Camping Near Seattle: State Parks on Puget Sound and Forest Campgrounds in the Cascades

Seattle has two kinds of camping close at hand. All around Puget Sound, Washington state parks sit on beaches and islands, many with cabins and hookups and reservations all year. To the east, the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest has forest campgrounds on the rivers along I-90, US 2 and the Mountain Loop Highway, open from about May to September. Book early for summer: state park sites open nine months ahead.

Campgrounds near Seattle at a glance

Booking Washington state parks

• Reserve at washington.goingtocamp.com or (888) 226-7688, up to nine months before your first night. Campsites can be booked until 2 p.m. on arrival day; cabins until 8 p.m. the day before, with a two-night minimum in summer and on weekends.
• Reservation fee: $8 online, $10 by phone, plus $15 per reservation for non-residents.
• Nightly fees in peak season (May 15 to Sept. 15) run $31–43 for a standard site, $41–51 for partial utility and $46–56 for full utility, tax included; less in spring, fall and winter.
• You don't need a Discover Pass to park in the state park where you're camping.
• Winter water: from about November through March, Kitsap Memorial, Manchester, Scenic Beach, Blake Island and Bay View shut off campground water (Bay View keeps water at its dump station), and full-hookup water may be off in freezing weather.

For all the details, including cancellation fees and the winter schedule, see our Washington camping guide.

Puget Sound and Kitsap state parks

Dash Point State Park

Best for: camping in the metro area. A 461-acre park in Federal Way with 3,301 feet of saltwater shoreline looking over Puget Sound, plus miles of forest trails for hiking and biking. Standard and utility sites, cabins and a group camp; RVs and combinations up to 32 feet. Reservations all year.

Kitsap Memorial State Park

Best for: full hookups and cabins. On the Hood Canal shoreline near Poulsbo, open all year with 19 standard, 3 partial-hookup and 8 full-hookup sites, 3 hiker/biker sites and 4 cabins that sleep five, with heat, air conditioning, a mini fridge and microwave (one is pet-friendly). All campsites take tents, RVs or trailers depending on length. The group camp is reservable April 1 to October 31.

Manchester State Park

Near Port Orchard on Rich Passage, with over 3,400 feet of saltwater shoreline and wooded trails. Standard and partial-hookup sites for tents or RVs, 3 first-come hiker/biker sites, two Cascadia Marine Trail sites for paddlers, and a group camp with 12 RV hookup sites (reservable April 1 to October 31). Reservations all year.

Scenic Beach State Park

At Seabeck, with views of the Olympic Mountains: 50 standard campsites for reservation, 2 hiker/biker sites, a dump station, two restrooms and four showers. Sites 1–25 take reservations all year; sites 26–50 close from November 1 to March 31.

Blake Island State Park

Best for: island camping. A boat-in island park for boaters, paddleboarders and kayakers. There's no trash service: pack out everything. 44 standard sites, open all year; some can be reserved from May 15 to September 15, and all are first come otherwise. Main campground sites hold 8 people, west end sites 6. Moorage isn't guaranteed with a campsite, and boats over 45 feet must use the dock rather than the buoys.

North of Seattle

Camano Island State Park

77 standard reservable sites, 2 first-come hiker/biker sites and a Cascadia Marine Trail site for paddlers. The lower loop is open all year; the upper loop runs May to September and has several pull-throughs better suited to RVs. Five forest cabins sleep up to five each, with glimpses of the water.

Bay View State Park

Near Mount Vernon on Padilla Bay, half a mile from the 11,000-acre Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Standard and partial-hookup sites up to 50 feet, and six cabins looking toward Padilla Bay and the San Juan Islands (two have bathrooms; all but two allow pets). Reservations all year.

For more island camping farther north, see Deception Pass and Moran in our Washington camping guide.

South of Seattle

Millersylvania State Park, near Olympia, is an old-growth forest camping park on Deep Lake, with two swimming beaches, miles of forest trails and a hand-carry boat launch, and reservations all year.

Cascade campgrounds in the national forest

The Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest runs campgrounds on the rivers east of Seattle. Most are open May to September and reservable on Recreation.gov (877-444-6777), with some first-come sites. Stays are limited to 14 days. A food storage order is in force across the forest. Interagency Senior and Access passes take 50% off single sites.

Along I-90 (Snoqualmie)

• Denny Creek: one of the forest's oldest campgrounds, on the Snoqualmie River under a forest canopy, with electric and non-electric sites, a group site, and one first-come site. Walk to the Wagon Road, Franklin Falls and Denny Creek trails; the last enters the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. From $38 a night on Recreation.gov.
• Tinkham: on the South Fork Snoqualmie River in Douglas fir, cedar and hemlock, with the easy half-mile Tinkham Discovery Trail. From $30 a night.
• Middle Fork: by the Taylor River near its confluence with the Middle Fork Snoqualmie, a Wild and Scenic River, across from the Middle Fork Trailhead, with a half-mile interpretive loop.

Along US 2 (Skykomish)

• Money Creek: 25 sites on the South Fork Skykomish River in old growth, with a swimming area on the river; sites 9–14 are by the railroad tracks.
• Beckler River: 26 sites (22 single, 4 double), all reservable, on the Beckler River, May to September.

Mountain Loop Highway (Darrington Ranger District)

• Gold Basin: the largest campground on the Mountain Loop and the most developed and accessible, on the South Fork Stillaguamish, with a barrier-free half-mile boardwalk across the road. No drinking water; bring your own.
• Turlo and Verlot: neighbors on the South Fork Stillaguamish; Verlot has 23 sites and takes vehicles up to 40 feet. The steep Mt. Dickerman Trail starts near Turlo.
• Red Bridge: 15 sites among the trees on the river, two of them first come, vehicles up to 40 feet, May to September; no drinking water.

Toward Mount Rainier

Silver Springs sits on the White River in old-growth forest just outside the north entrance of Mount Rainier National Park, with trails nearby in the Crystal Mountain basin.

RV camping and hookups near Seattle

For hookups close to the city, look to the state parks: full hookups at Kitsap Memorial, partial (electric) at Manchester, and at Bay View for rigs up to 50 feet, and utility sites at Dash Point (up to 32 feet). In the Cascades, Denny Creek has electric sites; none of the other Forest Service campgrounds here lists hookups.

Free camping near Seattle

Dispersed camping is allowed in much of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie (up to 14 days in one spot and 28 a year) and, with a Discover Pass, on DNR state forest land. See Washington dispersed camping for the rules and limits.

For the Olympic Peninsula, see Olympic National Park camping and Hoh Rainforest camping.