Boating

Sycamore Lodge Resort

19 RV Sites

Sycamore Lodge Resort in Jackson Springs, NC, offers 19 full-hookup RV sites with 30 and 50-amp service and back-in sites for rigs up to 45 feet. Sites are sorted precisely: back-in 30-amp, back-in 30-amp with patio, back-in 30-amp water-and-electric, back-in 50-amp, and back-in 50-amp with patio. Full-hookup sites carry water, sewer, and electric. The patio sites are worth the upgrade. Laundry, a general store, RV storage, golf cart rentals, and WiFi cover the practical side, with cabins available for guests without a rig. Pets are welcome, with a dog park. For 19 sites the recreation is remarkable: an outdoor pool, a hot tub and sauna, mini-golf, a game room, a library, a pavilion, a ball field, sport courts, basketball, volleyball, bocce, corn hole, a playground, and a lake and pond with boat docks and a beach for swimming, fishing, kayaking, and hiking. Planned activities run through the season. Jackson Springs sits in Moore County's Sandhills, in longleaf pine and wiregrass country, minutes from Pinehurst and its golf. Rates for sites and cabins are on the booking page. Patio sites are limited and book first.

from $72/night

Smith Mountain Campground

20 RV Sites, 2 Tent Sites

Smith Mountain Campground in Penhook, VA, offers 20 full-hookup RV sites and 2 tent sites, with 30 and 50-amp service and room for rigs up to 50 feet. Sites come in three categories — back-in 30-amp water-and-electric, back-in 30/50-amp, and pull-thru 30/50-amp — with full-hookup sites carrying water, sewer, and electric plus a fire pit and picnic table. A bathhouse with showers, a general store, firewood, a dump station, a recreation center, and cabins cover the rest. Pets are welcome. A stocked fishing pond, private hiking trails, a pavilion, sport courts, bocce, corn hole, horseshoes, a playground, and creek frontage fill the family-owned grounds, with boating, picnicking, and dark-sky stargazing. Penhook sits on Liberty Road in the Blue Ridge foothills of Franklin County, less than five miles from the nearest public boat launch on Smith Mountain Lake, with the Booker T. Washington Monument, The Homeplace Vineyard, and The Coves Amphitheater all close. Rates for sites and cabins are on the booking page. Twenty sites near Smith Mountain Lake fill quickly in summer, so reserve ahead.

from $35/night

Norwood Campground

25 RV Sites, 10 Tent Sites

Norwood Campground in Norwood, NC, offers 25 full-hookup RV sites and 10 tent sites, with 30 and 50-amp service and room for rigs up to 45 feet. Sites come in two categories, back-in 30-amp and back-in 50-amp, each carrying water, sewer, and electric with site-delivered WiFi, a fire pit, and a picnic table. The campground is open all year, with laundry, a bathhouse, a general store, firewood, propane exchange, a dump station, a recreation center, golf cart rentals, boat storage, and a pet washing station. Pets are welcome. The lake access is the draw: exclusive Lake Tillery beach access, boat docks, and a fishing pier, plus a pond, walking trails, a pavilion, a jumping pillow, horseshoes, corn hole, a playground, and gem panning, with swimming, fishing, boating, birding, and planned activities. Norwood sits at Morgan Mountain on Lake Tillery in Stanly County's Piedmont foothills, with hardwood forest around it. From 24/27 heading west, turn onto Indian Mound Road in South Albemarle just after crossing the Pee Dee. Rates for sites and tent spots are on the booking page. Summer lake weekends fill first.

from $40/night

Halesford Harbour Resort

1 Cabin, 25 Condos

Halesford Harbour Resort in Moneta, Virginia, offers RV camping alongside 26 cabin and condo units across 41 acres of Smith Mountain Lake shoreline, open all year. A full marina with boat rentals, boat ramp, boat docks, and boat storage joins an outdoor pool, beach, sports courts, and walking trails. RV sites carry full hookups. Contact the resort to confirm amp service, length limits, and current site availability for your rig — the published site records are incomplete, and the property is primarily a cabin and marina operation with RV camping alongside. Twenty-six cabins and condos make up the bulk of the lodging. A general store, laundry, dump station, restrooms, and showers handle the practical side. The marina anchors everything, with boat rentals, a boat ramp, boat docks, and boat storage opening the lake for boating, swimming, and inflatable water toys. An outdoor pool, beach, playground, pavilion, sports courts, basketball, dog park, and walking trails fill the rest, with planned activities through the season and wine and beer tasting nearby. Forty-one acres of shoreline is a substantial holding on this lake. Smith Mountain Lake covers 20,600 acres with 500 miles of shoreline, created in 1966 when Appalachian Power dammed the Roanoke River — and it became one of the most beloved recreational lakes in the South almost by accident. Smith Mountain Lake State Park is close, the Crooked Road music trail runs through the region, and Roanoke sits about 45 minutes northwest. Summer lake season drives the heaviest demand and fills the corridor. Reserve well ahead for Memorial Day through Labor Day, with far easier availability in the spring and fall.

