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Mount Desert Campground is located in the heart of world famous Mount Desert Island. Just minutes from Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. Spend your day sightseeing and shopping around the many local towns, rent a bike, sail on a schooner, go rock climbing in Acadia, or spend your afternoon at Sand Beach. Explore the extraordinary shopping and dining opportunities in Northeast Harbor or Southwest Harbor. You can even rent a kayak right here at the campground and explore the beautiful Somes Sound.
The Mount Desert Campground was conceived and created by Marie and Arnold Allen in 1958. The Allen's goal was to maintain a quiet, clean, tenting campground where families could come to relax, enjoy the natural beauty, and make memories. For the next 25 years, the Allens enjoyed a very loyal following of campers who returned here year after year.
In early 1984, the Allens sold the campground to one of those long time campers of almost 20 years, the Craigheads. Now, all these years later, we Craigheads strive to maintain the very best campground we can- so the children of those long time campers from years past can, in turn, make new memories with their kids.
We do not offer lots of frills and gimmicks but we do provide the quietest campground with the cleanest, most up to date facilities anywhere. We look forward to welcoming you to the Mount Desert Campground and we will do our utmost to make your stay a pleasant one.
On any given year, we do not allow dogs starting the Saturday on or before July 2 until Friday morning of Labor Day weekend. We certainly do allow dogs when the season is quieter during the months of May, June, September and October.
We offer free Wi-Fi at the Gathering Place on the grounds.
Mount Desert Campground is located in the heart of Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park on Route 198. When you reach the entrance to Mount Desert Island, stay to the right side of the fork (Rt. 102/198) and continue for 5 miles. You will come to a set of lights at the junction of Rt. 102 and Rt. 198. Take a left onto Rt. 198 aka "Sound Drive," continue for half a mile and you will see our sign on the right.
8 miles from Bar Harbor
5 miles from Northeast Harbor
5 miles from Southwest Harbor
Magical. Homelands of the Wabanaki Nation. Sites range from marshy mosquito habitats to majestic ocean shores. Luxurious for camping with showers, maintained and clean bathrooms, ice cream shop, wood for purchase, and potable water throughout the camp. The memorial walking trail is a beautiful walk lined with mushrooms and blueberries. Crabbing at the docs with kiddos was a highlight. Bring a screen house kitchen, if you're able. No laundry on site. Some food for purchase, but not much. 5 stars. Excellent hosts.
This is the perfect location!!! It's minutes from the park, right on the water, secluded sites, and lots of options for bathrooms/showers!!! Well kept and the perfect set up for your trip!!! We will be sending anyone we know who wants to go to Acadia!!
Well it’s a campground so there’s no “rooms” to rate but the campsites are nice and big and well maintained. We absolutely love this place and have been coming here for several years now. The staff is great, super friendly and helpful. They really make you feel like you and your time there is important to them. They have very nice paddle boards and kayaks to rent along with a nice long dock for you to dock 1 vessel. There is a nice big open boat launch area that’s great during high tide but quite mucky at low tide. This is also where you can store your extra vessels during your stay. That bath houses are always clean and conveniently located throughout the grounds. The only complaint I could possibly have is the lack of washer and dryer facilities. If they put one or two at each bath house or even just a few up at the office area that would be great. Many of us have kids and we all know kids tend to get messy so it would be nice to be able to do laundry on site rather than having to go into bar harbor, southwest or northeast harbor to do laundry. Overall a fantastic campground and we will definitely be back for years to come.
This is our third trip to the campground(1 tent trip and 2 with our 19foot trailer) and the facilities remain well maintained and clean. Be aware that showers are coin operated (4 quarters) for a duration on 5 minutes. Sites are well spaced and mostly wooded with many water front spaces. Electric is spotty for an RV as there is no 30 amp service. Although we love our site and continue to comeback, the campground is not really set up for small RV’s. No sewer hook ups or on site dump station adds to some minor inconvenience. But you will be hard pressed to find a quieter campground mostly kept in a natural state.
My first trip to this state and I'm so glad I found this place! My camp site was amazing, next to the water with gorgeous views! I rented a kayak & paddled around in the sound, absolutely beautiful. The gentleman in the office was friendly, helpful & efficient- the lady could've been a little kinder. They have a tab for your expenses, like a hotel which was convenient. The restrooms & showers are clean & nice. The Gathering Place is a sweet place to go in the morning for coffee & fresh baked goods, also to meet other campers. I loved my stay here & will be back!
