I would like to share my experience this past weekend at Winding River in Exeter NH. My family of 3 Stayed at tent site 523 in the Oak area. We also had family at 553 and 554 and Cabin 2. About site 523: I clearly had one of the largest and most private tent sites. It was set back with a long driveway tucked between 522 and 524. It's a very steep drop into the river making most sites a little nerve wracking with a little one. Online it said water available but there wasn't a hookup on my site. It looked like there may have been one to share on the road, but I didn't end up needing to figure that out. Tent sites 522 and 524: Along with most of the tent sites these sites were very close to each other, much smaller and closer to the road. I wished my family members had gotten 552 and 553 as they blended together nicely if you are tenting in side by side spaces. The ground was very rocky making staking tents down difficult. They were right next to the bathroom which was convenient but loud. Ventilation in the bathroom was not good so the doors were propped open much of the time and loud hand dryers. Shower: - This is the smaller of the two bathrooms in the campground. There are 2 showers there. Each with a single insufficient curtain and no hooks on the wall or bench to place things down. Water was hot enough, pressure was ok if you set it to the high power massage-like setting. - The showers in other bathroom (near the town center area) had a door and two curtains. Some had hooks (some of which were broken). I almost tripped going in and out of these bathroom stalls because they are raised up but there is no marking on the ground to indicate that. Cabin 2: Ac worked well. There was a good sized bed downstairs, smaller beds in two lofts. I was surprised the couch didn't pull out. Fridge and all dishes were nice and clean. All the cabins seem to have different back porch setups. This porch was smaller than C1. There was a propane grill that smelled rancid with sooo much caked on The burners. The location of the ceiling fan under the other lights in the ceiling gave them a flashing effect that really bothered me. Pros: - Lower price compared to other campgrounds (but I don't feel like I got everything advertised on the website) - Two playgrounds, both were nice. - Water slide was fun - We arrived Thursday at the gate and were told how to get to our site, to set up and then come over to the office which was nice. Cons: - The river is very low and yucky so none of the boating or fishing advertised was possible. likely causing the massive amount of mosquitos. - The whole arcade building was was "out of order" - The laundry room had two washers (one was broken) and two dryers 2.50 each per load. Not sufficient for a campground this size (especially when people leave their clothes in the machine for 30 mins after they're done!) - Camp store was poorly stocked (multiple empty coolers). - Ice $3 per SMALL bag. - Wood $10 per bundle and rules say you can't bring from off-site. I saw people with huge metal bins of wood but was never offered that option when I payed for multiple bundles. - Camp store closes at 3 on Sunday and doesn't open until 11 am during the week (which is also checkout). This made it a little confusing when I wanted to return the golf cart. They have a small area with icecream that is scooped and maybe a kitchen. I never saw it open but I think the sign said open morning to 12 and then again in the evening. - The pool was green and cloudy on day 3. I called the office and was told they had just shocked it and that was a result of the copper. I am not informed enough on pool safety so I opted out of swimming on the hottest day of our stay. My son was bummed. - Planned activities were only scheduled for Friday and Saturday evening. CORRECTION: activities were scheduled starting at 10 AM Saturday. During adult kareoke there were plenty of kids and really poor wifi (wasting so much time between songs). And just to add: - Staff I encountered was friendly enough, but It would be nice if they wore shirts to identify themselves. - Golf cart was great, but cost more than the site per night. - Pedal go-carts were available for rent (I didn't ask a price). read more

Winding River Campground - Activity schedule for Friday and Saturday. There were no scheduled activities on Sunday or weekdays. - Campgrounds Near Me - Exeter, New Hampshire

Like many others the bathrooms were not acceptable. The lights turn off while still in the bathroom. The showers were not hot and they also turned off on their own. The campground had many activities for everyone. But with a campground, if the bathroom is inadequate then the whole thing is bad. read more

Staff was friendly, but cleanliness needs major improvement. Everyone I interacted with was very nice, which I appreciated. However, what truly determines whether I'd return to a place is its cleanliness, and unfortunately, this is where the site fell short. The bathrooms were dirty and felt neglected something that should really be addressed on a daily basis. Additionally, the laundry area was moldy, unkept, and with only one working dryer for the entire park, it made doing laundry a challenge. Overall, it's okay for a short stay, but I wouldn't return unless the cleanliness standards were raised. read more