from $99/night

Lake Ridge RV Resort

84 RV Sites, 20 Cabins, 7 Tent Sites

Lake Ridge RV Resort in Hillsville, Virginia, offers 84 RV sites, 20 cabins, and seven tent sites on a lake in Carroll County's Blue Ridge Mountains, with 30 and 50-amp full-hookup service and rigs accepted to 65 feet. An outdoor pool with water slides, a clubhouse, and a full activity calendar make this a family resort rather than an overnight stop. Sites run from back-in and deluxe back-in with 30-amp water and electric to VIP back-in and pull-through options and super pull-throughs with 50-amp, all sized for rigs to 65 feet. Twenty cabins serve guests traveling without a rig, and seven tent sites cover simpler camping. A general store, snack bar, laundry, propane fills and exchange, and a dump station handle the practical side, and WiFi reaches the property. On-site recreation is extensive. An outdoor pool with water slides anchors the summer, with a lake on the property for fishing, boating, paddle boats, and paddle boarding. Sports courts, basketball, horseshoes, shuffleboard, and gaga ball spread across the grounds, with an arcade and clubhouse indoors and a playground, pavilion, dog park, and walking trails besides. Golf cart rentals make the resort easy to cross, and planned activities run through the season. Pets are welcome. Hillsville sits near the Blue Ridge Parkway close to the Virginia–North Carolina line. Galax and its Old Fiddlers' Convention, the New River Trail State Park, and Grayson Highlands State Park are all close. Roanoke and Winston-Salem are each about 75 minutes; Virginia Tech is 52 miles. The resort runs the Blue Ridge season, with summer families and October foliage driving peak demand. Reserve ahead for both, and check pool and slide operating dates when booking shoulder-season stays.

Camp Clearwater Family Campground

112 RV Sites

Camp Clearwater Family Campground in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, offers 111 full-hookup RV sites on White Lake, with 30 and 50-amp service, cable TV, and rigs accepted up to 105 feet. Luxury back-in, premium pull-through, and standard pull-through categories sit behind a gated entrance, with a beach, boat ramp, fishing pier, and mini-golf on the property. One hundred eleven sites run in luxury back-in, premium pull-through, and standard pull-through configurations, all carrying water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp with cable TV and site WiFi, sized to 105 feet, with fire pits, picnic tables, and BBQ pits. Laundry and restrooms handle the practical side. Two booking notes: the office is closed Wednesdays and staff are occasionally out at RV shows, so call ahead, and a $10 booking fee applies to each reservation on top of listed rates. The lake carries the recreation. A beach gives direct swimming access, a boat ramp and fishing pier serve boaters and anglers, and boating runs from the property. Mini-golf, a ball field, basketball, volleyball, gaga ball, an arcade, a playground, a dog park, and a pavilion fill the grounds, with on-site dining and a boutique shop for meals and supplies. A gated entrance controls access. Pets are welcome. White Lake is a Carolina bay — one of the shallow elliptical lakes found almost exclusively on the Atlantic Coastal Plain — and its artesian-fed water is exceptionally clear, which is the reason families return. The surrounding Bladen County landscape carries longleaf pine restoration and bottomland hardwood forest along the Cape Fear watershed. Summer lake season drives demand. Reserve ahead for warm-weather weekends.

from $40/night

Phoenix Mountain Campground

9 RV Sites

Phoenix Mountain Campground in Lansing, North Carolina, offers nine full-hookup RV sites with water, sewer, and electric service on 30 and 50-amp, taking rigs up to 60 feet, steps from the New River in Ashe County. Site WiFi reaches the campground. At nine sites, this is a deliberately small operation in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina's northwestern corner. Nine full-hookup sites offer 30 and 50-amp service with water and sewer, accommodating rigs to 60 feet in back-in configurations. WiFi reaches the sites. The small site count is the point: guests get river frontage and quiet rather than a programmed resort, and the campground fills accordingly. The New River is the property's defining feature. Sites sit adjacent to its clear, rocky-bottom flow, putting guests within walking distance for morning fishing, afternoon paddling, and evening time by the water. Fishing, kayaking, canoeing, paddle boats, and boating all run from the property, and picnicking areas serve daytime use. The surrounding hills and river corridor make for exceptional birding — warblers and vireos in the canopy, waterthrushes along the stream edges, raptors on the ridgeline thermals. Pets are welcome. The New River is a National Wild and Scenic River and among the oldest rivers on Earth, an ancient drainage that predates the Appalachians and still runs north and west against them. Lansing's revitalized downtown is walkable and close by, with Pie on the Mountain, Old Orchard Creek General Store, and Molley Chomper Cidery among the local draws. The campground runs through the Ashe County mountain season, with summer river recreation and October foliage driving demand. With only nine sites, weekends book out well in advance — reserve early for any summer or fall stay.

