Port Burwell Provincial Park — Attraction in Bayham

We are not avid campers, but tend to visit one new park per year to spend time with our friends. Port Burwell is a little on the small side, in terms of parks, which is nice because it doesn't seem to attract a lot of the loud, rowdy campers that the larger parks get.

Our site felt enormous for the number of shelters that were allowed. It was great - lots of extra space, and relatively flat/free of large rocks. There was not a lot of seclusion between the sites, though they were trying to reduce "campsite sprawl" which should help that in the future. Probably the biggest drawback to this campground is that only one car was allowed on site (compared with two on every other park we've camped at). I can see this if the campsites/entrances to the sites were small and compact, but we could've probably fit three cars at the entrance to our site, easily. We had to shove three cars worth of food/supplies into the one car that was allowed on site, since the overflow parking lot was about 200m away. Not a huge walk, but too far to go to multiple times a day for supplies.

The camp staff (at least the ones at the entrance) were really only as helpful as they absolutely had to be. We arrived slightly before the people who had reserved the site and were allowed to go through to the site, but only if we paid for a day parking pass (this was at 5:30pm) which would then have to be switched over to a weekend pass when the others arrived (which was an additional charge). The people who had reserved our site arrived half an hour later, and instead of just being able to give them the information on our pass, we had to actually go back to the entrance of the park and give them the old pass so they could void it and give us the new one. I guess so we didn't give someone "free parking" (even though we were charged for both the day pass and the weekend parking). Once we arrived to do this swap with our campsite-mates, I was told that I couldn't leave my car to go give them the pass (at the camp office, 50m away) because the parking area at the front of the park was "too busy" and they required the driver to stay with the car.

The parking debacle is pretty minor, all-in-all, but definitely could've been handled better by the park staff. It made the start of our weekend pretty unpleasant, and I remember it now almost a month later. Luckily the park itself was nice, the facilities were well-maintained, and the beach itself was beautiful (though definitely overgrown, as many have mentioned).

TL;DR: Beautiful (but small) park, sites are large but not very private, camp staff isn't great but you hopefully won't have to deal with them beyond finishing your registration...

We really enjoyed this camp ground. I just want to spit this out right away.... I was super impressed by the cleanliness of the washroom facility closest to us.... we were at site 107 in Leander section. They really clean the facility well, no spider webs and not many bugs(I know as the day goes on bugs do get in) but compared to other parks I have been to, they really take care....... anyways it was a great family getaway. They had some play equipment for the kids and a basketball court. They even had a feathered friend event for the kids..... I can't say how often that happens but it was nice for us....... the firewood/ice is not over priced which is nice...... this park has some great star gazing too. One thing I think is a bit disappointing is the beach is far enough away that you do need to drive to it but that can not be helped..... it is a beautiful beach. We were lucky to have a great day of waves while we were there which is alway extra fun BUT ALWAYS BE WATER SAFE, IT CAN BE A VERY DANGEROUS WITH UNDERTOWS......there is a dog beach too!!!!!! And there is a section for dogs to be on the leash and a section for dogs to be off leash as well which is soooo nice for our furry friends. My dog had the time of her life and she was so tuckered out each night along with the kids....... they have many different types of sites (eg. Shade/no shade..privacy). And port burwell it self is a beautiful little town with the world's best ice cream shop too and a few different places to get food...... anyways we had the time of our lives and I know...

I stayed here with my boyfriend over a long weekend for a quick getaway together. Check in was easy, a bit busy when we arrived but it still only took a few minutes. The site we was spacious and private, although not a lot of grass. The fire pit and grate was in great condition (kudos to who ever used it before us). We heard some noisy sites up pretty late both nights, but it didn’t bother us. The store had everything you would need to prevent having to leave the property, even some additional things like games and a lot of things for kids. The day use area was a decent size with a couple of trails leading to the beach. The beach was very big and clean, many staff were there picking up garbage and patrolling to ensure of this. Although, the water was pretty dirty. The comfort stations were very clean, I saw staff cleaning them a couple of times each day. The porta potty/out house styled bathrooms scattered throughout the park I can’t speak on because our site was right beside a comfort station so I never used one (in my experience they have not been very clean at other provincial parks). The ravine creek trail was nice for a quick hike, only took us about 20 mins. The hike to the beach is longer, but not as nice unfortunately. They had a big recreation field with a basket ball net, volleyball nets, disc golf baskets, and a playground. We forgot the fishing poles (which they did have available to rent) but we decided to opt out of fishing, so I cannot speak on...