Most people think doing Ocean City, MD means booking a hotel on the strip, paying to park every day, and fighting crowds from the moment you walk out the door. We get it. That’s how most people do it.
But there’s a better way, and it involves your RV, a bay-front campground, a waterpark, a full 1880s western town, and the same Ocean City beach just 10 to 15 minutes down the road whenever you feel like it.
Sun Outdoors Frontier Town changed how we think about coastal camping. It’s not a campground that happens to be near the beach. It’s a full-blown resort that also happens to put you within easy reach of two of the best beach destinations on the East Coast. For RV families especially, there’s really no comparison.
Where We Stayed: Sun Outdoors Frontier Town
Sun Outdoors Frontier Town sits in Berlin, Maryland on the shores of Sinepuxent Bay, which is just south of Ocean City. It’s been a destination campground in this area for over 60 years, and it earned OHI’s 2023 Park of the Year for good reason. Nearly 600 sites, full hookups, and some of the most well-spaced RV sites we’ve stayed on at a busy resort-style campground.
But the size of the sites almost doesn’t matter once you see everything else going on here. This place has more inside the gates than most families can get through in a week.
What’s Inside the Campground
The Frontier Town Water Park
The waterpark is included for all registered campground guests – no separate ticket, no extra charge. That alone changes the math when you’re comparing this to a hotel stay in Ocean City.
Five waterslides, a lazy river, and a pool. We spent countless hours here over the course of our stay. The kind of hours where you lose track of time completely and the kids are still asking for more when the sun starts dropping. There’s a poolside bar with daily happy hour specials and food, plus a coffee and ice cream café nearby when you need a break from the water but aren’t ready to go back to camp.
For families with younger kids especially, having a full waterpark right inside your campground removes an entire category of logistics from your trip. You don’t have to drive anywhere, buy tickets, find parking, or leave when everyone’s tired. You just walk back to your site.
The Western Experience
This one genuinely surprised us. We expected a little western-themed area with some props and maybe a few costumed characters. What we got was a full 1880s replica western town with daily live shows that our kids didn’t want to leave.
The Western Experience runs Memorial Day through Labor Day, six days a week (closed Wednesdays) and it’s free and open to the public. As a campground guest, you’re walking distance from all of it.
Here’s what’s happening inside on any given day:
- Bank robberies, gunfights at the OK Corral, and jailbreaks — live, multiple times a day, with full character casts roaming the streets in period costume between shows
- The Texas Trick Riders — professional horseback acrobatics, trick roping, whip cracking, and gun spinning; these are legit performers running their fifth season here and the show is genuinely impressive for all ages
- Native American dancing and culture at Red Bird Village — a respectful, educational, well-done experience
- The Golden Nugget Saloon — full western bar and restaurant inside the town for when you need food and atmosphere at the same time
The fact that we could experience all of this – the shows, the western town, the atmosphere – without ever getting in the truck was something we kept coming back to. One of the best parts of Frontier Town is that a full day of entertainment is always just a golf cart ride away.
Rent a Golf Cart
If there’s one thing we’d tell every family visiting Frontier Town to do, it’s this: rent a golf cart.
The campground is large. Walking from your site to the waterpark to the western town to the marina gets old fast, especially with kids. A golf cart changes your whole experience. You move freely, the kids love it, and it makes the whole property feel more accessible. Rentals are available on-site. Book it as part of your stay planning, not as an afterthought.
The Bay: Crabbing, Fishing & Water Rentals
The campground sits directly on Sinepuxent Bay, and the marina and fishing pier give you real access to the water, not just a view of it.
Crabbing with the kids off the pier was one of the most genuinely fun things we did the entire trip. There’s something about crabbing that hits differently with young kids, like the patience, the anticipation, the moment something actually grabs the line. They were locked in. It’s the kind of activity that teaches kids to slow down and actually enjoy waiting, which is no small thing.
