I can't help this feeling but in Skyrim sometimes I just want to surround a bandit camp and pick them off one-by-one. The issue I have is that I feel Skyrim doesn't facilitate this, on my first save I can no longer wander about and just kill people in camps because they're all 'cleared'. Perhaps it would be better if new people could move into these locations.

Most locations respawn after some days, just wait/sleep a bit and bandits, vampires and all that nasty stuff return.

truth. I keep clearing out the mine outside riverwood every couple of days.

I've tried this but it doesn't seem to ever happen, perhaps my save is bugged?

Do they respawn closer to your level? Or are they always the same level enemies as the first time you encounter them?

You have to wait/sleep outside of the cell that has to respawn, the game won't drop Volikhar on your head when you're sleeping in their cave.
Respaws respawn around your current level.

It seems as if (at least for me) SOME of the places they respawn, but then they suddenly stop respawning and never do again..

i have also encountered this, very strange

I have the same issue as the two above and I've never waited or slept in a bandit camp as of yet.

No, not all the places respawn. Some never respawn, while others respawn in 10 or 30 days. Check UESP for the status of your favorite area.

Maybe this helps?

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Respawn


Ninja'd again.

Most places respawn, but it's pretty slow.

Some Quest related areas never respawn. Here is the list: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Category:Skyrim-Places-Safe
Most places with "Cleared" tags respawn in 30 days.
Places without "Cleared" tags respawn in 10 days.

There was a bug with respawning where some areas that were supposed to respawn did not. It is supposed to be fixed in the new 1.6 patch.