Hiking

Cedar Valley Cottage Resort

On the scenic Scugog River in the City of Kawartha Lakes, Ontario—in the rolling agricultural and cottage-country landscape east of Lindsay where the Trent-Severn Waterway's interconnected lakes, rivers, and locks create one of the most celebrated inland boating corridors in eastern Canada—Cedar Valley Cottage Resort, a Summerhill Resorts property, offers two and three-bedroom seasonal cottages with full kitchens and comfortable furnishings alongside premium waterfront docks, a multi-sports court with road hockey, pickleball, tennis, and basketball, direct fishing and boating access from the Scugog River, and the immediate proximity to the Kawartha Lakes region's trails, provincial parks, and the historic town of Lindsay that makes this cottage-country resort the complete base camp for a Kawartha summer season from May through October. The river is at your dock. Lindsay is minutes away. Cedar Valley's two and three-bedroom cottages provide the family-scale accommodation that the Kawartha Lakes seasonal market demands—full kitchens for self-catering the week, comfortable furnishings for the evening post-lake gathering, and the private cottage character that distinguishes a cottage-country stay from a standard campground experience. The premium Scugog River docks allow guests with their own boats to arrive by water or launch directly onto the river for the fishing, the leisurely river exploration, and the Trent-Severn Waterway lock system navigation that makes the Kawartha waterway network one of Ontario's great boating destinations. The multi-sports court's road hockey, pickleball, tennis, and basketball keep the active family and the competitive adults equally occupied during the dry-weather hours between lake sessions. The Kawartha Lakes region—City of Kawartha Lakes encompasses the former Victoria County's interconnected municipalities, conservation areas, and provincial parks in a landscape shaped by Precambrian Shield bedrock, glacial lakes, and the rivers that connect them—provides the fishing, boating, and nature experience that the Ontario cottage tradition has organized itself around since the 19th century. The Scugog River connects the resort directly to the Trent-Severn Waterway, the 386-kilometer engineered waterway that links Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay at Port Severn through 44 locks and 6 lakes in the most complete inland boating route in Ontario. Lindsay, minutes from the resort, provides the essential Kawartha Lakes town infrastructure—the farmers market, the historic downtown shopping, the medical and grocery services, and the community events calendar that the City of Kawartha Lakes anchors in its largest urban center. The Petroglyphs Provincial Park, 45 miles north near Woodview, protects the largest concentration of Indigenous petroglyphs in Canada—the 900-plus carved figures in the crystalline limestone outcropping are among the most significant sacred sites in Ontario's First Nations heritage. Fenelon Falls, Bobcaygeon, and the other Kawartha Lakes waterfront communities provide the day-trip variety that the cottage-country touring circuit builds around locks, ice cream shops, and antique stores along the Trent-Severn. Cedar Valley Cottage Resort operates seasonally from May 1 through October 31 in the Kawartha Lakes' temperate Ontario summer climate, with June through Labour Day the peak cottage season and the September and October shoulder weeks offering the region's most comfortable temperatures, the autumn walleye and bass fishing peak, and the hardwood forest's fall color display that the Kawartha uplands produce in the October weeks before closing. Reserve your cottage at Cedar Valley and let the Scugog River, the Trent-Severn Waterway, and the Kawartha Lakes' complete cottage-country experience make Ontario's inland lake district the summer destination the resort's river location promises.

