Watchman Campground

Great campground at a great price. Only $ 18 for an RV spot with electricity. There is a dumping station that also has water.
Campsites are nice. Picnic tables are clean and in good shape. Sites are reasonably private but some more than others. All have fire rings (can we get rid of these please — I’m so done with fires smelling up the entire campground!
Location is just inside the park. Close enough to town that you could just walk over. Lots of restaurants and bars there to entertain you all night. Even a big theater.
Bathrooms are bare bones though. Toilets but no showers.
Make reservations summer through end of November.

Almost everything was amazing! The campsite was 5 stars, friendliness of grounds staff was 5 stars, cleanliness of bathrooms was 5 stars…
The complete jerk– power tripping park ranger– ZERO STARS. We didn’t get his name but he was about 5′ tall, Asian and was wearing safety goggles and a bulletproof vest.
We were cooking dinner around our campfire at 7:30pm (10ish people from 2 sites total), he pulls up to warn us about noise. demands that we remove our hands from our pockets and announces that if he has to come back he’s «hauling people off to jail»… WHAT IN THE ACTUAL F*CK. We were talking… around a campfire… at SEVEN THIRTY PM. We weren’t playing music, we weren’t playing any rowdy games. We had a 3 year old and a teenager with us. Every one of us was in utter disbelief at this guy. When asked what the «arrest-​able offense» would be we were told to read the penal code. He threatened us with jail multiple times before leaving.
This clown must have been picked on A LOT as a kid to have this warped of an attitude and approach to law enforcement. Zion. this guy is killing your vibe.

A great place, words cannot do it justice! The concert going this evening that is just outside the park and campground has got to go!
We came to the park to enjoy nature and the quiet. A concert and being able to hear it clearly is not in the cards.
Come on park service, you need to get this under control!

Lovely campground, many sites that are well spaced out. Easy access to the park, located right next to the visitor center and a shuttle bus. Would highly recommend it, we stayed two nights and loved it! Added bonus that deer were walking around!

Camped in Loop D site 21. Great view and ample shade; although your tent will be in the mid-​day sun. Site had a tent pad large enough for two 12×17 tents and a driveway large enough for two full size trucks. Great place to camp. Lots of deer sightings from this site as well.

The watchman campground makes camping a lot easier (especially for first time campers like my sister and me). They have clean bathrooms and a dish washing station and clean drinking water! Each site has it’s own table and fire pits which make it convenient to cook for yourself. No showers so bring baby wipes!
The location of the campground is great! It’s right by both the Springdale shuttle and the Zion park shuttles so you have direct access to the city and the park, they come every 15 minutes or less.

It’s nature!
Not really. It was my first camping this weekend. We were 15 people and it was awesome. For first time camper I’d recommend this place. I actually thought camping is really into the wild like in movies where you build your tent, shower in river, poop in bushes and take out your cookware and cook on the fire you just started with rubbing two wood pieces.
Well, well sadly it wasn’t as wild as I thought. But still it was very nice. The campsite is separated in many small sections for all campers. Each camp group will get their own spot with table, seats and a fire place. Besides there is space for your vehicle and up to 3 tents are allowed.
You can either let the park rip you off and pay $ 5 for 5 min shower or so or you can just not shower at all, hop inside the river or squat and use the blue big faucets in front of the available restrooms.
It was very convenient from here to Angels Landing and The Narrows by taking the shuttle bus. The visitors center is close by as well.
Just have a great time while camping and try not to use plastic and keep this place clean.
Plastic is a bitch and nature our friend.

The 2^nd campground after our stay at the Yellowstone. The weather in the summers is perfect for night camping. The warm windy weather and star gazing gets back some childhood memories. The campgrounds are spacious and people around stay up quite late till mid-​night compared to the campgrounds at Yellowstone, where after 10 pm you have quite hours.
The soil is a bit hard here, so there could be some hassle to put up your tent. I would go hear again!

