With the arrival of spring, campers around America are already eyeballs deep in camping plans for spring and summer. If you’re anything like me, you’re practically bouncing on the balls of your feet to experience the soft, warm breezes of spring and the scent of life as it all returns to our forests. And guess what — everyone else is, too! In 2024 alone, Camper Champ reports that the number of households who have camped in the past year has risen an eyeball-widening 68%.
That huge spike in outdoor recreation means that you’ll have to plan more meticulously this year when choosing the campgrounds you want to stay at. The last thing you want to do is roll up to your chosen campground and find it all booked up through August. One of the best ways to avoid this disappointment is to book early. Here are my top five campground booking sites.
Recreation.gov
Recreation.gov is the official government-designated website for campsite reservations on federal lands. It’s also the go-to for things like hiking and parking permits on public lands and keeps up-to-date info on availability and campground closures in most parks via partnerships with organizations like the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.
Technically, this is your only option for most U.S. national park bookings, and because most parks use either a 6-month or a 12-month advance booking window, chances are just about everything is already booked up for the warm months. The site still has its uses, though.
For instance, although booking a weekend inside Yosemite National Park isn’t likely due to all of the permits, Recreation.gov can still help you plan a camping trip to the park. That’s because the site lists both reservation availability and information on first-come,first-served campsites. So if you find a fair amount of “FF” sites available in a particular part of the park, the site can help you strategize exactly when and where you need to show up to snag your spot.
Hipcamp
Hipcamp pioneered the online campsite booking industry and was the first third-party booking site to feature real-time availability data for both public and private campgrounds. Nowadays, they’re one of the best in the business, featuring everything from state parks to private ranches in all 50 states.
Hipcamp is our go-to for finding off-grid car camping opportunities and unique stays on private lands. Think: Booking a weekend getaway in a treehouse or organizing a group camp along a private stretch of river.
Campspot
Campspot is a service similar to Hipcamp but with a more focused approach. Campspot works as an all-in-one booking service for a massive collection of privately owned campgrounds. These places can be as simple as rustic ranches with a slew of hand-built cabins or as complex as massive family camping getaways like Jellystone Park and Camp Fimfo resorts. Campspot is probably the best resource for RV campers on the internet, and it’s also a great place to search for family campgrounds.
Harvest Hosts
Speaking of RV camping, Harvest Hosts is one of the coolest ways to find unique RV camp spots out on the road. Harvest Hosts is a yearly membership service available to RV campers that leverages a network of roughly 3,000 hosts across the U.S., Canada, Alaska, and even down into Baja.
These unique sites are provided by farms, museums, ranches, wineries, breweries, and distilleries and aim to provide RV campers and road warriors a unique camping experience rather than the dreaded overnight stay in a Walmart parking lot. Two things to note here: These stays are typically limited to 24 hours and are only available to self-contained RVs/campers. That means if your rig doesn’t include a toilet, water tank, and an inside cooking setup, it isn’t eligible. Still, it’s a fun way to link to stops together out on the road, and most of these locations will throw in a tour of the grounds while you’re there.
The Dyrt
The Dyrt has a database of over 50,000 campgrounds across the U.S. It has also expanded into Canada; however, coverage is less comprehensive there. This site is great because it covers national parks, state parks, private campgrounds, RV parks, and even dispersed camping areas. From yurts to backcountry spots, the Dyrt has you covered.
Each listing has visitor reviews and photos, so you have everything you need to make an educated decision. You can book sites directly from The Dyrt, and if you’re an avid traveler, it also has a PRO subscription so you can have access to discounts, trip-planning tools, campground availability alerts, and even offline maps.
All in all, these tools have all served me well in my adventures. For national parks and federal lands, you can’t go wrong with recreation.gov, but for more personalized experiences, try Hipcamp, Campspot, or the Dyrt. RVers will enjoy Harvest Hosts. Try them out, and hopefully you’ll be able to book the perfect campsite for your crew.
