Beautiful in the Fall/Winter time. I love this place. It is located in the Hampton area of Bethel off Big Bethel Road. Lots of family activities like canoeing, a nature trail, park, cabins etc. Deer are in the park and are very friendly. The problem with this place is urban development is closing in on this nature spot, I feel so bad for all the animals that are trapped in that area for it is surround on all sides by development. Because of that, I don't recommend camping there because of the noise from nearby interstate 64 (that is the only reason why I give it 4 stars). However if you are looking for a great spot to spend the day with family and friends, this is it! Great for Kids! read more

Nice little park and trail. Great for taking the family. Has a dog park, playground and nice trails along the lake with bridges and walk throughs. read more

This place is the best nature park I've ever been to! It is so absolutely GORGEOUS & 100% free! They have a lot of fun things to do (kayaking, canoeing, hiking, & a HUGE dog park)! I love taking my puppy on adventures and I'm never disappointed when I arrive here! They have a few different entrances and it's never been too crowded for me or my family. There is a wonderful exhibit on the inside of the building. It had turtles, snakes, and a few other creatures. There is a lot of information inside as well. I love this place and will continue to come here!!! read more

Sandy Bottom Nature Park - Parks Near Me - Hampton, Virginia

Love Sandy bottom. Its in a good location off of Hampton Roads Center park way. You can picnic, kayak, canoe, paddle board and many more out door activities. Kayaking is about $4 for an hour and totally worth it. They also have play grounds and an indoor nature information center with some of the local insects, snakes and various other animals/reptiles from around the lake/park area. If you have little ones I totally recommend for a little outing. read more

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Got my new VA Visitor guide, saw this place in the guide and since it's close to Farmington decided to go check it out as i have found out in the last year I have been here, that most parks in Hampton Roads are kinda bad.. Ok.... So much I had to list. I was there at 12 noon 1. Parking was unbelievabley bad for a park 2. Garbage cans bubbling over and trashy everywhere. Not one person there (either or Visitor was picking up their trash) 3. Got out of my car and after only 10 min, thought i was going to be mugged or shot at. 4. Made it back to my car to find a bunch of "not so nice" guys smoking pot and sitting on my car. Said "excuse me?" to them and they got off my car. So nice, no respect. 5. Too many speed bumps in places that they should not belong. Speed bump overkill. Motorcycles would have a hard time getting over some of them. After this experience, I need to search for other parks "outside" of the Hampton roads area. Too scarey, not safe, and I can only imagine that police and park staff do not check often on this park, as people were in plain sight doing drugs. Not so nice. Don't waste your time, as you'll be disappointed. read more

All in all a really great outdoor resource for the residents and visitors of Hampton. While not nearly as large as Newport News Park, Sandy Bottom packs a nice punch trail-wise. While running today, I noticed that it looked like a couple of bridges had recently been built and wood chip mulch laid in spots that flood easily and along the Lake Trail. The longest trail is 3.3 miles, but several shorter trails help add some variety if looking to go further. I enjoyed alternating between the Trillium and the Wetlands Trail (the Trillium being wooded and the Wetlands traversing through open wetland marshes). A couple of negatives- much of the Trillium runs parallel to the interstate and you see and hear the interstate traffic. The last mile or so of that trail is covered in tree roots...to the point that most of my energy was devoted to watching where my feet landed. I didn't make it into the Nature Center, but it looked impressive and was open fairly early on a Sunday morning. I was surprised to see several groups of people out on the trails on a rainy morning. read more

A quite nice free, heavily forested park with a couple small lakes one can boat on, several short hiking trails, and a pretty nice little nature center with several snakes , turtles , flying squirrels, and other animals native to the area, including a canebrake rattlesnake. The young woman at the Nature Center desk seemed knowledgeable and was helpful in responding to my numerous questions about the various animals. This park is beautiful in the Fall, a great place for a walk in the woods. they have boats to rent to take on the lake and there is a campground , picnic area, fishing pier. Not quite tranqui, due to very close proximity to the interstate highway, but outside of that a nice place. probably not worth going out of your way for but if you are in the area it is a nice stop and if I lived here I would go running in this park regularly . read more

