Big Meadows Campground

Our best camping trip yet.
We stayed in A37, a walk in campsite which, from what I could tell from the map, was the farthest site from the road I could find online. Stunning.
Was there the third week of October, and the leaves were beautiful. Was a little annoyed at the fees, and the increase of fees from what I saw online. $ 20 to enter the park (pass lasts for 7 days), $ 7 for a smallish bag/​bundle of wood, which we had issues with one bag being very green wood. Showers were also $ 1 in quarters for 5 minutes.
Aside from all the fees, the campground was clean and quiet. The deer were great. They walk right by you, obviously not fearful of man any longer. They bed down each night around our tent area and then woke to graze in our area each day as well. Our kids loved to see the deer! You can’t buy this experience at Disney!
Bear boxes were provided at the site to keep food secure, but we never saw a bear (a few raccoons though).
Hope to come back sometime. Quite the vacation.

This is a super clean and well organized national park campground. My campsite (A20) was conveniently located across the road. Even though You had to pay for a shower in the shower facilities. I wennt on up to the Big Meadows and took a shower in the room that my dad occupied (Room 97). You cannot use your phone to call or text anyone unless You are at the lodge, Visitors, center and wayside. Saw a ton of deer. Glad that there secure bear proof boxes available to to keep your food in overnight. 2 Thumbs up!!! :)
I personally feel that the rangers were not «crude and disrespectful» like the honorable gentleman from Fairfax, VA said a few reviews ago.

We had three tent camp sites over a long weekend. 7 kids 6 adults. We saw 5 bears, 1 just a hundred yards from our tents and lots of deer. The sites were great but the bathrooms and showers were dirty and I would advise wearing sandals in the shower. I was able to get a cell signal by the lodge and the gas station/​conscience store had beer, food, camping supplies etc.

You wanna camp and have fun?!! Yeah, don’t go to this campsite! There are early «quite hours» which means people come and sleep here instead of their homes! We were harassed by neighboring campers around 10pm about being AWAKE and talking quietly!!! Then in the morning we were harassed by a very rude park rancher, an elderly woman, who apparently has no life but to yell at adult campers. She accused us further about being reported as loud. We were a bunch of PhD students that simply wanted to have a nice evening out in the woods. I left feeling stressed instead of relaxed! I will NEVER return as they have no sense of hospitality!

Not coming back for sure. The park rangers were very rude and disrespectful. They kept harassing us for noise complaints at night and then next morning when we were simply sitting and talking. They made us take down one of our tents since we have 2 reserved spot and 5 tents (They have 2 tents per spot rule). I am all for respecting regulations, the problem was that they don’t know how to talk to people politely. We ended up leaving one night early basically because we were annoyed by their behavior and they didn’t let us have any fun. If we wanted to go to bed at 9pm, we would have done it at home.

For those with a family of small children, you can’t get any better than this for good old fashioned camping.
Easy access to amenities but still «out there» enough to introduce your children to real camping, Big Meadows offers all you need. This isn’t for those into hardcore «back country» camping, rather this place is designed for families and casual campers.
Yes, they pack each campsite very close to each other, and there are «quiet hours» between 10pm and 6am that must be observed. But the abundant wildlife, views, access to trails, and yes — no INTERNET access for your teenagers! Woah! Imagine that! (If you need cell phone or Internet access, just hike up to the Lodge where they provide free WiFi and you can get cell access from the towers in Stanley).
There are showers, a camp store, firewood sales, and plenty of nice people to make friends with. I took my 7yo girl and 5yo boy camping for their first time ever, and they loved it. They made friends with nearby families, we had our «mommy and daddy juice» (wine), had s’mores and played games with NO e-​mails from work for friends (warning, your cell phone will die because of it constantly trying to search for signal so bring a car charger or charge it at the lodge).
Speaking of the lodge, great entertainment and table games, great views, and very nice people working there.

