Camping Road Trips That Include Big Cities? How Do You Do It?

[CalStevens]

Here's a discussion starter that will show some variety of tastes on camping road trips. Some of us probably do not plan routes that include cities, other of us will mix city and country.

When you DO decide to visit places that include cities, it's an interesting question as to how. Again, the variety, yes? Some will say to find an in-city RV park, others will opt for hotels. For us, our RV is a pop-up, which is much more rustic, as you know it's more of a tent on wheels, so it seems a bit weird to pop up in a parking lot or an RV resort type setting. We try to find a somewhat-country solution that's within a reasonable drive of the city we're seeing.

I've recently had to consider this while planning an upcoming cross-country trip, and blogged briefly about it here: Smores in Times Square? or How To Camp in the Big City. We found a MA state park 30 minutes from Boston, a KOA that's a train ride away from NYC, and a northern VA national park campground near DC.

Would love to read about what you do, or if you avoid big cities on your trips.

[texkayaker]

If going through Austin Tx. Stay at Pecan Grove RV Park, in the heart of city. Pop ups welcome. Make reservation early, park stays booked up.

[ChileRick]

We purchased our MH to enable us to travel with the dog and see this wonderful country. We are trying to spend our summers traveling and plan our itineraries based on the part of the country we want to immerse ourselves in for 2-3 months. Generally our plans include everything from state parks and monuments to museums and other POI's and that includes cities. We plan our route based on not wanting to drive more than 350 miles per day and we are thrilled when we can balance the rural and urban experience. We look for nice RV resorts with good amenities for us and the dog and prefer to spend at least 4-5 days minimum in each location, duration depends on the POI's in the area.

[HDRoadking]

There are probably a lot of us that have the RV so we can take the dog. There he is in the upper left corner. The DW says she is the maid and I am the chauffeur, the dog is the king of the road. Sometimes we put him in doggie day care when we are in a city and he can't go with us.

[Slapshottr]

I have never really looked at it from the standpoint of camping in a city or the country. To me it is all just RVing. I started RVing while serving in the military. Uncle Sam moved us around a lot and I viewed it as an opportunity to see the sites on our way to a new duty assignment. It didn’t matter if the route passed thru a city or country setting it was all part of the adventure. For those of us that are able to get onto a military base camping in some of the cities is a whole lot easier. I have made several trips to Washington DC and stayed at Andrews AFB Family Campground (FAMCAMP) right in city limits. We have used military FAMCAMPS in San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Orlando, Boston, and Las Vegas. If these were not available I’m sure I would have found a private or state run park close to the city that would have worked just as you did. Having the Internet makes finding these campgrounds a whole lot easier. You can camp in NYC in a tent. The National Park Service recently put in 38 camping spots in Brooklyn at Floyd Bennett Airfield, which is all part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. While there check out the Terminal Building an aviation treasure. The Hanger has some cool airplanes on display. The Army Air Corps launched several airplanes from here to defend New York City from King Kong in the original movie. Rving has allowed my family to explore some great places in and out of the city.