Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Huntsville, AL

Although we have been to Monte Sano many times to hike and attend events, this was our first time camping here. Monte State Park Campground is a large campground with 15 full hookup sites, 59 water& electric sites, and 21 primitive tent sites. All the sites are gravel, most sites are wooded with lots of shade, and most site are mainly level. All style sites include a picnic table and fire ring. 

Check-in is at the camp store if you arrive during store hours or with camp host if you arrive after hours. We stayed on site 24, which had complete shade throughout the day. This site backs up to a draw and each evening just before dust we could watch the deer walk up through. 

The bathhouse is centrally located, newer, and cleaned daily. There are also laundry machines available between the men’s and women’s area. 

Firewood, ice, limited grocery items, and souvenirs were available at the camp store. There is a full grocery store about 15 minutes away. 

We found ok to limited cell phone service with Verizon throughout the property. The state park did have wi-fi near the camp store. 

The park has many trails for hiking and mountain biking, as well as host the North Alabama Japanese Garden. The North Alabama Land Trust also connects to the state park and adds many more miles of trails. We hiked about 15 miles this weekend and there are many more miles to explore on another visit. 

The state park is located 5 minutes from Huntsville where you can find many restaurants, breweries, and the Space& Rocket Center. Check the Huntsville visitor’s center website for all that is offered in the area. In addition, the Burritt on the Mountain located just minutes from the park entrance and has an open air museum and an amazing overlook of Huntsville. 

We are very excited that this gem is located so close to use and are proud to call this our home camp!

No wifi per office with no known date of repair. Relatively quiet, lots of vehicle traffic and golf carts. Office staff is very helpful and friendly. Majority of park is longterm. Dog friendly, no dog park at location. Close to shopping but far enough away for quiet.

We heard from other campers that if you go to Huntsville, Alabama that you have to stop at Monte Sano State Park. We took our Class C up the mountain and was able to reserve full hookups in a nicely wooded area. Sites were level gravel with picnic tables and grill. Great place to bring a trail bike or take hikes. Pet friendly.

This is your typical military PCS campground for people in transit. No shade! Cement pads to park on. A laundry room, pavilion and showerhouse. There is a dog park and you are off the beaten path. Which makes it a little difficult to find the first time. But when you do your like “Duh! It was right here.” So useful for an overnight if you have a military/retired ID.

This is a friendly, clean, campground. Staff is helpful, guide you to site and help you park. Sites provide easy access with ample space for RV and vehicle or trailer. Quiet park, pet friendly with areas to walk you pet with grass and trees.

Visited Lake Guntersville State Park, for the day. After taking our granddaughter to Screaming Eagle Zip-line Adventures, located at the gorgeous Lodge, we visited the Campground…and it’s amazing! At the office, we were helped by Rocky, who was friendly and knowledgeable! We received CG info and a map, as well as rates. We are already planning our next trip to visit! The general store was stocked with necessities, as well as souvenirs. Of course we had to get some ice cream! There are several types of sites, monthly, cabins and tent camping. There are boat slips (local rentals) and a Pavilion on the water, basketball and tennis courts, playground, shady dog park, splash pad, and clean bathhouses. Firewood and ice can be purchased at the store. There are also many trails to hike and bike . It is easy to see that this SP is well maintained! The SP Lodge is worth visiting, which has a nice restaurant. LGSP has a golf course, and the quaint town is close by and has shopping and several restaurants.

The campground(CG) was easy to find for our mid-October stay. We exited off on 14A to gate 9 where we went through the gate and then did a u-turn to take us back down past the golf course to the CG. We had no problem doing the u-turn with our 40' fifth wheel. We followed the signage to the CG and then into pull-through site 21 with FHUs. There was no formal check-in, but our name and stay dates were on the site post. The pads here are huge and the utilities including 50 AMP worked well. We got 3 bars on Verizon and 2 bars on T-Mobile along with a large selection of OTA channels. We could have used satellite as there are no trees near the RV sites. They have a nice fenced dog park plus a shower and laundry facility with 4 machines each costing$1. The WiFi worked well for a CG this size. Use Gate 8 near the commissary and BX versus 9. Gate 8 gives you an easier drive to the campground. Overall we enjoyed our overnight stay.

