Best RV Parks & Resorts near Athens, GA

Hands down, the best Thousand Trails campgrounds I’ve been to. I have visited several since we got the membership and I had been hugely disappointed...until now.

It has such a family feel and beautiful grounds, beautiful lake, and easy hook up camp sites. I had no trouble getting into our spot. We visited over the 4th of July weekend and they had all sorts of activities going on. Bingo, parade, fireworks, hotdogs and more!

So, we are here for 3 weeks. We are under a WiFi pole and have good signal and usable internet. It was actually worth paying for. There is a boat launch but, it is hard to get to and down a large, steep incline. I wouldn't bring anything sizable down that hill, no real marina.
It is a functional park and what I have come to expect from a Thousand Trails park. The lower section of the park is tight and can be difficult to get into a site, roads are very narrow. The laundromat was nice, facilities are numerous though I can't say exceptional. We will use this place as a stopping point for a night or so but can't say I would stay here for a few weeks again unless we need to be in the area.

Beautiful views at nearly every site! You can tell they are working on updating things and taking better care of the park this year. Sites have narrow parking areas but most have big outdoor living areas with fire pit and table. Then even off some long term parking. We loved that you could bring your boat and leave it docked at your site. Also great swimming areas!

Ashley here with The Dyrt! We're excited to welcome this property owner that shares 48 acres of tent camping to our community. There are also 2 full hook up RV sites available. Ten miles from Jackson Lake and canoeing opportunities along Ocmulgee River. Give them some love and try them out!

Located on Lake Oconee, North Shore Landing is a KOA/TRA campground. There is a dock to fish from, and a boat launch if you want to go out. There's some very large catfish in the lake, 30+ lbs. There's also bass, blue gill and crappie. The campground is per friendly, full hook-up, with WiFi (pay for premium). There is a pool, clubhouse and 24 hour laundry that's $3 per load, w&d. There's a dog park, basketball and cornhole. Propane fill and dump station.

The 5 star reviews are perplexing. We're not new to RVing and have stayed in plenty of lovely mom& pop parks. This is a family owned campground, but it is basically a parking lot with hookups for people who live there long term. Our site was on the side of a road about 50 yards away from the Dump Station. It was referred to as a premium, pull through rather than what it is... a pull to the side of the road. There was no grass or picnic table. I'll post pictures that show the condition of our site and how close the spots are to one another. The pictures online and YouTube videos of this park are very deceiving. The grassy areas beside and between the lakes can only be accessed by walking though other camper's sites.

** Use caution navigating the park because the roads at the back have no way to turn around if you get back there.

One of my favorite places! Campground 2 is the first to fill up! Safe and fun! Huge sites with wonderful scenery.  Clean bathhouses! Laundry on site. Friendly staff. Great for kids & pets! No full hook up yet. Cell signal spotty depending on site.

I can't give Carolina Landing five stars because the sites are so close together. Also, our site- A5- was super unlevel. I felt unsafe with our fifth wheel's two left tires up in the air after auto-leveling. That was a first for us, and hope we never have to do that again. The hill getting up to our site was steep. This place is full of big rigs, however, it is not conducive to them. Every turn is tight. The dog in the camper next to us was allowed to bark nonstop when it came outside. The park staff even texted us after arrival to see how things were going, and also again mid-way through our stay. I mentioned the dog. Nothing happened. The neighbors did manage to hear the dog after about ten minutes each time, and they did put it up, but gosh. That's a lot of unnecessary barking. Currently, the pool is green, but I expect that will change soon. The mini-golf needs some love, but it's in pretty good condition considering some that we've seen other places. The clubhouse, office, bath houses, and laundry are nice and clean. The staff is friendly. The tall tall trees are beautiful. We didn't meet any of our neighbors as almost no one comes out of their campers. The weather was very nice at least 3 of the 8 days we were there. We never saw anyone sitting out around a fire, cooking out, or just hanging out. We saw a few people playing basketball a couple of times, and lots of kids rode their bikes occasionally. We saw a lot of big rigs struggling to get up the hills to park in the A section. If you have a big rig, park somewhere else besides the A section if at all possible.(We paid$0 because this was part of our Thousand Trails membership.)