My number one piece of advice is book really far in advance! Like months! Silly me thinking I could book a spot at such a popular location a week in advance! Yikes. We were initially planning on going to the other campground that was first come first serve, but so very luckily my boyfriend checked the night before and someone had made a last minute cancellation and we were able to get two nights!
I’m telling you, save yourself the stress and book as soon as you plan your dates for Zion.
The campground the first night was pretty quiet but the second one (a Thursday night) felt like a night at Coachella. Lots of screaming kids and loud music coming from cars. We heard a lot of people yelling «chug chug chug!» For about an hour. Hey I’m 24 and can appreciate a good party, but a lot of us are here to hike 8 hours the next day starting at 7am. Why the hell are you chugging anything?
Thankfully we had a few flash floods that forced most partiers into their tent.
Bring earplugs! And don’t leave your tent open for fresh air in the morning. We were woken up by some hungry squirrels who did not care that there were people in the way.
Also be prepared for any kinds of weather. We got pretty heavily rained on in the middle of July throughout the day.
Honestly though, it’s one of the most beautiful campsites you’ll ever stay at. Enjoy!

Quite possibly one of my favorite campgrounds ever. The views from the sites are incredible and the trees give nice shade.
Cleanest bathrooms and convenient dish washing station.
Highly recommend staying here and enjoying one of my favorite National Parks!

We had a group campsite in Watchman for spring break. It is a spectacular place. Lots of space and beautiful scenery. Unbelievable views! The bathrooms are the nicest camping bathrooms I have ever seen! Very convenient to Springdale and the Zion shuttle. We will be back!

Amazing Campground for our trip to Zion!!! Campsite were well spaced out and in a beautiful setting. Walking distance to the visitor center and the Zion Park shuttles which take you to all the spots in Zion. Hiking trails start from the campsite as well. You can also walk out of the park into the town of Springdale if you want to in for dinner or drinks.
We will definitely be going back!

Watchman Campground was one stop of many my husband and I made on our two week RV trip out west last year. We couldn’t have asked for a better campground or area! There is, to my knowledge, two other campgrounds… one of which is inside the Zion National Park (also at the South entrance where we were) and the other is on the complete other side of it (about 45 mins from the south entrance) and has only 6 sites. It’s free, but from what I understand, it’s mainly for bikers or hikers to crash for the night and move on. We happened to be under a couple of huge trees that were absolutely beautiful. Shady enough to keep our rig cool during the day, but open enough at night to see the beautiful sunset and open sky. Right at dusk, you can see all the bats flying around in the treetops! Trust me, it’s beautiful! They keep the bugs to a minimum (if that’s possible). Be careful when booking under foliage though. Certain times of the year (mainly spring) are really bad for caterpillars. They have huge cocoons and they are everywhere! Then they turn to moths, so even after the cocoons are done, there are thousands of moths all over the place. We got there right as the cocoons were beginning to appear, so we didn’t have much issue. But we have heard that they can become a real problem. Also the cottonwood tree’s shed everywhere around that time of year. So prepare to live WITH nature, whether you are tent camping or RV camping! Our biggest issue was the ants. They were horrible! But first thing in the morning they were pretty much gone and after a certain time at night, they would just leave. We never did get bitten, but they were quite a sight! What else was quite a sight? The deer! They are so beautiful and they simply walk through the area like no one ever put a campground there! I walked to the bathhouse in the middle of the night, and when I walked back out my eyes were still adjusting to the darkness. I looked up and was literally one foot away from a huge doe! She looked at me and I looked at her… I put my hand over my mouth and in a flash she was just gone! It was AMAZING! I have video of three deer standing next to a family who were eating at their campsite. They just stood there and watched them eat like it was an everyday thing. As amazing as it was though, always be respectful of nature and animals! Do not feed them and realize that although they are probably a lot more used to us than they should be, they are wild and can hurt us or themselves if threatened. Keeping that in mind, I was in heaven seeing them so close! The sunsets were amazing over that huge cliff that’s right beside the campground. The reds, purples and oranges of the cliff itself were spectacular! The campground is walking distance to the little shop and museum at the South Entrance, which is also where you can catch the bus into the park itself. They do not allow vehicles of any kind inside the park anymore, so you’ll be taking the bus to every stop. We hiked every easy trail and a couple of the easy ones that turned to medium ones. The day before we left, we went through The Narrows. We got as far as the first slot canyon, made our way a couple miles in and then turned back. WOW! Be prepared, but if you do it, you’ll never regret it! It was a hike I am very proud to say I accomplished and took some brilliant photos of! If you have the stamina, don’t skip that one! Also, if you have the time or need a day to relax after hiking, head into the little town right outside the park. There are so many great people there. People who live there, people who just love to visit, photographaers, climbers, hikers, campers, old and young — it was so wonderful meeting so many different people in such a small area. And yet it was relaxing and not rushed or crowded. Cute shops too! It was a perfect trip!

