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Best Tent Camping near Athens, GA

665 Reviews

Tent campers near Athens, Georgia have access to several established campgrounds within an hour's drive of the city. James Shackleford Memorial Park offers walk-in tent sites with basic amenities, while Panola Mountain State Park Campground provides primitive tent camping opportunities in a conservation-focused environment about 70 miles southwest of Athens.

Most tent campgrounds in the Athens area feature fire rings, picnic tables, and access to toilets, though amenities vary significantly between locations. Panola Mountain's tent sites are situated around a pond with limited tree cover, requiring a 3/4-mile walk to reach the camping area. James Shackleford Memorial Park provides drinking water and showers, making it suitable for longer stays. At Laurel Park on Lake Lanier, tent sites are set on cement pads rather than natural surfaces. A visitor commented, "We did not realize the campground was on cemented floor until we got there," highlighting the importance of researching site surfaces before arrival.

The tent camping experience varies seasonally throughout the region. Laurel Park offers access to Lake Lanier with "amazing sunsets" according to campers, though the concrete pads may be less appealing to traditional tent campers seeking natural surfaces. Sites at Panola Mountain provide a more primitive experience with "the sounds of a vibrant coyote pack" noted by one camper. Most tent-only areas see moderate usage during summer weekends but remain relatively quiet midweek. During peak seasons, reservations are recommended for established campgrounds. Cell phone reception is generally available at most sites, with Panola Mountain specifically noted for good T-Mobile coverage, allowing tent campers to stay connected despite the natural setting.

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Best Tent Sites Near Athens, Georgia (11)

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Showing results 1-10 of 11 campgrounds

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Recent Tent Camping Photos near Athens, GA

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Tent Camping Reviews near Athens, GA

665 Reviews of 11 Athens Campgrounds

  • Everette G.
    Oct. 18, 2020

    Victoria Bryant State Park Campground

    Great Camping in any Season

    Victoria Bryant State Park is probably one of my most frequented camping spots in the last few years. All of the tent sites are sheltered platforms, with electricity, potable water and an overhead light. Rain or shine, you can have a good time (and stay dry) at Victoria Bryant. There are only about 8 platforms, and one is ADA only, so they book up quick. They are all spaced pretty far apart, privacy isn't too hard to maintain (except maybe site 7&8). 1-4 are down a hill, 4 being the furthest away at about 40 feet, down the steepest incline. There are facilities right across the parking lot, that have always been clean and well maintained, and heated in the colder months. Camp hosts and office have firewood. There are several miles of trails that are lower difficulty, save for some hilly spots. In October, the park does a pretty cool little haunted trail. There's obvious reasons we enjoy VBSP, staying dry in the rain, nice, dense forested areas, and awesome campgrounds make it an easy choice.

  • Michael C.
    Apr. 12, 2025

    River Forks Park & Campground

    Great views but...

    "SITE# 47, Pull-Thru, Not FHU, 50A, Water, Dump LENGTH OF STAY: Stayed 9 Nights, RATE:$30.56/ Night with No Discount/ 0% Discount BATH HOUSE: Clean but Outdated LAUNDRY: Not Recorded STAFF: Friendly PARK IMPRESSIONS: Nice, We would stay here again RV PAD: Concrete, ESTIMATED RV PAD LENGTH: 40 Feet, Tow Vehicle Could NOT Stay Connected and Parking was away from site SITE SLOPE: Door side Tire Blocks needed ROADS: Adequate, MANEUVERABILITY: Narrow PEDESTAL PLACEMENT: Center of site length, SHADE: 30% GRASS AREA: At-Site, DESIGNATED PET AREA: Not Recorded PICNIC TABLE: Yes, FIRE RING: Yes, VERIZON Signal(bars): 5G-3, SPEED: 394 Mbs Download, 47 Mbs Upload T-MOBILE Signal(bars): 5G-5, SPEED: 714 Mbs Download, 124 Mbs Upload No WiFi, OTA TV CHANNELS: 75, CABLE TV: No, PLAYGROUND: Yes POOL: No, WATER FEATURE: Lake, FIREWOOD: Yes, STORE: No CLUBHOUSE: No, PROPANE AVAILABILITY: No Original site was# 46(back-in) but was VERY small. Moved to site 47(Pull-Thru) but due to road slope pull-thru is un-usable. Lower numbered sites(less than 30) appear somewhat better. Empty camp ground host side byhind 47 cannot be used unless site 47 is emprty due to sloping road. One single use dump station. One campground host presently in the park- their site was not marked. Appears that most sites are back-in and set sideways to a hillside and lakefront leaving very little level space for chairs. Fire rings are frequently located 12-20 feet away from picnic table and 3 to 9 feet below site level on a slope. Reservation Software used by office was down upon Saturday arrival with no IT help until Monday- two days away leaving office staff frustrated and using their own phone to access the reservation system customers use instead of management side of software. Staff stated it goes down frequently with no IT support on weekends. Six bathhouses in park. Bathhouse nearest beach closed awaiting replacement of fixtures after renovation. Shower has outdated fixtures- several shower heads had significant mineral deposits restricting flow. Men's side closed at another bathhouse. Many shower stalls had no hook or fixture to hang a towel or clothing. Several showers had broken shower valves making them unusable. Stayed 9 nights and did not see anyone working on bathhouses. Beach area parking is limited to 6 or 7 spaces and one handicap space however, there is a larger parking lot a little further away. Bathhouse showers have a pull string valve next to the shower head that had to be held down to get water with many strings broken, missing and too short to allow shorter people, children, or handicaped wheel-chair use. Some sites have precarious/dangerous sloping driveways for RVs to get into. Newly installed sites are near completion but they make sites very close together. Many sites do not have a fire pit and many do not have a grill. Many sites arer too small to park a second vhicle even if the camper is small. Parking on dirt or grass is prohibited by rules but appears to be selectively enforced. The campground has a boat ramp and reasonably large parking area. Extra careful site selection is warranted. Four docks in River Forks Park. Firewood is available at the office. CHECK-IN: 01:00 PM CHECK-OUT: 12:00 PM RIG: 42ft- 17,000 lb 5th Wheel"

