Davis Bayou Campground
6Heads up5 park alerts, one naming this campground · 1 fire 5.9 mi away
- Right now
- Road workers on Park Road in Davis BayouCaution naming this campground · open
- A night
- $22From, per site
- Sites
- 5350 on recreation.gov
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Davis Bayou Campground is located east of downtown Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and is a part of Gulf Islands National Seashore. Visitors enjoy the campground for its easy access to boating, fishing, biking and hiking trails. Keep reading
Recreation
Davis Bayou offers a wide range of year‑round recreational opportunities for visitors of all ages. Popular activities include fishing, boating, biking, birdwatching, picnicking, and attending ranger‑led programs. The area’s natural setting provides excellent opportunities to explore coastal habitats and view local wildlife. Visitors can enjoy hiking along the Davis Bayou Trail, which winds through a coastal forest and crosses two local bayous. Along the trail, there are chances to spot alligators and other reptiles in their natural environment. The Davis Bayou Campground is conveniently located approximately half a mile from the park’s boat launch, making it ideal for paddlers and boaters. Campers also have easy access to the scenic Davis Bayou Trail. For those interested in fishing, a pier located near the William M. Colmer Visitor Center is available for use by anyone holding a valid Mississippi State Saltwater Fishing License.
Facilities
This small, yet quaint, campground is open for reservations year-round. It contains 52 sites with electric and water hookups. Sites can accommodate tents and RVs, big or small. The majority of the sites are 40+ feet in length. A group site, with water hookup, is also available to parties with a minimum of 10 individuals and a maximum of 40. Amenities include flush toilets, showers, drinking water and a dump station.
Natural Features
The campground is nestled among live oaks and pine trees and is adjacent to a saltwater marsh. Most campsites offer some shade throughout the day and all offer a tranquil setting for migratory bird watching and picnicking.
Nearby Attractions
Davis Bayou is home to many of the park's highly visited barrier islands, such as Horn, Petit Bois, East Ship and West Ship islands. Private boaters may enjoy fishing and swimming, as well as beach combing and bird watching. Private boaters may also enjoy island camping on all islands except West Ship Island, which is only open to visitors from sunrise to sunset. The barrier islands are accessible by boat only, therefore you may visit with your own boat or by private charter. Visitors may call 228-875-9057, ext. 114, for a list of park-approved licensed boat operators. Ferries run to West Ship Island from Gulfport, MS during the months March through October. For more information about the ferry service, please call Ship Island Excursions at 228-864-1014.
What the agency tells you
Rules at Davis Bayou Campground: The campground office is open from 8am-4pm. If you have any problems and cannot wait till the office opens, please see the campground host on site #3. Check in time is 1:00 PM. Please do not arrive before check in time. Check out time is 11:00 AM. Between the busy season of January 1 through March 31, campers may stay a maximum of 14 consecutive days in Davis Bayou Campground. Between April 1 through December 31, campers may stay a maximum of 28 days total, in two 14-day increments with 2-day break in between. At the end of 14 days, campers must completely remove themselves and their property from the National Seashore for a minimum of 2 days (48 hours) before returning for another overnight visit. Stay limits apply to all occupants, not just the individual who makes the reservation. Campers are limited to 42 nights in a calendar year.
When making reservations be sure to include your vehicle length to your trailer length to make sure all your vehicles will fit on the desired site. Please remember all wheels must be on the pavement at all times. This includes RV, cars/trucks, motorcycles, boat trailers, and car haulers. If you cannot park on the pavement then you must use the overflow parking near the campground. Parking of automobiles on sites must be in-line with RV's or trailer. You cannot park perpendicular on the pad. If you do not fit that way , the vehicle must be moved to overflow parking.
All sites permit either two tents or one RV (motorhome/fifth-wheel/pop-up trailer) and one tent. All sites have 50/30 amp breakers and water connections. Each water connection has a backflow built into the faucet. All sites allow a maximum of eight occupants and two vehicles per site.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
If arriving more than 24hours after the start of your reservation, call (228) 230-4136 or your reservation will be cancelled and a $20 no-show fee plus the cost of the first night's stay
Generators are not permitted at any time in the campground. NO Portable air conditioning units used for tents. Nothing may be tied or hung from the trees, no hot tubs, and no swimming pools bigger than 5 feet wide by 15 inches deep. RV's trailers, and automobiles cannot be washed on your site.
We do not accept mail for campers at the campground or visitor center.
NO Electric car charging in the campground
Pets are allowed and must be on a leash, not to exceed 6 feet at all times. Pet owners are responsibile for cleaning up after their pets. Pets are not allowed on any beach or inside any structures, and may not make excessive noise inside the campgound.
Automatic gates are now in place at Davis Bayou. The gates will close at sunset; registered campers arriving after sunset need to call 228-230-4136 no later than 4:00 p.m. for the gate code. AS A REMINDER, THE GATE CODE IS IN YOUR CONFIRMATION EMAIL FROM REC. GOV
ATTENTION: Delivery of RVs is allowed by companies that have a CUA (Commercial Use Authorization) only. If a company arrives at the entrance gate to deliver an RV without a CUA they will be refused entrance. For your own benefit, please be sure the company that you are renting from has a CUA with Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Gathering of down, dead wood is permitted only in the campground, not along trails or in the forest. Do not bring out-of-state firewood. You may purchase firewood outside the park in Ocean Springs. Don't Move Firewood: Help protect our forests! GRILLS must be on the fire pit or a table you bring, Please DO NOT cook on top of the picnic table.
