How to Get a Campsite at Acadia in 2026 (Even When It's Sold Out)

Updated July 2026 · 10 min read

Acadia National Park has two campgrounds on Mount Desert Island — Blackwoods on the busier east side and Seawall on the quieter west side — and both are booked through recreation.gov on a rolling reservation window. Summer and fall foliage weekends can sell out within minutes of dates releasing. If you miss it, cancellations happen constantly as other travelers change plans, and those released sites post back to recreation.gov in real time. Camp.land watches both campgrounds and emails you the moment a site opens.

Here is how booking works at each campground, what the sites look like, and what to do if your dates come up sold out.

How Booking Works at Blackwoods

Blackwoods is the larger of Acadia's two campgrounds, set in dense spruce and fir woods a couple miles from Bar Harbor. It's within walking or biking distance of the Park Loop Road and puts you close to Ocean Path, Thunder Hole, and Otter Point without needing to drive at all — and the free Island Explorer shuttle stops right at the campground in season, so you can leave the car parked.

Reservations open on a rolling window on recreation.gov, and the exact release schedule shifts, so check Blackwoods' booking page directly before planning around a specific date. Summer — especially July and August — and the fall foliage weeks in early-to-mid October are the busiest and hardest to book; Blackwoods also stays open longer into the shoulder seasons than Seawall.

The campground has 281 total sites: 217 tent-only sites, 60 RV-designated sites, and 4 group tent sites, all with no hookups or showers at the sites (a pay shower and laundry facility is nearby in season). Wooded sites offer good shade and privacy for a campground this size.

How Booking Works at Seawall

Seawall sits on the quieter side of Mount Desert Island near Southwest Harbor, named for the natural rock seawall along the shoreline just across the road. It's a smaller, less crowded alternative to Blackwoods, with easy access to Wonderland and Ship Harbor, two of Acadia's easiest coastal trails, and Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse a short drive away.

Seawall also books through recreation.gov on a rolling window, and generally fills a little slower than Blackwoods thanks to its distance from Bar Harbor — a good option if your first choice is sold out. The campground has 178 total sites across five site types: 82 walk-to sites in D Loop (the most private tent camping in the park), 38 tent-only sites in B Loop, 32 RV-designated sites in C Loop, 21 standard sites in A Loop, and 5 group sites. No hookups anywhere in the campground.

The Sold-Out Play

Between them, Blackwoods and Seawall offer 459 sites serving one of the busiest national parks in the country, and both fill up for summer and foliage-season weekends. But cancellations happen just as constantly — plans change, and released sites go straight back into the recreation.gov system.

Camp.land watches Blackwoods around the clock and emails you the instant a site opens up from a fresh release or a cancellation. You can set alerts for Seawall the same way from its park page — no need to refresh recreation.gov yourself for weeks at a time.

Which Campground Should You Book?

If you want to be close to Bar Harbor's restaurants and shops, or you want the free shuttle right at your site, Blackwoods is the easier base and it stays open later into the shoulder season. If you would rather skip the Bar Harbor crowds and camp somewhere quieter, Seawall's walk-to sites near Southwest Harbor and the easy coastal trails at Wonderland and Ship Harbor are hard to beat.

Either way, both campgrounds are dry camping with no hookups, so plan for that regardless of which loop you land in.