If your idea of camping is the same as your idea of a quiet Tuesday night after work, then this place is great. You can go to sleep nice and early and take a shower in the morning… There in an adequate diner nearby and you can buy firewood… as long as you arrive before 7pm.
If your idea of camping is relaxing with your friends, drinking some beer, and playing a guitar around the campfire, then this place is not for you. We constantly got harassed by the rude and judgmental park rangers. They are also super strict about their two tent per site policy — EVEN IF THE ADJACENT SITES ARE EMPTY.
I just have this to say to those people who file noise complaints: If you want to go camping in a quiet, isolated place, then don’t do to a huge campground! There’s plenty of backcountry camping you can do. Tents have NO protection against sound, so either bring earplugs, or don’t come at all! Take your noise complaint and shove it.

When I was looking into places to camp in Shenandoah I came across Big Meadows and in doing research on the place I saw people say everything from it’s not «real» camping because it’s not wild enough to it’s way too wild (were you aware that bears live in the woods??? Apparently some people weren’t). The real issue is that some folks don’t have a realistic expectation of what they’re looking for when camping.
As far as I’m concerned there are 3 types of camping. There’s the type of camping where getting to the campground is the fun. Those are the places where you backpack 8 miles in before setting your site up on a secluded piece of land in the middle of nowhere or where you paddle out to your own personal island before setting up the tent. 90% of the time if you’re looking for «real» camping, you won’t find it behind the wheel of your car. Then there’s the type of camping where the campground itself is the fun. Those are the places where everyone shows up in a 30′ long camper. The kids will take off on their bikes to the arcade or the pool while the parents will crack open the liquor bottles by noon time.
The third type of camping is what you’ll find at Big Meadows. The third type of camping is when the campground is simply an outdoor area to sleep while enjoying the amazing natural area surrounding you. If you’re at the campground at any point during the daylight then you’re doing it wrong. Big Meadows is a great place to enjoy a campfire and some grill burgers after dark, but once the sun comes up at 5 or 6 in the morning you should already be on your way to explore the national park.
I’ll admit that the sites themselves aren’t fantastic. They’re fairly small and open to the other sites. We had one of the walk-​in sites which were better than the road side sites, but there is little undergrowth in the woods to separate you from your neighbors. I can imagine how this place would get really busy. We were here for a couple of nights during the week in late September so we practically had the place to ourselves. I’d recommend that over trying to go on a summer weekend.
But enough about all of that. Why did we love this place? Why am I giving it 5 stars? Because it’s a campground that’s located smack in the middle of a National Park. Because for a low price we had our own little slice of wilderness to use as a starting point for exploring Shenandoah. We went on several hikes, each with great views. Every couple of miles along Skyline Drive there was a spot worth of pulling over and taking some pictures. Both mornings and evenings we were there we shared our site with a herd of deer that wandered in. Five or six deer would be casually chewing on the grass while we grilled up our dinner or breakfast. When they were done they’d play around our site, running back and forth with eachother. In a 9 day road trip that included cheesesteaks in Philly, National Monuments in DC, a baseball game in Baltimore, and rollercoasters in Hershey my girlfriend says that her favorite part was sharing our meals with the deer. The wildlife in Shenandoah was all over the place, even if we didn’t see any bears.
Don’t camp here if you’re hoping for solitude, but if you’re looking for some outdoor fun with the family then this is a great place to stay. The showers are clean, the overnight accommodations are priced just right, and most importantly the location is perfect.

I have been a fan of big meadows and have been camping her for years. Best weather is late May/​June as the nights are warmign up and its not too hot during the day. The hiking isnt excreciating in terms of difficulty. Novice weekend hikers would enjoy hte trails and there is always lots of wildlife to be spotted.

I have a couple things to say…
This campsite is nice and clean (as clean as the outdoors can get)
The camping area is close to plenty of hiking options and some truly intense hikes too.
There are showers near by, a place to buy firewood and camping supplies.
Nice place to camp with or without children!

