Madison Campground

Madison campground is a large campground with 292 single-family campsites, about 14 miles east of the West Yellowstone entrance. The campground is located close to the junction of the Gibbon, Madison and Firehole Rivers. Each campsite has a table, fire ring and grill.Season: Early May to late October.Madison Campground Best Campsites: 7, 26, 30, 42, 44, 51, 52, 60, 77, 85, 92, 95, 108, 119, 130, 143, 146, 154, 163, 171, 176, 185, 191, 220, 240, 256, 271, 275, 287.

No showers available at Madison campground. We traveled to the Old Faithful lodge and paid $4 or $5 for showers and watched the geyser while there. Towel rental was available at the lodge as well.

We stayed in the tent only Loop G. You do not get to pick your own campsite. You make a reservation in advance and a campsite is assigned to you. Bear box, picnic table, and fire pit are provided for each site. There are two bathrooms in the loop. There is a “kitchen” sink station in the bathroom building to dump ice chest water and dirty dish washing water. Campsites are very close together. We got lucky and we’re at the end of the loop and campground was fairly quiet. Lots of families and kids running around in summer. There is no cell coverage. Firewood sold on site.

This campground was great. The bathrooms were clean and stocked. The campsites had plenty of room. The campground is pretty centralized in the park and made getting to the different areas each day, not a terrible drive since the park is so big. We spent very comfortable 3 nights at this camp. The only thing I wish is that I wish it had showers.

The place is great.
loud sound of cars start from 5,30am.
Everything was good but for me not having a shower after a long day of hiking is uncomfortable, also the water in the bathroom and for washing dishes is cold

Having stayed in 7 of the campgrounds in Yellowstone, I would have to say, this is one of the best. The sites are well laid out, plenty of room in between each site. The area is pristine and you are surrounded by beautiful pine trees - it's an idylic setting. The restrooms are clean and well looked after. Be aware that the dump site is closed when temperatures drop below 32ºF, so it may not be open in the morning when you go to leave. It takes about an hour to drive to Fishing Bridge. Old faithful and the thermals are close by.

Downsides: no verizon wifi

We have been to three of the seven Yellowstone National Park campgrounds. This is the prettiest setting, amidst a lodgepole pine forest, with trails to the Madison River just a few steps away. They only offer dry camping and the sites are very nice, however, they are limited for big rigs. Even our site, which was a pull-through, seemed like the curve was set for a smaller rig, and was a little tricky to get into. But we fit as did our tow car.

The sites have picnic tables and fire rings. There are restrooms, with a special separate sink area for dishwashing, as dishwater is not allowed to be dumped here since the smells could attract the bears. There are also faucets with drinking water around the campground and dump stations at the exit.

This is grizzly bear country so barbecues have to be put away after use, as do any utensils, dog bowls etc. There is a huge recycling area, which we really appreciate.

Generator use is restricted to between 8a.m. and 8p.m. which makes sense since they do mix tent and RV camping in the same areas.

We found this campground quite convenient (about 16 miles) to the Old Faithful Geyser area, about an hour from Canyon Village and the Hayden Valley - where you can see grizzly bears and wolves, and just over an hour from Fishing Bridge. The town of West Yellowstone, with shopping, restaurants and Wi-Fi options is 14 miles away.

We stayed in Madison because it was centrally located. Nice setting under tall pine trees. No hookups and no camp store but they have an ice machine, water and dump station. It's about 16 miles north of Old Faithful. I would highly recommend eating at the Old Faithful Inn. It's beautiful inside and the food was good and prices decent.

Unfortunately you can't reserve a site ahead of time, otherwise I'd tell you to get site 183. It was huge! Check-in took about 15 minutes. They have an on-demand ice vending machine. That's it for things to purchase. No showers, laundry or store. They do have a dump station. If you need water, spigots in the CG don't have threads so you might want to fill up at the dump station on your way in.

Most of the loops look identical. They each have about 15-20 sites. They're close to the road but I didn't notice road noise being annoying. Our campsite was relatively flat. Nice bathrooms, but old. You can walk to the river where you can see lots of elk. You can swim and fish here as well. Junior Ranger station and amphitheatre within walking distance.

Firehole Falls is a great place to go for a swim and it's only about 5 minutes away.

Boiling River swimming hole (hot spring mixing with cold river) in Gardiner was one of our favorite things in all of Yellowstone.

The popular Madison Campground was very clean and nice. Our spot was on the edge of the campground and had a good amount of privacy, I would say most sites however don’t offer that much as they are fairly close together.

The check in was VERY busy and despite dealing with tons of people, the workers were very pleasant and extremely helpful.

The bathroom/restrooms were heated (a huge welcome as we got about 8 inches of snow) and were fairly clean.

The neighbors were loud into the night and from what I could tell a lot of campers here were maybe new to the game. Not the sites fault however, a beautiful place, but far from remote and less tranquil than we had hoped.