Cheticamp Campground

The Cheticamp CG is the first in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park's western side, convenient to the cute town of Cheticamp for whale watching tours (mostly pilots and minkes and some larger whales), diners/pubs, a good bakery where we got a huge bag of sweets and bread for $6 Canadian and an old church they built in the late 1800's by sliding limestone blocks across the frozen harbor for five winters straight. There's also good access to the coastal drives on this side and the spectacular Skyline hike. Oh, and the visitor center is right next to the CG.

Layout is pretty typical of a national park. Plenty of green, but fairly tightly packed sites. We chose one on the row next to the playground which had great solar exposure but two rows behind us are sites completely in the dark.

We were able to get decent Bell service (3-4 bars) with a cradle booster and omni antenna.

Your other option in the area would be to go a little ways up the road to Corny Brook. 10 or 20 sites closer to the water. Kinda just feels like a day use parking lot but looked like there was beach access. First come/first served. Best for smaller rigs but we could have easily tucked our 25 footer in there.

Our site, number 6 in the overflow are, was beautifully set-back in vegetation against rocks. There’s a pit toilet and most of the sites are small and basic. The main campground is a few minutes south and has showers.

The loop without services (hookups) has much more space between the sites. I’d recommend that side if you’re able to get by without power/water. The biggest thing that hasn’t been noted yet is that cell service is not good. It was either 1 bar of 3G or no service. With a booster, it was sometimes usable; but if you need to get work done, I’d suggest making other plans.

We did not have a reservation which is a must during the peak season. We were caught off guard as we spent more time than we had planned visiting the Cabot Trail area. The main Campground was full thus we were offered a spot in the Overflow Campground. It is located about 5 Km north of the main campground beside the Cabot Trail just underneath “Grande Falaise” (The Great Cliff). There is pavement all the way. The interior roads are gravel and in good condition.. Signage is poor. Without information from the main Campground attendant, we would not have known this area was the overflow site. Check in at the main Office was efficient and friendly. The rules are fairly basic.

Our site, OF14, was a grassed area beside a picnic table marked OF14, We backed into the site as we wanted to face the cliff and forest rather than the road. It was easily long enough for our Coach and Towed. Services were none (other than the picnic table). There are vault toilets available for those that need them.. Distancing is good for a rural park. Our site was flat and even. Overall the overflow area was better than an unserviced site at the main campground. Park attendants showed up a few times just to make sure everyone there had paid and passes were visible. We shared the area with one other Motor Home and two other tenters. Hiway traffic disappeared by 8:00PM so we had a very quiet and restful night.

We paid $23.00 per night and we feel we received good value.

Nice location just outside the village of Cheticamp. Easy to run into town for fuel (gas and diesel), groceries, laundry. Dining is priced for tourists.

The campground has a variety of sites. We were in a FHU site for three days. Not much privacy between sites. Our site didn't have a firepit for some reason, while the one next to us and behind us did. Not sure why.

The shower house (ladies) was spotless. Only one shower though, but there are multiple shower houses throughout the campground though.

Our verizon cell phone service is 4G, 2 bars. Doesn't work on some apps, others it was fine. No air antenna channels. They do provide a wireless pw but it doesn't work at the campsites, I guess you have to use it at the visitors center.

The campground is situated at the southern beginning of Cape Breton NP and there are a lot of nice hiking trails within a 30 km drive.

We stopped in to Corney Brook Campground and liked the looks of it better, but it's for small rigs (<22 ft) and tent campers.