

Stayed here for four nights this past July with my buddy and brother. It was an amazing trip that left us with life long memories. Tucked off the main loop, and right across the street from Lake Yellowstone, this area was packed full of wildlife. There is a boat launch, where they do AM/PM tours, rentals, etc. They also have fishing gear and a camp store. My only gripe would be they definitely pack the campsites in here, and in the summer you want to ensure you have a shaded spot as the sun can beat down on you pretty well. I would highly recommend this campground.

Nice site inside the park. Easy to find/ only stayed one night

The well established and well managed campground is nicely located within Yellowstone National Park. It has toilet block and pot washing facilities on each loop and some welcome elk friends who remained on site pretty much throughout both of our stays there.

Knocked a point off as:

   - our second stay on the quieter I loop had us pitched on a site which was quite uneven. I suspect a smaller tent may have found a flatter spot.

   - lots of people have campfires so it does smoke up a bit. I love the campfire smell but do worry that it may have a negtive impact on local wildlife. Driving towards camp in the evening and it's visible from well before arriving at camp so it's invasive in my opinion.

Would recommend the outer loops as the first areas do look a bit crowded and lack some of the privacy that I quite enjoy on a campsite.

No shower facilities nor wifi for those who want them, though if you're a Verizon customer you're about 5 minutes driving away from a few decent signal spots (tested on an iPhone 14 so may not be as successful on other devices. T-Mobile sucks and barely had SOS throughout Yellowstone so your loved ones will appreciate you more during your stays if you have Verizon).

We had 6 ELK come through at different times. One ate the food off the neighbors table. Very cool. Bathrooms are flush toilets and clean. Definitely recommend

We loved our time here!!

This was by far our favorite campground in the park. Amazing views of the lake and sunset, wildlife everywhere, and it’s very quiet!

The campground itself was cramped and packed, but bison and elk roamed through each day, and it was just a place to lay our heads at night. The bathrooms were clean. We found it to be a great central location from which to explore the splendors of Yellowstone.

LOUD campground with no help to quiet folks down. This is a largely tent campground and drunks until 2am can really mess up a trip. The tent site we had was right out in the hot sun with no shade or privacy. Ask for the wooded areas! It was a wonderful location with lots of wildlife and very clean! A bull elk tried to eat our clothes which was funny. A Bison stayed behind our tent the entire time too. The showers are not too far and very clean.

Let’s start this with the staff at check in… Being the unprepared person I am, I had no reservation. Luckily, the staff there got me a fantastic spot with no problems at all. Generally, I have a little issue because I like to hammock camp and most grounds require a tent be set up at least. They sorted me right out, with a view.

The grounds were well kept, bathrooms clean, and even had bear boxes for each site. Hard to complain. I do wish they had shower facilities on the grounds but I found some a few miles away. Felt super safe and confident in my stay there. I definitely recommend it for anyone visiting YNP.

Great location, plenty of facilities, elk sightings everywhere (sometimes near your setup). Big shared dishwashing sink.

The facilities and being close to the wildlife was very nice. However the sites are very close together. And the site I got was very difficult to back into with my trailer due to it being a one way road and another camper having their vehicle parked on the side of the road. Even though when booking the site it said to make sure that the length of site you require is totaled with your vehicle and trailer/rv. Not just the rv/trailer. My site was extremely close to other sites and felt like I had to whisper during quite time to not bother them.

The furthest loop (loop H) is one mile from the water. A little frustrating to end up there when you plan on being on the water. However, that loop is thick forest and very pretty. Some of the lower loops are completely exposed. I ended up moving down to loop A in the trees and it was great. Lots of elk and bison here. Beware of their poor AIS procedures

Overall this campsite is huge with over 45 spots. However the walk intent sites are very private and nestled in the forest. Several spots were not flat but overall very gorgeous.

Big centralized campsite over 400 sites. We had a pop-up RV and were put on a very slopey site that was a bit hard to flatten. Nice bathrooms though with flush toilets and running water. Elk and bison in the campsite. Definitely lots of people there but you didn't feel overcrowded.

