For many years, my husband and I would venture to the Cape Cod in Massachusetts for summer vacations. Our favorite location was Orleans and going to Nauset Beach. We stayed in B&B’s, cottages, or motels. This was way before we started our camping adventures in our early 60’s. When we went to the Cape to head to Nauset Beach, we were in our 20’s, 30’s and 40’s probably! We have a history of going to the Cape, but camping near the Cape was new to us.
Nauset beach is the type of beach my husband loves. It has big waves and rushing waters. It also has a very long beach. The sand is beautiful. The area is nice. The area near this beach has couple good restaurants, bars, and market-like stands. Shark sightings began to appear in the waters at this beach. We went there at least once every summer for a beach vacation. Nevertheless, after many years, we stopped going to the Cape because of the sharks.
BOURNE SCENIC PARK CAMPGROUND:
Fast forward to 2023. As new campers, I wanted to find a campground on or near a beach. Naturally, Cape Cod came to mind. After some research, we decided on a campground called “Bourne Scenic Park” located at 370 Scenic Highway, Bourne, Massachusetts.
It is actually located before officially entering the Cape via the Bourne Bridge. We were super excited to check this place out. On the day of our arrival, it was an extremely hot humid day in July. Check in offices were very professional, busy, and well-setup. It was a smooth check in process.
We proceeded to go find our assigned camp site spot. We were new to this so had no idea about prior research. Let’s just say, the site was not good for us. It was on a slight slanted hill, and there was no easy way to back in. As we tried to navigate getting to it, we got stressed fast due to the heat and humidity.
I actually jumped into our truck to sit in the air conditioning. My husband pranced around trying to figure out how we would park our travel trailer. It was our first camper travel trailer and was only 16 feet long. He is a determined guy, but I was really thinking this is not going to work.
I remembered my more experienced camping sister. She has been camping for years. She told me her husband called the office once to say this site is not going to work. I got on my cell phone and long story short; they offered 3 other sites to go look at. After some nudging, my husband agreed.
Viola. We got a much better spot and a fellow camper even helped direct us into our site. I guess he knew we were already stressed. By the way, the site we did not like was C-12. The site we ended up with and did like was site 54. Site 54 is on a corner and it is not huge site but fit our little camper just right. I liked that there was a stairway down to the Canal trail. It was almost directly across from it as you walked over the other side.
CAMPSITE MAP
Here is a link to the PDF of the park’s camping site map:
This site had electrical and water but no sewer hook-up. It was our first experience with the infamous honey wagon and using a dump station. But I won’t go into that part of the story just yet! Let’s talk about the fun stuff first.
NEAR A BEACH
This place was not on a beach but a beach was super close by, called Scusset Beach. They had a daily parking fee payable via a thing called YODEL app using your cell phone. We drove there and paid to park. You can easily bike there on the canal path from your campsite. This is possible if you are a biker. At that time, we did not have bikes yet. Those came later. So, we drove to the beach, and I think it was about 3 miles away.
There is a large bathroom building at the beach. It was fairly clean. But it was a little bit of a walk to the beach from the very large parking area. The path was uphill but not bad. We always bring a wagon to load our daily beach gear onto. We did try fishing one morning from the beach but a lifeguard told us that was not allowed. I’m not so sure about that, however, we stopped fishing and said, oh well.
Scusset Beach is at the southwest corner of the Cape Cod Bay and has about 1.5 miles of beachfront, plenty. The water was refreshing. We really enjoyed spending a day or two on this beach. It was part of our camping adventure during that hot week in July.
BACK AT THE CAMPSITE – THE BATHROOMS:
The facilities at the campsite were clean and they provided a bathroom code to enter the building for that. There are all types of campers here from seasonal folks to all types of travel trailers and RV’s. I don’t recall tent camping being there though.
MORE ABOUT THE LOCATION:
The best part of the campground location was that this place is on the banks of the Cape Cod Canal. Along the canal is a paved bike path. We would carry our wagon down the steep steps to the canal walkway from our campsite and bring chairs. Sitting there with a lunch and watching the canal and an occasional boat go by was entertainment for us two. We found it was difficult to try to fish there, due to the large boulders along the water.
GOTTA GET LOBSTERS!
Of course, being near the Cape meant lobsters for us. We visited a place called the Lobster Trap not far from the campgrounds. It is at 290 Shore Road in Bourne, MA. We absolutely loved getting lobsters there. Eating while watching the views was wonderful. Here’s their website: https://www.lobstertrap.net/ I think it was about 5-6 miles from the campground.
VISITING OTHER PARTS OF THE CAPE:
We are the type of campers who enjoy visiting the area where we camp. Of course, we had to spend a day doing that. We drove all the way to Provincetown for shopping, eating, and hanging out. P-town as they call it is a great place to go on whale watches too. We did not do that this visit because we had done that plenty of years prior. They are excellent. Really fun especially on a beautiful hot sunny day.
THE BRIDGE
If you decide to try Bourne Scenic Park yourself, be aware. There has been talk for years about construction on the Bourne Bridge. There has also been talk about the bridge itself. I do not know the current status at this time. I imagine it would affect your travel or bookings. Also, entering the Cape via the bridge is where traffic can back up. We arrived at a good time with no concerns around that.
As far as overall, the campground was good. It had features we enjoyed, it is a busy place with lots of campers and a big mix. Many seasonal folks too. It is laid out in an odd way. Some sites are along the fence above the canal trail. Some are mixed together lower. Some were across a bathroom facility. Some were tucked in tightly. It is kind of spread out in different scenarios.
We had a great time and the staff was amazing. They did help us when we needed to change our site and we were lucky there was another choice. They made that process seamless. They did have firewood and propane available. I remember they had a band one night, but we did not go see it. I don’t think they have a pool. But there are plenty of water views all around and a beach very close by. It felt secure with a gated entry.
NO PHOTOS:
I can’t find photos on my phone or in my files from this trip unfortunately. Sorry about that! If I do, I will add them later for you.
Thanks for visiting!
Cathy Testa
Date of this post: 1/16/2026
P.S. I left out the sewer part – just a job which was assigned to my hubby – that was part of our deal if we became campers – LOL! It was fine with no issues. There is a dump station on the way out of the campground park.
Container Crazy CT 