Stargazing

Hickory Hill Camping Resort

130 RV Sites, 9 Cabins, 4 Tent Sites, 6 Cottages, 5 Lodges

Hickory Hill Camping Resort in Bath, New York, offers 130 RV sites, 20 cabin, cottage, and lodge units, and four tent sites in the Finger Lakes Southern Tier, with 30 and 50-amp full hookups, cable TV, and rigs accepted to 60 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. A dedicated Big Rig back-in category joins premium sites, alongside a splash pad, mini-golf, and fitness center. One hundred thirty sites span 30/50-amp back-in, 50-amp back-in, premium back-in, and Big Rig back-in categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric with cable TV, sized to 60 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. The dedicated Big Rig category removes the guesswork for large coaches. Twenty cabins, cottages, and lodges and four tent sites round out the lodging. A general store, laundry, propane fills, dump station, restrooms, showers, firewood, and a concierge handle the practical side. Reach the resort at [email protected] or 607-776-4345. A splash pad and outdoor pool anchor the summer, with mini-golf, a disc golf course, fitness center, recreation center, craft room, sports courts, basketball, bocce ball, shuffleboard, horseshoes, and a jumping pillow filling the grounds. A lake, pond, and creek support fishing, with walking trails, hiking, golf cart rentals, a pavilion, and community fire pit besides. Live music and planned activities run through the season, and the resort operates as a wedding venue. Watkins Glen, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Finger Lakes wine trails are all close. Summer and fall foliage drive demand. Reserve well ahead.

from $55 $48/night

HTR Adirondacks Campground

51 RV Sites, 18 Cabins, 20 Tent Sites, 1 Glamping Site

HTR Adirondacks Campground in Old Forge, New York, offers 51 RV sites, 18 cabins, 20 tent sites, and a glamping site at the gateway to the Adirondack Park's southwestern wilderness, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 50 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout, behind a gated entrance. Waterfront and waterview back-in categories join 50-amp and water-and-electric tiers, with a pool, beach, and tennis. Fifty-one sites span back-in 30-amp water-and-electric, back-in 50-amp, pull-thru 30-amp water-and-electric, waterfront back-in 30-amp, waterfront back-in 50-amp, and waterview categories, carrying water, sewer, and electric where noted, sized to 50 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. The waterfront categories are worth requesting early; confirm your tier, as the water-and-electric options do not carry sewer. Eighteen cabins, 20 tent sites, and a glamping site round out the lodging. A laundry, dump station, restrooms, showers, recycling, and on-site dining handle the practical side. An outdoor pool and beach anchor the summer, with boating, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and fishing on the water. Sports courts, tennis, pickleball, basketball, walking trails, and a playground fill the grounds, with strong birding and stargazing besides. The Fulton Chain of Lakes' eight interconnected waters make Old Forge one of the Adirondacks' most beloved four-season communities. Summer and fall foliage drive demand. Reserve well ahead.

from $24/night

O'Reilly Lake Resort

9 RV Sites, 5 Cabins, 17 Tent Sites, 3 Cottages

O'Reilly Lake Resort in Mountain Grove, Ontario, offers 9 RV sites, eight cabin and cottage units, and 17 tent sites on a spring-fed lake, with 30-amp water-and-electric service and rigs accepted to 50 feet. A single 30-amp water-and-electric category joins a water park, beach, boat rentals, jumping pillow, and recreation center. Nine back-in sites carry water and electric on 30-amp, sized to 50 feet, with picnic tables. Two things to plan around: the sites carry water and electric rather than sewer, and service is 30-amp, so bring an adapter if your rig runs heavier. One consistent category means no guesswork. Eight cabins and cottages and 17 tent sites make this substantially a cabin and tent property. A general store, laundry, restrooms, showers, propane exchange, and firewood handle the practical side. A water park and beach anchor the summer, with boat rentals opening the lake for boating, paddle boats, paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and fishing. A jumping pillow, recreation center, sports courts, volleyball, horseshoes, walking trails, hiking, biking, mountain biking, and a playground fill the rest, with live music, picnicking, and genuinely dark skies for stargazing. The address is 1091 O'Reilly Lake Lane in the Township of Central Frontenac, where the Canadian Shield's ancient granite and the spring-fed lakes of the Frontenac Axis make classic Ontario cottage country. Frontenac Provincial Park and Bon Echo are within reach, with Kingston about an hour south. Summer is the short, intense Ontario season. Reserve well ahead for July and August.

