Best Glamping near Sparta, GA

Nicest state park cabin I’ve never stayed in! The furnishings were beautiful and the screened porch was amazing. I really appreciated that the bedding and towels were plush and extremely comfortable-very unlike most state parks or other rental cabins. It was also impeccably clean, AND the bathrooms had handcrafted local soaps!

As a side note, my husband is a wheelchair user and this was the most accessible vacation rental we’ve ever encountered (and we travel a lot). The picnic table had a seat cutout, the fire pit and grill were on a level surface, and the kitchen sink was roll under! 10/10 thank you HLC for the thoughtful attention to accessibility.

We stayed in site #16. I gave it 4 stars just because of the road noise

Pros:

• Spectacular view of the lake
• Clean bathhouse
• Site is partially fenced and the pad is level.
• Very friendly host
• Not far from hiking trails in
• Cell phone service (spotty in the campground. 4+ bars on the site with t-mobile)
• Plenty of room for chairs, gear and a fence for the dogs
• Firepit down by the lake
• Easy to get kayaks into the water
• 20 minutes from major retailers (Lowes, Walmart, etc.)

Cons :

• Not a lot of shade covering our site
• Road noise as others have stated. Not a deal breaker. There are grooves on the shoulder of the road and when you drive over them it makes an annoying sound
• Site is closer to others than I care to be
• Quiet, but it's winter. I imagine it's more active in the summer
• I'm not sure about the quality of the water. There is a GA Power plant close by and I read an article about possible contamination from the smoke stacks. Do your research.

https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional/coal-ash-dispute-reaches-climax-residents-fear-what-next/c1yxPBHfrfpnJMCdswetJN/

Overall we had a great experience and we would definitely come back again. Many of the sites are on the lake and I haven't seen one I would not stay in. They do have some construction going on near the dump station. Whatever they're doing they're quiet about it.

This was our first trip to this park. I like the site specific reservation. Much more relaxed arrival and no creepy stalking from upcoming campers. The welcome center staff was very nice and helpful when needed. However, I almost didn't have firewood the first night because I didn't know you had to purchase it from the welcome center and they close at 4 or 5 pm. Also, their firewood bundles only lasted about an hour each at best ($6+ each). Our campsite was great! Secluded and a great view. Another slight negative in my book is the lake isn't anywhere near the campground. You have to leave the campground traveling along 3-4 roads/turns. The bath house was clean, new, and ada accessible. Oh vet important to note there is no cell service at your site. However, near the welcome center does have free wifi, but you have to be pretty close.

We stayed on site 73. It had direct access to the water, was right next to the bath house, huge pull through site, gray water drain on the site next to water and electric hook up. Bath house was clean and well kept. Wood needed to be purchased during daytime hours with card payment over the phone. No souvenir magnet because the store was only open Mon-Thurs, unfortunately.

Some of the folks staying on the other loop mentioned issues with ants, but we only had ants in the spot where we spilled some dog food.

Overall we accomplished what we set out, which was a trip to just relax the entire weekend.

This is a review of the four walk-in tent sites at Mistletoe State Park.  I personally stayed in #4 and had a look at the others. 

The best site is definitely #2 -- feet from the water, spacious, suitable for more than one tent or hammock (better for tents as it is mostly open, but there are places for hammocks along the edges). 

Site #4 is probably second best, better for a hammocks probably (which is what I had) as no great level ground. It is not right on the water but has it's own private path to the water(couple hundred feet to the water).

Sites #1 & #3 do not really have access to the water without climbing down something steeply dangerous or through thick trees.  (The water access from the other sites is right in the middle of those other sites so you couldn't really share that unless they are empty or occupied by friends.)  Still #1 is a pretty good site.  #3 is the least interesting and smallest, but still secluded -- I wouldn't call any of these bad.

None of these sites have groomed tent pads -- just gravelly ground.   They do each have a table, fire pit, and lantern pole.  #1 & #2 are best for tents.  There is good separation between all sites.  Sites #2 & #3 are within shouting distance of each other and you'd be able to see tents, etc at one from the other.  There is an outhouse between sites #1 & #2, and another another between sites #3 & #4.  It is a 5 minute (or so) walk to the real bathroom (which also has showers) back in the main campground.

Other than the lake itself at sites #2 & #4, I didn't see any dedicated water source for these sites.  (The lake is silty -- pre-filtering recommended if you are using a filter.)  So you'd have to bring in water or get it from the bathroom area or maybe from an empty RV site which all have spigots.  You'll have to pack out your trash, and there are definitely critters around that will get in your trash so it should be secured somehow.  (Hanging it from the lantern pole isn't good enough -- you'll wake up to find a hole in the bag and it strewn around, ask me how I know.)

Everything in the park was very clean and well-maintained, although when I was here in September (during the week), the whole place was basically deserted anyway.

The water access at sites #2 & #4 is nice but it is not a real beach -- it is all large rocks for the most part and they were very slippery even when dry so be careful.  The water level was also extremely low when I was there so some of those rocks are probably covered by water earlier in the year.

We camped in one of the tent only walk-in sites located on a peninsula jutting into the lake. We had a ton of stuff, not realizing it was an uphill and pretty long trek, but it was totally worth it. We had the whole place to ourselves, no neighbors, in late March. The sun setting over the water was beautiful, it was quiet even as a few motor boats came in for the night. There is a tiny beach on the tip of the peninsula, picnic tables, and an outhouse. It was my favorite spot of everywhere we stayed on an Alabama-Georgia-South Carolina roadtrip including AirBnB and bed and breakfast.