from $167/night

Scugog Landing Cottage & RV Resort

Port Perry, Ontario, is one of the best-preserved Victorian main streets in Durham Region, an hour northeast of Toronto at the head of Lake Scugog in the southern edge of cottage country. Scugog Landing Cottage & RV Resort occupies 120 acres of rolling Ontario landscape incorporated into the Trent-Severn Waterway just ten minutes from Port Perry's waterfront, combining genuine cottage country character with resort infrastructure that accommodates both RV travelers and guests arriving without their own accommodation. The resort offers a range of RV sites with full services alongside cottage and cabin rental options that give guests the Lake Scugog experience without requiring property ownership on the water. The grounds are expansive and thoughtfully laid out, with the lake providing direct waterfront access for boating, fishing, and paddling from the resort's own shoreline. At 120 acres, the scale ensures that even fully booked summer weekends feel uncrowded and spacious — a quality that resorts on smaller properties simply cannot replicate. Pets are welcome throughout. Lake Scugog and the Trent-Severn Waterway form the twin defining features of the surrounding landscape: flat, mirror-calm water, marshland edges alive with waterfowl, and the measured pace of a historic canal system that has been drawing Ontario cottagers for generations. The Trent-Severn is one of Canada's most beloved recreational waterways, stretching 386 kilometers through Ontario's lake country and providing a boating route of genuine historical and natural significance. Lock 26 operates nearby, and watching cruisers and sailboats work through the lock mechanism is a quintessentially Canadian cottage-country experience that visitors from outside Ontario rarely anticipate and consistently remember. Great blue herons, Canada geese, and various duck species populate the Lake Scugog shoreline through the warm-weather months, giving the waterfront an animated natural quality that persists from dawn through evening. The Kawartha Lakes region surrounding Port Perry combines agricultural countryside with lakeside scenery in a way that feels distinctly and authentically Canadian. Port Perry's Victorian downtown rewards a morning of exploration: boutiques, galleries, bookstores, cafés, and antique shops line Queen Street toward the Lake Scugog waterfront, and the Boathouse Grill is a local institution for lakeside dining worth reserving. The Great Blue Heron Casino in Port Perry offers evening entertainment just minutes from camp. The summer months bring the Highland Games, Dragon Boat Races, and StreetFest to the Port Perry community, layering festival energy on top of the already-rich outdoor and culinary calendar. Scugog Landing operates through the Ontario camping season, with summer bookings — especially for waterfront cottages and preferred RV sites — filling months in advance given the resort's proximity to the Toronto metropolitan area. Friday-through-Sunday availability is always limited during peak summer months; longer stays of a week or more offer the best chance at securing preferred positions on the water. The resort's established community of returning guests gives Scugog Landing a warm, familiar character that first-time visitors tend to notice within the first day of settling in.

from $41/night

Woodland Park

3 RV Sites, 10 Tent Sites

At Woodland Park in Sauble Beach, Ontario—on the Bruce Peninsula where Lake Huron's freshwater coast produces the seven-mile continuous natural sand beach that makes Sauble Beach the most visited freshwater beach community in Canada, a short walk from the campground's entrance—Woodland Park provides more than 770 campsites including 155 overnight and transient sites, 575 seasonal sites, and 20 tent sites, alongside an indoor heated pool and hot tub, two playgrounds, supervised children's activities, a recreation center, beach access, boat docks, boat ramp, a dog park, and the complete amenity infrastructure that a 770-site campground in one of Canada's most popular Lake Huron beach communities develops when the summer season fills to capacity with the Ontario camping families who have been making Sauble Beach a generational tradition for decades. The seven-mile beach, the indoor pool, and the supervised children's programming together define what families return to Woodland Park for year after year. All overnight and transient sites at Woodland Park include a large cement patio, picnic table, and fire ring on paved roads, with free cable television at every site. The paved road and cement patio infrastructure provide the clean, durable site surface that a 770-site property with high summer turnover requires to maintain the quality standard that repeat-visitor families arrive expecting. Clean washrooms and showers distributed through the property serve the hygiene infrastructure at the site density the campground maintains. Free WiFi provides the connectivity. Two- and three-bedroom trailer rentals—stocked with dishes, plates, pots, pans, glasses, cutlery, microwave, toaster, coffee maker, and television with free cable—serve the families who want the Sauble Beach camping experience without bringing their own equipment, providing the fully outfitted domestic setup that makes a week at the beach practical regardless of the gear situation at home. Sauble Beach's seven-mile freshwater sand beach—a short walk from Woodland Park's gate—is the largest and longest freshwater beach in Canada and one of the longest natural sand beaches in North America, stretching in a continuous arc of clean quartz sand between the Lake Huron shoreline and the beach communities that have grown up behind it since the early 20th century when the Bruce Peninsula's sand beaches became accessible by road. The lake's shallow, gradually sloping sandy bottom provides the safest swimming conditions in any large Canadian beach community, and the clear, freshwater character eliminates the ocean beach concerns that parents with young children at saltwater beaches manage. The Bruce Peninsula extending north from Sauble Beach contains some of the most ecologically significant and visually dramatic natural landscapes in Ontario: the Bruce Peninsula National Park's Georgian Bay shoreline, the Fathom Five National Marine Park's shipwrecks and clear-water diving, and the Niagara Escarpment's limestone cliffs and alvars that create the specific karst terrain that supports rare orchids and the migratory birds that use the peninsula's narrow land bridge as a concentration point during fall migration. Woodland Park is open seasonally through Ontario's summer camping calendar from May through October. Sauble Beach's peak season runs from Canada Day weekend in July through the August civic holiday when the beach fills with the Ontario cottage-and-camping population that converts the seven-mile shore into the most socially animated freshwater beach scene in the province. Reserve transient sites well in advance for July and August, claim the patio space on arrival, and let Lake Huron's seven-mile sand beach earn the Sauble Beach reputation that Ontario families pass from parents to children as reliably as any summer tradition in the province.

