great urban getaway - you can actually take the t and and 2 ferries to an excellent little camping island. make sure that you check the ferry schedules so you know when you'll get there and be able to come back. went with my bf and a friend this past weekend. i booked a campsite online through www.reserveamerica.com, but you can try walking on to see if there is a campsite available. our ranger says that usually 1/3 to 1/2 of people don't show up. it's bug free due to the fact that it's up high with no places to have standing water. definitely try to get one of the three beach front campsites - you can build a campfire on the rocky beach. if you are inland, then you can't build a campfire. the last campsite seems to be the best - level land for your tents, and someone created 2 slate "adirondack" chairs around the fire pit. each campsite has its own picnic bench and is only allowed 4 campers. there is one group camping site for larger groups. nice little walks around the island to see the ruins. lots of raspberry plants all over the island - easy to pick. watch out for poison ivy - it's all over the island. if there isn't a red tide warning, then you can pick mussels from the shore during low tide for a delicious dinner. we camped during the 4th of july weekend, and got treated to fireworks in hingham and hull! i would bring a little bit of wood for a fire - there are places to find wood but it requires a small saw. also if its a hot sunny day, then make sure that you have enough water. there is no running water - only composting toilets with toilet paper and anti bacterial gel. great for a weekend getaway - will definitely be back. read more

Such a great little island to sleep over on! The boat ride over gives you a great chance to see Boston from the water and the various islands that are part of the Boston Harbor Islands. Once you get there, you check in with the ranger, check out the specimen table, and then go off to get your campsite. We had one on the beach so we had easy access to the water and trails and were quite comfortable in our tent. Bring lots of water during the summer if you camp over, or run across the sandbank during low tide to Hull for more supplies (Just be back in time!) and also you might want to bring firewood and matches as there is not a lot of debris on the ground to use for fuel. read more

The absolute best of Boston! Terrific camping and a manageable hike (only takes about an hour to zoom through the whole island). Is it just me or is this place clearly haunted? Lots of neat history nonetheless and beautiful views of nature and the Boston city skyline. My husband and I snagged a great campsite right on the water with tons of space, a barbeque and picnic table. Be sure to bring plenty of water in the summer as it gets very hot in the summer and it's quite an hike with all your camping gear to get to your campsite (they give you a wheelbarrow to tote all your stuff in, but it gets quite heavy to lug uphill). A terrific, cheap summertime getaway that sure beats the hustle and bustle of the Cape in the summer. A must-do treasure that is just a water taxi away! read more

Bumpkin island is interesting, when you walk around, ruins appear here and there. the most beautiful place is where the two tides meet, in low tide, you can walk all the way to the island across the sea, in high tide, you can still walk a little bit far into the sea. the island is small, it takes 1-2 hours to explore. many campsites on the island face the beach, might be a good place for sunrise. it is a little bit far away from georges island, took around 20-30 minutes to take a boat there. read more

See all

A hidden gem within the concrete jungle. Ferry/boat services limited and challenging. Be sure to plan arrival AND departure. Book well in advance because sites are assigned on arrival, based on reservation date. There are 3 amazing beach campsites. All of the sites are incredibly private. Most sites have a grill. Only beach sites allow campfires. There is a huge difference between high and low tide. Most of the beach disappears at high tide. Very rocky beach. Well maintained hiking trails but it is a small island. No showers or water but very clean compost toliets. We had a fantastic, very helpful ranger. Deer, turkey and song birds but no racoons/possums so hiding food/trash is not a problem. Be sure to watch the sunset over Boston. read more

