Campgrounds and RV parks near Bethel, VT

Bethel sits in the White River Valley of central Vermont, along I-89 between Montpelier and White River Junction. The location puts RV travelers within a short drive of both state park campgrounds and private RV parks, with the Green Mountains to the west and the Connecticut River corridor to the east. The closest public option is Silver Lake State Park in Barnard, which fronts the northern shoreline of 84-acre Silver Lake and offers tent/RV sites, lean-tos, a sanitary station, and a sandy swimming beach. Allis State Park, north of Bethel on Bear Hill in Brookfield, is a smaller CCC-era park built on land willed to the state by Wallace Allis, with a fire tower that opens sweeping views across central Vermont. Gifford Woods State Park sits farther southwest at the base of Killington and Pico peaks, next to the Appalachian and Long trails. For full hookups, Lake Champagne RV in Randolph Center and Abel Mountain Campground in Braintree are the two closest private parks, both a short hop off I-89 Exit 4.

Vermont State Parks use a single reservation system covering Silver Lake, Allis, and Gifford Woods. Sites can be booked online through the state parks website, by phone with the reservation call center weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., or, during the operating season, directly with the park. Reservations open on a rolling basis 11 months in advance, released daily at 9 a.m. under the current policy. Reservations made more than seven days in advance require a two-night minimum. One-night stays are allowed within seven days of arrival, any day of the week, and same-day bookings can be made until 2 p.m. through the call center or the park. Private parks such as Lake Champagne RV and Abel Mountain Campground book directly through the operator. Foliage weekends and holiday weekends fill first, so reserve early for late September and early October.