Boating

Rockwood Marina & RV Resort

77 RV Sites

Rockwood Marina and RV Resort in Tennessee offers 77 full-hookup RV sites on 1.5 miles of Watts Bar Lake shoreline, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted up to 105 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. Beachfront, lakefront, premium lakefront, poolside, and poolside waterview categories name exactly what you are booking, alongside a marina, boat ramp, and fishing pier. Seventy-seven sites span beachfront back-in, lakefront back-in, lakefront pull-in, premium lakefront back-in, poolside back-in, poolside waterview back-in, pull-thru, and waterfront categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp, sized to 105 feet, with fire pits. Naming every category by its position is genuinely useful, and 105 feet accommodates the longest coaches on the road. A general store, laundry, and restrooms handle the practical side. The marina is the anchor, with boat docks, a boat ramp, and a fishing pier giving direct access to Watts Bar for boating and fishing. An outdoor pool, sandy beach, pavilion, and on-site dining fill the rest. Pets are welcome. The resort opened in summer 2023 as one of the most ambitious marina-integrated campground developments in the Tennessee Valley, and it shows in the facilities — everything is new. Watts Bar is a 39,000-acre TVA reservoir in Roane County between Knoxville and Chattanooga. Summer lake season drives the heaviest demand. Reserve well ahead for Memorial Day through Labor Day weekends, with spring and fall fishing strong and considerably easier availability.

from $52/night

Knoxville Campground

43 RV Sites

Knoxville Campground in Clinton, TN, offers 43 full-hookup RV sites with 30 and 50-amp service and room for rigs up to 83 feet. Sites are grouped by amp service and orientation: back-in 30-amp, back-in 30/50-amp, back-in water-and-electric 30-amp, pull-thru 30-amp, and pull-thru 30/50-amp. Sites carry water, sewer, and electric with a fire pit and picnic table. The park is rated big rig friendly and the 83-foot maximum accommodates long coaches with a toad. Laundry, a bathhouse with showers, a dump station, propane fills, and firewood cover the practical side, with WiFi across the grounds. Pets are welcome, with a dog park. Recreation includes an outdoor pool, a game room and arcade, a fitness center, a clubhouse, volleyball, horseshoes, a playground, and walking trails, with lake and boating access nearby. Clinton sits about 10 miles north of Knoxville off Interstate 75 in Anderson County, near Norris Dam and the Museum of Appalachia. Rates and site-type availability are on the booking page. Late arrivals should note the campground's after-hours policy, which is covered in the park's FAQ — worth reading before a long driving day.

from $58/night

Camp Margaritaville RV Resort & Lodge - Pigeon Forge

91 RV Sites

Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, offers 91 full-hookup back-in RV sites with 30 and 50-amp service, cable TV, and rigs accepted to 60 feet at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains. Super, premium, deluxe, family, and standard categories join a lazy river, pool, hot tub, and bar minutes from Dollywood. Ninety-one back-in sites span standard, family, deluxe, premium, and super categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp with cable TV and site WiFi, sized to 60 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. The five-tier structure gives real range, and the family category is sized for groups. Cabins round out the lodging. A general store, restrooms, and showers handle the practical side. Check-in is 2pm; arriving earlier may mean waiting, and an early check-in fee applies where the site is ready. A lazy river is the anchor, with an outdoor pool and hot tub and sauna alongside. A craft room, arcade, billiards, ping pong, tennis, pickleball, a playground, pavilion, dog park, snack bar, and bar fill the grounds, with live music, boating, and planned activities through the season. The Margaritaville brand's tropical energy against a Smoky Mountain backdrop is an odd combination that works. Pets are welcome. Dollywood and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park entrance are both minutes away. Summer and fall foliage drive the heaviest demand in Pigeon Forge. Reserve well ahead for June through October.

