Jacques Cartier State Park is located just outside Alexandria Bay in the Thousand Islands. It is a small idyllic campground perched on the St. Lawrence River. This was my favorite place to camp when I was a child. While it has grown up over the years, it is still just as beautiful as I remember. This is a great park to bring the family to for a weekend of camping, swimming, fishing, and boating.
Swimming and Fishing at Jacques Cartier State Park
While Jacques Cartier State Park is more of a camping park, it works well for daily use if you are just looking to swim, fish or picnic. There is a great swimming area that is specially marked off. This is a nice place to take the little ones to swim. There is a large open field-like area for picnics and also a huge playground. The river view is breathtaking here, you have a great view of Canada just across the river, and it’s fun for the kids to watch the big ships that occasionally pass through.
Boating at Jacques Cartier State Park
The boating here is excellent as Jacques Cartier State Park sits right on the St. Lawrence River. There is a small dock, both on the little peninsula and one by the lower campground loop, for boats to dock. We have found that smaller crafts like kayaks and canoes work best on the dock off of the peninsula, but I have seen larger boats. Smaller crafts such as kayaks and canoes will find the water calm and easy to navigate most of the time, especially in and around the peninsula.
Campsites at Jacques Cartier State Park
The camping at Jacques Cartier State Park is excellent. The park has 90 non-electric sites and 34 electric sites. The sites down by the water are much closer together and fill up quickly. Your best bet is to make a reservation early in the season. However, you will have people right on top of you, and there is very little privacy. The campsites closer to the entrance have both wooded and open, and some of them offer more privacy—especially the ones in the woods. There is a single bathroom building with showers in each camping loop.
Choosing a Campsite
I found a website, New York State Campsite Photos, with a number of the New York State Campgrounds listed with pictures of every site available. This is a great tool when you have to make reservations online. It has helped me pick some really great sites.
There aren’t any true hiking trails in Jacques Cartier State Park, but I did notice some trails in the woods that were obviously made by campers. I remember following one of these to a little pond in the woods when I was a kid. I can’t say for sure if that still exists, but it would be fun to find out.
Getting to Jacques Cartier
Address: Old Mills Rd, Brier Hill, NY 13614
What is your favorite park in the Thousand Islands? Have you visited this park before? Did we miss anything? We would love to hear from you. Leave us a comment below.