from $40/night

O'Reilly Lake Resort

9 RV Sites, 5 Cabins, 17 Tent Sites, 3 Cottages

At 1091 O'Reilly Lake Lane in Mountain Grove, Ontario—in the Township of Central Frontenac where the Canadian Shield's ancient granite and the spring-fed lakes of the Frontenac Axis create the cottage-country landscape that the rural communities between Kingston and Haliburton have built their outdoor recreation identity around—O'Reilly Lake Resort, a Summerhill Resorts property, offers 3,500 feet of beautiful waterfront on O'Reilly Lake, a small spring-fed lake teeming with fish and featuring a small private forested island, alongside paddleboards, kayaks, pedal boats, canoes, life jackets, and hydro-bikes for cycling across the lake, an inflatable water playground, a jumping pillow, a playground, and a camp store stocked with ice, firewood, snacks, and small groceries in a pet-friendly resort whose spring-fed lake character—the clarity, the fish population, and the private island visible from the waterfront—creates the complete Canadian Shield lake experience in the Frontenac Axis's most secluded cottage-country terrain. The lake is spring-fed. There's a private island. The water toys are included. Three thousand five hundred feet of waterfront on O'Reilly Lake—the spring-fed, fish-rich lake whose clarity and forested margins create the aesthetic that the Frontenac Axis's granite-and-lake landscape produces at its best—provide the natural centerpiece for the resort's water recreation. Paddleboards, kayaks, pedal boats, canoes, and life jackets are available for guest use, and the hydro-bikes—the pedal-powered watercraft that cyclists operate across the lake's surface—provide the distinctive water recreation alternative that distinguishes O'Reilly Lake from the standard paddle-only cottage-country resort. The inflatable water playground and jumping pillow create the energetic water recreation for the younger guests whose enthusiasm for the lake needs a structured outlet beyond the canoe. A camp store with ice, firewood, snacks, and small groceries handles the daily provisioning without requiring the drive to Mountain Grove's limited commercial infrastructure. Mountain Grove sits in the Township of Central Frontenac in Frontenac County, in the rural Shield community on County Road 38 between Sharbot Lake and Arden in the granite outcrop and mixed-forest landscape that the Frontenac Arch's geological connection between the Adirondacks and the Laurentian Shield creates across southeastern Ontario. The Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve—a UNESCO-designated biosphere encompassing the Thousand Islands and the Frontenac region—protects the wildlife corridor that the granite ridges, spring-fed lakes, and forested wetlands of Central Frontenac sustain for wolves, black bears, moose, and the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence forest community's full species composition. Frontenac Provincial Park, 30 miles south near Sydenham, provides 6,000 hectares of the most remote backcountry canoeing and camping in southeastern Ontario—the park's 50-plus interior lakes connected by portage routes create the classic Canadian Shield paddle experience that the provincial park system protects without road access to the backcountry campsite positions. Kingston, 60 miles south on Highway 38 and Highway 401, provides the regional urban infrastructure, the Royal Military College, Queen's University, and the Fort Henry National Historic Site's living history interpretation of the 1812-era limestone fortification that overlooks the St. Lawrence. O'Reilly Lake Resort operates seasonally through the Ontario summer and early fall, with the Victoria Day weekend in late May through the Thanksgiving weekend in October covering the primary open period and the summer months from late June through Labour Day delivering the warmest lake conditions for swimming and the water playground. The late summer bass and walleye fishing on O'Reilly Lake, the spring bass opener in late May, and the loon observation that the spring-fed lake's clear water and forested margins support create the fishing and natural history activity across the season. Reserve your lakefront site at O'Reilly Lake Resort and let the spring-fed lake, the hydro-bikes, the private island view, and the Frontenac Shield's ancient granite landscape deliver the cottage-country Ontario experience that the Summerhill network's most secluded property provides.