from $65/night

Cotton Patch Landing

3 RV Sites, 5 Cabins, 1 Tent Site, 1 Cottage

Cotton Patch Landing in Chocowinity, NC, offers 3 full-hookup RV sites, 6 cabin and cottage rentals, and 1 tent site, with 30 and 50-amp service and room for rigs up to 80 feet. Every RV site is a full-hookup 30/50-amp back-in carrying water, sewer, and electric with site-delivered WiFi, a fire pit, and a picnic table, and ADA-accessible sites are available. At 80 feet the sites take the longest coaches — remarkable for a three-site property. Laundry, a bathhouse with showers, a general store, firewood, and propane fills and exchange cover the essentials. Pets are welcome, and there's a playground. The marina carries the property: boat docks, a boat ramp, boat and kayak rentals, boat storage, on-site dining, a snack bar, food trucks, and a pavilion, with fishing, boating, paddling, and picnicking on the creek. Chocowinity sits on Blount's Creek in the tidal estuary country of North Carolina's Inner Banks, where the Pamlico River meets the creek system draining the coastal plain south of Washington. Rates for sites, cabins, and the tent spot are on the booking page. Three RV sites at a working marina means booking early is essential.

from $26/night

The Lakes RV & Cabin Resort

49 RV Sites, 5 Cabins, 4 Tent Sites

The Lakes RV & Cabin Resort in Maysville, NC, offers 49 full-hookup RV sites, 1 cabin, and 4 tent sites, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service and back-in sites for rigs up to 40 feet. Sites come in three categories — preferred, lake view, and poolside — all back-ins carrying water, sewer, and electric with site-delivered WiFi, a fire pit, and a picnic table. EV charging is available, still uncommon in this part of the state. Laundry, a bathhouse with showers, propane fills and exchange, golf cart rentals, and both RV and boat storage cover the practical side. Check-in for RV sites is 2pm with a 1pm checkout; cabins run 4pm. Pets are welcome, with a dog park. An outdoor pool, a beach, a boat ramp, sport courts, volleyball, a pavilion, a playground, and walking trails fill the grounds, with swimming, boating, fishing, hiking, live music, and planned activities on the calendar. Maysville sits in Jones County on the eastern North Carolina coastal plain, midway between the freshwater lakes of Croatan National Forest and the coast. Rates for sites, the cabin, and tent spots are on the booking page. Lake view and poolside sites are the ones to request and they go first.

from $41/night

Oceans RV Resort

193 RV Sites, 10 Cottages

Oceans RV Resort in Holly Ridge, North Carolina, offers 193 full-hookup RV sites and 10 cottages on the Onslow County coastal plain, with 30 and 50-amp service, open all year. Deluxe exterior sites with extended yard and parking join interior and exterior standard and Plus categories, with a pool, fitness center, bar, and boat storage. One hundred ninety-three sites span exterior standard, exterior Plus with extra parking, interior standard, interior Plus with extra parking, and deluxe exterior with extended yard and parking categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp with site WiFi, with fire pits and picnic tables. Naming categories by position and by how much parking and yard you get is unusually practical — extra vehicle space matters if you are towing a boat or traveling with a second car. Ten cottages and cabins round out the lodging. A general store, laundry, restrooms, showers, RV storage, and boat storage handle the practical side. An outdoor pool anchors the warm months, with a fitness center, sports courts, pickleball, basketball, corn hole, a pond, playground, dog park, and bar filling the grounds. Fishing, swimming, and picnicking round it out, with planned activities through the season and a beach, golf course, and wine tasting nearby. Pets are welcome. Holly Ridge sits within reach of the Topsail Island beaches and the Crystal Coast's barrier islands, with Camp Lejeune and the region's military heritage close by. Summer beach season drives the heaviest demand on the southern North Carolina coast. Reserve well ahead.