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I live right near by so I will bike there and ride the trials. But I end up stopping a lot to enjoy the beautiful views. I would say to watch out for snakes as I do see them but mainly near the water. The nature center is also really cool. There are picnic ground areas and indoor areas that c an be used for parties or meetings. Great way to get the employees out of the office and have some fun read more

This is our favorite park in the area! Lots of shade from all of the trees to keep us cool in the summer. Definitely bring your walking shoes! There is even a fenced unleashed dog area so they can run around and enjoy the park too. read more

Sandy Bottom Nature Park - My daughter at the Sandy Bottom Walking Trail during the fall - Parks Near Me - Hampton, Virginia

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A few short hikes over easy, flat terrain, with plenty of options for the whole family. The Nature Center is staffed with friendly folks and holds several interesting and educational exhibits. A dog park with plenty of toys and obstacles for your pooch lies just behind it. Rent canoes and kayaks during your stay at the campground or in one of their yurt-like cabins. Enjoy plenty of time watching the kids burn off energy at the large playground. The trails can get a little muddy/flooded when there's been rain; there's a tiny strip of land between lakes that is often closed off because of flooding. I think we've only hiked it once in all our times going because of this reason. There's a creepy abandoned "zoo" along one trail that looks like a horror movie waiting to happen, and the whole park is so close to the interstate you can see drivers' faces as they go by. Luckily, the campground is a good distance away so you don't constantly hear the whizz of traffic, but it's not exactly the quietest of hiking locations. read more

I truly enjoy going to this park. It is free and large. They have a playground, so we are always here with the 3 kids. I enjoy the scenic views they have of the lakes, trees etc. There are many animal out there, different types of birds and sea creatures. We have enjoyed fishing. All of their amenities like fishing, canoe, kayaking, paddle boat, camping, picnic, etc are reasonably price. I am yet to run across anything over $8-$10 for an activity. This is a great spot to go to, to expose our families to nature and do family fun activities for a very cheap price. Tip: Just make a day out of this park. Bring lunch from home and eat it after an activity at one of the sheltered picnic tables. The park is heavily wooded, so bring lots of bug sprays and beware of any ticks that may have latched on. You can also rent their shelters/pavilion for group gatherings/events. Cons: Too many speed bumps (poor car, I feel like it's going to give up on me.), not enough parking spaces (when in their peak season/special events). read more

What an awesome urban park! Trails are gravel or wood chipped and you an easily get in a 4 mile run here. read more

Sandy Bottom Nature Park - Parks Near Me - Hampton, Virginia

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This is such a great place to go! The rentals are cheap & the park is kept beautifully.

Lots of great park in a small area. I mainly frequent the dog park. I enjoy the tree coverage and generally dry conditions. Usually a good number of dogs after work. Always a parking spot. I look forward to trying out the rest of the amenities come spring. They have paddle boats! read more

Sandy Bottom Nature Park - Parks Near Me - Hampton, Virginia

I love to find places where we can walk, trails in close by areas that makes one feel like you're not in the city anymore. Although close to us we don't go here enough and I seem to forget how pretty it is. With the lakes and trails around it, and now we just found out that there is also a playground by the entrence, which was the main reason for our last visit. We had missed playtime at the my gym so we needed to take the daughter out. I wanted something new, something NOT in the neighborhood and found this. It was a nice, shaded playground. Swings and baby swings, lots of slides, a climbing wall. It does say from 5 - 12 but our daughter (who is 2) did great .. we just kept her away from the bigger and harder things, just use common sense. The lake makes a perfect backdrop for photography and portraits if you're into that. read more

Located between I64 and Hampton Roads Center Parkway, this park is quite easy to get to. Parking was simple as there were ample spaces and the park was quite clean with not a single litter in sight. There were many people walking their dogs there and there was even a fenced area for dogs to play in. The structures within the park looked new and I also saw that many people rented boats today. read more

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Great dog park, but don't go if you don't have your dog registered with Hampton. I live in Yorktown and had just gotten my dogs tags, verifying he was registered and vaccinated. They wouldn't allow us to stay. There should be some collaboration amongst the closely located counties. read more