This campground is meh. I guess a lot depends on the loop and spot you are in. The place is gigantic. The reservation system does not allow you to book a specific spot, but you’d be well advised to call Xanterra and ask for a spot in one of the further loops (E or higher). Upper part of the loops (away from the road) generally have more trees. Avoid loop A like a plague. It’s basically an RV park, campground staff lives there and it has this super industrial feel about it. We stayed in loop B and after a long back and forth with the check in ladies got a spot surrounded by tent campers (we had a tent) rather than RVs and some shade. We were told no spots were available in the tent only loops.

The location is pretty convenient though, the proximity to the lake is nice. Lots of animals come to the campground. Elk grazed around our table, a bison napped right by our tent and a huge fox checked it out one morning. This is was not my first time in YSNP, but the first time i camped inside the park and I absolutely enjoyed the experience. Do I wish the campground experience was more intimate? Yeah. But my original reservation was canceled due to the flood so we made the most of it.

We leaned quickly that you experience here largely depends on luck. Night 1 of 4, we were in loop C. A soulless, treeless field engulfed in the smoke of 1,000 fires. The following day my husband asked if there might be any sites less bad, and they moved us to H Loop. A lovely wooded loop far from the big field. Some sites in the back loops even have lake view. Bathroom was nice. Bear sink very nice. Not all sites have bear boxes, but we were fine without. Everyday, we left and felt awful for the hundreds of people baking in the sun in loops A,B, C, D. Generators can be loud here. Our neighbors used theirs much of the day.

Uninspired campground layout with one site directly on top of another except perhaps in loops E & F in the trees. That said loops E & F directly overlook the main south Yellowstone loop road with cars whizzing by. 

Many loops closed due to bear activity. Staff not helpful if you don't like your site.

Loop D is situated in full sun except for a very few sites at top. site first assigned to me in Loop F overlooks the Yellowstone Loop highway as well as the lake. but the Highway??? on a camping trip? Loops E & F have trees and shade but also massive tree roots. See photo.

Maintenance by the park service is negligible with many sites showing excessive wear.

Avoid this campground at all costs.

This campground is a mixed bag. We had a great site on the far side of Loop H. It was a small pull out style pad, but ample site area up to the forest. The lower loop area looked less desirable. There is a general store at the marina and you can take lake tours and rent boats.

This campground have good and bad sites. Up top above loop D is forested and very nice. While below most of the sites are in the open with no shade or trees. Elk visited day and night.

In the heat of the day when I just wanted to hang out I took my hammock and road over to the day use area at Gull Point and hung out there til it cooled off.

On our trip, we have visited six national parks. Bridge bay campground has to rank at the bottom. Very little privacy. The sites are not level. Small sites. And to top it off, no showers. Would avoid at all costs.

Convenient central location in eastern side of Yellowstone, but lots of sites stacked up next to each other with not much space or privacy.  Campground is on a hill so most sites are not level

Pretty much what you’d expect for a primitive drive-up tent only campsite. Fire ring and picnic table. There’s well maintained restrooms with household AC outlet, water fountain with faucets and dishwashing area. The only issue I saw was that my site and a few others had no bear box. I stored my food and cooking gear in my car, but if you’re backpacking or on a motorcycle or bike, you will definitely want to ask the rangers for a site with a bear box

Our site was spacious. A lot of wildlife around. The bathrooms were nice.

Very concentrated campsite, as expected, but we were in Yellowstone!

We were confused on how getting a spot worked, it’s assigned at check in. We got lucky and got a desirable spot in J loop. Only downside is it was on a slant, tent included. Bathroom was nice and clean, hard to wash dishes in the sink but otherwise a comfy night

Very strict about keeping stuff put in bear boxes(for good reason) but they don’t supply enough of them. It appears you get 1 per 10 spots. Very strict on the check in time. So we had to drag our trailer all over Yellowstone to waste time til we could check in. However, we were lucky to snag two nights the morning of due to cancellation. Bathrooms were pretty clean but it sucked that the showers in the park were shut down because of covid. Wouldn’t you want your guests to be clean?

We got a nice tent site in the park campground. Our site was small and there are many neighboring campsites. There was a nice bathroom with hot water and toilets. There was also water and dumpsters.