Tiny Village Bon Echo

1 RV Site, 6 Tent Sites

Tiny Village Bon Echo offers a one-of-a-kind glamping experience in the Canadian Shield country of Ompah, Ontario — a short drive from Bon Echo Provincial Park, where the Canadian wilderness reaches its most dramatically scenic expression in the granite cliffsides, clear lakes, and ancient forest of the Madawaska Highlands. For guests seeking a uniquely designed nature retreat far from the ordinary campground, Tiny Village Bon Echo delivers an experience that begins with the accommodations themselves. Ravine Domes, Forest Villas, treehouses, and cozy cabins connect guests to the landscape in ways a conventional campsite cannot match — each unit positioned and designed to deepen the sense of immersion in the surrounding Canadian Shield forest. A Ravine Dome's built-in net hammock and panoramic natural views make sleep itself an event. Forest Villas bring three connected cabins among the trees onto a massive shared deck, where the trails to the kayak launch begin practically at the door. On-site amenities include a beach, waterfall, swimming pool, hiking trails, modern showers, a general store, propane, and dump station services, with internet available for guests who need to stay connected. Tiny village bon echo prices reflect the property's unique glamping positioning and the quality of the designed accommodations. The Canadian Shield geology surrounding Tiny Village Bon Echo is one of the most ancient and visually compelling landscapes in North America — Precambrian granite sculpted by glaciers into the lake-studded, forest-covered terrain that stretches across Ontario's vast interior. The clarity of the lakes, the silence of the forest, and the quality of the night sky in this remote part of the province make the Bon Echo experience genuinely restorative in ways that busier outdoor destinations cannot replicate. Bon Echo Provincial Park, a short drive away, is the defining natural landmark of the region — home to Mazinaw Lake and the 100-meter Mazinaw Rock, one of the largest collections of Ojibwe pictographs in Canada, with over 260 Indigenous paintings on the cliff face accessible by canoe or the park's interpretive ferry service. The rock's sheer scale — rising nearly 100 meters directly from the lake's surface — is among the most arresting natural spectacles in Ontario, and the ferry ride along its base provides a perspective impossible to replicate from the shore. Canoeing, kayaking, and swimming on Mazinaw Lake fill a full day at the park. Tiny Village Bon Echo is open through the Ontario camping season, with summer delivering peak conditions for lake swimming, paddling, and the full outdoor recreation lineup. Book domes and treehouses well in advance — demand for the most distinctive units consistently outpaces availability, and tiny village bon echo photos simply don't prepare guests for the experience of waking up inside the Canadian Shield at its most beautiful.

