Riverside Retreat Campground

This campground was not forthcoming about their accommodations at all. I would highly recommend to anyone that is planning an RV trip to not stop there. The road was almost impassable and once we were able to get our RV in, the sites were terribly out of level and full of unkept roots and trees. When we got there we had to call the owner to come out to talks to us which took him a while. There were a few campers on the campground already, which I was told they they belong to the owners. There were only 3 available spots out of 6 total and none of them could have accommodated a tent let alone an RV like they had specified on their website. There are many other much better campsites to go to out that way that I would strongly recommend you should look into before this terrible “campground”.

What an awesome camping spot! We stayed 4 nights in our 27 foot Airstream in site #4. So very convenient to the west side of the national park and town of Cheticamp. There is also an amazing bakery right down the road. The family that owns this campground and Airbnb is amazing. So nice and accommodating! We will be back.

Awesome place . Real hidden gem in Cape Breton ! The owner is a topshelf stand up guy ! We only stayed the one night b/c of work but I will definitely be back ! Beautiful spot right by the river ! Extremely happy, I found this little peice of heaven !

Wonderful Thanksgiving weekend was spent at Riverside Retreat! So peaceful, beautiful spot along the river with walking paths to explore. Loved the rustic feel, yet able to have a powered site, a great little Games Area with outside activities. The kids loved the hanging swings in the trees and down by the river. And the Taya and Shannon and their kids were amazing hosts. Our first afternoon, we came back to site after exploring and spending some time with Taya, Shannon and their kids on a walk, we all said it felt like we just spent time with friends/family. My (10 yr old) daughter loved playing with their kids, it was a great bonus.We WILL be back, there is no doubt! Thank you for a great weekend away. We only wish we lived a little closer to make more frequent trips!

We stayed once and are heading back for our 2nd visit. Love the tenting sites, good separation and lots of trees left intact. My young son had a blast exploring the wildlife and the river. Owners are very friendly and helpful. Bathrooms are great and store had marshmallows when I couldn't find them anywhere else!

A few things I would want to know. We showed up on a rainy day and ended up canceling our booking as the campground was not what we expected. A few things to note. The main issue for us was the website did not indicate that the campsites were walk in…which we note now the change has been made. The other issue was the map of the campground identifies solid lines to campsite which usually indicates drivable road but should be a dotted line to indicate walking path. When we asked to cancel and be refunded based on this we only received 50% back which was disappointing. Also it should be noted that the campground has no cell service or internet away from the small office building. Pictures show the road in which is washed out in places and would be comparable to a logging road. We were also told that the river was too high to be accessible. Due to rains we were not wishing to walk in to a site so we left to another campground. Host seemed very friendly but due to misinformation on the website we feel a full refund would have been appreciated.

I wouldn’t call this place a campground! If I could leave negative stars I would! We pulled in with our 32 foot RV and we’re very disappointed to see that this place is very misrepresented. There’s no chance they can accommodate a large vehicle, possibly a small tent trailer. (Although personally, I wouldn’t recommend it) The ground is very rough, what the owners call rustic or “keeping the forest intact” but the website claims that they were appropriate and they clearly were not! We turned our rig around and left. Of course their policy is no refunds so we’re out the money. Honestly, it’s worth the money to not have to stay there!EDIT as a reply to the owner. In fact it was not raining when we arrived so your excuse that all the poor reviews are based on poor weather is not true. And resorting to name calling??? Nice. All the poor reviews are saying are that you need to be more upfront with what your place offers. It’s extremely rustic and really not suited to large RVs

I’m only giving this review because I would like future campers to know what they should expect at Riverside Retreats in Petit Etang. We recently arrived to RR from Ontario. We have a 24’ travel trailer and camp very regularly. We are not high maintenance and have made sites work in the past that may not have been ideal. The road leading to the campground was extremely rough and narrow. We showed up to find tiny “RV” sites with stumps and trees all over. There was not enough space to maneuver a trailer of our size into our site. Not sure where you could even find a level spot to put your chair to sit at the fire at night. They also don’t have a dumping station or fresh water fill station. Taya was very friendly however and offered us river water that we could use for our stay there. We declined! Just a warning that this is a very rustic spot. If you want to unplug and relax in the bush, this is where it’s at. The owners need to be more forthcoming with info about this spot. It’s not a place for trailer camping. We chose to go somewhere else because there was no way we could comfortably stay and they did refund some of our money for our stay. I’m sure in time and with a little money invested in this spot it could be nice, but at this point it’s extremely basic.

My wife and I met Shannon while we were hiking to the Gypsum Mines. He had mentioned that him and his wife Taya own a campsite nearby where they rent out kayaks, canoes and SUPs. My wife and I decided to check it out and took some kayaks out along the Chéticamp River. Taya got us all set up with the necessary equipment (life jackets, paddles, and kayaks) and gave us some key points of interest to check out along the river. Although we had already organized our accommodations, their campground also includes fully-serviced RV’s that you can rent as well as regular camp sites! If we are back in Chéticamp in the future, we will definitely be looking into some of their sites!Thanks again for your guys’ hospitality!