Campgrounds and RV parks near Union Beach, NJ

Trip planning around Union Beach usually blends bay-and-beach time with inland forest recreation. Sandy Hook, the Jersey Shore beaches at Belmar and Asbury Park, and the Raritan Bay waterfront are all within short drives. Inland, Turkey Swamp Park has 4 playgrounds, a 17-acre lake for boating and fishing with boats available for rental, 8 miles of trails, open playfields, and large-group picnic facilities. At Allaire, families can combine camping with the historic 19th-century iron-making town of Allaire Village, the Pine Creek Railroad narrow-gauge train ride, and freshwater fishing on the Manasquan River, plus hiking, biking, and picnicking. From Liberty Harbor, ferries and PATH trains connect Jersey City to Lower Manhattan and Midtown. Floyd Bennett Field adds hiking trails, historic airplane hangars, a recreation complex with bike rentals, and an outdoor archery range with 8 to 10 targets.

Seasonality matters because the closest campgrounds are seasonal. The Turkey Swamp family campground is open from April 1 to November 15, while the park itself is open year round. Allaire State Park family campsites are currently closed due to construction of a new bathroom and shower facility, while group camping is not affected and is open April 1 to December 15. RV renters should confirm current status before booking. Summer is peak season for shore access and books up fastest. Campsites and shelters book up fastest for summer and holiday weekends, and booking at least three months in advance is advised. Weekend nights typically require multi-night stays: reservations at Turkey Swamp require a two-night minimum on weekends (Fri and Sat), with one-night reservations available Sunday through Thursday. Shoulder seasons, April through early June and September through October, offer cooler weather, thinner crowds, and easier reservations. Winter camping is limited to the year-round urban option at Liberty Harbor, since Camp Gateway Brooklyn at Floyd Bennett Field is typically open from mid-May through mid-October.

Amenities vary sharply. Turkey Swamp is a traditional wooded county campground with wooded campsites, electrical service, water service, drinking water, a modern restroom with hot showers and laundry, a self-serve sanitary dump station, fire rings for charcoal cooking and campfires, picnic tables, and a children's playground. Allaire is more rustic. The campground has 45 campsites near the Manasquan River, plus 10 shelters that are cabin-like structures with a wood stove and two double-deck bunks sleeping up to four. Amenities include drinking water, flush toilets, showers, and an RV dump station open mid-April to mid-October. Campsites can accommodate tents, trailers and RVs, and each site has a table, fire ring and grate. Liberty Harbor is essentially an urban lot with full hookups, including 30-amp and 50-amp service, water, a dump station, showers, laundry, and Wi-Fi. Floyd Bennett Field is the most primitive of the group, offering 32 tent sites and 20 RV parking sites, vault toilets, showers and sinks with running water, with no water or electric hookups at the RV sites.