Playground, trails, small nature center, ample bathrooms..... no complaints! Great place and price for families/beginners for taking out: canoes, kayaks, and paddle boats. read more

Beautiful park and great dog park. Only bad park is the long walk by the highway. Really wish they would put a sound wall in! Watch the area to the far left front (when facing visitors center front parking lot) as it can flood pretty bad. Love coming here though! read more

Ah the great outdoors! Thats what I think of when I go to Sandy Bottom, I thoroughly enjoy this park and frequent a couple of trails for a short distance run. I use to run a lot here when I lived in Bethel and finally decided decided to revisit it today. Not much has changed really except the conditions of the trails. Theres loads of parking and this park has two entrances one off Harpersville and another off Big Bethel. This park also feature some nice amenities which I haven't really used but I've seen people use them all the time. This place seems like a good place to spend a evening or weekend for boating and fishing. Of course theres also multiple trails with various distances. Theres a doggie park that doesn't have a that nasty poopie smell to it. Theres also an animal sanctuary which I hate going to because it makes me want to hop the fence and rescue them. Towards the entrance theres also a meeting place where you can rent out and a nature educational center with some animals and other natural demonstrations. You can also go bird watching and they have an outlook to get a good overview of the wetlands. However, as someone who will run just about anywhere I go here primarily for the trails. I usually run a double loop of the Trilium trail which is apx. 3.3 miles but you can squeeze in 4 if you do a full round about. The trials have gone down hill maintenance wise due to flooding and just pure neglect. A good majority of the Trillium was closed down today and unfortunately me being harder head decided to bypass the orange tape blocking its entrance off. Bad idea, I ran into multiple puddles that where about 1ft deep which is horrible for a short person like me. SO..pay attention to maintenance warnings. The trails do not have root markers or consistent mile markers but they do have directions allowing you to know which trail you are on. The terrain is very shady and for the most part flat with occasional clusters of roots and therefore I run it smoothly without tripping. Overall, I really enjoy this park because it is convenient and offers lots of different educational programs as well as amenities. It isn't 100 percent ideal for running especially for time but you can still get a good workout in. The cons are the trail conditions close down frequently and the poor animals have to be exposed to all that 64 traffic noise. Also, if you head towards the backside of the park theres a horrible stagnant water smell that lingers. read more

Sandy Bottom isn't somewhere I would go camping but it is a great place in the center of the city to find a little bit of relaxation. In the back there is a hidden animal recovery area where you can look at turkey vultures and a super cute owl. The water is really clean and they rent canoes and boats for really cheap. The dog park is a fun place to take your pup as well, and is kept moderately clean. I have a corgi so the walk around the pond is just the right length for his little nubby legs. A walk around the main trail at Newport News park normally leaves me carrying him back to the car. lol read more

I have to amend my earlier review. The nature center has some fun wildlife exhibits. I could watch the turtles chase each other around their tank for hours! There's one that goes "Booga Booga" to another one that he clearly does not realize is much bigger than him. Check it out. Hours of entertainment for the easily amused. read more

This place is a little on the small side but then again for being right in the middle of Hampton it's not bad. Look out for the rattle snakes. We see at least 1 every time we go. read more

We stayed in one of the yurts this week. Usually we go camping with a tent and all our supplies. We thought it would be a nice change to have less work to do. And it was! No tent to set up, no air mattresses to blow up, no fire wood to gather. The yurts are roomy and cute, they sleep six. There were 3 of us so we doubled up on the "mattresses" which are pretty basic. The firewood is already gathered and stacked nearby is a built in fire pit. The view is beautiful and it's relatively private. We cooked on the firepit and ate at the picnic table. The park rangers checked on us every day to make sure we were ok and see if we needed anything. Ranger John was great! He was very friendly and helpful, he even told us a ghost story (he made up) by the fire. We had a great time. Wish there had been a shower in the ladies room but we made due. The trails were fun to walk along during the day and our camp was cozy and comfy at night. Can't wait to do it again!!!!! read more

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Love this park! My husband and I go running there once a week and I have to say it's pretty challenging (considering its 3 miles). The scenery makes it worthwhile and each time we've gone we've seen multiple deer and rabbits. If your looking for a good nature trail this is the one! read more