For more information, visit the Gulf Islands National Seashore website at www.nps.gov/guis.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 53 · 1 group
- Hookups
- 49 electric, 53 water
- Longest rig
- 58 ft
- Paved pads
- 52 of 53
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - year round
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- SHOWERS on 51 of 56 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 42 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Beach, Coast
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Picnicking
- Night sky · 61st darkest of 61 in MS
- Bortle 5
- Fall color · reported 11 days ago, 5.1 km away
- Patchy color
6 of 100 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:53 UTC
recreation.gov lists 50 of the 53 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $22 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:53 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
56 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 50 mapped sitesAll 56 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 53 of the 56 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| Davis Bayou Campground | 01 | standard electric | 37 ft | 50/30/50/20 amp | 89 ft | 464 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 02 | standard electric | 53 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 62 ft | 425 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 03 | type not stated | 50 amp | 457 ft | $22 | |||
| Davis Bayou Campground | 04 | standard electric | 49 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 62 ft | 432 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 05 | standard electric | 37 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 40 ft | 390 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 06 | standard electric | 36 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 32 ft | 358 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 07 | standard electric | 38 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 32 ft | 333 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 08 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 40 ft | 296 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 09 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 40 ft | 260 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 10 | standard electric | 47 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 73 ft | 190 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 11 | standard electric | 41 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 44 ft | 216 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 12 | standard electric | 51 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 68 ft | 176 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 13 | standard electric | 43 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 52 ft | 139 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 14 | standard electric | 46 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 52 ft | 111 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 15 | standard electric | 51 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 58 ft | 107 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 16 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 58 ft | 74 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 17 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 58 ft | 119 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 18 | standard electric | 37 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 58 ft | 175 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 19 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 44 ft | 242 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 20 | standard electric | 47 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 77 ft | 278 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 21 | standard electric | 43 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 41 ft | 299 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 22 | standard electric | 47 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 41 ft | 337 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 23 | standard electric | 37 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 41 ft | 373 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 24 | standard electric | 42 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 58 ft | 355 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 25 | standard electric | 42 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 58 ft | 313 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 26 | standard electric | 58 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | yes | 54 ft | 348 ft | $22 |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 27 | standard electric | 41 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 52 ft | 272 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 28 | standard electric | 52 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 54 ft | 319 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 29 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 41 ft | 230 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 30 | standard electric | 57 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 61 ft | 294 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 31 | standard electric | 43 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | yes | 41 ft | 200 ft | $22 |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 32 | standard electric | 49 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 55 ft | 240 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 33 | standard electric | 56 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 55 ft | 226 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 34 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50/30/20/50 amp | 74 ft | 183 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 35 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 63 ft | 129 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 36 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 53 ft | 153 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 37 | type not stated | 48 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 208 ft | $22 | ||
| Davis Bayou Campground | 38 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 53 ft | 125 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 39 | standard electric | 53 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 62 ft | 209 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 40 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 53 ft | 160 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 41 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 64 ft | 235 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 42 | standard electric | 32 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 49 ft | 148 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 43 | standard electric | 35 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 49 ft | 151 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 44 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 79 ft | 250 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 45 | standard electric | 37 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 59 ft | 163 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 46 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 45 ft | 261 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 47 | type not stated | 37 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 200 ft | $22 | ||
| Davis Bayou Campground | 48 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 45 ft | 276 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 49 | standard electric | 49 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 53 ft | 299 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 50 | standard electric | 30 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 53 ft | 254 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 51 | standard electric | 44 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 62 ft | 337 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | 52 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50/20/30/50 amp | 63 ft | 293 ft | $22 | |
| Davis Bayou Campground | Davis Bayou Group Camping | group standard nonelectric | 485 ft | 132 ft | $20 | |||
| Davis Bayou Campground | Pavilion 1 | day use | yes | 505 ft | $22 | |||
| Davis Bayou Campground | Pavilion 3 | day use | 20 amp | yes | 219 ft | $22 | ||
| Davis Bayou Campground | Pavilion 5 | day use | 20 amp | yes | 96 ft | $22 |
The agency files 3 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It files them as day use. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 56 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Davis Bayou Group CampgroundGulf Islands National Seashore · 0.1 mi
Big Biloxi Recreation AreaDe Soto National Forest · 23 miAirey LakeDe Soto National Forest · 26 miCypress Creek LandingDe Soto National Forest · 41 mi
Turkey Fork Recreation AreaDe Soto National Forest · 65 mi
Fort Pickens Group CampgroundGulf Islands National Seashore · 91 miNORMAL DIRECTIONS
From New Orleans, Slidell, Diamondhead or other points west on I-10: Travel east to Exit 50 MS 609/Ocean Springs. Keep right (South) on Washington Ave. toward Ocean Springs. In 2.5 miles turn left at the Red Light onto Bienville Blvd/Hwy 90 east. Turn right on Park Road entering Gulf Islands National Seashore Parkway. Follow signs to Davis Bayou Campground and Registration Office.
From Pensacola or Mobile, or other points east on I-10: Travel west to Exit 57, Gautier/Ocean Springs. Turn left (South) onto MS Hwy 57. Travel 1/2 mile and take a right at the red light (Hwy 90). Look for brown sign on right, Park road on left. Stay straight to enter Gulf Islands National Seashore, Davis Bayou. Follow signs to Davis Bayou Campground and Registration Office.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Ocean Springs, MS
Typical weather
Typical October night 62°F, day 79°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 44°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Augusts are colder than the August line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Davis Bayou Campground is in Mississippi’s 4th congressional district. Its representative, Mike Ezell (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →