Walk south from the boardwalk towns onto Island Beach and the dune line takes over. Ten miles of undeveloped barrier island keep the Atlantic on one side and Barnegat Bay marsh on the other, ospreys over the inland flats. A recreation-area boardwalk drops you onto that dune line, and the ocean strand is wet sand with nothing built ahead of you.
South of the recreation area the fishing beach keeps going, a long public strand. People fish from the sand and walk until they turn around.
Seaside Heights and Point Pleasant keep the boardwalks just north of the park. That is the night walk after hours on the undeveloped island. Sandy Hook, in Gateway National Recreation Area, is the other beach, a spit of dunes and Fort Hancock at the mouth of the bay. Toms River, Belmar, and Asbury Park are the other towns on the same strip.
The park is day use. Driving the fishing beach takes a mobile sportfishing vehicle permit from the state, and you air down before you roll onto the sand. On summer weekends the park closes to new arrivals when it fills. Those are the same weekends the inland campground fills, so the beach day and the overnight are one booking problem, not two.
Turkey Swamp Park
The campground at Turkey Swamp Park loops around a small lake in pitch pine and oak, pull-through sites in the woods around the water. You sleep here after Island Beach, then drive back to the Shore in the morning or turn inland toward the Pines.
Lock the pad first, then get the van. Book on the Monmouth County Park System site, some pads stay first-come, and weekends carry a two-night minimum. The campground is open April 1 through November 15.
Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson is the family day off this overnight, a safari drive-through and a coaster skyline off the Turnpike. The park has no van overnight of its own, so that day still sleeps at Turkey Swamp.
Allaire State Park's family campsites are closed for construction as of September 2026, so it is not a van night. The historic village and the Pine Creek Railroad still run as a day.
The Pine Barrens
Atsion's campground is in pitch pine, and Batsto Village with its Victorian mansion over the millpond is the walk in the same forest. The canoe trip is the Mullica and the Batsto, tannin-dark water under cedar and pine. Sand fire roads and the Batona Trail run the same woods if you want a walk. Manasquan Reservoir is the lake day in the county system, a perimeter trail and a boat ramp, with no camping.
As of September 2026 the Batsto is closed to paddlers between Hampton Furnace and Lower Forge. Check that stretch before you put in.
Atsion and Godfrey Bridge cap vehicles at 22 feet. If you need more sleeping space or a longer rig, look at RVs for rent in New Jersey.
Brendan Byrne State Forest keeps tent and trailer sites open all year with no length cap posted. Bass River State Forest is the inland night for Long Beach Island, sites with no hookups on Lake Absegami, also open all year.
Cape May and the south shore are the New Jersey trip. Cheesequake and the Delaware Water Gap are Newark's.