  • Shari G.The Dyrt PRO User
    Mar. 25, 2018

    Oconee River Campground

    Easy stop between the mountains and coast

    Just needed a quick stop for the night as we moved from the mountains of Georgia to the coast of South Carolina, and this was the perfect spot just off the highway. Unfortunately, we arrived and left in the rain, so the pictures probably don’t do it justice.

    Seemed like a nice place to drop in for an impromptu camping weekend, especially if you want to fish or canoe. Easy access from Athens, GA, which is the closest city north of this campground – plenty of grocery stores, restaurants, and just about everything else you may need.

    They have recently upgraded the campground with some new firepits and lantern poles, in addition to a picnic table in each of the half dozen spots. The boat launch is right next to the campground. Pit toilets were decently clean and stocked.

    Camping is free with no reservations necessary, or even possible. Note: Due to its location, this could be a "meet up place" as we saw some evidence near the pit toilet, but didn't see any illegal activity firsthand.

  • CThe Dyrt PRO User
    May. 2, 2021

    Bolding Mill

    Gorgeous view of Lake Lanier

    Our site had a beautiful view of the water and awoke to sun on the water. Very few mosquitos and lovely weather. Long parking pad for RVs, tho' ours is a 17' travel trailer. Our site was near access to walk-in camping (which did not turn out to be a problem since we set up facing the water) and a long walk to the bathroom, which was reasonably clean with hot shower but no electrical outlet for my hair dryer (but hey, we were camping). Gate is locked at 10:30 PM; after that you have to park outside the entrance and walk to your site. Even with park full for weekend, it didn't feel crowded. Folks were friendly; almost everyone we passed said hi.

  • Connor L.
    Jul. 2, 2021

    Bald Ridge Creek

    Good lakeside camping for RVs and cars

    Camped right on the lake in my hammock. I reccomend hammock or RV. You're not allowed to set up tents off of the concrete pad so it would be a bit uncomfortable. Super easy to swim, kayak, waterski in the lake. No alcohol allowed but no one came by my campsite all evening.

    Plenty of firewood at the site and at nearby gas stations. You can also burn deadwood and I found plenty of that as well.

  • Travyl Couple !.
    Dec. 7, 2019

    Tugaloo State Park Campground

    One of our Favorite Parks in North Georgia

    Tugaloo state Park: This Georgia State Park offers a multitude of activities from hiking, paddling, boating, fishing, swimming, putt putt, tennis/pickleball court and biking the park roads to name a few things. This park appears to be a local favorite and weekends were more active than weekdays during our 10 night stay at the camp ground. We really felt at home here due to the friendliness of the park staff and camphost volunteers. We loved the gravel sites, good Verizon cell reception 📶 and best of all the ease of access to our kayaks🛶. (Do check with the park office because some things like putt putt may be seasonal) 🔔 Another thing- should you want to rent a patio boat ⛴ - the park office has some numbers for you.

    We stayed here in late October for 10 days and didn’t want to leave. The campground is laid out well with gravel sites, concrete picnic tables, fire pit, water, 30 amp and grey water drains throughout the campsite areas. 🚍Larger rigs—> Bring a dogleg/bone for double 30 amp.👍. Also- be aware some of the pull thru sites are almost buddy sites - your truck hauling your trailer will fit but your trailer won’t because another camper is sharing the pull thru lane with you. Rv’s with Tows won’t have this same issue. 🏡Cabins- I shared on the video that cabins 1-10 have less stairs if that is important to you. Yurts- some of these are on a hill- this means a walk up to restrooms ...but don’t worry, there is a nicely paved sidewalk. 🏕 no electricity at the walk in sites- you do have water, fire pit and picnic table. There is a group campground too.

