Smugglers Den Campground

We really enjoyed staying here. It’s on the quiet side of Mount Desert Island and is a quiet campground. The location is great as it’s within 20-30 minutes from everything in Acadia. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. We didn’t go in the pool but it was clean and heated. We used the laundry facilities a few times and there was never a line. We stayed at site 115 with a travel trailer. It was a nice site but when we decide to extend our stay we ended up in 89A which was a little more private. We were there in early June so it was a bit chilly at night but that’s ok as we would sacrifice warmth for less children. We would definitely stay here again.

The sites are a little close but aside from that it was quiet and clean. Lots of trees.
Very close to groceries and pretty close to Acadia.
Bathroom was a little beat up but clean. Showers were free but a meager trickle (hard to get shampoo out).

Bonus: small, old cemetery in campground from mid-19th century. Also a few hiking trails right at campground.

We planned our trip from GA to Maine and this by far has been the best campground yet. It is immaculately maintained. Quiet and convenient. Fall has been a wonderful time to visit this area. We were able to venture to Bar Harbor on 3 occasions 20 minute drive. We did not find parking to be problematic . I had the park Mobile App on my phone so parking was easy. Found a spot each time in less than 5 minutes. We saw so much at the Park, Thunderhole,Great Head, Sand Beach, Jordan Pond and more. There is an IGA grocery less than 5 minutes away. We hiked to Echo Beach from campground 1st night. Trash cans are plentiful here and emptied regularly. We kayaked in Long pond less than 10 minutes away. We have our own but there is a rental place across the street from there. This place was perfect. A word about Verizon cell coverage very limited and nonexistent throughout the area but we purchased the $14 WiFi option and that kept us connected.

Our listed price includes tax. With that out of the way, we found this to be a well run and cared for campground. They are actively doing maintenance and making sure the property clean and attractive. They have tent and RV camping in 2 distinct areas. The pool area was immaculate and the playground looked to be in good shape.

The RV sites aren't huge, but they are adequate. The downside to ours was the fire-pit area was behind the camper and was tight and not appealing to use.

We were fairly level and had no issues with the hook ups. Nothing tricky about getting into the sites.

You are just outside Southwest Harbor and close to plenty of Acadia trails. The campground has an access trail to a road where you can hike to Long Pond or Echo Lake.

We are on the road for a year and as such, made this reservations months ahead. While in MI, I broke my wrist and needed surgery followed by Physical Therapy. This set us back about six weeks, resulting in us having to cancel many reservations. Smugglers was the only campground who refused to give a refund. Instead, they hold onto customers deposits as a credit towards a future stay. So I guess we'll be going back. She commented that she had "years of credits" for cancelled reservations that were never reused. Very selfish and inflexible under my circumstances.

This is a family-style campground - tons of kids and extended families occupying several sites. Our experience here was good.

Having a 10-year-old nephew visiting us, we utilized the pool daily for several hours. While no one followed the posted pool rules, it was a pleasant place for the most part. Once, randomly, a woman claiming to be the park owner stopped by the pool and chastised kids for inappropriate slide used for about a 1/2 hour, then left - and everyone, including the adults at the pool, returned to sliding headfirst down the slide. It was just... weird.

Our site was near the road, so road noise could be heard, but it was otherwise one of the more private sites in the park. Concrete pad, level, 50A, water, & sewer.

A trail out of the back of the park (near the cabins) leads to a dirt road and more trails.

There is a lot of tent and cabin-based camping here.

The park's Wi-Fi (free version) supported basic work needs (data entry and email updates) while sitting at the pool. Verizon and AT&T data services were not great here - pretty unusable due to tower congestion. We utilized our Starlink system which worked well save brief dropouts when the satellite crossed behind trees.

We overall enjoyed our stay here, but felt it was priced a bit exorbitantly. We'd stay again if we needed a pool. (Pools are part of a 10-year-olds basic summer needs.)

We were last in Southwest Harbor 5 years ago: since that time it has become busier, but is still significantly quieter than the main area of Acadia around Bar Harbor. This was our first time visiting with a travel trailer, and we were pleased to find this extremely well-run and cared-for campground.
Pool area, laundry, and bath facilities were spotless. Everything well-kept, for example, we saw staff grooming the gravel roads and addressing any ruts left by vehicles.
A mile walk through the woods and then down a gravel road will get you to Echo Lake Beach, a slightly longer walk in the other direction on the gravel road takes you to Long Pond. There is a playground as well as a large open field in the center of the camp.
There are some seasonal sites, but all were very clean and well cared for, which is not always the case for long-term sites. Utilities were all in good working order.
There appear to be several types of cabins. While we did not enter any, the outsides, like all the other public areas, were in very good condition and I cannot imagine the interior to be any different.
Laundry was clean (as noted above) and all machines were in good order. Small camp store stocks snacks, souvenirs and a few essentials.
Either rules about unescorted children were being enforced, or campers here were not breaking said rules. No issues with loose/barking dogs as we all seemed to be making our pups behave. The one cat I saw was being carried around in a backpack like contraption and was also behaving…
The only drawback for us was the size of our site/proximity to neighbors. But we noted there were other sites with better privacy and we will try to book one of those when we return, There is some road noise, outlying during the day, but nothing major. WiFi adequate for our needs, but if trying to work, the upgrade might be in order.

We had a wonderful 5-night stay at this CG. This is a keeper, and we would definitely stay here again. The CG is a couple of miles from Southwest Harbor, which is really convenient to restaurants, shopping and a local IGA grocery store. (With heavy traffic, you could make it to Bar Harbor in about 35-40 minutes from the CG. With normal traffic, this CG was about 20 minutes from Ellsworth, another great little town.) We had full hookups and everything worked well. The campsites are close together although there are green buffers throughout the CG that removed some of that close feel. Bring your levelers as you may need them on some sites. Smuggler’s Den is big-rig friendly. The CG has a good mix of RVers and tent campers. The CG is busy and completely booked all the time due to the proximity to Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park and all sorts of amazing outdoor recreation. Plan carefully. The staff was amazing, friendly, always available and listened carefully to our needs. The CG rules were clear and the staff kept a sharp eye on everything. The staff even had great recommendations about fun things to do in the area. We had ample Verizon access while here. The one down side was the bathhouse: It is always busy and hard to keep clean. (3 showers and 4 toilets for the men's and women's sections) The bathhouses were cleaned once every 24 hours; that just wasn’t enough especially for the large number of tent campers there. For a campground this size, we were a bit surprised that there was only one bathhouse for the whole CG. Also, we used the laundry facilities and the machines worked well. CGs in this area are expensive and this one was too. The daily rate was at the high end of the range we want to pay.