Watchman Campground

Watchman Campground is an excellent base to explore Zion National Park. It is walking distance to the Zion Visitor center and best of all you don’t have to worry about parking. I stayed here for 3 nights and loved every moment.
The site is well maintained and on gravel, so you don’t have to worry too much about rain collecting underneath your tent. The facilities are clean, but unfortunately there is no shower on site. However there is a shower in the shopping plaza nearby.
I stayed in Loop D, which was tents only and it was fairly quiet.

Pros:
3G/​4G connection available at campsite
Clean bathroom
Walking distance to visitor centre, nearby Springdale town, zion shuttles
Next to river
Awesome view
Cons:
Noisy even after quiet hours since it is a popular campsite with lots of campers
No showering facilities

Incredible scenery and a very well designed campground, spacious sites, well separated from one another. Electric at the sites in two loops, very clean restrooms, recycle bins, water and dump station nearby. Many sites are shaded, and the river is very close by. No showers, which was no problem for us in an RV, but would be a drawback for tenters.

The views don’t get any better than this! It was also very convenient to the buses, nature center, bike path, river, and the Watchman Trail. DON’T FORGET TO FILL UP ON WATER! There’s electricity at the sites but no water or dump hookup. There are bathrooms but no shower. You can pay to take a shower right outside the park gates, however. My kids had a blast playing in the (cold!) Virgin River right next to our site in loop B. Plan on renting a tube and going down the river– looked like fun!

Zion is an AWESOME place, the Watchman campground is one the best in the west for both tent and RV camping. Next to the campground is a lazy river, the sites are far apart so that you are not camping on top of each other like the sites in Cali. The Narrows is probably the most scenic hike and climb I have been on. Not bad during the week, but its a zoo on the weekends…
This place deserves 10 Stars!!! Must see National Park!!!

Well maintained campsite just inside the gates at Zion. Some sites have electrical and there is a dump station at the entrance.
Pros: Clean bathrooms (no showers), utility sinks, drinking water and easy walking distance to town of springdale and Zion shuttles.
Cons: its a big campground in a popular park. Expect some noise and lots of other people.

We got luck and were able to reserve the last 2 nights in a row 2 months prior our trip here. The weather was great in mid April, highs of mid 70’s.They have electric onsite and you fill up with water and dump station when you enter. You can’t beat the views. We were able to have a campfire at night. Love walking to the enjoy the river just a few feet away from our campsite.

ANTS! EVERYWHERE! The campsite we got had no less than 8 ant hills on it. And most all of these ant hills were inside the small confined space that was allowed for pitching tents and using as camp ground.
On top of the ants, that confined space was a surprise. There’s a wood barrier around the campsite that was so small we first thought it was just to outline the fire pit area and the parking lane. However, after setting up our tents outside this area in the very large open space the camp counselor came by and told us we had to be inside the wood. This made for some VERY intimate camping.
The environment was nice, other than the ants, and I just enjoy camping in general so overall I had an okay experience. We did some scouting and found some other larger campsites and made notes of which ones we should book in the future. Well in advance, mind you. This place fills up quick.

My boyfriend and I came here a few months back. I am not the biggest fan of camping, but I can tolerate it. The biggest think I dont like about camping is old nasty bathrooms. Let me say, my experience was much different. The campsite is really nice. A place to park your car a fire ring, and a picnic table. There is also an area with pebbles to put your tent. The grounds are clean and well kept and the roads are paved. The bathrooms are new and CLEAN. That was a big plus for me and the grounds were quiet at night. there is enough space between sites, so you dont feel like youre too close to others.
The only negative part of this campground is the shade. Some campsites dont have much shade from the trees and when it is 98 degrees outside and your campsite is getting direct sun. it is unbearable! Luckily the Virgin River is a short walk from the campsite and thank God for it. We spent a few hours sitting in the river until we were prunes!

One of the best national park campgrounds we have stayed in, we love this place.
We stay in loop A, so we can walk into the visitor center and bus area and also a short walk into the market and town.
This loop is also close to the river which is bliss on a hot day and good even on a cool March day! Facilities are great, all sites on Loop A are power sites which is great even if you chose to pitch a tent as there is no generator noise.
Stayed here twice already and will be back.

I know winter is not the ideal time to visit. We were there in Jan. But if you can deal with the cold, there’s NO crowd. The campsite was almost empty on Thurs. Weekends are a bit more crowded. We didn’t make reservations, just drove in. The park was just as empty. Plus you can drive your own vehicle throughout the park. You have to use the park shuttles from Spring to Fall.

Eine halbe Meile vom Zion Canyon Campground (
) entfernt, den wir nach nur einer Nacht fluchtartig verlassen haben, versuchen wir unser Glück auf diesem Campground. Auch dieser liegt direkt am Zion Canyon Zugang und ist somit guter Ausgangspunkt für diverse Wandermöglichkeiten. Der Watchman arbeitet auf Reservierungsbasis. Die 162 Sites plus 7 Group Sites kann man folglich spontan nur bekommen, wenn bei Nachfrage vor Ort Restplätze nicht vergeben sind. Wer also unbedingt hier campen möchte, sollte tunlichst vorher anrufen oder mailen und reservieren, ganz besonders während der Saison. Das geht bis zu sechs Monate im voraus. 95 der Plätze haben Elektroanschluss, es gibt keine full hook-​up Plätze. Der Campground hat eine zentrale Dumpstation. Die Nutzung von Generatoren ist nicht erlaubt. Bei der Registrierung in der Entrance werden wir gefragt, ob wir auch eine Group Site nehmen würden, andere wären nicht verfügbar. Ok, wir zahlen $ 18 und suchen den Platz. Dort lernen wir dann, was Group Site überhaupt bedeutet: Es sind mehrere Stellplätze zu einer großen Fläche zusammengefasst, die üblicherweise nur an Zelter vergeben werden. In Ausnahmefällen wie bei uns aber auch an RVs. Die Folge ist bedrückende Enge, man tritt sich fast auf die Füße und Privatsphäre ist nicht gegeben. In unserem Fall war außerdem der Stromanschluss so weit weg, dass selbst unser recht langes Elektrokabel nicht ausreichte. Das ist nicht unsere Welt. Wir verzichten auf einen Test der Restrooms, pfeifen auf die bereits gezahlten $ 18 und fahren schnurstracks wieder raus und Richtung South Campground, wieder nur ein paar hundert Yards entfernt und mit einem Stoßgebet, dort hoffentlich eine uns genehme Bleibe zu finden. Fazit: Schön gelegener Campground mit großem, hohen Baumbestand. Günstig als Ausgangspunkt für den Zion National Park gelegen. Aber ohne Reservierung siehe oben! Was bleibt nach diesem kurzen Eindruck: drei Sterne, damit tut man keinem weh.