St. John, New Brunswick Campground Review

We visited Rockwood Park Campground twice for one-night layovers. The first was on our way through New Brunswick heading to Nova Scotia. Since the directions on the park’s website left a LOT to be desired, particularly as we’d never been to the park or to Saint John before, we stopped at an Information Center on way into St. John. There, a young employee kindly provided directions to Rockwood Park. These led us along several, very busy in-town city streets that circled the heart of Saint John, passed back over the highway, and finally to the campground. It was a rather hectic route, but got us there.

That afternoon, everything was absolutely socked in with fog! This was just after hurricane Arthur had roared through and we were told that a substantial area of the campground was closed pending cleanup of downed trees. After we got set up and settled in, Deb and I took a walk around our part of the campground. Other folks were out “enjoying” the fog too. It sounds funny, but it felt downright “cozy.”

On our way back to the U.S., we once again stayed overnight at Rockwood Park Campground. This time, we had good, clear weather and the whole park was again open. We walked around more of the park and saw that it is bigger than we at first thought. It’s obvious that it’s an older park, but seems clean and pretty well maintained.

 • Where is it? — 

Rockwood Park Campground
142 Lake Dr. South, St. John, New Brunswick, Canada
506-652-4050
www.rockwoodparkcampground.com

• Getting There — The following got us to Rockwood Park without any difficulty:

If you’re heading East on Canada Route 1, take exit 122 to Union St., then turn right to get on Route 100/City Road. Follow City Road to the Crown St. overpass, take the exit immediately after going under the overpass onto Crown St. Follow Crown St. over the highway. After Crown St. turns into Mt. Pleasant Ave., look for Lake Dr. South where you take a right and drive straight to the campground office.

If you’re heading West on Route 1, take exit 125 and follow to Allison Rd. (note: some maps show this to be Seely St.) Take a left on Allison Rd. and follow to Crown St./Mt. Pleasant Dr. where you’ll take a right and look for Lake Dr. South.

• Nearby Attractions — Rockwood Park itself, in which the campground is located, offers all kinds of outdoor activities, including swimming, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, a playground, a zoo, and more.

In and around Saint John, you’ll find shopping, golf, bowling, dining spots of all kinds, cultural and educational activities…and the list goes on.

• The Sites — Both sites were full hookup pullthroughs with a firm gravel/pea stone surface and were quite level. The first site was pretty small. We had to park our tow vehicle crossways at end of our trailer. The second site was bigger and felt nicer in that it had more grassy area separating it from adjacent sites.

In both cases, water pressure was fine, the shore power was steady and of a proper voltage, and there was cable TV and WiFi at the sites, although the WiFi was pretty slow where we were.

• Amenities — While there’s everything most RVers could possibly want in nearby Saint John, amenities in the campground itself are pretty limited. The restrooms and showers seemed clean and well kept, and there were laundry facilities in two different buildings. There was ice available at the park entry gate house, but little else. There is no camp store, rec. room, pool, or playground that we saw.

• Rates — Full hookup sites were $37/night. They also have electric-only sites and tent sites at lower rates.

• The People — There was only one person in the gate-house/office at a time, a different person each time we were there, but both were very friendly and helpful. We didn’t happen to see other employees, although they must have been around since, as noted, everything seemed clean and well cared for.

• What We Liked Most —

• The sites were level and easy to get into, so we had absolutely no setup issues.
• The campground was clean, as were the bathrooms, showers, and laundry facilities.
• Both cable TV and WiFi were included in what we thought was a fairly reasonable price.
• Getting onto or off of nearby Canada Highway 1 was pretty easy, particularly after the first time.

• What We Liked Least —

• We’re country folks, so the campground was a bit too close to the middle of the city for our taste. In fairness though, it was pretty quiet.
• The lack of even a minimal camp store could certainly be inconvenient. On the other hand, it is only 5 minutes from downtown St. John with all kinds of stores and services.
• We had to haul the rig through city streets and traffic to get in and out of the park.

• Conclusions — 3½ stars

Given the destination of our trip, Rockwood Park Campground was very handy for a layover both going out and coming home.
We’d probably give the park at least 4 stars except:

• There was not much to do in the campground itself due to the lack of amenities
• The lack of a camp store was inconvenient
• The weakness (or throttling?) of the WiFi Internet connection

The campground might get a much higher rating from folks staying longer specifically to enjoy attractions in and around St. John. I stitched together several photos of Saint John taken from an observation area in Rockwood Park Campground.