from $40/night

Cherry Hill Campground

12 RV Sites, 1 Cabin, 33 Tent Sites, 4 Glamping Sites

Situated directly across the road from Darien Lake Theme Park in Darien Center, New York, Cherry Hill Campground occupies one of the most strategically positioned campsites in western New York—offering lush, shaded tent and cabin sites with immediate proximity to one of the region's most complete family entertainment complexes while maintaining the rustic, natural character that distinguishes a genuine campground experience from a resort parking lot. The campground's tree canopy and open meadow spaces give it a self-contained outdoor character that serves guests equally well whether they spend their days at the theme park across the street or entirely within Cherry Hill's own wooded grounds. Shaded campsites are individually appointed with picnic tables and fire rings, and the campground's cabin inventory provides a covered lodging option for guests who want the campground environment without tent setup. Large open areas on the property support a recreational program built around group games—volleyball nets, horseshoe pits, and tetherball courts give families with children an active outdoor option that functions as a natural complement to the more structured entertainment available at Darien Lake. A general store, firewood sales, clean restrooms and showers, and walking trails through the wooded property round out the on-site amenity picture in a format consistent with the campground's straightforward, nature-first philosophy. Darien Lake Theme Park, located steps from the campground entrance, is western New York's largest amusement park—a full-day family entertainment destination with roller coasters, water park attractions, live music, and a seasonal concert amphitheater that brings major national touring acts to the Genesee County countryside each summer. The geographic positioning of Cherry Hill directly across from the park gates eliminates the transportation logistics that complicate most theme park camping arrangements, letting guests walk to the park in the morning and return to campfire and hammock in the evening without moving their vehicles. Western New York's natural and cultural landscape surrounding the campground provides substantial day-trip depth for guests extending their stay beyond a single-night theme park visit. Letchworth State Park, approximately 30 miles south, protects a 17-mile gorge of the Genesee River with waterfalls, canyon overlooks, and hiking trails that have earned it frequent recognition as one of the most spectacular state parks in the eastern United States. Niagara Falls, accessible within approximately an hour's drive to the northwest, anchors the region's larger tourism circuit alongside the Erie Canal heritage corridor and the craft brewery and wine trail culture of the greater Buffalo metro area. Cherry Hill Campground is open through the summer and early fall outdoor season, aligned with Darien Lake's operating calendar and the peak family camping window in the Genesee County area. The campground's proximity to the theme park makes it the logical choice for families planning multi-day Darien Lake visits, and the open-air campfire culture and wooded site environment offer a natural decompression from the stimulation of a full day at an amusement park. Reservations are recommended for summer holiday weekends and any dates coinciding with major concert events at the Darien Lake amphitheater, when the surrounding accommodation options in western New York fill across all formats.