from $42 $36/night

Yeary Valley Farms

4 RV Sites, 4 Tiny Houses

Yeary Valley Farms in Speedwell, Tennessee, offers four full-hookup RV sites and four tiny houses on a working farm in the Appalachian highlands, with 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 45 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. Themed cabin rentals, farm animals, and a pond make this a farm stay rather than a conventional campground. Four back-in sites carry water, sewer, and electric on 50-amp, sized to 45 feet, with fire pits. Four tiny houses and individually themed cabins serve guests without a rig — the themed units are much of the appeal here. At four RV sites, availability is genuinely limited, so book well ahead. Pets are welcome. The farm setting carries the experience, with farm animals on the property and a pond for fishing. Hiking, boating, and stargazing run from the area, and the dark rural sky at this elevation is worth an evening on its own. The position is unusually good for outdoor recreation. Norris Lake — Tennessee's finest fishing lake — has a public boat launch two miles away, and the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area's extensive ATV and UTV trail network is 12 miles out. Off-roading is nearby, which draws a steady share of guests. The farm sits right off Highway 63 in Speedwell, with Flat Hollow Marina, Blue Springs Hollow Boat Dock, Powell Valley Resort, a Sunoco fuel station, and a Dollar General all within short distance. Summer lake season and fall riding weather drive demand. With four RV sites and four tiny houses, reserve as far ahead as you can.

from $40/night

Black House Mountain Campground

Black House Mountain Campground in Jamestown, Tennessee, offers full-hookup RV sites and cabins on a big-rig-friendly property in Fentress County, with a general store, showers, and WiFi on the Cumberland Plateau. Off-road riders can reach the Pickett Forest trailhead 4.5 miles up Black House Mountain Road, directly across from the campground. Full-hookup RV sites and cabin accommodations serve both RV travelers and guests without a rig, on a layout sized for big rigs. A general store stocks basics, firewood is available, and restrooms, showers, and WiFi cover the practical side. The setting is forest and mountain, with walking trails running the property and picnicking areas across the grounds. The off-road access is the distinguishing practical feature — the Pickett Forest trailhead sits 4.5 miles up the road opposite the campground, so 4x4 and ATV guests can ride from camp rather than trailering out. Boating and creek access are nearby. Pets are welcome. The surrounding landscape is the most spectacular canyon country on the Cumberland Plateau. Pogue Creek Canyon State Natural Area, Pickett State Park, and the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area are all close, holding deep sandstone gorges, carved slot canyons, and natural arches and bridges in a concentration unmatched elsewhere in the Tennessee plateau. To reach the campground from Jamestown, take Highway 127 to Pickett Park Highway (154N) and travel northeast for 9.8 miles; the campground is on the right. The campground serves the Cumberland Plateau season, with fall color in October the most spectacular window and summer carrying the heaviest river and trail traffic. Reserve ahead for both.