See all

Had a blast on my 3-day camping trip at Bumpkin Island! Great swimming, beautiful views, some fun hiking / walking, and you can't beat the price. Here are a few tips: Our group chose the three beach campsites (11, 12, and 13). These were fantastic the first night as there was very little wind. The second night was incredibly windy, so we couldn't have a camp fire and it was really hard to use the grill. If I were to do it again I would still camp on the same sites - it's worth the risk of a windy night to be right off the beach. We had to reserve the campsites more than four months in advance. We booked in April and the last weekend of August was the only option left. Apparently you can almost always show up at the island as a walk on, but if you want the guarantee that space will be available (which personally I do) book early. A few of us wanted to walk over from Hull to Bumpkin Island during low tide but I couldn't find any information online about how to do this, so here is our experience for future intrepid visitors..... We were lucky in that low tide was at 8:22 AM on day 1 of our camping trip and the first ferry from Hull to Bumpkin left at 9:30 AM. Our plan was to drive to Sunset Strip in Hull, attempt to cross, and if we couldn't make it to take the ferry. We knew that parking may be an issue but figured we had little to lose by trying to walk across. There were four of us and a lot of camping gear in two cars: a two-person smart car and a two-person Honda Insight (I know, what are the odds). We pulled up to Sunset Point at about 8:10 and parked somewhere on Nantasket Road. There were no signs about parking at all on the road, so I have no idea if parking there was legal or not. My guess is that it would have been fine for a day, but probably not overnight for three days. We decided that the two drivers would take the ferry since we knew parking at the ferry terminal wouldn't get us in trouble. We then found some stairs to the beach that may or may not have been privately owned and took a quick walk down to the spit to make sure that the walk looked doable (it definitely did) and then rushed back to the car. The plan was to have two of us carry as much gear as possible over to Bumpkin for an initial first trip; the other two would start depositing gear on the Hull side of the spit making as many trips as necessary until the cars were empty; one of us on the Island would snag the best camp sites for us while the other (me) transported the gear from the Hull side of the spit to the Bumpkin side of the spit. This worked well at the beginning, but even on my first trip across it became apparent that the tide was starting to come in. On my second trip across I only had time to drop our gear at a high point of the spit and then run across to the other side of the spit as the sea water was very rapidly taking over the middle portion of the spit. Fortunately my two friends were just dropping off the last portion of the gear and were able to run some stuff over with me otherwise I would have been waist deep in water trying to carry a five gallon water cooler and two food coolers over with me. The friends then ran back across the spit, hopped into the car, and apparently made it to the ferry terminal with enough time to run aboard before it left. I have no idea if we were crossing on a very low tide day or a very high tide day but I would guess the spit was completely dry for 20 minutes on both sides of low tide. Also, there are plastic wheelbarrows on the dock that can be used to transport your gear. I didn't realize this until after I'd dragged all but the worst equipment from where they had been deposited onto the camp site. Next time I would drop the camping gear safely out of immediate danger from the tide and then grab the wheelbarrow instead of trying to carry everything by hand. A five gallon water cooler becomes really heavy after you've already been moving four people's gear for about an hour and that would definitely have saved me some grief :) But it was fun nonetheless! read more

Such a well kept secret, yet a really cool/inexpensive thing to do. Go camping on Bumpkin Island. The cost is $13, plus the cost of the boat ride over to the island (you can also kayak from World's End). All you have is what you can carry, and they drop you off for the night to be picked up the next day. The island has some beautiful waterfront sites, plus it has raspberry bushes and old hospital ruins that are fun to hike around. My advice is to bring some lobster, wine, a tent, and have a fun evening in the Boston Harbor. read more

Lovely little place to go camping, so close to the city but a world away! Our group had a great time here for the weekend camping and kayaking. Campsites were right on the beach, the composting toilets weren't bad (although a bit of a walk), the ruins are pretty cool, there's lots of places to take walks to, and there's plenty of space to play bocce/frisbee. Just beware the ticks, bring plenty of food/water/booze, and you'll have a great time. read more

Went for 3 nights with the boyfriend, it was fantastic! No complaints whatsoever. You can take the fiesta ferry that goes to all of the islands for free, so if you get bored on bumpkin, there are still plenty of things to do. Just make sure you keep track if time, because the ferry doesn't stop at bumpkin frequently. read more

To see a really nice video I made about our experience getting to and camping on Bumpkin Island check out my website. http://vlogtheworld.com/2008/08/07/bumpkin-island-travel-video/ read more

Bumpkin Island is one of my favorite things about Boston. The campsites are adorable and never crowded - there are only 10, with a max of 4 people per, so the island never feels busy. In August the water is usually not as frigid and one can actually swim while staring over at the beautiful Boston skyline. Great spot... read more

Ok so Bumpkin was amazing. We reserved a camping space on the inland part of the island, but once we got there the ranger told us that a beachfront space was available because someone didn't show up and that a lot of people end up canceling. The campsite was a grassy stretch with a grill that was ten steps from the beach. The beach had a fire ring and there was a picnic table on the campsite. It takes about an hour and a half to walk around the entire island and there are a few paths that lead to the remains of old buildings that used to exist on the island. Lots of cool birds too! I'd give it five stars, but my only complaint is that ridiculously loud jets flew what felt like 50 feet above us at 2am, 3am, and then 4am! I'm so tired now!!! Otherwise great. read more

A clean, scenic island with a great informative Ranger. Thank you Conor; we had a great stay.

Great place!! My Girl Scout troop went camping there this weekend and its really fun. Be careful of ticks and Mosquitos, though. Because I got bit quite a few times. Lots of things to do. There's a very rocky beach and the water isn't too cold in late summer. There's also tons of trails and picnic benches. There's an abandoned children's hospital that was burnt down and it's very cool to pick through the rubble, and there's an old stone house. There's poison ivy all over the island but since there are paved trails its fine. It's not too busy because there are only 10 camping sites and 4 people allowed per site, and one group site. During low tide, a sandbar connects the island to hull. There's also wild roses all around the island and it smells really good lol. The ferry system takes you for cheap fare all around the islands and you can check out peddocks island because "shutter island" with leonardo dicaprio was filmed there and there's a super creepy tunnel worth exploring. Everything you carry on you have to carry off and there's no fresh water source. The bathrooms are pretty bad but not porta-potty-quality bad. They're composting and there's a solar panel on the roof that activates a fan that also takes care of most of the smell. Just don't go at night because of the smell but also cause the children's hospital is really creepy and some ghost girl might follow you (kidding). Overall, bumpkin island is my favorite camping place in the Boston harbor islands. Have funnnnn! :D read more