Waterville Campground
October 2026
About
Overview
Waterville Campground is a popular home base for hikers who want to explore the southern White Mountains, including the scenic Pemigewasset Wilderness.
The tremendous choice of local attractions and the proximity to outdoor recreation opportunities - fishing, swimming, hiking and whitewater paddling to name a few - bring campers back to Waterville again and again.
The White Mountains boast pristine forests, clear mountain streams and rivers and the tallest peaks in the Northeast. The forest encompasses nearly 800,000 acres in New Hampshire and western Maine, and is one of the most popular in the country.
Recreation
Hikers are drawn to the many trails in the area. Campers can easily access the Drakes Brook Trail (4.4 miles) and Sandwich Trail (3.9 miles), which form a loop that begins and ends near the campground.
Water sports include fishing and kayaking. Anglers can cast a line for brook trout in the Mad River. A bit farther away is the Winnipesaukee River, which has a great 2.1-mile category I-II section of whitewater.
Other activities such as summer concerts, a swimming area, golf course and the Gunstock ski resort are close by.
Learn more about recreation in the national forest.
Facilities
A mix of standard and tent-only sites are well-spaced around a single loop. The facility provides the basic amenities of restrooms and drinking water. Many other amenities such as showers and laundry facilities are within a short drive.
Natural Features
The campground sits in a thick forest of northern hardwood trees, adjacent to the Mad River and surrounded by mountains.
The national forest is home to many species of northern wildlife, including moose, white-tailed deer and black bear. Almost 200 species of birds, including the rare Bicknell's Thrush, live in the White Mountains.
Contact Info
For facility specific information, please call (802) 289-0970.
Nearby Attractions
Campers may want to take an afternoon to visit Gilford Beach, Dixon Point and Sandwich Beach, all near Waterville Campground.
The facility is also close to Waterville Valley Resort, which offers night life, summer concert tours, restaurants, horseback riding, canoeing, mountain bike rentals and shops.
The White Mountains region hosts four alpine and five nordic ski areas, which provide year-round recreation opportunities.
Amenities
Phone: 603-536-6100
Is WATERVILLE CAMPGROUND fully booked?
A campground showing no availability is almost never full for good. People cancel — plans change, weather turns, someone books three weekends and keeps one — and the site goes straight back into the booking system, usually without warning and often at odd hours. The reason sold-out campgrounds feel impossible is not that sites never free up; it is that nobody is watching at the moment they do.
CampHawk watches WATERVILLE CAMPGROUND in NH for you. We recheck it every 15 seconds, around the clock, and the moment a site opens we send a text, an email and a push notification — and on Recreation.gov we can put the site straight into your cart, so it is held while you get to your phone.
Searching is free and needs no account — the calendar above is live right now. Watching WATERVILLE CAMPGROUND for cancellations is the paid part.