Gorgeous Stays

5 Cabins, 3 Tent Sites, 2 Glamping Sites, 1 Yurt, 3 Vintage RV Rentals

Gorgeous Stays in Bryson City, North Carolina, is a unique outdoor retreat offering glamping sites, tent sites, yurts, cabins, and vintage RV rentals near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Swain County's western North Carolina mountains — a property whose combination of accommodation novelty, mountain setting, and immediate access to the Smoky Mountain recreation corridor specifically serves the traveler looking for a curated, design-aware overnight experience in one of the most visited mountain regions in the eastern United States. Bryson City's position on the Tuckasegee River at the park's western gateway gives Gorgeous Stays the specific location advantage of proximity to the national park, the Deep Creek tubing area, the Nantahala River, and the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad's steam excursion trains. Glamping sites, tent sites, yurts, cabins, and vintage RV rentals give the property an accommodation portfolio that explicitly resists the conventional campground format in favor of the experiential accommodation approach that guests seeking a distinct overnight character specifically pursue. The vintage RV rental format gives guests without their own equipment the classic Americana camping aesthetic that a new contemporary rental trailer cannot replicate, and the yurt and glamping tent formats provide the canvas-and-structure outdoor sleeping character that the Bryson City mountain setting deserves. Pets are welcome. Great Smoky Mountains National Park's western approaches from Bryson City provide access to the park sections that the Gatlinburg and Cherokee corridors' visitor traffic primarily bypasses — the Lakeshore Trail along Fontana Lake, the Road to Nowhere's tunnel and lakeshore hiking beyond Bryson City's park boundary, and the Deep Creek valley's triple waterfall sequence (Indian Creek, Juney Whank, and Tom Branch Falls) accessible by the Deep Creek Trail just north of town. Deep Creek's tubing — floating the cold mountain stream on inner tubes through the campground at the creek's valley — is one of the most characteristically Great Smoky Mountains family recreation experiences available without a permit or reservation. The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, operating steam and diesel excursion trains from the Bryson City depot through the Nantahala Gorge and the Tuckasegee River valley since 1988, is one of the most scenic heritage railroad experiences in the southern Appalachians — a 44-mile round-trip journey through the river gorge terrain between Bryson City and the Nantahala Outdoor Center that provides the mountain valley viewshed in a format specifically suited to guests who want to experience the landscape without driving its narrow roads. The Nantahala River's Class III whitewater through the Nantahala Gorge, 10 miles west of Bryson City, sustains one of the most popular commercial rafting operations in the Southeast. Gorgeous Stays operates through the western North Carolina mountain season with the spring wildflower season from late April through May, the summer Smoky Mountain visitor peak from June through August, and the October foliage season representing the three primary visitor demand windows. Bryson City's Cherokee County mountain location gives it the highest-elevation Great Smoky Mountains gateway character — cooler summer temperatures than the Tennessee gateway communities, the most intact rural mountain town atmosphere on the park's perimeter, and the specific Nantahala Gorge outdoor adventure access that makes the Bryson City corridor a genuine outdoor enthusiast destination independent of the national park's draws. Reserve accommodations months ahead for summer peak and October foliage, when western North Carolina mountain accommodation fills from the Southeast and mid-Atlantic markets.

from $30/night

Nantahala Ridge Campground

3 RV Sites, 5 Cabins

Nantahala Ridge Campground in Bryson City, NC, offers 3 full-hookup RV sites and 5 cabins, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service. Sites come as back-ins and pull-thrus, each carrying water, sewer, and electric with site-delivered WiFi, a fire pit, and a picnic table. Maximum rig length isn't published, so call with your dimensions before booking — the roads in this canyon are narrow and it's worth the minute. Laundry is on site, and the five cabins give guests without a rig a place to stay. Pets are welcome. Three RV sites in a river canyon is the appeal: hiking from the property, dark-sky stargazing, and no crowd. Bryson City sits in Swain County where the Nantahala runs cold and clear through a corridor of rhododendron and hemlock, minutes from the Nantahala Outdoor Center and the southern entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Rates for sites and cabins are on the booking page. Confirm your rig's fit when you reserve, and book early for rafting season and fall color.

from $49/night

Foxfire of Murphy RV Park

18 RV Sites

Foxfire of Murphy RV Park in Murphy, North Carolina, offers 18 full-hookup RV sites with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted up to 110 feet — a remarkable length allowance for an 18-site boutique property. Premium creekside back-ins join premium full-hookup and pull-through categories in the far western corner of the state. Eighteen sites run in premium creekside back-in, premium full-hookup, and premium pull-through categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp, sized to 110 feet, with fire pits, picnic tables, and site WiFi. The creekside category is worth requesting. A general store, laundry, restrooms, showers, and firewood handle the practical side. With 18 sites, reserve rather than counting on availability. Pets are welcome. A creek runs the property with walking trails alongside, and a community fire pit and dog park fill the grounds. Birding and picnicking run from the site. The intimate scale and year-round operation make this a genuine home base rather than an overnight stop. Murphy is the Cherokee County seat and the westernmost city of any size in North Carolina, at the convergence of the Hiwassee and Valley Rivers near the Tennessee and Georgia lines. That tri-state position gives an outdoor variety few small Appalachian cities match: whitewater rafting, Fields of the Wood, fishing, swimming and boating, Harrah's Cherokee Valley River Casino, and extensive hiking, with mountains and a lake nearby. Summer and October foliage drive demand. Reserve well ahead.