from $67/night

Dixon Landing RV Resort

28 RV Sites

Dixon Landing RV Resort in Grantsboro, North Carolina, offers 28 RV sites across 130 wooded acres on Goose Creek, with 20, 30, and 50-amp water-and-electric service, ADA-accessible sites, and rigs accepted to 70 feet. Deluxe waterfront and waterview 30/50-amp categories join a standard tier, with a recreation center, walking trails, and pond. Twenty-eight sites span 30/50-amp deluxe waterfront, 30/50-amp standard, and 30/50-amp waterview categories, carrying water and electric, sized to 70 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. Plan around the hookups — sites carry water and electric but not sewer, so manage tank capacity and use the dump station. Accessible sites are available, and two of three categories touch the water. Seventy feet accommodates a long coach with a tow. A general store, laundry, propane fills and exchange, dump station, restrooms, showers, and recycling handle the practical side. A recreation center, walking trails, pond, dog park, corn hole, and picnicking fill the grounds, with boating, canoeing, kayaking, and fishing on the creek and genuinely productive birding through the surrounding forest. Pets are welcome. More than 2,000 feet of creek frontage opening toward the broad Neuse River estuary gives the property real waterfront substance. Pamlico County sits on the Inner Coastal Plain about 20 minutes from Oriental, the sailing capital of North Carolina, with New Bern's historic district and the Croatan National Forest close and the Outer Banks reachable to the east. Spring and fall bring the most comfortable coastal plain conditions and the best birding, with summer drawing boating traffic. Reserve ahead for warm-weather weekends.

from $40/night

In The Pines RV & Cabin Village

8 Cabins

In The Pines RV and Cabin Village in Bolivia, North Carolina, is a quiet, nature-close camping destination in Brunswick County — a tucked-away small campground near Wilmington that gives campers the peaceful pine forest setting as an alternative to the coastal strand resort campgrounds, with RV sites and cabin accommodations in the longleaf pine and wiregrass woodland that the Brunswick County interior's sandhills landscape sustains between the Cape Fear River and the Intracoastal Waterway's coastal strand. Bolivia's Brunswick County position on US-17 south of Leland gives the campground the practical access to both the Wilmington metropolitan area's cultural and historical attractions and the Brunswick Island beaches that the US-17 and NC-211 corridor connects to Holden Beach, Sunset Beach, and Ocean Isle Beach in the Brunswick County's most visited family beach communities. Small-scale RV sites and cabin accommodations in the pine forest setting give In The Pines the specific quiet, close-to-nature character of a Brunswick County campground whose scale and natural setting give guests the pine forest camping experience that the larger commercial campgrounds' developed landscape cannot sustain — the campground's tucked-away character and the surrounding longleaf pine woodland give the Bolivia property its specific identity as a nature-first campground in the Brunswick County sandhills landscape that was historically the native range of the longleaf pine ecosystem. Pets are welcome. The Brunswick County Islands — Holden Beach, Ocean Isle Beach, Sunset Beach, and Brunswick Island — give the campground its most visited day-trip destinations on the North Carolina coast south of Wilmington, where the Brunswick County barrier island beaches' calm family character, the Intracoastal Waterway's boating and kayaking access, and the Brunswick Islands' less-commercialized resort character distinguish the Brunswick strand from the more developed Outer Banks and Myrtle Beach resort corridors. Sunset Beach's Kindred Spirit Mailbox on Bird Island — the most remote accessible beach in Brunswick County — sustains the decades-old tradition of strangers leaving journal entries in the beachfront mailbox. Southport, 20 miles southeast of Bolivia on NC-211 at the Cape Fear River's mouth in Brunswick County, is one of North Carolina's most charming and most filmed coastal communities — a Victorian-era river port whose tree-lined streets, the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport's maritime heritage collection, and the recurring role as the filming location for films and TV productions (Safe Haven, Under the Dome, and Dawson's Creek among others) give the Brunswick County port town its specific combination of architectural heritage and coastal town character. The Fort Anderson Civil War earthworks at Brunswick Town State Historic Site eight miles north give the Cape Fear River its specific colonial and Civil War heritage. In The Pines RV and Cabin Village serves guests year-round in Brunswick County's mild southeastern North Carolina coastal climate, with the spring and fall seasons providing the most comfortable camping conditions for the longleaf pine forest walks and the Brunswick Island beach visits that the US-17 corridor's easy access to the barrier island bridges enables without the summer heat and maximum beach crowd density. The N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher, 25 miles northeast of Bolivia in New Hanover County, is the largest aquarium in North Carolina — a 100,000-gallon shark tank and the sea turtle recovery program give the Fort Fisher facility the coastal marine ecology interpretation. Reserve sites and cabins ahead for the summer beach season and the fall migratory shorebird season on the Brunswick strand.

from $70/night