I was going to book, but when I went to the cart to pay, it told me that they can't guarantee that I will get the site I am booking and paying for unless I pay them an extra $15. I book at state campgrounds through Reserveamerica and I get the site I book and pay for. When I called the campground to inquire about this fee, the guy told me that if someone comes on to book after I already paid, but they want to be next to their friends site, they have the right to bump me out and put me in a crappy site even though I have alreayd booked this site!! WTF. Keep your crappy campground and your shady booking site. There are better places. read more

Went to wash our dishes at the sink for this purpose and a family was bathing a kid in the sink even though there is a bath house with showers. Totally gross. read more

Very clean,plenty of organized events for young and older alike great camp store. Would definitely go back again

Nice place, good pool and hot tub and some secluded sites. I don't care for the $12 per bundle firewood. I also don't like that they turn off the WiFi to the sites away from the general store at 10:30. Two nights in a row the guy that shut down the jump pillow lights shut down the WiFi at the same time. read more

Do not be fooled. I saw what I thought was a new campground advertised on Facebook. But it isn't new! This place is still Exeter Elms Campground! The seasonal campers still run the place. Management is still awful. They just renamed the campground to escape the bad reviews. According to recent reviews, it seems like it is even worse since I visited there. Confederate flags!!! OMG!! I will never forget the creepy Deliverance hillbilly vibe I experienced there. The 5star reviews must be from the seasonal campers who run the show or family. read more

The restrooms are nasty the showers are nasty and there is no way I would ever shower there with no privacy really. Also the campsite are way to close together you can hear the people Next to you snoring. The river was no extent. The only thing that was good was the pool and hot tub that why it's a one star read more

Like the campground and staff is great. However, some Campers seem to think that everyone wants to hear their musical and political preferences so they blast the noise at all hours of the day and night with complete disregard for those around them. There is little to no compliance with quiet hours. Restrooms are great when cleaned but are usually pretty trashed a couple of hours later and not re-cleaned during the day. A common occurrence is people doing laundry in the sinks meant for doing dishes even though there is a laundry facility. It is not uncommon to have to unclog the sinks when people wash dishes and leave food and gunk clogging the drains (bring your rubber gloves). Have never encountered these behaviors at campgrounds we have enjoyed in Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and South Dakota. This is a lovely wooded setting and campground could be great with a bit more monitoring and oversight or more respectful campers. Best time of day is 5 am when the birds start waking up. Also late at night when the owls are vocal and once in a while you can hear coyotes. read more

My family stayed in a cabin at the end of August and it was great upon arrival. The staff that checked us in was very friendly. The cabin was clean and spacious. They give you a grill with propane, and you have a view of the creek behind you. The location of this campground is also really close to Hampton Beach, which was great! However, the wifi in the cabins is garbage. It didn't work for us the whole time we were there. We asked the front desk if we had to pay for the service to get it to work. She told us someone would come to take a look at it, but no one ever did. I get it, we were on vacation and didn't need wifi. But being able to check my phone would have been nice because there was no service the whole time we were there. The drunk idiots right next to our cabin were enough to make us want to cut our trip short. The cabins are extremely close together so don't expect to come here and have any type of privacy. The people in the next cabin over were constantly touching our things and sitting in our chairs because they were extremely intoxicated. We complained to the woman that works at the front desk and she said. "Oh we know them! They're great people. Just having a good time". We understand having a good time. But when you disrupt someone else's vacation, that's when it becomes a problem. There was also a large family reunion happening that weekend, a couple of cabins down from us. They had 4 dogs that they let run off leash. Not only did their dogs continuously run over to our cabin, but two of their dogs ended up getting into a bad dog fight. One of the dogs was badly injured and was bleeding. The owner just yelled at the dog to lay down and didn't do anything to help it. We once again let the front desk know what was happening and she said, once again, "we'll look into it", and never did. This campground might be good for locals but we definitely had different expectations. The confederate flags hanging around the campground were pretty telling of the whole experience. read more

We stood here in July and rented a cabin. The cabin was clean as well as the bathroom. The site was clean as well. We immediately noticed on arrival our neighbors had a confederate flag draped over the porch. Then we learn it was the staff quarters, no use in complaining at that point. If they let them hang that flag on their property, then chances are it would've never came down with a complaint. Not a good look in my opinion, I'm not sure how welcome we would have felt if we were an African American family. The pool could have used some attention it smelt as if it were lacking chemicals and that rang true as the final day of our trip came, every one of us had diarrhea (TMI I know, but I gotta be honest for the review). Day 2 of our trip we noticed some fecal matter in the pool bathroom and it was still there by the time we left. I'm not sure if they're experiencing what all other businesses seem to be with short staffing but I'd make sure bathrooms and pools are clean at the least. People can become sick and it's exactly what happened in our case. read more