Tiny Village Bon Echo

1 RV Site, 6 Tent Sites

Tiny Village Bon Echo in Ompah, Ontario, offers a water-and-electric pull-through RV site and six tent sites in Canadian Shield country, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 30 feet. Cabins, an outdoor pool, beach, boat ramp, kayak rentals, and on-site dining serve a glamping-focused property near Bon Echo Provincial Park. The RV site is pull-through with water and electric on 30 and 50-amp, sized to 30 feet. Two things to plan around: the site carries water and electric rather than sewer, and the 30-foot cap rules out most modern coaches. Six tent sites and classic rental cabins round out the lodging. A general store, propane fills, restrooms, showers, portable toilets, firewood, and on-site dining handle the practical side. Three policies worth knowing: check-in runs 3pm to 9pm only, checkout is 11am, and while there is no boat docking, launching is free. An outdoor pool and beach anchor the summer, with a lake, boat ramp, boat rentals, and kayak rentals opening the water for boating, canoeing, kayaking, and swimming. A recreation center, playground, walking trails, hiking, corn hole, and a river fill the rest, with offroading nearby and genuinely dark skies for stargazing. Bon Echo Provincial Park is a short drive and is where the Canadian Shield reaches its most dramatic expression — the Mazinaw Rock cliff rises roughly 330 feet straight out of Mazinaw Lake, carrying more than 260 Indigenous pictographs on its face. Summer is the short Ontario season. Reserve well ahead, and plan arrival within the check-in window.

from $40/night

Wake in the Woods Aquapark & Campground

Wake in the Woods Aquapark & Campground in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania, offers camping and cabin rentals on a private seven-acre lake with an inflatable aqua park on the water, behind a gated entrance in the Pocono Mountains. Boat docks, boat rentals, a bar, and food trucks serve families and group events on historic Lake Genero. Tent sites and cabin rentals make up the accommodations, with corporate retreat and group event infrastructure on site. A general store, boutique shop, propane fills and exchange, restrooms, showers, and firewood handle the practical side, with WiFi throughout and a gated entrance controlling access. The inflatable aqua park is the signature. These are large floating structures with water slides, obstacles, and climbing features, designed to give swimmers a safe, genuinely demanding play area on open water — considerably more engaging than a pool, and the reason most families book. Boat docks, boat rentals, swimming, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, and boating fill out the water recreation, with sports courts, basketball, volleyball, horseshoes, corn hole, walking trails, hiking, a playground, pavilion, and community fire pit on land. A bar and visiting food trucks handle evenings, and the property also serves as a wedding venue. Stargazing and birding are strong across the forested acreage. Pets are welcome. Lake Ariel sits in Wayne County in the northeastern Pennsylvania lake district, where private lakes, state forest land, and ridge-and-valley terrain built the Pocono resort region's identity for Philadelphians from the nineteenth century onward. Summer is decisively the season for the aqua park. Reserve well ahead.

Sparrow Pond Campground

84 RV Sites, 12 Cabins, 3 Tent Sites

Sparrow Pond Campground in Waterford, Pennsylvania, offers 84 RV sites, 12 cabins, and three tent sites in Erie County, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 45 feet. Pondside, valley view, and shaded back-in categories join full-hookup and water-and-electric tiers, with an outdoor pool, recreation center, and clubhouse. Eighty-four sites span back-in, back-in water-and-electric, pondside back-in, shaded back-in, valley view back-in, and pull-thru categories, carrying water, sewer, and electric where noted, sized to 45 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. Naming categories by outlook — pondside, valley view, shaded — tells you exactly what you are booking. Confirm your tier, as the water-and-electric category does not carry sewer at the site. Twelve cabins and three tent sites round out the lodging. A general store, laundry, propane fills, dump station, restrooms, and showers handle the practical side. An outdoor pool anchors the summer, with a pond supporting fishing, and a recreation center, clubhouse, game room, sports courts, basketball, volleyball, walking trails, hiking, a playground, and pavilion filling the grounds. Live music and planned activities run through the season, stargazing is good under the rural sky, and the property operates as a wedding venue. A state park, casino, and boating are nearby. Presque Isle State Park's Lake Erie beaches and the lakefront vineyard corridor running west toward Ohio are both within practical range. Summer is the season in the Lake Erie lowlands, with fall harvest drawing wine-country traffic. Reserve ahead.

from $64/night

Glendale Valley Campground

19 RV Sites, 7 Tent Sites

Glendale Valley Campground in Fallentimber, Pennsylvania, offers 17 full-hookup RV sites and seven tent sites at the edge of the Allegheny Plateau, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 42 feet behind a gated entrance. Pull-through and standard categories join EV charging, a beach, boat ramp, recreation center, and sports courts. Seventeen sites run in pull-through standard and standard categories, both carrying water, sewer, and electric with site WiFi, sized to 42 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. Two straightforward categories keep booking simple. Seven tent sites round out the lodging. A general store, laundry, propane fills, restrooms, showers, firewood, and EV charging handle the practical side — charging is still uncommon at campgrounds this size and worth knowing about if you tow with an electric vehicle. A beach and boat ramp open the water for boating, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, and swimming, with a recreation center, sports courts, volleyball, gaga ball, walking trails, hiking, biking, mountain biking, and a playground filling the rest. Live music and planned activities run through the season, and the mountain sky makes for good stargazing. The campground sits two miles from Prince Gallitzin State Park — Pennsylvania's third most visited — which protects 1,635-acre Glendale Lake and 26 miles of forested shoreline. DelGrosso's Amusement Park, Tytoona Cave, the Ghost Town Trail, Rock Run Recreation Park, and Altoona Curve baseball are all close. Summer and fall foliage drive demand in the Alleghenies. Reserve ahead for holiday weekends and peak October color.

from $39/night