Beyond crabbing:
- Kayak rentals and tours on the bay
- Pontoon boat rentals
- Jet ski rentals
- Fishing charters
- A 75-slip marina if you’re coming in by boat
The bay access alone would make this campground worth it for a lot of families. Combined with everything else inside the gates, it’s hard to find a legitimate competitor.
Everything Else On-Site
We’d be here all day if we listed every amenity, but here’s the rest of what’s available:
- 18-hole mini golf
- Arcade
- Two dog parks
- Nature trails
- Full-service restaurant, bar, and well-stocked camp store
- Planned activities and events throughout the season
The Location Is the Real Selling Point
Here’s the thing that makes Frontier Town different from just being a really good campground: the location puts you within 10 to 15 minutes of two completely different and completely outstanding beach destinations.
Assateague Island National Seashore
If you’ve never been to Assateague Island and you’re anywhere near the mid-Atlantic coast, this needs to be on your list. Wild horses roam freely on the beach. Not in a fenced area. Not on a tour. Just on the beach, wandering past people, doing whatever they want. It’s one of those experiences that genuinely doesn’t feel real until you’re standing there.
Beyond the horses, Assateague is an undeveloped barrier island with no boardwalk, no development, no noise. Just wide open National Seashore with some of the cleanest, most beautiful beach on the East Coast. It’s a completely different experience from Ocean City, and having both accessible from the same campground is something you don’t fully appreciate until you’re doing it.
Go in the morning, back to camp for the waterpark in the afternoon. That’s a perfect Frontier Town day.
Ocean City, Maryland
Ocean City is Ocean City. The boardwalk, the rides, the food, the energy. It’s a full American beach town experience and it’s worth doing. The difference when you’re staying at Frontier Town is that you do it on your terms. Drive in when you want it, spend a few hours, and drive back to your site when you’re done. No hotel checkout times. No paying a premium to be within walking distance of the strip. No 200-square-foot room for four people.
The boardwalk has everything: amusement rides, arcades, restaurants, mini golf, shops, and a stretch of beach that gets busy in the best possible summer way. Hit it for an evening, grab dinner, walk the boards, and be back at your RV before it gets too late.
The Comparison That Matters
Here’s the honest math. A hotel on the Ocean City strip is expensive, gives you a small room, charges for parking, and puts you within walking distance of the beach and nothing else. Sun Outdoors Frontier Town gives you a full-hookup RV site, a waterpark, a western theme park with daily live shows, bay water access with boat and jet ski rentals, crabbing off the pier, and the same Ocean City beach 10 minutes away.
For a family in an RV, it’s not a close call.
Practical Tips for Your Stay
A few things worth knowing before you book:
- Book early. This is one of the most popular campgrounds on the East Coast. Summer fills up fast and you will not find last-minute availability for peak weeks.
- Rent a golf cart. We said it once, we’ll say it again. It changes the experience.
- The waterpark is included for campground guests, so factor that into your value comparison when you’re looking at hotel rates in Ocean City.
- The Western Experience is closed Wednesdays. Plan your western town day for any other day of the week.
- Texas Trick Riders and the Western Experience run Memorial Day to Labor Day. If you’re visiting outside peak season, check the schedule before you plan around it.
- Crabbing gear is easy to grab – either on-site or at a nearby bait shop. Bring patience and some chicken necks if you want to do it right.
- Assateague tip: Go early. Parking fills up on peak summer days and the horses are more active in the morning and evening hours.
Final Thoughts
Ocean City is a great destination. But most families experience it in the most expensive, most limiting, most stressful way possible. Crammed into a hotel with a parking problem and no space to breathe.
Frontier Town flips all of that. You get more room, more to do, better access to the whole region, and you come back at the end of every day to your own space, your own kitchen, and a bay view. The beach is still there whenever you want it. But so is everything else.
If you have an RV and you’re planning a mid-Atlantic beach trip, this is the move.
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Still figuring out which RV makes sense for a trip like this? Our Ultimate RV Buying Guide covers everything from floor plans to financing in plain language. And for planning your route and finding campgrounds, we use RV Trip Wizard by RV Life — it’s one of the most useful tools we have on the road.