I have been going to this campground for over 20 years as Exeter Elms. It is so nice now that it is under new ownership. The pool has been completely redone and they have added in a hot tub. The also have a playground, inflatable jump houses and run activities on the weekends. If you have kids this is the perfect place. We stayed in a cabin but there are tent sites. I also love this campground because it is not too far from some local attractions like Hampton Beach. Now let's get into the cabin. I stayed in C6 with my mom, dad, sister, two children and fit comfortably. Each cabin comes with a view of the river, porch, grill, fire pit and picnic table. They have every kitchen utensil you could imagine. Plates, bowls, pots, pans, toilet paper, dish soap. Everything. You do however need to bring your own towels and bedding. There's also a TV and air conditioner which worked great. I gave 5 stars because I do not have one complaint. I had to write a review because this place absolutely deserves a good one. It was a great time and I'm ready to book for next summer! read more

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Friendly staff, make you feel like family. I added to my stay multiple times (they really bent over backwards for me). Pool and hot tub were amazing. Couldnt ask for a better experience. Can't wait to go back. read more

Our trip to Winding River was a mixed bag to say the least. Half our group were in campers, and I think they had a much better time and way better sites. The amount of activities was impressive (though the trivia was pretty disappointing). But the other half of the group - including us - were in tent sites by the river and they are awful. Tiny sites that are completely on top of each other does not make for a relaxing camping experience. By our second day (Thursday) toilet paper and soap were running very low in the bathhouse - gone by Friday morning. The soap was never replaced (so gross) and small rolls of TP appeared - from staff or other tenters, not sure - but once you've seen one rolling around on the muddy floor, you don't want it at all. Staff truly does not enforce any rules - which is not a big deal when it's "how many cars are parked on a site" but really not okay when it's kids jumping off the top of the slide into smaller kids going down the slide into the pool. I will say the camp store is well stocked, but charge way too much for wood. We left early. read more

Never will go back again I spent 4 days there Friday-Monday night the shower/bathrooms where disgusting they cleaned them once while I was there .The bathroom lights turn off while your using the bathroom, the pool is terrible you feel slimy and gross when you get out and I never once saw them clean the pool while I was there either. The slide is half the size it looks like in pictures you can't jump off the rock at the pool when it's literally built for it and then they said they had a rope swing which I never saw that the whole time I was there. They had 6 golf carts 3 were broken and the other 3 where consistently rented out and they don't take a waiting list for them either. The seasonals pretty much run the place, the managements only concern is the pool other then that the seasonal are controlling the place. Also all the seasonal are all stuck up and nosy. The management is new within the past 3 years and you can tell they get walked all over by the seasonals. Another thing is a couple of the seasonals kids ran up to my younger brother with orbee guns and unloaded a whole clip each on him and all the management did was laugh and say it's ok and then proceeded to tell me they have orbee gun wars and that it's normal. There river is not even a river it's super shallow and can barely ride a canoe up and down it without getting stuck. All the sites here are literally uneven no matter what I did with my camper it was never flat. Then when I left they went to my parents site accusing me of having a dog at my site when I already checked out and left. I didn't even complete my whole stay I checked out early because of how bad the customer service/ campsite was.And the point that the kids there are just terrible like a 16 year old told my 8 year old lil brother he was gonna "kicks his a*s and f&$k him up at the park that was the finale straw and when i decided to cut the trip short. Also To sum it all up I was sitting by the pool and one of the seasonals came speeding on a golf cart with music blasting off a speaker then proceeded to CRASH into a bench that an older woman was sitting on with her dog and all he said was "my bad the speaker fell" and then drove off without an apology while the manager was at the pool saw it and turned away. They then told my little sister to slow down on her bicycle because she was pedaling too fast while the people on golf carts constantly sped around without any warnings. read more

This campground - Winding River - is amazing. gorgeous site. spacious sites. super clean and the staff WOW - it does not get any better. so many upgrades this year it looks so beautiful. big shout out to Cheri and Mercedes - you ladies are truly something special. read more