Very spacious, tons of spots lake side or on the hill. Beautiful views, pet friendly.

We arrived one day early which was semi planned, but we were not in the spot we were staying for 11 days. Thank goodness because the pic on the site Vs reality was a pretty big difference. We have a big rig and no way we would fit. I figured I would have to finagle something in my own to get us a different site. NOPE! They guy at the gate helped us out and 5 min later we had a site! Store has a few things in it, including some Lake stickers/shirts/etc with Lake Guntersville on them. There is a little library box by the store with books people have put in after reading. There are sites for full hookup, water/electric, or primitive. There are long term sites as well. There is plenty to do! Beach, boat, water pad, basketball and tennis courts. Laundry available. Nice bathrooms and bathhouse. Dog park for bigs and Littles! The power went out once for a couple minutes and then again due to an accident on the mountain. There are neat things within the park to see and do. Hike/trails, golf, fish, zip line, horseback riding. A must stop is to see the donkeys, goats and emus. Towing to get here is interesting, but doable! We have a 42 ft RV with a 16 ft boat behind and we made it. Close enough to town but you have to go over the mountain. There are some neat stores down town and a farmers market.

Because it is the best of the 2 Tim's Ford choices. It is 8 miles from the state park but it is right on the lake and the other one is not. There is a boat launch right next to the campground too.

This campground has mostly shady sites. You can view the individual sites when booking online to see if it is shaded or not. We were in 41 and it was fantastic. Beautiful view of the lake and we could fish from the bank. Most of the sites are on water but some are on little inlets which make it easy to pull your boat right up to your site. Sites 45-49 and 25-28 are good for boaters.

The bath houses have been redone and are clean but a little sterile looking. Think prison toilets. The shower rooms (4 of them) were nice and there was plenty of hot water. The lights in the shower rooms are motion sensing which was a little weird.

This is a great family campground. No alcohol is allowed and pets are welcome. Children were riding bikes and scooters and swimming in the lake.

My boyfriend and I stayed here for Valentine's Day weekend (2 night stay). I had intended to go south for warmer weather. It's not what we got, BUT we had such a pleasant stay nonetheless!

We stayed in Site 14, a pull through site towards the middle of the loop. None of the sites are secluded, but they aren't right on top of each other either. You can definitely see and hear your neighbors' sites.

We drove in late on Friday night (after 9:00 pm). The fog was so bad, we couldn't see further than 5 feet in front of us! With GPS, we were able to make it to the state park entrance. We were greeted by a wonderful gentleman who gave us directions to the campground.

Upon arriving at the gate of the campground, the host came out on a golf cart and guided us directly to our site. He brought us firewood and made sure we were in the site safely. The staff members at the SP were stand outs! Super friendly and helpful!

The fog ended up freezing on to everything, but we still managed to get out and about! Even made the short trip out to Fagan Creek Falls near the picnic area.

The bath house was super warm! Showers were great and the stalls were kept clean! The campground is pet friendly too.

Overall, a wonderful experience! We will definitely be returning!

High atop the mountain just south of Huntsville there sites are spacious and well spread out. Bathhouse is clean and warm. Mountain bike trails and hiking trails galore. Easy access to Huntsville!

We needed a place for the weekend in Huntsville and this campground was shady and people in office are nice. It’s great if you need to just have a place to stay while visiting attractions in Huntsville.

Beautiful campground on top of Monti Sano mountain. Downtown Huntsville is at the base of the mountain. Lots of hiking and biking in the state park and the many Land Trust trails in the area. Just a nice pretty place to camp in the city of Huntsville with the feel of being out away of it all.

Downside is that cell coverage is weak except in the upper loop.

We stayed here in January while visiting family in Huntsville.  The campground was very clean and had an excellent shower house and bathroom.  It was heated, no extra cost for the shower and very clean.  We will likely stay here whenever we come visit Huntsville.  We did not hook up to electric or water, but it was available at our site.  the camp hosts were super friendly and helpful when we checked in!

