Bonnet Carre Spillway Campground

This is a hard review to write, as I want to emphasize that the COE Park Rangers were exceptionally helpful and attentive. However, there was an incident involving an illegally parked travel trailer across the park from us that shook us a bit and combined with the constant flow of suspicious cars throughout the night...we ended up leaving early.

Incident: The Park Ranger had to relay this to me as I had left my wife and dog behind to get truck repair done in NOLA. Illegally parked travel trailer family tried to take on the ranger and responding sheriffs, escalating a simple "please move to a designated rv site" to a near death by police shoot out, going so far as having a person in their trailer call in a gun threat to escalate the situation. The family involved recorded all of this, involving their small children (10 and under) in recording mommy and daddy fighting the "welfare rangers" from asking them to move the trailer. They were trespassed and with six sheriffs in attendance, things calmed down after. I got news of this after coming back to my wife that evening with the truck repaired.

Obviously a one-off incident, but when I coupled that with how often this campground seems to be used for "off the highway" hangouts and watching repeatedly sketchy vehicles park driver door to driver door at all hours of the night, we said "eff this" and moved on.

The train + industrial gas refineries nearby don't make this any better a place to sleep, it hums with noise and train horns all night every night.

As for when this is flooded, call ahead. They let the flood gates open based on water level in the area. Rangers have a schedule and can let you know.

🤩👍Had an Awesome time even though I got stuck twice getting to site 5 but still the place is so Beautiful, it didnt bother my Joy of being there 😀🙏 The Ranger went got the Tractor and pulled me out, they were a Blessing, then it was so many people just visiting were blessings to offer help...Be careful when it rains in sites 1-5... 6-15 are good with gravel and grass, free campsites with no hookups. Table, trash can and firepits. Reservations required for the 15 sites but have big parkingmps if you just need to stop overnight or some days, no one bothers you, the Rangers and shieff patrol so its safe...Army Corps of Engineers...Great Place!!!🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

Its a very quiet area right on the water. Nobody ever bothered us. Be sure to get a permit, their easy to get, and free. Several spots for the BIG RIGS to. Those spots are on gravel, all others are on grass. It poured rain one night, so of course we got stuck. 1/2 bag of kitty litter, hammer down, and a couple ruts later and we were on our way. No biggie.
Not alot of things to do in the area. The Garden District is about 30 min drive. We looked up parking online for the parades, but they weren't sure if we would fit in one spot. We drove in, checked out the same lot we looked at online, got in just fine, saved $10 by paying there, SWEET! It was one block off the Parade route to. BEWARE, people in NOLA do not know how to park! Had less than an inch to get between two parked cars several times 😞

This is an amazing spot for the price (free). We had to get a permit to stay, but no one ever checked. There were only every one or two other RV campers while were there.
Our GPS took us the back way in and WE GOT STUCK (whoops). We should have scouted ahead, but we saw others coming from the opposite direction, so we figured it must be okay. By the time we realized it was sketchy we were too far in. Luckily one of the rangers came by and pulled us out with a tractor. He was very nice about it. There is direct access from the highway, so be sure to take that route!
The service was very good, so we were able to work while there, and it's only a 30 min drive to right downtown New Orleans. The Spillway Bike Trail is just across the parking lot from the campsites, and it's a cute little trail for running or biking, but not really for sightseeing.
We stayed in site #1, which is closest to the docks, porta-potties and parking lot. It had a really nice view across the water and the sunsets were beautiful every night, but its proximity to the boat ramp made it a little less private than the spots across the water. The downside to the spots across the water is that they are closer to the highway. It's not far from the airport, so there are often planes flying over.

This place has amazing access to New Orleans and that is enough of a reason to give it 4 stars. Everything else is just so-so. It's located in an industrial area just off the highway. The roads are easy to traverse going in and out. There are 15 sites but only about half of those would be appropriate for a larger rig. We saw only about 5 other RVers while we were there but there were many, many people fishing and also just sitting in their trucks for hours at a time. The very noticeable amount of men in pick-up trucks pulling up very close to our rig and just sitting inside their trucks made me uncomfortable at first but eventually I just became used to it. They never got out of their trucks or spoke to me so I finally decided they were harmless. I only mention this because if I was traveling solo, I don't think I would have stayed.
Police and park rangers drove through at least once a day. Very quiet at night. We did make reservations online and received a confirmation email but no other communication.
There are vault toilets and you can find propane refills at many of the RV parks in nearby LaPlace, LA. The Winn Dixie in Norco has a water jug refill station. Great sun for solar panels, strong Verizon signal, a mountain biking trail, and lovely sunsets. Would definitely stay there again to access New Orleans.

First, you do need to obtain a permit, but it is free! We stayed here in January, unfortunately during a cold snap. The reason I say this is we never opened our windows, had to run heat everyday. This was good in the fact that the campground is very near the oil refineries and there is a constant low roar, white noise like. If the windows were open on our trailer it may be kind of loud. There is some road noise and airplane noise, but not bad. The area is big enough for large units, however, when making your reservation be sure to request a large area. There are some spaces that are not large enough or may be “too low” where water is possibly a problem for large rigs. We had no problem but we were on a “high spot”. The area did seem to be patrolled by a park ranger. There were quite a few fisherman, there is a boat ramp and dock here. We never felt at risk. We were only 15 minutes from the airport and 25 to 30 minutes from the French Quarter. Nice spot for free camping, in town.

I heard about this place on this site and I have to say it is a lot nicer than people made out. we are dry campers, so this place is just that. There's no hook ups or water to be used, but is very quiet and peaceful. The park rangers are here a lot and a few police officers stopped in while we were there (made us feel safer). There are a lot of locals that come here and fish for crabs from the docks, but they seem friendly enough. We had a little trouble finding this spot and was in the wrong place at first, (dam GPS) but 2 officers showed up and took us to this spot. If you come here take 61 from 10 and just stay on 61 till you get to Norco it's on the right just before a bridge. Good Luck

Nice little primitive camping spot, with 15 designated grass sites for RVs. Most rigs will fit with no problem. Bumpy field and not perfectly level, but not bad. People coming and going during the day for boat launching, fishing and using the bike trail, but very quiet at night. Very windy one night we stayed. Looks like you'd need to exercise caution if the area had has a lot of rain... could get soft and muddy. Website says you need to apply for a permit to stay. We did, but never heard back (still haven't). Stayed for 2 nights anyway with no issues... park maintenance drove by and waved. Only 2 or 3 other sites being used while we were there. 20 min west of New Orleans airport.