Ontario Campgrounds & RV Parks Guide
Ontario has over a thousand campgrounds between the provincial park system, conservation areas, private RV parks, and municipal campgrounds. The problem is not finding a campground. The problem is figuring out which one actually fits your rig, your family, and your tolerance for the Ontario Parks reservation scramble at 7 AM on a February morning.
We organize campgrounds by the categories that matter when you are actually planning a trip: whether you need kid-friendly beaches or pull-through sites for a 38-foot Class A, whether you want a waterfront site on Georgian Bay or a quick overnight stop 10 minutes off Highway 400. Each guide names specific parks, specific site numbers where it matters, and the trade-offs nobody else mentions.
Browse by Category
Family-Friendly Campgrounds
Killbear's Beaver Dams sites on the longest beach (204-378), Sandbanks' shallow Outlet Beach for toddlers, Grundy Lake's cliff jumping between sites 22-24 on Gut Lake, and Bon Echo's paddle to Mazinaw Rock pictographs. Real comparisons with the trade-offs for each.
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RV Parks - Highway 400
Barrie KOA pull-throughs for rigs up to 70 feet with 30/50 amp service. Bass Lake for mid-week bookings. Arrowhead's Roe Campground with a 32-foot limit. Oastler Lake 10 minutes off the highway (but freight trains all night). Fuel prices, dump stations, Friday traffic strategy.
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RV Parks - Highway 17
Samuel de Champlain near Mattawa with 15/30 amp hookups (watch the rough access road if you are pulling a fifth wheel). Deep River municipal sites on the Ottawa River. Driftwood Provincial Park's day-use beach. Fitzroy Park as the last real campground before Ottawa. The 60 km fuel gap between North Bay and Mattawa.
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Waterfront Campgrounds
Killbear's Granite Saddle sites on Georgian Bay rock. Grundy Lake's Gut Lake sites on bare Canadian Shield. Canisbay Lake's shoreline sites with loon calls at dusk. Charleston Lake's clear water and fossil-embedded limestone. We define "waterfront" strictly -- direct water access, not a 15-minute walk through marsh.
Read GuideBest Overnight RV Stops in Ontario
Oastler Lake for the Highway 400 corridor (7 km from Parry Sound, on the highway, has a beach -- just know about the trains). Samuel de Champlain for Highway 17. Presqu'ile for Highway 401 east of Toronto. Fitzroy for approaching Ottawa. Plus the emergency alternatives: which Walmart locations allow overnight parking, which truck stops work, and why rest area overnight parking is a last resort only.
Read GuideUnderstanding Ontario's Campground System
Ontario Parks (Provincial Parks)
The province runs over 100 provincial parks with campgrounds. These have the best natural settings and most reliable facilities, but they also have the worst booking experience in Canadian camping. The reservation system opens five months ahead at 7:00 AM, and popular parks like Killbear, Sandbanks, and Algonquin fill within minutes. Ontario Parks has tried to address reservation hoarding by capping stays at seven days at prime parks, but the problem persists. Expect $40-55 per night for electrical sites, around $12 per person for backcountry. In 2025 they invested $60 million to add 300 new sites and upgrade 800 existing ones with electrical service, which should help slightly with availability.
Private Campgrounds and RV Parks
Quality varies enormously. The Barrie KOA is a professional operation with pull-throughs for 70-foot rigs, heated pools, and a camp store. Some private parks in the Muskoka corridor charge $80+ for a full-service lakefront site and deliver on it. Others charge $60 for a gravel pad next to a highway with a portable toilet. We note which private parks are worth the money and which ones are just cashing in on the provincial park overflow.
Conservation Areas
Often overlooked and often excellent. Conservation authority campgrounds tend to be smaller, quieter, and cheaper than provincial parks, with a more relaxed atmosphere and easier booking. They are strong mid-week alternatives when provincial parks are full, and some of them -- particularly in Eastern Ontario -- rival provincial parks for natural setting.
The Reservation Game
Ontario Parks opens reservations at 7:00 AM exactly, five months before your arrival date. For July weekends at Killbear or Sandbanks, you need to be logged in with payment ready and your preferred site numbers written down. Have three backup parks chosen. Sign up for cancellation notifications -- parks get thousands of cancellations yearly, many last-minute. See our choosing a campground guide for the full strategy.
Browse by Region
- Georgian Bay - Killbear (Granite Saddle, Lighthouse Point, Beaver Dams), Grundy Lake, Massasauga, Six Mile Lake
- Muskoka - Arrowhead (32-ft RV limit at Roe), private parks in the Bracebridge corridor, Huntsville area
- Parry Sound - Oastler Lake (train noise warning), Killbear, the end of Highway 400
- Algonquin Area - Canisbay Lake, Pog Lake, Highway 60 corridor, 16 paddle-in sites
- Ottawa Valley - Bonnechere (Round Lake), Samuel de Champlain (Mattawa River), Petawawa area
- Eastern Ontario - Sandbanks (Outlet Beach), Bon Echo (Mazinaw Rock), Charleston Lake, Frontenac backcountry
First Time Camping?
Our trip planning guides cover reservation strategy, seasonal timing, and which campground fits your situation.
Trip Planning