My daughter and I stayed here in tents. Clean, fairly secluded sites , tent pads. Though there are no showers or hook ups the place is spectacular. Saw two bear, one in an overlook sitting on someone's vacant car! Also saw several deer. The skyline drive is simply beautiful.

This is the second campground that I've stayed in at Shenandoah and I had another great stay in the park. This campground is located 22 miles from the park entrance in Front Royal; it's also the first campground you'll come to from this entrance. The sites are well maintained and offer a modest amount of privacy. A store to buy camping supplies like wood is located 2 miles south of the grounds. There aren't showers located at the campground, so keep this in mind if you'll need to shower before departing. The closest showers are several miles away. Between Mathews Arm and Lott Mountain, I prefer Loft Mountain personally but this is still a good site if you're in the norther part of the park. See my review of Loft Mountain for more information about that campground.

Matthew's Arm is a great campground. The camping lots are spacious and laid out very well. There's room for two tents easily and maybe even three. The fire pits are well made.
I walked the 6.5 mile trail, which has a beautiful overlook pay off at the end, but is a straight 3.25 mile uphill hike on the way back. So, keep that in mind. There hadn't been much rain fall. So, the spectacular waterfall was a little sparse on water, but still the view was just breath taking.
It's easy to get drinking water, but it was interesting that there were no showers present. Not a deal breaker by any means, but this was the first campground I'd been to without showers. They also ask that you wash your dishes at your site instead of the sinks.
There's a place where nature talks are given. Keep a lookout for bears. Black bears are prevalent.
There's also a store two miles south with anything you could need or want, including firewood, gas... and alcohol.
The drive there is glorious, as any ride on skyline drive is. This is the most northern campground in the National Park and Luray Caverns isn't too far away. So, that's another great way to spend some time.

The sight was pretty. Everyone was friendly and lots of campers brought their pets. We stayed at C146. This sight faced trees but had campers on both sides. The entire sight lacks privacy. There were some more private spots in the A section. We didn't see any bears around the site, but we did see lots of deer. On thing that I really did not like, was the people who brought the loud generator! They totally ruined the peace. If you are a party animal trying to get wasted and loud, I do not suggest the park period. There are campsight host who keep the peace when the rangers are off duty. So someone is always watching. If you do plan on partying, start early because silence starts at 10pm and ends at 6am. Six AM is also about the time that the garbage man comes. I was able to sleep it off though. The nights were really cold and the mornings were wet from the dew. Make sure your tent repels water and spiders. We did two trails: Little Stoney Man and the Appalachian Trail. Little Stoney Man was bumpy and my feet kept slipping off the stones. The view at the end was beautiful though. The is a good rock for those of you who rock climb. We heard there were a lot of bears on the Appalachian Trail, but when we went, we didn't see them. The Appalachian is kind of steep, so take some water to stay hydrated. Also, wear layers when hiking because you start out freezing and then get hot! If you are going to be hiking all day and just need a spot to rest at night, Mathews Arm is good enough.