Best Cabin Camping near Little Rock, AR

This is an absolutely beautiful state park 30 minutes Northwest of Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is massive with a Marina, multiple swimming beaches, RV and tent camping plus cabin rentals.

We stayed in campground Area A, on a concrete pad with tons of space around the camper. Many RV sites overlook Lake Ouachita, though ours didn’t.

If you are there over a weekend, I highly recommend taking the sunset tour by the park service at the marina. It is two hours, $10 per adult and stunning. With the recent heat wave it was also much cooler then the afternoon cruises.

We stayed here only as an overnight on our trip cross-country trip, but overall nice campground. It is about 20 min off the main highway. Things close up early here and once off main highway there really is nothing as you drive to the park. Make sure you come in with all of your supplies otherwise you will be driving back out a ways for groceries, supplies, etc. Everyone there was very friendly- families, seniors, etc. We were late check-ins and they were extremely accommodating by placing our paperwork on the check-in board for us. Even in the dark our site was easy to find. They offer RV, cabin rentals, and tent sites. We tent camp and the pad was of good size with a fire ring, picnic table and pea gravel. Most all of the tent sites are located with tree shade above them (note: not enough trees that you could hang hammocks or tarps though). There is a small pond that looked as though they allow family fishing in. "Grandpa's Griddle" is a small kitchen on site that they offer home-cooked breakfast to be purchased from in the morning. Mostly simple items: biscuits & gravy, breakfast sandwiches, eggs & bacon, etc. The restrooms / showers were all very clean. We did not go in to the National Park, but it looked very pretty from what we could see. The view of the mountains in the morning was very pretty to wake up to.

Pandemic note: Even though the pandemic was still going on (visited on 5/28/20-5/29/20), no one was really wearing masks here. We did since we were traveling but were the only ones I saw.

The photos are of the pond and some of the super cute vintage RVs that we saw there.

I would recommend staying here.

Let me just start this out by saying, selecting a spot in Arkansas you are overwhelmed with options. State parks flourish and individual campgrounds seem to be countless. When traveling to the Hot Springs area It was a toss up as to which location would bear suit my journey, not only as a campground but as a part of the adventure. I elected to try Lake Catherine State Park, located just 10 miles outside of Hot Springs.

What sold me on this site were the numerous hiking trails, but what surprised me when I arrived were the lakeside water rentals located on premise as well as the actual beach recreation area.

I arrived later in the day and quickly made my camp in the primitive tent area. These sites have no water or electric hook ups however a very nice restroom facilities within 100 yards. They also boast a playground for the kids, not the only of the site. I was greeted by other campers and the sense of community was high at this facility.

My campsite included a table and grill and was nearby a fire ring. The area was much flatter than many camp areas and made for a quick site selection. In the distance deer grazed as the sun was setting.

The next morning I ventured toward the marina and was excited to find they have numerous boats for any level of experience available. Larger units available for full or half day use and smaller units for full or half day along with by the hour.

Hiking trails were my next stop after learning of the various skill levels including ADA accessible, moderate and difficult.

In addition to primitive camping the park offers RV and non-primitive tent camping. Also available are Yurt and Cabin rentals.

Office contains limited food and beverage options as well as supplies for lake visitors and a full picnic area overlooking the beach. Bathrooms and washrooms are scattered throughout the park and are kept impeccably clean with high water pressure.

Cell signal was good even on the remote trails during my stay.

This is by far one of the nicest parks I have camped not only on this journey but on any. Staff was knowledgeable about the park and others of the state and very helpful.

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Easy 5 of 5 Bunnies. I will return!