from $30/night

Lake Bluff RV Park

53 RV Sites, 1 Cabin, 2 Tent Sites, 2 Cottages

One mile from Chimney Bluffs State Park on the south shore of Lake Ontario in Wayne County, New York, Lake Bluff RV Park sits at the intersection of two of the Finger Lakes region's most distinctive attractions—the geological spectacle of the Lake Ontario bluffs and the scenic agricultural beauty of the Lake Ontario Wine Trail that runs along the shoreline between Rochester and Oswego. With 140 resort-quality full hookup sites accommodating rigs up to 72 feet, cabin rentals, a full recreation program including a swimming pool, mini golf, and game room, and its position on the Seaway Trail three miles from the park, Lake Bluff provides a well-equipped base for exploring one of New York's most underappreciated regional destinations. The campground's 140 full hookup sites—including pull-through configurations for larger rigs—come with water, electric, and sewer connections, and the resort infrastructure includes a swimming pool, catch-and-release fishing in the frog pond, a playground, game room with pool tables and video games, basketball, shuffleboard, volleyball, and mini golf. Cabin rentals provide an alternative for guests who want enclosed accommodation without the full RV setup. WiFi, showers, a dump station, and organized seasonal programming round out the amenity lineup in a package that serves both overnight and extended-stay guests with equal reliability. The campground's family-oriented character attracts Lake Ontario shoreline explorers, Finger Lakes wine trail visitors, and families from the Rochester and Syracuse markets who value a well-maintained, comprehensive campground experience close to home. Lake Ontario's south shore at Wolcott offers a landscape character that surprises many visitors who arrive expecting something more Finger Lakes conventional. Chimney Bluffs State Park, one mile from the campground, preserves a formation of dramatically eroded glacial drumlins rising directly from the lake shore—spires, ridges, and turrets of compressed clay and gravel sculpted by wave action into formations that echo the Badlands in their geological drama while sitting incongruously on the New York State lakeshore. The bluffs are best experienced at sunrise, when the low-angle light catches the ridgelines and the lake beyond provides a blue horizon of genuinely Great Lakes scale. The Lake Ontario Wine Trail traces the southern shoreline through Wayne County's apple orchards and vineyards—a cool-climate growing environment that produces distinctive rieslings, cabernet francs, and lake-effect-influenced white wines that reflect the unique mesoclimate created by the lake's modifying influence on the surrounding agricultural land. The Seaway Trail—a 518-mile designated scenic byway along the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario shorelines—provides the corridor for a larger regional road trip connecting the campground to Niagara Falls, the Thousand Islands, and the broader Great Lakes heritage landscape. The Finger Lakes proper, with their concentrated winery, gorge, and waterfall programming, are within driving range for multi-day guests who want to combine the lake shore character with Finger Lakes interior. Lake Bluff RV Park operates from April through October in alignment with the New York State camping season. The July and August period draws the strongest family demand, and Chimney Bluffs is busiest on summer weekends. Fall offers a quieter alternative with apple harvest season in the surrounding Wayne County orchards and excellent conditions for photography at the bluffs. Reserve early for summer holiday weekends and arrive ready to discover the Lake Ontario shoreline that most upstate New York visitors inexplicably drive past on the way to somewhere else.

from $43/night

Skyline RV Resort

45 RV Sites

Skyline RV Resort in Darien Center, New York, occupies a position in western New York that puts guests within easy reach of some of the region's strongest attractions — including Six Flags Darien Lake directly nearby, Niagara Falls to the northwest, and Letchworth State Park's dramatic Genesee River gorge to the southeast — while delivering a well-equipped, lakeside campground experience that functions equally as a destination in its own right. The resort's full-hookup sites, two heated pools, and extensive event facilities make it as appealing for families who never leave the property as for those who use it as a staging base for the surrounding region. Full-hookup RV sites with spacious pads accommodate large rigs across the property, with the waterfront location adding a distinctive natural character to an otherwise well-programmed family resort. Two heated swimming pools serve guests through the warm-weather season, covered cornhole courts and an expansive event center provide structured activity space in any weather, and a snack bar, playground, sports courts, and clubhouse fill out a comprehensive amenity lineup. Propane exchange and Wi-Fi throughout make practical needs simple, and the overall infrastructure reflects a resort built to sustain families through multi-day stays with programming variety that reduces the "what do we do now?" friction of family camping. Pets are welcome throughout. The Genesee Country landscape of western New York surrounds the resort with agricultural beauty — rolling farmland, hardwood woodlots, and the characterful terrain of a region that was once the frontier of western New York settlement and has retained a quieter, more pastoral character than the Great Lakes cities further north. Darien Center's position between the Erie Canal corridor and the Finger Lakes wine country places it in a varied landscape with more to explore on multi-day itineraries than most guests initially anticipate. Six Flags Darien Lake, effectively adjacent to the resort, is western New York's largest amusement park with coasters, a waterpark, and the Darien Lake Amphitheater hosting major touring concerts and events through the summer — a combination that makes the resort particularly convenient for families with concert or amusement park plans. Letchworth State Park, about 30 miles south, protects 17 miles of the Genesee River gorge in terrain often called the "Grand Canyon of the East" — the three major waterfalls and canyon overlooks are among the most dramatic natural scenery in the Northeast. Niagara Falls and Buffalo's cultural institutions, about 45 miles northwest, round out a day-trip roster that gives the Darien Center location more regional drawing power than first glance suggests. Skyline RV Resort operates through the New York outdoor season from spring through fall, with summer peak weeks driven largely by Six Flags Darien Lake's operating season and the Darien Lake Amphitheater's concert calendar. Reserve early for concert weekends and the July-August peak, when the combination of pool, nearby amusement park, and the resort's own activity programming keeps it at or near capacity.

