New York camping over the memorial day weekend

I still can't believe that this is the ONLY close option for people trying to reach the city. D&M is right, staying an hour further away adds 2 hours to your commute. For people like me that travel with dogs and need to come home at least once during the day to let the pups out, that is FOUR hours spent traveling each day.

We gave in and are paying over $100 a night for a bit of bitumen iinet New Jersey. I figured as you mentioned it would be more expensive everywhere this weekend if able to find a spot. Also, are hoping NYC will be a little quieter over this long weekend. BTW there are still around 20 sites left available if you want to join us?

Mik,

There are always options, but do they justify the savings? Liberty Harbor is just an fenced off area of a parking lot, no trees, asphalt surface and tight spots. But its draw is LOCATION, LOCAYION, LOCATION. All other options are at least an hour away.



You kill two hours of your day just riding into town, and parking isn't cheap or easy to find. Plus, after schlepping around NYC all day, you are pretty beat. During the work week, there is a water taxi that you ride to a pier that is at the foot od Wall Street. I like the fact that the water taxi picks up drops off right at the marina dock, which is about 100 yards from your parking spot.

A couple more options you can consider are Croton Point Park and Black Bear Campground.

Try reserve America, state parks are a great place to stay and cheap, there are a few located in the Catskills and Berkshires. Most CGs in the northeast have 2 sets of rates in season and off season. If want to save on fees, then you need to look farther from your target area. If you end up staying farther out, you would end up spending more in parking fees and tolls. plus traffic time.
The DW and I went down to the DC area last fall to do some sightseeing. We could of stayed at 1 campground who was close to the metro area, but was pricey. We opted to stay at another farther out. We brought our toad and after setting up, went into DC. Stayed 3 days and went to DC 2 of them. Saved on fees. What we saved in CGs fees, cost us time sitting in local traffic the majority of time.
Moral: We went with the object of enjoying our sightseeing of the national mall and other landmarks. End result was spent majority of time sitting on city streets in heavy traffic and spent very little time sightseeing.
campground A was 20 miles out, the one we stayed in was 50 miles out.
Good luck, Catskills are great with lots of thing to do, many CGs usually have openings for the upcoming holiday. The city can be exciting unless you live within 100 miles,(maybe further)

Mik, that's SOP for pretty much any campground. At this late date you probably only have two choices: Stand on your principle and not go anywhere or just accept the fact it's an extra cost associated with this type of lifestyle. If you find a campground with space that DOESN'T up their rates for long weekends, please let us know-I truly don't think one exists.

1775 wrote:
I am surprised that Liberty Harbor has sites for Memorial Day weekend but perhaps it is because most want to get away from the City that weekend than come to it. I have looked for the last month for Memorial Day vacancies in PA,CT, and Mass and everyone is booked. Most just laugh when you call and say that they booked for this year last Memorial Day. Upstate NY - most probably the same thing. You may find a cancellation but expect to pay a lot more for sites on Holiday weekends.

I'm having the same problem; wanted to take out our new trailer for the first time on Memorial Day weekend, and no vacancies. In a way it's a good sign, although it means planning way in advance again. I guess we'll be going to our cabin on Tug Hill instead, and plan for another weekend.

I am surprised that Liberty Harbor has sites for Memorial Day weekend but perhaps it is because most want to get away from the City that weekend than come to it. I have looked for the last month for Memorial Day vacancies in PA,CT, and Mass and everyone is booked. Most just laugh when you call and say that they booked for this year last Memorial Day. Upstate NY - most probably the same thing. You may find a cancellation but expect to pay a lot more for sites on Holiday weekends.

Another possibility is the Newburgh NY KOA. It's about an hour out of the city, to the north, easily reached from the interstate, and makes a great base camp for NYC. It could possibly be booked up, and will likely be expensive (though perhaps not quite as expensive as Liberty). They offer bus tours into the city from this CG as well.

How about CT? We are staying at a Beautiful CG in Griswold, 20 minutes from the casinos....Countryside RV Park, much more reasonably priced, huge sites....if you have any other questions just ask....