from $55/night

Rolling Meadows Family Campground

1 RV Site

Rolling Meadows Family Campground in Murphy, North Carolina, offers a water-and-electric back-in RV site alongside cabins and tent camping in the far western corner of the state, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 35 feet. A brand-new heated bathhouse, disc golf course, and laundry serve a Cherokee County property still finding its way onto the maps. The RV site is water-and-electric back-in, carrying 20, 30, and 50-amp service, sized to 35 feet, with a fire pit and picnic table. Plan around the hookups — water and electric rather than sewer, with a dump station on site — and note the 35-foot cap. Contact the campground for current availability of additional sites; the property is new and expanding. Cabins and tent camping round out the lodging. A dump station, portable toilets, and a new heated bathhouse and laundry handle the practical side. One navigation note the campground states plainly: the campground and its road are so new that many GPS applications do not have them yet. Try 195 Hampton Church Road — their radio station neighbor — and follow signs from there. A disc golf course, bocce ball, corn hole, and horseshoes fill the grounds, with boating nearby. Pets are welcome. Murphy sits at the far western tip of North Carolina where the state meets Georgia and Tennessee, surrounded by the Nantahala National Forest. The Hiwassee and Valley Rivers, Lake Hiwassee, the Tail of the Dragon, and Harrah's Cherokee Valley River are all close. Spring and fall foliage drive demand in the western mountains. Reserve ahead for October.

from $39/night

The Cabins at Long Branch

3 Cabins

The Cabins at Long Branch above the Nantahala Gorge in western North Carolina are handcrafted two-bedroom cabin retreats at 3,500 feet elevation — a secluded, private mountain cabin accommodation tucked high above the Nantahala River's Class III and IV whitewater corridor in the southern Blue Ridge, where the elevation gives guests the cool mountain climate that the gorge bottom cannot provide and the proximity to Nantahala's outdoor adventure infrastructure gives the cabin guests the complete access to whitewater paddling, mountain biking, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park from a high-elevation mountain cabin that the Nantahala National Forest's ridge and valley landscape sustains in one of the most recreationally active outdoor adventure destinations in the eastern United States. The Nantahala Gorge's position in Swain or Macon County gives the cabins the specific southern Appalachian elevation character of a mountain retreat above the gorge in a landscape where the 1,800-foot elevation difference between the gorge floor and the surrounding ridge crests creates the dramatic western Carolina topography. Handcrafted two-bedroom cabins at 3,500 feet above the Nantahala Gorge give The Cabins at Long Branch the specific mountain cabin retreat character of a high-elevation private accommodation that the gorge-bottom commercial campground cannot replicate — the elevation gives the cabins the cool mountain summer temperatures and the ridge-top forest setting that distinguish a 3,500-foot cabin experience from the whitewater activity corridor below, and the proximity to the Nantahala Outdoor Center's outfitter services and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's Swain County entrance gives cabin guests the complete southern Appalachian outdoor adventure access from a comfortable mountain cabin base. Pets are welcome. The Nantahala Outdoor Center, five miles north of the Nantahala Gorge's lower takeout on US-19/74 in Swain County, is the most comprehensive whitewater outfitter and outdoor adventure resort in the American South — a campus of whitewater rafting, kayaking instruction, zip lines, mountain biking, and flatwater paddling that has served as the entry point to the Nantahala River's Class III whitewater for over a million guests since its 1972 founding. The Nantahala River's consistent 45-degree water temperature (released from the bottom of Fontana Lake's cold hypolimnion at Nantahala Lake) and the Class III Nantahala Falls at the takeout give the gorge its specific cold-water character and its most technically demanding rapids. Great Smoky Mountains National Park's Swain County entrance at Bryson City, 15 miles north of the Nantahala Gorge on US-74, provides the Deep Creek area's three waterfalls (Tom Branch, Indian Creek, and Juney Whank Falls), the tubing on Deep Creek's mild rapids, and the access to the park's backcountry trail system that the Swain County entrance specifically makes available in the less-visited southwestern section of the most visited national park in the country. The Cabins at Long Branch serve guests through the western North Carolina mountain cabin season from late spring through fall, with the prime whitewater rafting season on the Nantahala from May through October sustaining the outdoor adventure visitor market and the October fall foliage on the Nantahala National Forest's ridgelines giving the 3,500-foot elevation the most spectacular autumn color display in the southern Blue Ridge. The Appalachian Trail's Wesser Bald section above the Nantahala Gorge and the Bartram Trail's ridge walk through the Nantahala National Forest give hikers the long-distance trail access from the cabin's elevation position. Reserve cabins well ahead for the peak summer whitewater season and the October fall foliage weeks.