It's a beautiful park with nice trails. They also have a "visitors center" with the different leaves, bugs and animals you can find in the park. There was a lot of skeleton parts which was a tad morbid and skulls. There were snake skins with information on the 3 poisonous snakes found in the area: Copperhead, Cottonmouth and Rattle snake. They also had their stuffed bodies. Creepy but cool. Overall it's a nice and beautiful park. I didn't experience the excessive noise that others talked about. read more

Nice park if you just want to rent a pavilion. The trails here are not very well kept at all, being largely under water and impassable for most of the year. Staff extremely rude to those renting the meeting room that is attached to the Nature Center. read more

Nice park but where is the staff?? The website I went to for them was apparently not their real site so if you have questions you should call the office. I saw online that they closed at 7:30 on weekends so a friend and I drove up there to go fishing. We walked in the office at 5:04 pm and there was no one at the desk. we wanted to rent a jon boat to go fishing. when the lady finally came back to the desk it was no later than 5:15 and she would not let us rent a boat because "the last boat goes out at 5, we close at 6:00" . So we had to go elsewhere. On our way out of the park we saw a family that had just gone out to their boat, not even in the water yet. We very well could have got in our boat by the time they did. But the lady did not rent us a boat and I wasted 3 hours and 40 miles of driving. Because of bad service I would not recommend this park. read more

This is a very nice park to spent an hour or two in. There are plenty of very well maintained, unpaved wooded trails. Sure the trails are easy and only a mile or so each, but sometimes it's nice to go out into the woods even on a little hike. There are two lakes where you can rent boats, and this park even has camping. I loved how the nature center had about 10 types of large snakes to look at, quite a few were even native to Virginia. Next time I visit I hope it's a little cooler out. 100 degree weather with humidity makes even a mile hike difficult! read more

Love it enjoy it the trails are very long for me and my dog to run and meet other dogs too

I love taking my daughter to the little nature center here. The trails are fun to walk.There is a dog park. The bathrooms are especially clean. read more

Large scenic place for a walk. I do wish they had a wall to block the traffic noises from the highway, but it is an escape in the middle of a city. read more

Friendly staff and awesome trails! You can also paddle boat for an hour for $4! I love going here for an outdoor workout.

Kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding, and trails! Must I say more? This park is great! Renting boats are only 4-8 dollars an hour. They also have day rentals! Definitely one of my favorite parks in the area. read more

If I could give this place a 0 I would. I recently made a reservation for an outdoor site in May and was informed by the site staff that they were taking online payments to hold sites reservations for outdoor pavilion sites and informed me that they would be able to take individuals post-COVID 19 openings in JUNE 2020. They waited a whole month after taking my payment to inform me that they were unable to accept patrons at their park and that they would have to issue me a refund. Daily, the park is open and I constantly see individuals outside walking around, running and utilizing the pavilion spaces without a reservation and no delegation by staff otherwise telling them they cannot use the property. I am very upset in accordance to this because they should have had better management and communication with local/state government staff in accordance to operation and function. Its not acceptable to be open daily for anyone to show up but when individuals try and take precautions to make careful and skilled reservations, they cannot honor it. I will not be referring others to utilize this property in the future. read more

Good for children, or a jog around the perimeter. They have a small lake and canoe/paddle boat rentals. Convenient location, but not good for any serious hiking. Mosquitoes are hungry, so bring repellent. I never saw a rattle snake so far, but I see lots of black rat snakes. They are harmless, but will rattle their tails in dead leaves to imitate a rattle snake. read more

Great walking paths, dog park, nature display. Rentals for facilities includes meeting room, yurts, campsites, pavilions. Large children's playground. read more

I love this park! It's nice to get away from the city-life and enjoy a nice walk/run in the woods. Miles of trails to explore. They have a playground, bathrooms, picnic tables, nature center, and you can rent kayaks and paddle boats! read more

I love this park but the noise from the air force jets flying DIRECTLY OVERHEAD completely ruins the "nature" part of the park. I think the animals must all be deaf. 110 decibels is unsafe. read more

There is a nice walking trail around the lake and a fun, easy single track mountain bike trail along the back side.