Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Show on map (702) 293-8990 lake_information@nps.gov

601 Nevada Way
Boulder City, NV 89005

Experience outdoor thrills, striking landscapes, and brilliant blue waters. This year-round recreation area spreads across 1.5 million acres of mountains, canyons, valleys and two vast reservoirs. Visitors come here for scenic drives, biking, hiking, boating, fishing, camping, and much more.

Directions

By car you can drive to one of the park's many entrances. The six main entrances to Lake Mead are as follows: Northshore, Lake Mead Boulevard, Lake Mead Parkway, and Boulder, Temple Bar, and Meadview. For the southern sections of the park, near Lake Mohave, there are entrance stations at Willow Beach, Katherine Landing and Cottonwood Cove.

Reviews

Lake Mead National Recreation Area campgrounds are generally clean, well-maintained, and offer beautiful lake and mountain views with convenient access to nearby attractions like Hoover Dam and Boulder City. The environment is peaceful and suitable for a variety of outdoor activities including hiking, biking, fishing, and kayaking. Camp hosts and staff are often friendly and helpful, contributing to a welcoming atmosphere. However, visitors frequently report issues such as noise from generators and nearby aircraft, limited or no electrical hookups and showers, occasional maintenance challenges, crowded or close campsites affecting privacy, and difficulties with reservations and staff presence. Shade is limited in many areas, and summer temperatures can be quite hot.

Clean, well-maintained campgrounds and restrooms

Beautiful scenic views of Lake Mead and surrounding nature

Friendly, helpful camp hosts and rangers

Spacious campsites with good access to water and amenities

Quiet and peaceful atmosphere outside of noise disturbances

Frequent noise from generators, aircraft, and other campers

Limited or no electricity and shower facilities

Some maintenance and cleanliness issues reported

Campsites often close together, reducing privacy

Reservation system can be complicated with occasional staff shortages

1,820 reviews

5 stars

1,004

4 stars

447

3 stars

192

2 stars

1 stars

Pat C

Campground:Echo Bay Campground

Loop:Lower

Site:

Reviewed 8 days ago

The campground was clean and well maintained. You need to reserve a spot using the internet but there is no internet or phone service there.

Terence F

Campground:Callville Bay Campground

Loop:Callville Bay

Site:

Reviewed 8 days ago

Nice and clean. Planes are noisy. When in a tent

Jacqueline D

Campground:Boulder Beach Campground

Loop:D

Site:

Reviewed 8 days ago

It was just fabulous

Martin H

Campground:Boulder Beach Campground

Loop:B

Site:

Reviewed 9 days ago

Great place, clean bathrooms, usually nice and quiet at this time of year, but make sure to book in advance.

John D

Campground:Las Vegas Bay Campground

Loop:Lvb

Site:

Reviewed 9 days ago

I like how there are a nice variety of campsites at this campground. There's variety in the views available, in how close you have to be to others, with several branches of sites. There's good radio reception and internet access.

Kris K

Campground:Boulder Beach Campground

Loop:(G)

Site:

Reviewed 9 days ago

Boulder Beach has a great view of Lake Mead from just about anywhere in the campground. The best views are deeper into the grounds but the entire area is bordered by public roads. That said, this is a very busy area and noise is constant even during quiet hours. Also, the grounds are in a Recreational Area, requiring a gate entry check for your rec pass (with ID validation by name!) every time you return to the campground. As for the grounds itself, the bathrooms are wonderful and aplenty as is water availability. I am a tent camper and found that while Rec.gov listed my site as able to accommodate my 9'x17' tent, I had to pitch it closer to my neighbor than central to my campsite. So my camp was a bit disjointed with my tent away from my car and cook set up. Also, the sites are very tight with neighbors - they're semicircles abutting one another. Each time I cooked and ate, I was eating with my neighbors as their table was about 15 feet from mine. My site was also listed as having shade, which is generous. The only shade provided was by a low sun, not by a tree canopy. Almost all sites are not very shaded so plan to use a tarp or other shade structure. All this to say that Rec.gov is a little wonky with its qualifications on each site, shade v. not, what is an RV only and tent only.

Keep your options open

Watch for a matching campsite across monitored campgrounds in Lake Mead National Recreation Area.