We arrived a little late to the RV park, and the office closes at 5:00. I find that strange since it was in the middle of the summer. The whole check-in process is a little strange for this RV park, and the sites are first come first serve. The sites are gravel and many of the ones that were open were almost level. The biggest thing I do not like about this“campground” is that I felt as if the sites were squeezed in on top of each other. The only privacy I felt that we had was because one site next to us was apparently seasonal since nobody was there, and there were a LOT of seasonal RVs there. There are a lot of activities for campers such as mini golf, a swimming pool, a basketball court, a volleyball court, and a playground. However, we had our grandson with us and the playground was closed off, and the pool closed at 4:30. Our hope was to spend some late afternoon time at the pool, but that didn’t work out. Some of the mini golf holes were also missing carpet in some places. The big attraction for this RV park is Lake Hartwell, so a lot of people stay there for the water activities. Unfortunately, there is no onsite boat ramp. When I asked if I could put in my kayak, the answer was yes. However, there really wasn’t a suitable place to put in without having to drag it over large rocks. The campsite itself had quite a small fire pit and a very weathered picnic table. There was some shade, but we set up our dining canopy since the heat would have almost killed us. The bath house in our camping area really needs updating. It was okay, but it just seemed old. The showers were small and were accessible through a separate door. The worst part was that the showers and restrooms were as hot, if not hotter, inside than it was outside. Later, we discovered that the bath house next to the pool was air conditioned. There was one shower in the pool area that might be considered ADA accessible, but there were no hand rails. We paid to stay two nights, but we left after one night because of the heat and lack of shade and privacy. Fortunately, we were in our teardrop camper with an air conditioner. This is a huge campground, and we were hoping to get ice at the camp store. The only problem is that there is NO camp store, which is again strange for such a large RV park. This RV park does not have hiking or biking trails, but it does have access to water. Overall, the RV park is acceptable for RVers who want to be close to water(it is a short drive away), but getting to the water is inconvenient unless you have a boat already docked at the shore.

Due to the ongoing apocalypse, we have had plenty of time to camp lately! We have stayed here, in the park, multiple times over the last month.

As always, the park is clean and well-maintained. Although most of the facilities are closed right now, the park staff and volunteers were constantly working to ensure everything is clean and working properly.

Both of the camp hosts, Pam and Sue, were constantly riding around checking on guests and were more than helpful if you needed them.

On this particular visit, we stayed on site # 2 (full hook up) and there was plenty of room to stretch out! We stayed in our 26’ travel trailer.

We were able to walk off of the back of our site and onto the trail system, which is perfect because we are avid hikers.

Thanks for another great stay! We will be back!

Lake Hartwell State Park was a welcome relief after staying at an overcrowded RV resort. There was more privacy and definitely more shade. The site we chose was next to the lake, so it was also more peaceful. The back-in site we chose was also paved and had a good picnic table and a fire pit. Because of the shade, the heat didn’t bother us as much as it could have, but we chose not to have a fire(Who needs more heat in 90 degree weather?) The bath house was clean, updated, and had good sized shower stalls. The boat launch area was convenient for launching kayaks as well as boats, and there was a fishing pier. The parking area for the boat launch and fishing pier area was large enough to accommodate quite a few cars, and there was a playground for kids. One of my favorite parts of Lake Hartwell State Park was the nature trail. It was a pleasant, but short, walk and not too difficult. I also enjoyed the benches beside the lake. There are designated tent sites, which you have to hike to, but we were staying in our little teardrop camper. There are also cabins, which have nice views of the lake. Overall, this is a campground that I would like to come back to when I have more time. I wasn’t able to spend as much time as I would like, but it wasn’t because there weren’t things to do.