It can be. It can also be a nightmare.
If you have small children, it is far more challenging and taxing than if they're older. It also depends on how much help and cooperation you get from those camping with you.
And if you're young and single, it often turns out to be exciting, rewarding, and inexpensive...pretty good combination, wouldn't ya say?
I have gone camping with four young children. All activities and all meals, and all sleeping, bathing and toileting needs had to accommodate them, not their mother and I.
We justified it to ourselves with the thought that we were broadening their worlds by getting away from the ordinary and showing them neat stuff that other kids would never experience. Well, now that years have passed since those camping trips, we see a mixed result.
Our kids at times resented being hauled off in a tent and made to shuffle dutifully along with us through museums, parks, outdoor theatre and the like. At other times, the were fascinated. Trouble was, they never reacted alike. What thrilled the heart of the youngest was apt to bore the older one to tears and tantrums. What thrilled her, in turn, sometimes practically turned the boys' stomachs - and guess who received the brunt of their discontent? Yup - momma and poppa.
We'd have done much better taking them on, say, a five-day campout, by spending ONE day of the five in an attempt to educate 'em at a museum and the rest just mucking around fishing, hiking, swimming or just freakin' goofing off.
Ah, live and learn. After a few years, we quit camping. She and I split, though not due to camping experiences.
As my second marriage matured, and the two stepchildren reached high school age, I began visiting Civil War reenactments. I grew interested, and began portraying a Pinkerton agent. Then my wife became interested, and when our youngest started college at SUNY Fredonia, we joined a reenactment group, the 157th New York Volunteers, bought a big wall tent, bought period camping gear, and began reenacting the American Civil War.
We have subsequently left the 157th. We joined the 12th US Infantry and at the same time formed our own unit, the 117ty New York Volunteers. Each of these is a recreation of actual combat units that served in the Civil War...anyway, we've been at it now for some six years.
We go camping several weekends a year, at different events around New York state. We've been to a big national encampment/reenactment at Cedar Creek Battlefield in Virginia, near Middletown, just off Route 81. We absolutely love what we do - she portrays a Sanitary Commission worker, and because of my 21st-Century occupation, I portray a regimental surgeon, rarely doing a Pinkerton agent anymore.
We spend a weekend in that big tent. We carry precooked meals or we cook on site, and when we do that, it's all "primitive camping" - Civil War reenactors are big on authenticity and frown severely on "farby" modern-day conveniences showing up in camp.
That means I have to hide in the tent when I test my blood sugar and take my Insulin - but it also means I get to cook full meals in a Dutch oven/camp oven over hot coals.
And y'know - I can even cook ya up a beautiful and delicious peach cobbler in that Dutch oven!
So, it depends on circumstance.
I know this is a long answer and maybe more than you wanted - but it can be a delightful thing, camping, and I wanted to show you both sides of my personal experience to help you make your own decision about it.
I will admit it's getting more demanding physically as I'm now a senior citizen - but I'll never give it up entirely.
There's ways to adapt, and I'll find 'em...you'll have to find your own bliss regarding this topic.
Good luck.