Black Bear Campground — Hotel in Salisbury

Long review with a lot of details. Great experience! Firstly, the location was great. It was .1 mile off Rte 95. That was great. After sitting in a lot of traffic on the way up from Central Massachusetts, it was nice to arrive so quickly off the highway.

Registering at the office was super easy. The woman, Kara, was very welcoming and helpful! Thank you very much. We were able to pull both cars through the camp site to unload and then had to park our second vehicle in the visitors lot.

The sites we chose were in the back and we had booked the day we went so we knew that most were empty. We chose to book the back sites and picked sites without direct neighbors due to having 4 little kids. The first night there was only 3 of us in a 8 site row. When we arrived there was a few sites without tags on them so we just counted from the ones with tags and just set up. On our 2nd night there one of the staff members came and replaced the tags that were missing and we realized we were in the wrong spot so Valerie told the other woman in the office and they were able to switch it in the computer so we didn't have to move entirely. We did have to move a couple feet which wasn't super troubling. The sites are very close to eachother which stinks for people who don't have kids when their next to a site with 4 younger children. The campground has a big playground with many structures. The playground could use a little updating, the sign with the rules is nearly entirely faded. But all in all, a great amenity to have at an arms length. There is 2 pools which are pretty small but never seemed too overcrowded when we went the couple times while we stayed. One of the problems we experienced at the pool (no fault of the campground) was bigger children unsupervised and jumping in and not watching/being mindful of other/younger swimmers. I had to keep reminding my 5yo to watch for the 11-12yo's because they were not watching for them and we're either unsupervised or parents didn't care/find it to be an issue. The water to wash off before and after the pool was very warm. We didnt use the arcade room but did take a peek which is another awesome amenity to have. Within 1.5 miles you have Walmart, ocean state job lot, tj Maxx, market basket, NH state liquor outlet, etc. Salisbury beach is a 15minute drive and an easy drive at that. Hampton Beach is a little further especially with heavy traffic on perfect beach days. I'll never return to Hampton after enjoying our time at Salisbury beach for less parking fees and less stress. The campground sells 5lb bags of ice for $2, fire wood and kindling for $6/bag. Coded gate to enter but for the first couple days it was stuck up so we didn't need the code. The bathhouses have 3 stalls and 3 showers, showers are $.50 for 5 minutes. The bathhouses could use some TLC and some updating but weren't terrible, I've definitely seen many worse!! The campgrounds quiet time is 10pm-8am and it is sooo quiet.

A lot of the RV's are summer homes and their kids run the campground freely climbing all over the top of the playground structures and preventing younger children from playing. Also the older kids on the playground using fowl language was an issue a couple times. (Not a campground issue, a parenting issue) Nothing major that warranted reporting to the office. Just remind our kids to go on a different structure and they know better than to use that language. Visitors can come in but the fee is $10/person. A little steep but it's to weed out excessive people coming in and out.

All in all, we really liked it. We will definitely return in the future. Oh ya the only downfall to the proximity to the highway was that you listened to the highway traffic all night while you were trying to sleep.

Staff was friendly, we watched them out working the entire time, making sure things were on the up and up. I wish the spaces were more spaced out but what can you do? All in all a great place and...

I have never left a review for a campground before, but thought it necessary as I usually read reviews for everything and this time I wish I had. This is essentially a RV park -- rows and rows and rows of them. The campsites for tents are literally on top of each other. So much so that I had to have an employee come tell me what my boundaries were as I had a large 12 person tent. The employee was not helpful and borderline rude. He could not give me a clear answer. He complained about people moving tables and fire pits when I asked which ones were mine. He picked up a fire pit and threw it a few feet to the other site. (the fire pits are movable and they do not have a GRATE on them for cooking. We went out and bought one at Lowes. Told me the table near the other site that clearly didn't have a table was mine. I asked "should I move it closer to my site in case someone comes to that site" His response was it's a heavy table and to be careful if I move it since he would be moving it back. I didn't get that as I was still confused if it was my table or the next sites. My site was electric, it's what I paid for, when I inquired about the electric I was told I didn't have it. The next day after looking at the map which clearly stated our site was electric, I was able to get an adapter for electricity. The water spigot are at the back of the bathrooms and I had to walk on someone's site every time I wanted water -- NO dish washing stations at all -- be prepared. Trees are very few and far between so no hammocks My grandson said the minute we got out of the car "where are the trees? Bring your marsh mellow sticks as you will not find sticks in the non existence woods. SHOWERS - You will pay 50 cents for 5 minutes - with 3 girls including myself we used 10 minutes. so a dollar a shower. The water pressure was amazing. The bathrooms were clean. Wood chips -- be prepared to have them in everything. tent, shoes, sleeping bags, clothes, EVERYWHERE BEES a lot of them --maybe because the site was in full sun most of the day. Be prepared bring a sun shade or two. but you might not fit them on the site. LOL The pool was nice, clean and the kids really enjoyed the playground and pool except when there were so many people in it because the campground was full full full of rows and rows of RV's and tents. Yes, it's close to the beach, and restaurants, but I wanted camping -- I'll stick to STATE Parks from now on. I forgot to add the Noise. No quiet time is enforced. Karaoke what? Loud group next to us we’ll after midnight laughing very loudly and talking over one another loudly. We have always enforced quiet time with our children and being respectful after 10. They didn’t understand why rules were not enforced at...

Two, very small pools, one is more suited as a hot tub but with cold water. The sides of the pool are brown and I felt nervous swimming in the water. It is only open from noon to 7pm which is ridiculous in the heat of summer with children. They do have a beautiful park for children, looks new. The WiFi is awful. The bathrooms are the worst I've seen ever. Don't use them during the weekend, gross. But the toilets were standard to poor during the week. The showers are perhaps the worst I've ever used in all my years of camping. The water takes forever to regulate which means waiting for scalding hot water to cool enough to get in. One of the three showers had a blocked drain so the water pools at your feet up to your ankles. I felt trapped! The shower heads are ancient and point in one direction only, against the shower wall which makes it awkward to rinse your hair or to rinse. 50 cents for 5 minutes, but 3 are used because you have to add in the wait to get a safe temperature. Overall the campground is neglected and unloved. The grass all around was long when we arrived and now on our 5th day, still not mowed. The place is scruffy and run down. Also, lots of ant hills on each site, so bring ant powder. However, the location is great and if you don't use the bathrooms or shower, don't mind long grass and garbage you'll be okay. We camped at Black Bear Campground in a Travel Trailer.

Update: Towards the end of our 10 day stay, I used their washers and dryer and a large portion of my towels, tops and pants came out of the wash stained and streaked with black. I read her comments below from my husband and I have to say, never did my husband have to calm me, he felt sorry for me because their attitude was "it's your fault" our machines work and you did something. I struggled not to get angry, as it isn't worth it. What left me flabbergasted was their indifference! Not sure what I could have done to cause the damage to my laundry, and I realize they obviously are not trained on customer service. We had already invested so much money into this 10 day trip that receiving a discount was not the point. The point was to show some level of concern or acknowledgement that the standard of service in their campground was barely adequate. I would never bring young children to this campground if I had to depend on their...