Crawford Notch Campground — Hotel in Hart's Location

Loved the location, the Saco river was hands down our favorite to lounge by. Campsites were nice and large (sandy). The only downfall for the sites were having to haul everything in versus parking right at your site and unloading right there. (For walk in sites, they do have wagons AND there are some sights you don't have to walk in) When booking I didn't realize that our site along the river, didn't have water or electric. The outhouses and bathhouse were clean and showers were nice and hot.

There were a few encounters we weren't impressed by. Some of the staff we talked to on the phone and in the store, had a hard time understanding us which made things a little difficult over the phone when asking if they allowed outside/NH firewood coming into their campground, they didn't understand and were unable to answer my question. We also witnessed a woman trying to book a site on the phone (we could hear her speaking), a staff member didn't understand what she was saying, without saying anything handed the phone over to another staff member to take over. She explained again that she was looking to book a site and without saying anything to the woman on the line, either put her on hold or hung up to assist us in checking out. We were honestly floored. We told the gentleman that he could assist the woman on the phone first and he just waved it off and continued to check us out without any interaction. Another time, I went in the office with $2 and asked if I could have 8 quarters (for showers). The young man was so confused. I ended up taking a quarter out of my pocket and used hand gestures and said trade dollar for quarters. Which he did understand. There were some very nice staff, too. Our young kiddos are very shy but one young woman tried striking up conversation with them and it was really sweet. I just think some of the staff's communication and people skills are lacking. We're (very friendly) business owners ourselves, so I can see this being a downfall for them if these kind of situations are common. When checking out, we were never asked if we enjoyed our stay, no thank you/safe travels or anything. We just stated we were checking out and handing in our gate card they asked if it was the only one (it was) then they waved us off. For it being Fourth of July week, we were shocked with how dead it was. There was TONS of empty sites. I can't help but wonder if these kind of issues are normal occurrence.

Another thing to note, the store is EXPENSIVE. As we all know, you're paying for convenience but, some things such as toilet paper, was just outrageous...$6 for a single/small roll of toilet paper. YIKES.

WE LOVED that there was no cell service/wifi options, it was great to FULLY disconnect for the week. It'd be so nice if they could add even a simple playground, by the river. If you're a family that needs a campground with entertainment/planned activities on site, this wouldn't be the campground for you. If you're a family that enjoys disconnecting and enjoys being off grid that can self entertain, you've found the perfect place. Especially being so close to so many great falls/hiking.

We frequent the area and will try again next year. Hopefully we'll see some...

This was the 17th year that my wife and I have stayed at Crawford Notch Campground. We are currently on our fourth owners. The ownership did change in 2022, and they have brought along some changes with them. The new online booking system takes some patience to work through, and it is more challenging to see real time availability for sites. Be prepared to be asked to pay an additional $15 "non-transfer fee" (basically, if you pay this, it is supposed to lock your reservation in to the site you reserved). This is new. While we were there, there were no lights on outside the bathhouse at night. Inside the bathhouse was clean, and the showers were hot. There was plenty of soap in the dispensers, which has been a problem in the past. We stayed in the same cabin which we have for years, but some of the little maintenance things which we fixed ourselves in May still had not been permanently addressed. Other reviewers have noted there is no wi-fi or internet- they're correct. You are in the middle of a mountain pass, surrounded by mountains, and the town does not allow cell towers under their zoning. If you want/need to use your cell phone, you have to drive a few miles down the road to get a signal. That's one of the reasons we keep going back! |The highway. Crawford Notch is a mountain pass, which in the area of the campground is, at best, roughly a third of a mile wide. Through here passes a railroad, the main highway, plus the campground. If you stay in a cabin, the road noise will be louder than most of the tent sites. Or, you can do like we do and bring a fan for white noise at night, even thought we don’t find the traffic noise objectionable. We had no trouble carrying on a conversation at any time over the traffic going by.|The Saco River. Other reviewers have called it a "desert". Mother Nature decides how she wants to route the river, that is something the campground cannot control. We have seen the course of the river change several times over the years, depending on the severity of rain storms, specifically Irene in 2011, and the Halloween storm of 2017. It will only be a matter of time before it changes again, but the term "riverfront site" is misleading, as the river is currently routed on the far bank, away from the campground.|We had no issues in the few interactions which we had with the employees there. |One thing which we did notice was the lack of campground employees making rounds in the evening. It used to be that the owner or security person would make rounds at least until 10PM, which is “quiet time”. We saw one employee out one night, but that was it. Fortunately, we didn’t need them.|Overall, we once again enjoyed our experience, and are already looking at dates to book...

Stay here at your own risk! There is literally no one in charge on site at anytime and there is no maintenance. There is no customer service if things go wrong at your site, and there are only children running the place.||||We reserved site 90 with Abby for Memorial Day weekend. She told us we had a river on our site, that it was secluded (I asked specifically for that), that there was a bathroom close by, and that there was running water close by. I still thought $60 a night was expensive (there are several state campground in the area for a third of the price), but we booked it.||||We arrived late on Friday night. The first thing we noticed.. no bathroom near by. It was a chemical toilet, which is not the same thing. We were not secluded, we could clearly see and have a conversation with the people on both campsites next to us. She also placed us right on a trail head. The river she mentioned? No where to be seen or heard.||||When I went to rinse dishes on Saturday, I realized there was no running water anywhere. I walked to 3 of the nearest water stations carrying dishes and had to walk all the way back with the dishes still dirty.||||When we brought this to Abby's attention on Saturday, all she gave us was a saccharin "I'm so sorry about that" and gave us some excuse about a flood. She offered us no solutions or compensation. There were several open sites that were closer to working accommodations, but she would not move us to them.||||When we checked out on Monday, I asked Abby for a 50% refund. I believe she was intentionally misleading about the accommodations because I had said, "$60 a night is a lot - what am I getting for that?". I think she worded things to sound more appealing than they really were. She told me she couldn't give me a refund. I asked for someone in charge, she said there are never any supervisors on site. I asked for the phone number of a supervisor.. SHE SAID SHE DOESN'T HAVE ONE! What if there is a real emergency there?! No one is in charge?!||||She gave me an email address. I have emailed over a dozen times with no reply.||||We camp the white mountains every other weekend. We go to a lot of places, and I have never had a bad camping experience anywhere until this place. Definitely cannot recommend staying here, a place run by children with literally no one in charge, no one to answer for anything, and no customer service to speak of at all.||||I can rough it at a camp site, but not for $60 a night. $60 a night gets you a bathroom and a water spout and usually even electricity.||||I've been forced to place a charge back on the entire stay because they will not even answer my emails.||||Please, camp literally...