I’ve only been camping a handful of times, but I liked the amenities here. Bathrooms were clean and fully stocked; showers are individual rooms — $ 1 for 5 min so double up to conserve water :) There’s also a laundry facility for ppl who stay longer. You can buy firewood and ice on site as well. Dark Hollow Falls (park’s most popular trail) and Rose River Falls are nearby. Each site comes equipped with a picnic table and fire pit. 2 tents per site is just fine. I’d say the only real complaint is the proximity of each campsite to one another. Not a lot of privacy, but I’d rather they squeeze campers into a smaller region to maintain the wilderness of the park. And there are a lot of deer on the campgrounds (but hey, that’s nature). Overall, very pleased… just wish I knew more campsites to compare against.

This place makes me long for «real camping» … I do have yet to find a place like that. Any suggestions? I did enjoy a super intense hike in which we got temporarily «lost» and had an added 1.5 additional miles back so I felt outdoorsy after that! I came here realizing it wasnt real camping so did not have that expectation. My only real complaint is that since I went with a big group we were stuck with a «handicapped» campsite since it could accommodate more people. Besides it being larger the the main drawback was our firepit was retarded and extra challenging and had really high walls around it preventing the fire from staying lit and igniting at first and was located next to our cars right on the pavement strip driveway. We were also «conveniently» too close to the bathrooms and therefore had a lot of extra light and bathroom noises all night!

A damned nice campground with three important attributes: location, location, location. Smack dab in the middle of the central section of Shenandoah Nat’l Park, right off Skyline Drive ( Unilocal map fixed.)
Oh, and several more good attributes too: fire pits, spotless, heated bathrooms with running water, hot showers ($ 1 for 5 minutes), firewood, bear boxes, a gas station, even a friendly staff. A variety of camping options too, depending on your tastes (RV, camp next to your car, hike in etc.). Many spots can be reserved, but they hold a subset for first-​come, first-​served campers. Nice.
On a cold, rainy Thursday night this was the perfect place to camp for the launching point of our 3-​day backpacking trip from Bootens Gap just a few miles down the road. And their showers came in very handy on the drive back (so I wouldn’t stink up the plane on my flight back to SF). My only complaint was the staff at the lodge, who I found to be extremely snooty when I came in to ask about the showers.
Oh, and to the Unilocalers who gave Big Meadows a low rating because it isn’t «real camping,» …uh, it’s car camping. Of course it isn’t real camping, but it’s damn convenient if you’re in the area and in need of options. (BTW, what stopped you from going to the numerous «hike in» spots?) I suggest you take your camping snobbery out on ALL car camping places across the country, not just on this place. Better get busy — there’s a lot of territory to cover.

At Big Meadows campground, we drove around and found some sites that were further back in the woods and not next to others in the meadow part. Some of the sites seemed very close together, others did not and had pleasant shade and surrounding trees for more privacy, plus great views.
We wrote down the sites we liked and will call ahead to reserve.
It looked nice to us, plenty of trails, diner, dining hall, playground.
Lots of deer sort of hanging around the camp sites with the folks camping. I wonder about the deer bringing in ticks, flies and deer droppings to the sites?. Also our dog loves to chase deer so I’m not sure how it will work out bringing him with all of the tame deer.
Quiet hours are listed from 10pm-​I think 9am-​ish, so there should
be enough peace to sleep. There was a camp host that should enforce that.
For a family this looks fine. If you have no small kids/don’t tolerate kids and want some hardcore camping, maybe this campsite is not for you.
It looks so nice to us we are going to try it out…
Will update when we experience the real thing…

Yes, this is not real camping and each camp lot is extremely close to your next door neighbor. It is not very isolated and noise from the next camper is certainly audible. There are not clear pathways from a campground to the facilities, so you will either run into the other campers or into rough woods.
They do have a lot of facilities such as a convenience store, showers, bathrooms, water fountains, firewood, and parking. There is also a restaurant and comfort center about a mile away. You are still in nature in the sense that if you peak out your tent, you will see deer wandering.
Each site has a fire pit and a bear resistant cage and a picnic table. Each campground is about 15 bucks and firewood is $ 4.50 each. I hear if you come during the summer time you can pick berries nearby. Dogs are welcome and were not a problem except when a big deer walks by.