Camping & Hiking · Scenic Views · Water Sports · Ontario
A family campground on the Petawawa military base with a supervised sandy beach on the Ottawa River, spacious sites and paddleboard rentals; washroom and shower facilities are limited.
Black Bear Beach Campground sits on the military base property in Petawawa, and the sandy beach on the Ottawa River is the main draw. Reviewers describe it as clean, soft and well supervised, with calm water that suits kids. Military aircraft fly overhead at times, which one former paratrooper found more exciting than disruptive.
Sites are described as spacious, with room to spread out and a good fire pit. Most campers found it quiet and family-oriented. There's a comfort station with showers and laundry, plus portable toilets around the grounds, and firewood is sold by the bag. A supermarket is close by.
Families get the most out of it. There's a playground, the beach is a short walk from the sites, there's a dog-friendly beach, and paddleboards and kayaks can be rented. The base museum nearby gets a good word too.
Most complaints are about facilities. One camper counted a single full washroom building with just a couple of showers for each gender and found it not always kept up, and a recent visitor found no showers available at all. Potholes on the roads, off-leash dogs on the dog beach and limited shade near the beach also came up. Bring sun protection and plan shower times around busy periods.
Summarised from visitor reviews on Google Maps. Based on 241 Google reviews. Details change — confirm hours, prices and bookings with Black Bear Beach Campground directly.