from $49/night

HTR Niagara

85 RV Sites, 20 Cabins, 4 Tent Sites, 5 Cottages, 2 Yurts

HTR Niagara on Grand Island, New York, offers 84 RV sites, 25 cabin and cottage units, four tent sites, and two yurts ten miles south of Niagara Falls, with 30 and 50-amp full hookups, cable TV, and rigs accepted to 75 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. Lakeview back-in and preferred, select, and deluxe categories join standard tiers, with a pool, zip line, mini-golf, and laser tag. Eighty-four sites span standard back-in, standard pull-thru, select back-in, preferred back-in, lakeview back-in, and deluxe pull-thru categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric with cable TV and site WiFi, sized to 75 feet, with fire pits, picnic tables, and BBQ pits. Twenty-five cabins and cottages, four tent sites, and two yurts round out the lodging. A general store, laundry, dump station, restrooms, showers, and firewood handle the practical side. A resort fee covers the pools, mini-golf, crafts, boating, and the wider amenity program. An outdoor pool anchors the summer, with a beach supporting swimming, boating, canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. A zip line, mini-golf, laser tag, gaga ball, basketball, sports courts, walking trails, a playground, pavilion, and dog park fill the grounds. A state park is nearby. Pets are welcome. Grand Island sits in the middle of the Niagara River between the United States and Canada — one of the most strategically located campgrounds in the Northeast for anyone whose itinerary centers on the falls. Summer is decisively the season at Niagara. Reserve well ahead for July and August.

from $49/night

Shady Shores RV Resort & Campground

6 RV Sites

Shady Shores RV Resort and Campground in Sterling, New York, delivers waterfront camping along the south shore of Lake Ontario and the Blind Sodus Bay inlet in Cayuga County's lakefront countryside — a resort with breathtaking Great Lake views in the Sterling and Fair Haven area that has served as a favorite destination for families and friends seeking the specific combination of Lake Ontario's open-water beauty, the Fair Haven Beach State Park's sandy shoreline, and the world-class trophy trout and salmon fishing that the lake's cold, deep waters produce in the remarkable fishery that has made the Lake Ontario south shore one of the premier sport fishing destinations in the Great Lakes system. The resort's bay and lake frontage gives guests the multi-aspect waterfront experience — the protected Blind Sodus Bay for calm-water recreation and the open Lake Ontario shoreline for the full Great Lake experience. RV sites and camping accommodations with the shoreline positioning on Lake Ontario and Blind Sodus Bay give guests the comprehensive waterfront access that the Sterling-Fair Haven corridor provides for boating, swimming, fishing, and the specific sunrise-over-the-lake experience that a western New York Great Lakes shore campground delivers on clear mornings when the lake's unobstructed northeastern horizon lights the water in the specific quality of Great Lakes dawn light. The resort's decades of serving returning family guests reflect the depth of loyalty that a well-positioned waterfront campground sustains from year to year. Pets are welcome. Lake Ontario's sport fishery is one of the most productive trophy trout and salmon fisheries in North America — a legacy of the Great Lakes restoration programs that began stocking chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead rainbow trout, brown trout, and lake trout into the lake system in the 1960s and 1970s, creating a sport fishery where the open-lake trolling for chinook salmon in the summer months and the bay and stream steelhead runs in fall and spring sustain a charter boat industry of significant regional scale. The Wayne and Cayuga County Lake Ontario ports — Sodus Point, Fair Haven, Port Ontario — provide the charter fleet access to open-water fishing that produces the trophy catches that the Great Lakes sport fishing industry specifically markets to anglers from across the northeastern United States and Ontario. Fair Haven Beach State Park, two miles west of the resort in Cayuga County, preserves a mile of Lake Ontario sand beach and the Sodus Bay inlet's bay beach in a state park that gives public access to the shoreline that private resort development has claimed along most of the Lake Ontario south shore. The park's swimming beach, pier fishing access, and the dune-backed natural beach character give families the public waterfront complement to the resort's private amenity infrastructure. Shady Shores RV Resort and Campground operates through the upstate New York camping season from spring through fall, with the summer months from mid-June through Labor Day representing the peak family camping demand and the spring and fall fishing seasons for steelhead and brown trout drawing the angling-focused visitor market that extends the resort's effective season into April through May and September through October. The Erie Canal's cultural and cycling tourism, accessible 20 miles south via the Cayuga County trail network, gives the resort's inland neighbors a heritage tourism dimension that complements the lakefront recreation. Reserve sites well ahead for summer holiday weekends and the July salmon-fishing peak when Ontario south shore accommodation fills from the New York and Ontario markets.

