Since my childhood I’ve camped at Hammonasset State Park. It’s 2 for 1 – camping + beach.
Spending the days at the beach, and morning and nights at the campground makes for lovely summertime entertainment.
There’s something special about being able to walk, rollerblade, or bike ride to the beach from a campsite.
The weekends fill up quickly so about a month before we wanted to camp we found a couple campsites that would accommodate a weekday camping trip.
My neighbor and her 3 boys, me and my 4 girls booked back to back sites. Perfect for sharing picnic tables and a fire pit!
We enjoyed camping on W20 and V05 – Two campsites close to a wooded area and amphitheater. The campsites were big and featured a couple trees. Most of Hammonassett campground is field camping and there’s no shade. For summer camping this can be hott. I enjoyed the shade of the large trees featured on this end of the campground. Anything between W20 and V05 and the beach also featured several trees and mostly shaded campsites.
The amphitheater features movies on Tuesdays and Fridays at dusk during the summer. And across the campground at Mohegan we discovered Thursday night Bingo. 6:30 for an hour. Bingo was free. They sold snacks and ice cream. Fyi cash only. Fun for kids and adults.
Camp store – opened 9am to 8pm during the summer. This is where we picked up our firewood, ice, items we forgot (toothbrushes), and ice cream treats for the kids (cones, sandwiches, SpongeBob, Dippin dots). The store also sells s’more ingredients, lots of little camping and grocery items – including milk and eggs. Super great resource.
Activities – the kids loved rollerblading and biking around the camp roads (they are paved) and using chalk to draw 4 square. There were tons of kids and families around during our stay. And due to a few consecutive days of rain forecast the campground wasn’t full. This meant less traffic and fewer cars driving around. The kids could explore the roads safely. We went to the beach – between Campers beach and West Beach. Campers beach is just accessible via the campground. West beach is the west most part of the beach parking lot access. You can walk to a spot between the two that’s usually quieter than the rest of the campground. 🙂
It was overcast and the tide was coming in. The beach was pretty quiet for a summer day! We were there when high tide arrived, bringing the biggest waves of the day. It happened to be a little breezy – so the kids loved playing in the big waves. Basically a free wave pool. The best things in life are free.
Nature Center – we didn’t visit this time, but Hammonasset has a nature center that’s free to visit! It features marine wildlife. About a 30-45 minute visit there is adequate to see the displays. This is located at the Meigs Point end of the beach.
Meigs Point – this is the tip of hammonasset. It is the eastern most part of the 2 mile beach. It features a few small hiking trails, very Shelly sand (bring shoes), a rock jetty, and the nature center.
Pavillions – the campground has several large Pavillions close to the beach. I’ve observed work groups, church groups, family reunions, baby/wedding showers, milestone birthdays… all celebrated here.
Volleyball – there’s a couple beach volley ball areas within the campground and also near West Beach.
Playground – a playground is strategically placed in the center of the campground. Accessible via the bike trail that now goes.thru the campground.
Bike trail – there is a parking lot near the entrance to the park that provides access to a bike trail! The bike trail cuts thru the campground then follows the coast for a couple miles. The trail also heads west from the parking lot to a wooded trail along route 1 – in the direction of Madison Center. It’s paved with gravel edges. The wooded section is gravel and crosses wooden bridges.
Camping – book early! Beach road is basically never available. Frequent visitors book 2 to 3 weeks at a time and make their reservations as soon as the window opens. But thankfully you can usually find a camp spot on weekdays that will suit your schedule.
Food – West Beach has a Pavillion that sells chicken fingers, burgers, hot dots, clam strips, fried dough, onion rings, fries, packaged ice creams, soft drinks. Cash and credit cards. Fairly priced and friendly service. Open til 6 the summer we were there.
Showers/bathrooms – the campground has buildings thruought the campground that have showers, bathrooms, outdoor kitchen dish washing area, family/accessible bathroom. There are water spigots between some of the campsites (available for all to use – not exclusive to the campsite).