Assateague Island National Seashore Campground

This park is a must visit, truly the best camping trip I’ve been on. The facilities are clean, the access to water activities and of course the horses make this a perfect experience.

We had a wonderful week this year. We could not have asked for better weather! Not too hot, and enough breeze to keep the mosquitos at bay.
If you are in need of ice the store on the bayside campground has it but they close early. They only have cubed ice. I found out that if you drive to the state park later in the evening you don’t have to pay to get in and they have 2 sizes of cubed ice and also have block ice. It’s much easier than driving to the Assateague Market. The people taking care of the latrines were very thorough and did a nice job.

Such an awesome place to camp. Of course, the many wild horses roaming around and walking through our campsite was definitely something to get use to, but we all managed. We all had a great time. The staff were amazing and the rangers were very knowledgeable. We will definitely be returning!

Amazing camping trip. Loved it and wish we would have stayed another day. Plan on coming back next year. I do wish the quiet time was a little later. From like 11pm to 6am instead of 10pm. The horses are amazing to wake up to. The beach is very close. Again wished I would have stayed longer, maybe even two more days to explore more of what the island has to offer. Nice that Ocean City boardwalk is like 20 minutes away for even more activities.

Wild Horses Everywhere!

We ideally want to go to Assateague National Park in the fall or spring when the weather is nice, but we went at the end of July during the 95-degree heatwave because we wanted to see the 100th anniversary of the Chincoteague Pony Swim.

When we arrived at the park entrance on a Monday, we were immediately greeted by wild horses. It was such an experience! The horses were everywhere, though they typically disappeared during the hottest part of the day. They were beautiful, but could become aggressive during meal times. They chased a group of campers away from their picnic table one night and ransacked all of their things looking for food.

We camped in a 5th wheel and stayed in the generator Loop C on the bayside. We had a nice big site with a picnic table and trees blocking the water view. Tent campers were all around us because the Park wanted to utilize their smaller sites, but this didn’t mix well in the summer heat. We ran our generator most of the allowable time and by Wednesday morning, the ranger called to say they received several complaints. It turns out that our generator was over the allowable decibel level. Three days before leaving home, we swapped out our smaller generator for a new one to run our new Invitro batteries without considering the noise factor. This was all on us – it was our mistake. We packed up and left after staying just 2 nights and the Park staff was really understanding. They gave us a refund and put our site back on the website for others to enjoy.

Fortunately, we were able to move to another campground nearby and we saw the horses do the return swim Friday (since we missed the big event on Wed). As we stood in the marsh watching, black water swirled all around our feet. This was definitely a bucket list item! Check out our photos of the swim, as well as the terrain and horses in Assateague. Looking forward to returning in the spring to try out one of the beach sites.

Getting on and off the park was easy and fast. Ranger programs were fun. Our campsite was immaculate and the showers and Katrina’s were clean. I wish I could get a site more easily because I’d like to visit more often

Great time was had by all!

very difficult to get a reservations. too much demand, but then there are many sites not occupied while visiting. i believe reservation system needs to get better for cancellations and enabling re-booking of the sites. also i believe recycling should be easier. so much is just thrown away. hopefully, the recyclables gets picked out at a transfer station.

Fantastic location! Even had a little path to the bay side water. Far enough away from other campers. We've stayed multiple times at Assateague and this was by far the best location. One warning, this trip had the most mosquitoes - but I am sure that was due to the timing of the trip and weather.