from $35/night

Fair Point Marina

1 Cottage

Fair Point Marina in Fair Haven, New York, offers cottage accommodations and full-hookup sites at a working marina on Little Sodus Bay, with boat docks, boat storage, a beach, on-site dining, and live music. The natural harbor opens onto Lake Ontario's southern shore in one of the region's most protected anchorages. Cottage lodging and full-hookup sites serve guests, with laundry, a dump station, restrooms, showers, and a general store handling the practical side. WiFi reaches the property, and a clubhouse rounds out the facilities. Boat storage is available — genuinely useful at a property where most guests arrive with a boat or intend to spend their days on one. Pets are welcome. The marina is the identity here. Boat docks give direct access to Little Sodus Bay and out to Lake Ontario, with boating, fishing, and swimming from the property and a beach on site. On-site dining and live music create a waterfront resort atmosphere rooted in the boating and lakeside social culture that Fair Haven has sustained since the nineteenth century. Biking runs from the area, with a state park, golf course, wine tasting, and skiing all nearby. Fair Haven sits in Cayuga County, where the natural harbor that has sheltered Great Lakes boaters for generations meets one of the Finger Lakes region's most naturally beautiful freshwater coastal communities. The boating season is short and concentrated on Lake Ontario. Summer is decisively the peak — reserve well ahead for July and August.

from $189/night

Sun Outdoors Association Island

209 RV Sites, 10 Cabins, 4 Tent Sites, 5 Cottages, 17 Lodges, 2 Park Models

Sun Outdoors Association Island in Henderson, New York, offers 209 full-hookup RV sites, 34 cabin, cottage, lodge, and park model units, and four tent sites on a 65-acre private island, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 65 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. Elite waterfront pull-in and lakefront sunset pull-through categories join deluxe lake view tiers, with a marina, boat ramp, and fishing guides. Two hundred nine sites span deluxe lake view back-in, elite pull-thru, elite waterfront pull-in, lakefront sunset pull-thru, and limited lake view back-in categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric with site WiFi, sized to 65 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. Naming a category "lakefront sunset" tells you exactly what you are paying for. Thirty-four cabins, cottages, lodges, and park models and four tent sites round out the lodging. A general store, laundry, propane fills and exchange, restrooms, and showers handle the practical side. The resort is open mid-May through mid-October, with most planned activities and the pool running in peak summer. A marina, boat ramp, boat docks, boat rentals, kayak rentals, fishing pier, and on-site fishing guides open Lake Ontario for boating, paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and fishing. An outdoor pool, clubhouse, game room, arcade, craft room, sports courts, basketball, corn hole, golf cart rentals, walking trails, and a playground fill the rest. An entire island reached by private bridge, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario where the Thousand Islands begin. The season is short. Reserve well ahead.

from $44/night