    We did 2 videos of this park- so there is lots of info about all the amenities at this park. ***This is a park we have put on our favorite list to camp host here in the future.

  • W
    Feb. 12, 2021

    Tugaloo State Park Campground

    Nearby, but not at the top of my go-to places.

    Although a nice campground several things turned me off about this campground.  Mainly the lack of enforcement of dogs running loose, owners not cleaning up after their dogs and enforcement of number of people on a site.  The roads into the campground loops are narrow in spots and not well marked at all.  Backing our 30' motorhome into our site required asking the neighbor to move his truck off our site and maneuvering around other vehicles parked in the road.  The site was fairly level and offered a picnic table and fire ring with quite a bit of grassy area. Unfortunately, the neighbor on that side decided it belonged to them and set up games in it, then near dark other people joined them and set up a third tent in that area. Sites are 30/20 electric and water, but there is a dump station.  This has the potential to be a very nice campground, and I'll go back sometime. Perhaps we just had one bad experience so we'll try it again sometime.

  • E
    Sep. 23, 2019

    Stone Mountain Park Campground

    Terrible for tent campers

    I was actually shocked at how terrible our actual campsite was; we stayed at site 29, which was supposedly intended for tent camping.

    Pros

    • The front gate staff was very nice; check in and general store staff were average
    • The general store was very convenient and decently stocked
    • The bathrooms and showers were pretty nice
    • Beautiful lake view. It was nice to watch kayakers and rowing teams go by
    • Nice tree placement for hammock
    • Close to all Stone Mountain activities
    • Garbage pickup each morning (but no metal trash can to store it in??)

    Cons

    • The site is on a freaking hill; there is no flat surface at all and no clearing, so you have no choice but to sleep on sticks/rocks. Thank God to REI for footprints and decent sleeping pads
    • Site was dirty when I arrived
    • No tent pad
    • Parking area is crap; it's somewhere between gravel and nothing
    • $20 parking fee

    There is no way I would stay at this campground again; it was definitely made for RVs.

  • G
    Sep. 27, 2022

    Tugaloo State Park Campground

    Walk-In Sites 9, 10 & 11

    Stayed at site 10 while our friends were at site 11.  Sites are connected by a path but are not visible to one another.  Sites 9 & 10 would be a better combination if you are camping together and especially if you plan to share resources. All three sites are a short walk in from the parking lot but site 11 is closest to the paved path with minimal slope on the path. Site 10 is the furthest from the paved path. 9 & 10 must leave the paved path and go down a pretty good slope.  Site 10 is the only one with a direct view of the lake.  There is a path from the site down to a nice beach area where the kids swam and launched our kayaks.  This path is also fairly steep and winds around a bit.  Each of these sites has power and water right at the tent pad.  The tent pads are decent sized and filled with small gravel with lots of larger rock just below the surface.  It was a bit of challenge getting all the tent stakes into the ground.  All of my stake tips have been blunted.  The bathrooms are a short walk from the sites and were clean during our stay.  The park offered many activities, but my review is getting too long.

Guide to Athens

Tent camping near Athens, Georgia offers a variety of experiences, from serene lakeside spots to well-equipped facilities, perfect for outdoor enthusiasts looking to escape into nature.

Affordable Tent Camping Options

  • Prices for tent camping can range from $20 to $40 per night, making it accessible for various budgets.
  • At James Shackleford Memorial Park, you can enjoy a peaceful atmosphere with plenty of outdoor activities available nearby.
  • Shady Grove Campground offers a well-maintained environment with tent sites that provide easy access to Lake Sidney Lanier.

Outdoor Activities and Amenities

  • Laurel Park features a splash pad and ample access to Lake Lanier, perfect for family outings and water activities.
  • At Buford Dam Park Shelters, visitors can enjoy fishing and scenic walks along the Chattahoochee River.
  • Fern Springs Day Use Picnic Area allows for fires and has reservable spots, making it ideal for a cozy camping experience.

Unique Features and Local Attractions

  • Bell Acres Nudist Resort is a private campground that welcomes pets and is big rig friendly, catering to a unique camping experience.
  • The Washington Grass Inn offers electric hookups and drinking water, ensuring a comfortable stay for tent campers.
  • Sunset Campground provides essential amenities like picnic tables and trash disposal, making it a convenient choice for those looking to camp year-round.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the most popular tent campsite near Athens, GA?

According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Athens, GA is James Shackleford Memorial Park with a 4-star rating from 1 review.

What is the best site to find tent camping near Athens, GA?

TheDyrt.com has all 11 tent camping locations near Athens, GA, with real photos and reviews from campers.

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