Lafayette Campground

Only 4 stars because they don’t allow dogs on the campground and there was road noise. The bathrooms and showers were kept immaculate and the store staff were informative and helpful. We will camp at Dry River next time so we can take our dog.

Get here early if you want to summit! Awesome views and vistas after about 2 mi on the Bridal Path Trail makes this rocky steep but easy hike totally worth every minute!

Amazing location, friendly and helpful staff, remarkably non-​sketchy bathrooms and showers.
I was nervous about the road noise after reading the earlier reviews (quiet is a big selling point for me), but it’s not that bad from the sites in the back. It’s there if you listen for it, but it’s not especially loud or distracting. I’m the lightest sleeper ever, and it didn’t bother me.
I would definitely stay here again! (And if you haven’t done the Franconia Ridge yet, get on that!)

Great location tons to do in the area. Right by the bike path along the pemi River. Great trails for hiking right in the campground. Showers for a fee. clean bathrooms. Nice helpful staff. Our site was directly on the Brook which was lovely. The only drawback for us was that the sites are a bit small and there are lots of people which makes for less privacy. I would go here again!

My boyfriend and i stayed here for the first beautiful weekend in may. just before peak season. The location is super convenient –just off of 93. Like many others said in their reviews, you can hear road noise but we are heavy sleepers so it didn’t bother us at all. The campfire sites are fairly close together, but the tent sites are further back in the woods on wood platforms. The next day we woke up early and hiked the franconia ridge loop. it was great that the trail started right across the street from the campground. We looped around and ended at the campground and slept in our hammock the last night. I will definitely stay here again!

Pros: convenient location. Close to the Flume Gorge, the basin, lonesome lake, 1.5 hour drive to Mount Washington…
Cons: you hear traffic from the highway all day and night.
When you get to the hut at the top of where lonesome lake is, though, there’s a humble lodge, and I think it would be interesting to hike up and get a quiet night’s rest there one day.

I have mixed feelings about this place. On one hand, the location is beyond fantastic. You are literally in the heart of the Notch and convenient to the Flume, Basin, Tram and great trails that are in the campground (like Lonesome Lake trailhead… a MUST DO!!). The tent sites are fairly good sized and not obnoxiously close to one another. On the other hand– the road noise was awful at night! You are very close to 93 and can really hear those logging trucks echoing up and down the highway. If you are like me– bring some earmuffs (it’s Fall as I write this) or ear plugs and you’ll be fine. I would suggest buying your firewood elsewhere. We spent $ 12 on two bundles and then had to go back for lighter fluid bc they sold us wet wood. I’d recommend just going to the grocery store where it’s kept inside. We chose to buy from the campground so we could help support them instead of the big name supermarkets but it bit us in the end and we spent way more than we wanted to. We had site 78 which was right across from the restroom. Really convenient bc it was soooo cold and saved us the walk! All in all– we will absolutely be staying here again just based on the location alone. For $ 25 a night– you can’t beat it!

Only stayed here for a night, as a friend and I drove into Franconia from Boston and planned to camp overnight before hitting up the Franconia Ridge Loop early the next morning.
The campground is conveniently located for most of the major hikes in the area. The interesting thing about being so close to 93 is that you need to constantly be «looping around» if you’re trying to get into one of the neighboring towns (or off to a hike near Cannon Mountain, for example) and then back to the campsite or whatnot.
I had reserved our site, #26, online and checking in to the registration desk in the campground store was quick and easy. We were given our parking receipt, warned about the bear that had been seen wandering (mostly at night — and they don’t care about people… just your food), and given some basic information on showers/​bathrooms and what was available on site. The store has the basic necessities for cooking, snacking, hygiene needs, and so on.
Generally, the sites are pretty close together — and, because of the location, sites at the camp still sell out quickly. There was no vacancy on the night that we stayed. Having looked at the calendar weeks in advance to book space for our single night, it seems they’re booked pretty solid for most of summer too.
Noise/​lack of privacy may be the only real issue with this campsite. While we were in site #26, the site below us was empty for most of the night (though reserved). The folks who reserved it showed up after 10pm though and were PRETTY loud while setting up and made it difficult to fall asleep (multiple people at really high volume, etc.); normally, I wouldn’t have cared… but when you’re waking up at 7am the next morning to hike up something like the Franconia Ridge Loop? Sleep is a necessity. (The campground also has quiet hours that are between 10pm and 7am, but I didn’t really notice it being enforced.)
The cars from 93 weren’t as much of a noise issue though. Also, we didn’t see the bear… though apparently the folks in the site above us were visited. When a trapper was making the rounds the next morning, it seems there were some massive pawprints on the back of their truck cab… so yeah, keep your food tucked away and secure, peeps!
All in all? Convenient location. Might not be my pick for a long stay, but it’s nice for an overnight or two and the fire pit/​grate, store, and level ground are super helpful.

What a great camp ground. Very clean and wonderful views. This will be put on the yearly rotation list

Went for a weekend in April. There were about 4 other campsites occupied. They had a pit toilet open but that was it. The gate was closed so we had to park in the lot and carry everything in over the sheets of ice on the asphalt driveway. It is right next to 93 so you hear the cars all night. But it is walking distance from many hikes and Franconia Ridge.

Lafayette is great campground for location to hiking the notch. Falling Waters and Old Bridle right across the street. Lonesome Lake and Cannon and the Pemi Trail. But the road noise is at times unbearable. I was shocked at the trucks, the sound echoed off the mountains. And unfortunately it lasts all night long. The views are gorgeous and the stars are great but I will find a quieter campground next time. It’s a shame they can’t do something like slow down the traffic or something.

