Ocracoke Campground

Loved Ocracoke! Campsite was nice and the beach access was great (we were on the beach side). The beach was fantastic and very few people there. The town was great. Super peaceful and beautiful. Wish we would have stayed longer! I understand the hype!

The ferry is an experience on its own too. If you don’t know, there is a free ferry from Hatteras (and two other paid ferries). There are no reservations. The ferry guys know what they are doing, but it might not be apparent to you. LOL. There are a lot of negative reviews about missing ferries etc. my advice is don’t arrive a peak times and be prepared to go with the flow.

The ferry ride itself was a highlight for us. We saw dolphins and enjoyed the sea air, plus it was a hoot seeing our trailer on a ship.

This was our second time to spend an extended length of time (seven nights at each stay) at Ocracoke Campground: the first time was in our 40' 5W in May 2017; the second time was May 2022 in a truck camper. Ocracoke Island is truly one of my favorite places to visit and the Ocracoke beaches are among the best anywhere. If you're planning a trip, be aware that the weather rules supreme on the Outer Banks. We took the Cedar Island to Ocracoke ferry - I made my reservation several months in advance due to our combined length of 45' with our Jeep. We thought we were going to have to postpone our arrival date due to a strong nor'easter that closed all the ferries and washed over Highway 12 in Rodanthe and closed the highway - resulting in NO ACCESS to Ocracoke for several days. This also happened in 1980, for my first tent camping experience on Ocracoke in March. If you're planning a trip during hurricane season, it's especially crucial to watch the weather - all ferries stop running and evacuation is mandatory. I recommend that you arrive with groceries if you're staying a few days. The Ocracoke Variety Store, the local grocer, was badly damaged in 2019 from Hurricane Dorian and still hasn't replaced all of the freezers and refrigerated coolers.

The campground itself is well laid out with large sites and good separation from neighbors. The closer you are to the beach, the better the breeze. Loop D is a no-generator loop. If you're camping in a tent or planning to set up a screen tent, bring extra stakes and tie-downs because of the winds, which can be quite strong (we left our awning unattended and it sustained some damage). There are no trees and no protection from the sun. Ocracoke Village is a fun town to explore on bicycle. The 1-mile nature trail across the street from the campground is open although none of the boardwalks have been repaired from hurricane damage in 2019 - after a heavy rain, the path is muddy is spots. There are cold showers but be aware that they are in a small free-standing building and the shower doors are bathroom stall doors - open at the top and bottom. Verizon cell phone strength was good during the week but as we approached the weekend and the campground got busier the signal was not reliable. But there is good coverage in town.

In spite of the potential difficulties with getting there, if you're looking for quality beach time in a charming coastal village, this is it.

Nice campground with great beach access, especially if you get a site along the east side of the loops. Large mostly level paved sites, no hook ups, dump station with potable water (note: potable water hose does not have threaded male end). Bathrooms with flush toilets were well maintained, cold water showers (brrr!). Nice bike path to take into town. Just be prepared for the wind, bugs weren't bad for us but apparently they can be bad in the summer.

The basics: the campground is clean, bathrooms are clean, the sites and roads look newly paved with asphalt, the grass is pretty and the campground is on the other side of the dune from the beach. Also, the campsites are level.

What does the campground have? Cooking grills at each site, picnic tables at each site, recycling and garbage, outdoor showers with cold water (outdoor exposed like a beach shower and outdoor sheltered private shower with a locking door). The campground doesn’t have water, sewer or power hookups in the campground. There’s a hand fill water station somewhere I saw people filing their jugs up at. You can, however, get potable water and use the dump station for your rig outside the campground across the street just past the nature trail parking. Pull up satellite view on a map and you’ll find it.

Prepare for your trip. If it’s cold, consider how you’ll manage hygiene for few days if you can’t stand the water temperature. If it’s hot, consider how you’ll keep cool and have shade. I’ve read that mosquitos are bad in the warm months. The sites are exposed with no tree coverage. I didn’t mind this part at all. I usually want more privacy at campgrounds with large RVs because of their blinding outdoor white lights and imposing nature that make me feel less like I’m camping. But this campground has a ton of tent campers and people with small camping rigs. Like people are outside doing normal camping things like cooking, eating, sitting in their chairs talking. And it’s been cold!

The sites are smaller than you might expect. Our 22 feet camper van fit just fine. I mention this as I saw another reviewer complain that the sites aren’t long enough to accommodate a 35 feet Class A. This campground simply isn’t for you. Your car and rig must fit in your spot on the asphalt. If your car can’t fit, you have to park it at the campground parking. Tents are all setup in the grass. DO NOT PARK IN THE GRASS. The grass is so pretty. Why would you do that??? And it’s not allowed anyway. Don’t be “that” camper.

How did we keep clean during our three days in the cold? We showered in the van. This did require us to drive to the fill/dump station everyday. Which is just fine since we aren’t hooked up to anything or on leveling blocks.

Late check-in? We arrived at around 7:30pm. You don’t call for a key code or anything. Each reservation is posted at each campsite. Just park in your spot and check-in the next day at normal check-in time. There’s no central office. The camp host will greet you as you drive into the campground.

I give this campground an easy 5 stars.

Internet. T-Mobile doesn’t have service on Ocracoke. At the campground for Verizon on my iPhone 12, my connection was pretty okay: 7 mbps down, 0.7 mbps up and 205 ms ping. I connected my cell booster for a stronger connection.

Dry Camping only, make sure you get a loop with generator use, B and C for sure. Well worth the price though, this is a unique beach. Ferry access only to the island. The island has no beach front housing so this is as close as you can get to the shore while staying in ocracoke Bike or easy drive to the downtown area. There are dunes separating the campground from an amazing beach.

Keep in mind this is very remote and keep an eye on the weather as the north end of the island can be over washed by the ocean leaving you trapped. We were stuck for 5 days.

No power, water or sewer. Dump station and potable water is a crossed the street.

Chose your campsite wisely as probably 1/3 of campground was under water. Most of the west side of a and b inner loop was flooded while we were there.

There is zero shade and very little protection from the wind.

The skeeters are brutal, almost impressively brutal at some times (like 5am the day we had to leave), but still doesn't out weigh the beauty of this place. I'm not even a beach guy, but my wife, 2yr and 4yr old changed our plans to stay an extra day. I bought the ORV pass so you can drive your truck on the beach and that was a huge deal. The water is warmer and clearer than it was even up in Hatteras. Took the $45 ferry to Swan Quarter with our 35' fifth wheel, rather than driving back up the coast, pretty cool- glad we did. Ran generator during the day, hot as hell at night. I applaud all the tent campers camping in the hot weather like that.