Mathews Arm Campground

As another reviewer mentioned there are many sites that are tilted in both directions. Amazes me that they went to all the trouble to spend big bucks on asphalt but did almost no site levelling. It was very quiet on a Sunday night and the lady at registration was friendly and helpful. Despite all the asphalt there are no dedicated walkways to the bathrooms so you have to walk through someone's site to get there. Trails were in decent shaped and marked fairly well. Since the campground is down in a hollow there is zero road noise and zero cell service both of which were kind of nice.

It's a nice campground, a lot of space to back onto the pad, and good space between sites. It's pretty quiet here, even on a busy weekend. Everyone must be doing a good job with their trash, because there were no scavenger birds or even squirrels about. My only disappointment was that I had to drive so far for a shower. Skyline Drive is absolutely beautiful, and while I didn't have any T-Mobile or Verizon at camp, a nearby overlook usually made it possible to connect with the outside world.

We originally reserved site B118. Upon arrival, we found the site had a severe incline. We moved to a first come first serve site (A75) and it was wonderful! The campground has no hookups and limited morning and evening generator hours in designated loops. We stayed during the week and it was absolutely peaceful! The drive in to the campground on Skyline Drive was easy and the road is in fantastic shape. We would absolutely stay here again!

We stayed here September 2- 8, 2020.
We loved this campground, no hookups at all but a dump on the way out.
There are some sites that are reservable but the outer loop (A) is all first come first serve, lots of pull throughs or back in, all concrete pads not all are level.
We got there late the first night and stayed in site A26, the cicada bugs are loud in this part of the park surrounded by a forest of trees.
Then we moved to site A94 end of the loop and got a nice open level site. We had grass between sites, enough privacy. Able to set up solar on our grassy area.
Absolutely no cell service once you head into the forest.
Bathrooms had warm water and kept clean.
They are pretty strict on who comes in and out of camping area with passes to every car, which is nice for having a peace of mind. Rangers came through the park quite frequently.
There are bears here so bear boxes are at the campsites.
We cannot wait to head back to this park.

Matthews Arm is a great national park campground inside Shenandoah. It is well taken care of and clean. While it has no hookups, it is exactly what you are looking for from an NPS campground. The most important thing is that it feels close to nature and is actually close to many of the best attractions in the park. This is a great stop to add to any excursion into Shenandoah National Park.

Located inside Shenandoah National Park. The sites are well maintained which includes a parking pad, fire pit and picnic table (metal). Most come with a bear box to store your food. Restrooms include a potable water sink outside to get drinking water and to do get water for dishes, cooking, etc. Restrooms are kept clean and spaced far apart from one another. Saw deer and chipmunks in the park. Several hiking trails which most are poorly marked. Rangers and hosts were friendly and helpful. Some sites have cell reception while most don't.

This is a wonderful campground. Check in was easy with a pleasant volunteer. We especially enjoyed it during the week before it filled up and got very crowed and noisy on the weekend. Barking dogs was a thing. Campers are apparently allowed an unlimited amount of tents and cars. Tents were lined up on the powerline trail to the restrooms. The rangers/hosts did nothing about any of this but they took and killed our basil plant for no reason!! Basil has travel with us to every state and Canada with no problems. Believe me, bears don't care about basil. This obviously upset us a lot. Clean area with good restrooms available. The trails from the CG are great hikes. The sites are not all level so check them out first. We did not have any services or cell coverage which made for a wonderful unplugged stay.

We arrived late and were fortunate to get a spot on a weekend night. The site was nice level gravel, but your neighbors are relatively close and there is little separation. We later saw that other sites offer more space and/or privacy. The Ranger that checked us in and later stopped by was super friendly and welcoming. We were warned about bears, but did not see any. Bathrooms were adequate and clean.