Budget Camping in Northern Vermont at Smugglers Notch State Park

Updated for 2021!

​The $200 Challenge is headed to Northern Vermont! This is how the pricing broke down as we planned our budget camping trip to northern Vermont's Smugglers Notch State Park.

Budget camping at Smugglers Notch State Park in northern Vermont means great colours like this.

So excited to report that stage one of planning for the Northern Vermont trip is complete!! We have booked our accommodations for two nights at Smugglers Notch state park campground. 

Camping was a bit of a difficult decision – after all, it might be cold, wet, or just too much work. And New England is famous for it’s beautiful inns and B&B’s. But given that we have a total budget of $200 for two people for two nights, it was the only way to go.

We picked Smugglers Notch because it was a very small campground – which is a change from other parks we’ve been to lately – but it still has nice amenities like hiking trails. It’s very close to the charming community of Stowe, which has the added benefit of being a place of hot food and entertainment in case the evenings at the campsite are cold or boring. And, finally, the campground is perfectly located for exploring the fall colours of Northern Vermont.

The final cost was $48. This breaks down as $20 per night per site, $6 reservation fee, and $1 per day as a pet fee. Here’s where things got a bit tricky for us. We are still figuring out if our dog will come with us or if friends will be joining us. So we hedged our bets and paid the pet fee just in case and booked a “premium” camp site that cost $20 a night instead of $18 so we would have room for two tents if need be.

(2021 Update! Rates at Smugglers Notch state park are now $19 for a tent/RV site or $28 for a lean-to site with a wooden platform. Pets cost an extra $1 per pet, per night and prime sites cost an extra $2 - and so does being a non-resident. So if we were to book this exact same site today, we'd pay $28 for our lean-to site, plus $2 for it being a prime site, plus $2 for being a non-resident, plus $1 for our dog, for a total of $33 a night. So we would pay $66 for two nights and we'd also have to pay a flat $8 reservation fee.)

So far, this represents 24% of the budget spent on accommodations. Given the anticipated gas budget, we've already spent half our money! Hopefully the remaining $100 will go a long way!


Learn more about our adventures in Vermont!

Launching the $200 Challenge - Trip Planning in Vermont.
The $200 Challenge Evaluation - How Did It Go In Vermont?
Lessons Learned in Vermont  - Small Steps to Save Big Bucks