Amazing location in Zion Natl Park. Right inside the park with beautiful views. Near the town of Springfield which is so cute and quaint. The camping spaces are perfect as well with nice clean bathrooms.

When a small group of old friends decided to invite me on their wild-​hare trip to Zion, how could I refuse? And how could we not go camping in such a beautiful place? Some of the group wanted a more posh experience, so we split the trip: two nights camping; two nights in a motel.
For the camping portion, we needn’t have worried about the posh aspect. Watchman campground was one of the best I’ve ever been to: clean, beautiful, tidy. The campsites were well-​organized, with a fire pit, new picnic table, level gravel area for tents, and spotless bathrooms. Even the other campground inhabitants were well-​behaved and quiet. (Us?.. maybe not so much on the second night).
The major shortcoming was the lack of showers, as many others have pointed out. But I think this was by design — that way, people only stay a few nights max, making room for others.
The other, minor shortcoming was that some of the sites were a little too close together for my taste. Privacy was a bit hard to come by.
But the location could not have been better. A five-​minute walk from the Zion main shuttle stop and visitor center. A minute further to a local grocery (
) and a brewpub (
). There was even a movie theater nearby, though we didn’t partake with such beautiful views. (
)
Our trip was off to a very good start.

Decent campground at Zion National Park, and the one where you can reserve ahead of time online instead of doing first come. Given that most, if not all, of the local hotels in Springdale are $ 100 plus, this is the only economical option in Zion, unless you want to stay in Hurricane and make the 30 – 45 minute drive into the park every day (which isn’t bad either).
The Watchman campground has all the usual facilities of a National Park campground with running water, picnic tables, firepits. The plus is that there are flushing toilets. One of the biggest downsides is that based on the location, the wind really picks up at night and can make it a rough night noise-​wise. Maybe it’s just my bad luck, but I always seem to stay when brisk winds are shooting through the canyon at night. But hey, you are out in nature enjoying it all in a beautiful national park, so it’s not that bad. Enjoy the natural beauty!

Great campground with Zion in your backyard. There are flushing clean toilets with running water and a picnic table and grill firepit at every campsite. Our site wasn’t particularly shaded but that wasn’t a problem since we didn’t return until later in the evening. The only downfall is that there are no showers at Watchman hence the 4 stars. The closest showers are at Zion Outfitters which charges an insane amount at $ 5 for 5 mins… no thanks! We were told you could bathe in the Virgin River that runs right next to the campground with biodegradable soap. This campsite also gets really windy at night! The first night I woke up in the middle of night thinking there was a thunderstorm rolling in but it was just the wind howling and hitting our tent.

Absolutely beautiful campground! Minus one star for the lack if showers and camp store on the park. There are public showers right next to the brewery in town which is a short walk or drive. We didn’t know this so when we asked and were told we had to go out of the park, my husband and I reacted as if it were an hour ride back out. It’s not, it’s literally right next to watchman so no biggie but the showers are expensive and dirty. Watchman campground, however, is absolutely amazing and stunning. We stayed in the group area and met a few people. I highly recommend it but make sure to reserve in advance.

Amazing views! Super affordable. Clean bathrooms and dishwashing station. No showers in the park. The watchman site is walking distance to visitor’s center and shuttle stops.

Loved the location. Our tent was nestled on a pad surrounded by bushes so we felt separated from our neighbors. tent site had a table, metal container against animals, fire pit and tent pad itself seem to a hard sand at the top level, good for drainage when it did rain on us. Loved there was a bathroom nearby with a flushing toilet and running water! We walked to the Information Center since it wasn’t a long walk. We rececommed it, but be sure to reserve your spot!