All campsites at Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s Frisco Campground are nestled in the sand dunes
See the main Camping web page for a location map.
CAMPING SEASON
The Frisco Campground at Cape Hatteras National Seashore is located on the southern end of Hatteras Island near the town of Frisco. It is typically open from April until the end of November. The exact opening and closing dates change each year, so be sure to visit the National Park Service’s Campgrounds web page for the latest schedule.
TYPE OF CAMPING
Frisco Campground can accommodate tent campers, RVs, and other self-contained sleeping vehicles up to 40 feet long. All parking spaces are back-in.
NUMBER OF SITES
The campground has 117 campsites. Each site can accommodate up to six people, two tents, and two vehicles (or one vehicle and a trailer). All vehicles must park on the paved driveway, so if you have a large RV and a vehicle, you might have to park the vehicle in the nearby overflow parking lot. If you have more than two vehicles, you must pay for a second campsite.
There is one campsite reserved for disabled visitors.
AMENITIES
Each section of Frisco Campground has a modern restroom and an outdoor shower with cold water (inside a wooden shelter, so nobody can see you take a shower). A dump station for RVs is located on Lighthouse Road in Buxton (back towards the Hatteras Island Visitor Center). There are no electricity or water hook-ups. Only the Oregon Inlet Campground has hook-ups.
All campsites have a picnic table and grill.
Two boardwalks on the ocean side of the campground lead over the dunes and to the beach.
TERRAIN
Frisco Campground is the roughest of all the campgrounds at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, with all sites being in the sand dunes. I don’t even know where you would put a tent on some of the sites. In fact, a few are designated for RVs only because the back side drops off a cliff and there is no space for a tent. When making a reservation at Recreation.gov, there is information about each campsite, including the size of the tent space. Make sure your tent will fit.
If you show up and get a site on the day of your arrival, if any are available, at least you can scout out the campsites before choosing one. However, many of the tent areas can’t be seen from the road, so you have to get out of your car to take a look. At the site I chose, C3, I had to carry my stuff down a small hill to a cubbyhole hidden behind the trees.
Campsite C3 at Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s Frisco Campground is located in a cubbyhole hidden behind the trees and is not visible from the road
If you want flat ground and grass, check out the nearby Cape Point Campground. For me, personally, I don’t like camping in sand (gets all over everything, including in the tent), but I came to the Frisco Campground without checking out the Cape Point Campground. I will say that this is the only campground where you might find some shade. Not all sites are shaded, but many are nestled within the small trees and have at least partial shade. The downside is that the vegetation attracts more mosquitoes. Also, there are lots of burrs (prickly seeds) on the ground, so you really can’t walk around barefoot.
The Frisco Campground at Cape Hatteras National Seashore offers the only chance of shade of all the park campgrounds
RESERVATIONS
Campsites at Frisco Campground can be reserved up to six months in advance at Recreation.gov or by calling (877) 444-6777. Walk-ups are permitted, but payment has to be made through Recreation.gov. Make sure you have a phone or other Internet-connected device. No payment can be made at the campground.
FEES
At the time of this writing, campsites are $28 / night. Current rates are listed on Recreation.gov.
CAMPGROUND RULES
- Check out time is noon. Check in is 1 PM.
- From Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, camping is limited to a total of 14 days within a 30-day period.
- Wood fires are not permitted in the campground. Only charcoal cooking fires are permitted in a grill, stove, or other self-contained unit.
- Quiet hours are from 10 PM to 6 AM.
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Last updated on March 8, 2024
