About Compare Campgrounds & our data
Compare Campgrounds is an independent campground comparison site. Every number comes from public data: fees, site counts, hookups, RV length limits, pet rules, nearby trails and mountain-bike difficulty, so you can compare campgrounds side by side before you book. Corrections: how to report a data error.
Where the data comes from
- Campgrounds, sites, fees, equipment rules, amenities: the Recreation Information Database (RIDB) public bulk export from Recreation.gov. Data Source: Recreation.gov.
- Trails: USDA Forest Service National Forest System Trails and the National Park Service Public Trails dataset (public federal GIS services).
- Virginia State Parks: fees, hookups, maximum RV length, cabins/yurts, primitive and equestrian sites and seasons, restated as facts from Virginia DCR's published camping pages and park guide, with links back. Campground locations come from OpenStreetMap. We are not affiliated with DCR.
- Other state park systems: each fact is restated with a link to the agency page it came from. We are not affiliated with any of these agencies.
- North Carolina: camping types per park from NC State Parks' camping map, plus the statewide nightly rate schedule from NC Parks' rates page.
- Pennsylvania: the statewide nightly price schedule from DCNR's camping prices page, plus DCNR's list of full-hookup campgrounds. Parks not on that list are included only when OpenStreetMap maps a campground explicitly named for the state park.
- Maryland: per-park base nightly rates from Maryland DNR's park fees page.
- West Virginia: the park list comes from WV State Parks' camping page. No rate table is published, so pages say "see booking site".
- Tennessee: the park list comes from the Tennessee State Parks camping brochure (last published December 2020). The brochure has no rates, so pages say "see booking site".
- Other campgrounds and bike trails: OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under the Open Database License. Campgrounds within about 0.4 mi of a federal or state-park listing (or within 1.2 mi with a matching name) are treated as duplicates and dropped.
- Fees and seasons are taken from the agency's own text. When an agency doesn't publish something, we show "not published" rather than guess.
How comparisons and the data score work
Every number on a campground page is computed from the sources above: rank by site count within the state, starting fee vs. the state median, how many campgrounds are within 25 miles and how many are cheaper, what share of campgrounds accept a rig of the same length, and named trails within 5 miles (closest point and mapped miles inside that radius).
The data score (0–100) adds up: site count (up to 25, log scale), published amenities (up to 20), trail miles within 5 mi (up to 20), reservations available (10), hookups (10), pets allowed (8), published pricing (7). It measures how much a campground offers and how well documented it is, not how scenic it is.
Mountain-bike difficulty ratings
We show a difficulty only when a trail is explicitly tagged in OpenStreetMap. IMBA ratings (mtb:scale:imba) are preferred: 0–1 = Family/Beginner (green), 2 = Intermediate (blue), 3 = Expert (black), 4 = Expert (double black). If only mtb:scale is present: 0 = green, 1 = blue, 2 = black, 3–6 = double black. Any other value, and every untagged trail, is shown as "Unrated". Forest Service trails where bikes are allowed are included as Unrated, because the agency doesn't publish a bike difficulty. "Kid-friendly" means at least 0.5 mi of green-rated trail within 5 miles.
How we make money
The site is currently free of ads and affiliate links. In the future we may add display ads or affiliate links to gear retailers, and we'll label them. Rankings are never paid.