from $169/night

Cumberland Falls RV Resort

25 RV Sites

Cumberland Falls RV Resort in Parkers Lake, Kentucky, offers 25 full-hookup RV sites with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 45 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout, at the gateway to one of the Appalachians' most extraordinary natural wonders. Premium WiFi, golf cart rentals, a lake, and a fishing pier serve guests exploring the Daniel Boone National Forest. Twenty-five sites carry water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp in back-in and pull-through configurations, sized to 45 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. A general store, restrooms, showers, firewood, and both standard and premium WiFi handle the practical side. Pets are welcome. A lake and fishing pier sit on the property, with a river and creek running nearby. Sports courts, pickleball, horseshoes, corn hole, walking trails, a pavilion, and a dog park fill the grounds, with golf cart rentals to cross the property and planned activities through the season. Hiking, whitewater rafting, canoeing, kayaking, stargazing, and birding all run from the area, with boating and a casino nearby. Cumberland Falls is the reason to come. The 125-foot-wide curtain of the Cumberland River plunges 68 feet through a sandstone gorge and produces a moonbow visible by full moon light — a phenomenon found in only a handful of locations worldwide. The state resort park, the Daniel Boone National Forest, and the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area all converge here, with SomerSplash Waterpark and Wildcat Off-Road Park nearby. Full moon weekends draw moonbow viewers specifically. Reserve well ahead for those dates and for October foliage.

from $69/night

Scenic City RV Campground

44 RV Sites, 2 Glamping Sites

Scenic City RV Campground in Ringgold, Georgia, offers 44 full-hookup RV sites and two glamping sites on 10 wooded acres, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 45 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. Open all year, with a clubhouse, boat rentals, a game room, and a dedicated Class B site category, it sits at Georgia's northwest gateway to Chattanooga. Forty-four sites carry water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp in back-in and pull-through configurations, sized to 45 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. A separate back-in category is reserved for Class B vans — a genuinely useful distinction that keeps small rigs from being placed on oversized pads. Two glamping sites round out the accommodations. A general store, boutique shop, restrooms, showers, and firewood handle the practical side. The 10 wooded acres give the campground its character. A pond and creek run the property for fishing, boat rentals are available, and a clubhouse, game room, playground, and dog park fill the grounds. Planned activities run through the season, and the tree canopy and dark surroundings make for good stargazing. A lake, boating, and an amusement park are nearby. Pets are welcome. Ringgold sits in Catoosa County on the I-75 and US-41 corridors, at the edge of the Chickamauga-Chattanooga National Military Park's 5,300 acres of Civil War battlefield. The Lookout Mountain and Signal Mountain recreation corridor extends Chattanooga's outdoor footprint into the northwest Georgia ridgeline. The campground is open year-round and family-owned. Summer and fall color drive demand — reserve ahead for October, when Chattanooga-area lodging tightens.