Monte Sano State Park is located near Huntsville in northeast Alabama. In Spanish, Monte Sano means “Mountain of Health.” In the late 1800s, visitors from across the United States came for “the season” to experience and enjoy Monte Sano’s fresh air, spectacular views and mineral springs. Fourteen rustic cabins, 11 of which were built by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC), are perched on the side of the mountain and are equipped with kitchens, fireplaces, separate showers and baths, cable television, outdoor grills, picnic tables, and porches for taking in the amazing sunrises.

The park also features 89 improved campsites, a primitive campground and a camp store.

This is a great campground with spacious sites!!  Wildlife, trails and a beautiful overlook of Huntsville.

We visited Monte Sano State Park in the middle of summer (June) and stayed in the campground for five nights. We made our reservations through the Alabama State Parks web reservation portal at https://guestrez.megasyshms.com/5Q5BT for campground and cabin rentals. 

The campground is located near the city of Huntsville, Alabama to the east. The park was easily accessible and the drive from the city to the park was not typical as it takes you though some of Huntsville’s neighborhoods before arriving to the park’s entrance. Once we arrived we went directly to the visitor’s center where the staff was friendly and organized. Our paperwork was already completed so the check in process was quick but very informative. We also received the gate code for the campground as the gate is electronically operated and closes after every opening to provide a welcomed level of security. We stayed in site 25 of the first loop, the park was not crowded in the campground as the summer temperatures were near extreme highs. The camp sites are very well spaced and there’s enough trees and underbrush to offer privacy. There are a few sites that have full hookups but most are without sewer. The park map I’ve included shows the ones with full hook up services. The bath houses were clean and orderly, the staff came by in the mornings to clean and restock. There are two camper/tent loops with rest rooms and showers at each. One tent only loop with no facilities but beautiful large sites. 

The park has several scenic areas where the views of the mountains are great and provides a nice place to sit and ponder. There's also an operational Planetarium on the park sponsored and operated by the Von Braun Astronomical Society (https://www.vbas.org/). There are shows on Saturday’s at 7:30PM with an admission or $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for students. You will need to get there early though as parking is limited but worth the effort to visit. 

There are miles and miles of bike and hiking trails here, on the weekend it’s amazing how many cyclists come here to ride the trails. Some of the trails are very aggressive and some moderate for those of us that want this pace, the parks paved roads also offer a good place for a casual ride in the evenings. 

All in all, we really enjoyed this park and will add this to our return list in the future. I also have to recommend a visit to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (https://www.rocketcenter.com/) in Huntsville, you won’t be disappointed.

We've lived in Huntsville since'87 and never camped at Monte Sano. Once we sold our house we camped their through the Christmas holidays to be near family. We got a lot of rain and our particular site did not drain well, so would probably choose another next time we stay, though the office said they were going to do some site maintenance. So, maybe that will improve. There is lots of great wooded, hilly hiking on Monte Sano, which we took advantage of between the rains. Sites are spacious; you are liable to see the occasional deer out your window. Since the sites are quite wooded, though not secluded from each other, satellite coverage is likely only possible after leaf fall. We had intermittent DISH coverage at our site. Downtown Huntsville is a mere 15 minute drive with lots of dining and cool nightspots(try Humprhies. Also visit Lowe Mill, Stovehouse, Campus 805. Plenty of good local breweries. One thing we will say about Huntsville is their recycling is limited (no glass). We hope that soon changes.

Family enjoyed the trails and campsite while having no connectivity. Huntsville is close if you need anything. Make sure you take Monte Sano Blvd up, otherwise you’ll be into switchbacks to your campsite.

Really enjoyed the primitive camping site. The bathhouse was clean and there are lots of trails to hike. Very close proximity to Huntsville, making it easy to resupply or just go out and enjoy the city. 🌲🌳🏞️ #PrimitiveCamping #HikingAdventures #CloseToHuntsville

We recently stayed in a cabin and it was enjoyable. There were white tail deer everywhere, chipmunks, a tiny ring neck snake on a trail,...Huntsville is very close and a neat little store just in town called Star Supermarket. The park staff were all helpful and friendly.

Traveled up from Florida for 5 nights. Newer campground. Sites were large and level. No real playground for the younger ones. Cave tour was a great experience and totally worth it. Firewood prices at the store were very high.

Only a 30 min drive to Huntsville!