Harpers Ferry Campground — Hotel in Harpers Ferry

!!! Don’t stay in cabin C2 !!!

UPDATE I received the following response to this review from the owner:

“Dave, We're sorry that we didn't meet your expectations. We appreciate you coming to visit. I believe you have spoken with our sales manager. Thank you for your business.”

This is simply not true. The only time we spoke with “management” was when we checked out, and we weren’t even offered an apology. We were dismissed and sent on our way. No one has contacted us and the owner’s statement is misleading, he has done nothing to resolve our concerns or complaints. I would advise anyone to avoid this company (River Riders) and campground. Actually, the whole campground was terrible and my family (wife and two young kids) left after one night. Worst “campground” I’ve been to

“More interested in glamping? Stay in one of our campground cabins.” - RR website

“Relax on the porch and enjoy the serene Potomac river with your family or friends” - RR website

The advertised view of the river was obstructed by a wall and some weird electronics pole (not pictured) that were curiously missing in the website photo

The sites are almost on top of one another, the table for the next door RV site was against the wall of our cabin

There was a random extension cord running along the ground across the “path” to the river through the site (trip hazard)

You can’t get to the river without stepping over the cord and weaving your way through cables for the zip line

Cars honk repeatedly, all hours of the day and night as they go through the adjacent tunnel. Even if you can sleep, it is impossible to relax during the day with the incessant noise

There is a train that runs right next to the campground at all hours

The oddly short picnic table sits on top of the access door to some kind of tank ( water? septic?). The caps to the vent stacks kept getting knocked off.

Best of all, our first night, water started to run out of the base of the toilet all over the bathroom floor

Water or sewage (it stunk) was bubbling up out of the ground through some plumbing under the cabin. I spoke with the staff and asked them to check on it and get back to me about what the mystery water was, if the water was safe to drink, and when it was fixed. We never heard back from them

When we went to check out early after the first day the staff didn’t even ask why ( I’m sure we are not the first to cancel our trip early because the lodging was so bad ). When we then asked for a refund of our second nights stay the “manager” was dismissive of our complaints. We paid the ridiculous price of almost $500 for two nights at this property

Learn from our mistake,...

I visited in a 30' travel trailer. Site 100.

Site was not level. Rear part of site dropped off quickly. They really need a retaining wall at the back of the site to enable them to level it. Side leveling was rough also. About 4.5" low on passenger side of trailer. I walked the entire campground, and although I did not check for level, none of them look much better... not worth the move anyway. I ended up just pulling the camper forward ten feet.

All the sites need more gravel. On site 100, the drivers side of the trailer was on mud. There was one site that appeared to have gravel only where the trailer sits. The outside living area was all mud. Keep in mind that my visit was right after Helene dropped a bunch of rain, so in dry weather, all of that area would have been dirt instead of mud. But, it should still have gravel.

The entire campground just does not look well cared for. A little effort would go a long way to making this a much more enjoyable campground for RV'ers and tent campers.

The cabins look nice. They are all single-wide trailers with wood siding, making them look rustic. Each one has its own parking.

The train didn't bother us. We expected it and didn't even need ear plugs. Woke us up a couple times, but really not that big of a deal. I don't know how close the nearest crossing is. I couldn't find one nearby on the map. The train does blow its horn, but it is way down the tracks when it does it. I honestly don't remember hearing the horn during the night... just during the day.

The cars honking their horns as they approach the one-lane tunnel under the tracks nearby was annoying. But the campground's website warned of that... just be aware it does happen frequently.

There is no laundry facility at the campground. This is a definite must!

Having to check-in for the camground at another location is another negative. A tight turns to get to the main office, no designated parking or turn-around for RVs, and at least a fifteen minute drive from the office to the campground (to avoid the 11' clearance one-lane tunnel under the RR tracks) is a minus in my books.

The attendant at the office was pleasant and efficient. No issues with...

We had a fairly nice stay here. The river front site was beautiful. Plenty to see and do in very close proximity to the campground. The people we’ve encountered who work here have been nothing but extremely friendly. There is also WiFi access, which is not something we normally care about (we camp to get away from phones!) but its actually a nice thing to have for the little one. The downsides (and there are a few): there’s an active train track right above the campsites. The trains are frequent and loud. They do seem to lessen in number during the night, but they come through at all hours. The bathrooms-there are 3. The trailer and port a John are not real pleasant but are acceptable. Except on our last night there was no running water in the trailer, which for me is never acceptable. The bathhouse is nice enough, it is air conditioned and relatively clean. It’s nothing fancy but it’ll do. The one problem is its located at the top of a fairly steep hill. It's an unpleasant climb, especially in the middle of the night. And all of the facilities have muddy floors due to the river, see my next issue. The swimming is okay, but the river has a mud/silt bottom so it was more mess than fun for our little one, and those bathroom floors are a mud mess as a result of this as well. There is a zip line that goes right over the sites, though we actually found this quite fun to watch. There was a big bag of trash on our site when we arrived, I’m guessing left by the previous occupants. There were several occasions when day users were using several of our neighboring campsites, which I don’t think is allowed but only one group was asked to leave, the other was not. Lastly, there is a one way tunnel near the entrance of the park, and there is regular horn honking to let others know a vehicle is passing through. This goes on until quite late as well. Overall we enjoyed ourselves, but the jury is still out on whether...