Campground Review: Kiptopeke

Just before Memorial Day, we took three kids, the dog, and Luna the pop-up to Kiptopeke State Park. Kiptopeke is right on the Bay, about a 10 minute drive to Cape Charles. It's been featured in Atlas Obscura for it's Concrete Fleet. We are happy mountain area dwellers, but being from the beach, we love a good shore experience, and Kiptopeke delivers. It immediately rose to just about the top of our favorites list for campgrounds, and you can see from the Tripadvisor reviews that we're not alone. The campground was only about half full when we were there, and it was pretty wide open but the spots weren't right on top of each other. Full hook-ups and sand/grass sites without the crushed shale and gravel drives found in a lot of other campgrounds, which I appreciated. The shower area of the bathhouse was clean and spacious. Restrooms could have used a bit more attention while we were there, but nothing terrible.

The great things about Kiptopeke are:
The beach area for folks with dogs is separate from the "swimming beach," but still pretty spacious and uncrowded.
The swimming beach is also spacious and uncrowded.
There's a great pier for fishing with the kiddos.
Lodges and cabins are available and looked great from the outside.
Bike rentals for $3/hour.
Lots of trails, including boardwalks to the beach area.
Beautiful sunsets.
Kiptopeke has a boat ramp so lots of hopeful fishermen and women were camped with their boats.

Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what to expect.

Sunset Day 1 from the swimming beach

Camp Store

Path from campground to swimming beach

Cabin

Lodge

Beautiful sunsets

Closer shot of part of the Concrete Fleet