Allaire State Park Campground

Campground is right off of I-195 and you will hear traffic all night long. Nearby Turkey Swamp park is much nicer for RVs and offers electric and water at the sites.

Disappointed that the dump station closed 2 weeks before the campground, so we had to dump when we moved to Turkey Swamp.

Please note, you have to check in at the main office about a mile east of the campground before setting up.

Definitely nice little spot close to the shore. Fairly sized sites with ample community space.

We stayed towards the entrance of the park next to the field. The loop towards the back is all tree coverage.

Bathroom w/ flush toilets and showers. Pretty clean for the type of forest we’re in. There is a seasonal dump station.

Close to the highway so expect some truck noise

We did have one weird situation. I don’t know if it’s common or a one off thing, but we had someone take our spot and set up and proceed to tell us the spot was open on the website even though our name was hanging on the post with the dates we were staying. Wasn’t super confrontational, just an odd situation, they packed up and moved along.

UPDATE Apr 27: I contacted the park office after we left and relayed our concerns to them and why we left. We were given a full refund and the woman I spoke with noted that the only way they can correct problems is to be notified of them (another reason for campground reviews). IF we are in the area again and consider camping we'll check out the campground first to see if repairs have been made. I changed the original 1 start to 2 as the response we received from the state admin indicates that they are trying to improve.

The vast majority of the time in our travels we stay in state parks for a number of reasons. On our way from MD to stay with family in NY we decided to spend some time in a NJ state park. The search was frustrating because only an extreme few will accept a 33' motorhome. Then there is the issue of pets and we have 2 cats.

We thought ourselves lucky to find Allaire State Park as last year they changed their policy and allow pets (which in most cases really means dogs) BUT you will pay $5/day/pet. (Most NJ state parks still do not accept pets but this has been changing starting in the more popular areas of Cape May and the shore. Allaire still has signs posted saying they are not allowed but the policy has changed.) The park also charges a $5 service fee for walk in registration and $10 for registering on Reserve America, so the price will be at least $30/day and all this for a campground which, when we visited in late April 2017, had:
1) no water available from the spigots-though frigid water did spew from the pedal that operated the spigot
2) sites that were sloped and very uneven, strewn with small branches;
3) roads that only smaller rigs can navigate beyond the "field" at the entrance which has 10 sites (with 3 blocked off for construction, only 2 or 3 appropriate for a rig longer than 30 feet, (but 2 which are good if you have solar.)
4) nominally clean bathrooms (we arrived on a Sunday afternoon and on Monday the bits of paper, discarded soap etc were still all over at mid-morning) which are hopelessly outdated. In the women's room of 3 showers, 1 was barely operating and had lukewarm water (there were 3 other people at the campground it wasn't a matter of the hot water being used up.) The tile floor was extremely slippery when wet.

Additionally, during the night 4 young revelers still celebrating the end of Passover sang loud songs and partied until after 2am and then departed the next morning leaving their trash strewn around the campsite.

There is a large trash bin at the bathhouse site though, despite there being bears in the area, half the top is ripped off. It was full on the Monday morning and the person I spoke with later told me trash is picked up once a week but she did not know when. There are 2 buckets which appear to be for recycling. They were almost empty.

An important note: IF you choose to take chance of a better outcome than ours be advised that registration is done at the visitor center 3/4 mile east of the campground entrance. Most traffic will be coming from the west (I-295/I-195) BUT I'd advise first going into the campground and scoping out your site and then driving a tow car (if you have one) to register if you are over 30' long. The sites beyond #10 are off a road that is very narrow, has sharp turns and lots of low overhanging branches. The site we'd originally reserved (#4) though officially for a rig 33' long was 33'6" long and 11'9" wide between trees that would block an awning from opening. It was rutted, as well as uneven beyond a reasonable degree.
The staff was responsive but we chose to leave after one night. We will, if the opportunity arises and we are in the area, look at this park again to see if the necessary repairs have been done.