I won’t disagree about how close this campground is to trail heads. This place was too expensive and most of all right next to the major highway between Canada and Boston. All day and night you hear the trucks downshifting. This is a notch so smoke rises through the campsites. For ten dollars less you get a spacious site with no noise near the Zealand trail head (look it up) called Sugarloaf. They won’t tell you that at Lafayette cause Sugarloaf is US Gov and Lafayette is State. I guess that they don’t want to lose customers. The Sugarloaf was completely uncrowded and Lafayette was completely booked. Had we only known and could have gotten a refund.

excellent location for a quick hike to Lonesome lake or the falling waters/​old bridal path loop. Kinda expensive on ReserveAmerica. Still, I think it is very popular and the location was perfect. Good site. Each fireplace had a grill also.

Lonesome Lake! Yay! This trail is a must for anyone who is going snowshoeing. It was my first time ever, and this hike definitely was memorable. And it is quite the work out too when you are wearing those snowshoes!
One warning though – definitely don’t do this hike in the winter unless you have snowshoes. When Matt J and I tried coming here at first, we figured there would be a place right nearby to rent snowshoes, but we were wrong. It basically is located on the side of a mountain surrounded by other hiking trails and the one highway that runs through the area. We tried starting the trail, but without snowshoes here during the winter, you will simply just sink down into the snow and with how steep some parts of this trail are, the snow shoes make it much more manageable.
You twist around and curve up the mountain, enveloped by trees covered in snow. There are some camp sites and bathrooms and bbqs at the beginning of the trail for those of you who would want to camp there and if you make it to the end of the lonesome lake loop then there is another cabin area which also rents out rooms. We were told there was a café there which we saved up all of our energy for, but didn’t find it, although we also felt a little weird since nothing was labeled and that cabin area was a little more like a big commune so we basically turned around and hiked back down.
The best part about this hike is the lake itself. I’m not sure how it looks in the spring and summer months, but in winter it is breathtaking. It is a giant lake, frozen over, completely encircled by trees. There isn’t any noise or anything out there other than you, the lake and the snow. A fellow hiker told us that most parts of the lake were solid enough to walk on so we did. Not gonna lie, I was definitely nervous of falling through, and because of that we didn’t dare stray over to the area the fellow hiker said was a little mushier. You can’t mess around with frozen water! But just being there and taking in the scenery was definitely worth the hike.

This is a great campground. Boyfriend and I went there for a two night stay earlier this month. We ended up getting a pop up site instead of a tent side because that is all that they had left. Luckily we reserved online because they had no vacancy those nights. The campground is centrally located in the Franconia Notch State Park. The trail to Lonesome Lake was right next to our site– great hike and great lake!
Our site had plenty of space, level ground, a fire pit, and grate for cooking over the fire. Our site was very clean. The areas around the site are under the process of revegetation. The staff at the camp store asked that we dont walk there (obey signs) because they are growing shrubs and small tress there to provide more privacy between the sites. (I think the large loud group next to us like to break rules because they constantly went back and forth between the sites. oh well)
The bathrooms and showers were clean. you get 5minutes for 4 quarters. The women’s room’s accessable stall was hard to flush– it had a note on how to do it.
The staff at the store was great. They had a the weather report for the next few days, sold affordable things that you typicall forget, helpful giving directions, etc.
Overall, it was a great weekend there. We will be back!

Lafayette Campground is right in the center of Franconia Notch. From the center of the camp you can access some pretty great trails. My favorite one by far was Lonesome Lake. It’s a short 1.4 mile trek that is fairly challenging and rewards you with an incredibly beautiful lake nestled in the mountains.
I was a little hesitant about staying here because of it’s size. The campground has 97 wooded sites and a store at the entrance. I went just before July 4^th weekend and I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it was. The sites are separated just enough to give you privacy. The only downfall is that it’s right off of the highway so at night you can hear some pretty big trucks rumbling by. The campground’s proximity to so many trails and attractions made up for it though. In addition to Lonesome Lake trail, we hiked down towards the Basin on the Pemi trail, which as the name suggests, follows the Pemigewasset River. There is also the short but beautiful Falling Waters Trail which begins right on the other side of the highway and can be accessed by way of a tunnel from the campground parking lot. You’re also right near the Old Man on the Mountain. I have to admit though, while I was standing at Profile Lake with my friend, we both found it very hard to see the Old Man. Both of us had seen it a few years ago when we traveled to Echo Lake and didn’t have any trouble making out the profile. After staring at it for twenty minutes this time around, we both came to the conclusion that the Old Man got a nose job.
The trails I’ve already mentioned are all pretty easy but if you want to do a «REAL» hike you can easily get to the trailheads for Mt. Lafayette (5,260 ft.) and Mt. Lincoln (5.089 ft.) from here.
The bathrooms at Lafayette were surprisingly clean and mostly bug free thanks to a screen door that slams shut behind you. They have showers there too! Each site comes with a fire ring and you can purchase wood from the camp store for $ 5 a bundle. Our wood was pretty moist and hard to get going but perseverance and an abundance of lighter fluid helped! The staff were incredibly nice and care free. I’ve been to other campgrounds where there are rangers on patrol to keep everyone in line. Lafayette is not like that at all.
You’ll be seduced by the river and want to stay next to the babbling creek (that’s what we did) but the highway is right behind it. I recommend getting one of the sites in the back for an enjoyable camping experience. Overall, I give Lafayette two thumbs up.