Best Tent Camping near Cairo, IL

Recent Tent Reviews near Cairo, IL

415 Reviews of 15 Cairo Campgrounds

• 

  Michael M.

  Ranger

  

  Oct. 23, 2017

  Giant City State Park Campground

  Campground Improving in 2017

  There are currently 25 equestrian camp sites in this park in a different area than the normal RV and Tent campground. The campground is being upgraded this year in which I belive they are adding 50 amp full service to many of the electric only sites. There is currently walk in only unless you are reserving a horse camp. There are fantastic hiking trails and equestrian trails here and you would think you are in the mountains here. The geology is much like the Missouri area near the other bank of the Mississippi river. I have tent camped here and camped in a pop-up camper in the fall both times. Hiking is the best activity here unless you ride horses and that is great here too. This one and Wolf Creek on Lake Shelbyville are the best parks in Illinois for horse trails.

• 

  Sarona A.

  Traveler

  

  Dec. 11, 2017

  Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park

  Great for backwoods camping!

  Tent camping.

• 

  John

  Scout

  

  Sep. 9, 2020

  Fern Lake Campground and RV Park

  Beautiful place, very convenient!

  This place is right off the highway close to most things. It’s a cute little place with RV sites and tent sites. The tent sites are located on the lake and have power available. The price was very reasonable and the people here were very friendly and accommodating. The only down fall is the highway noise. Definitely would stay here again given the chance!

• 

  Chad K.

  Legend

  

  Sep. 30, 2016

  Redbud Campground at Bell Smith Springs

  Quiet

  Stopped at this campground on the way to St. Louis. It is remote with several trails to explore. The sites were level and good for tent camping.

• 

  Bob P.

  Traveler

  

  Feb. 18, 2019

  Pine Hills

  Remotely lovely

  Tent sites with no electricity or water. Clean toilets and a covered pavilion for getting out of the rain when needed.

• 

  Brennan M.

  Guide

  

  Jul. 26, 2020

  Deer Ridge Campground — Ferne Clyffe State Park

  Very RV heavy

  I actually didn't end up camping here because it looked like a rock site. I maybe saw two tents, everyone else in big RV's. If you are doing tent camping I would look elsewhere. I might've missed an area that was more tent friendly but I didn't see it. I would do primitive with a tent probably.

• 

  Chelsea D.

  Guide

  

  Apr. 23, 2020

  Pine Hills

  Beautiful new Picnic shelter, quiet campground

  This is a very basic campground with some shade. No hookups, really good for tent camping. The new picnic shelter is beautiful and there is seating around a fire pit. This forest does a great job of keeping restrooms very clean.

• B

  Brasley C.

  Traveler

  

  Jun. 18, 2020

  Whippoorwill Lake Campground Resort

  Lake camping

  Small lake. Has tent camping or cabins. All roads are gravel. We have stayed in the cabins. It was a double bed and also had a set of bunks. So plenty of room. Lake has sandy beaches. Small playset I the water for kids.

• 

  Kirstin A.

  Guide

  

  Apr. 30, 2022

  Little Grassy Lake Campground

  Beautiful lake area!

  Great views and lots of waterfront sites. Stayed with family members who have a camper, some sites are on a hill so it makes it difficult to park an RV of camper. Tent sites around too. Lots of boats and fishing.

• 

  John W.

  Scout

  

  May. 13, 2022

  Fern Lake Campground and RV Park

  Took me in late

  I called ahead The owner took me in "after hours" walked me to my site and showed me around. Tent camped there, there was room for me- lots of RVs and lots of space for more RVs. Right off the highway, noise was manageable inside my tent- RVs wouldn't hear any highway noise. The showers were clean and had hot water. Had everything I needed

• 

  Rachel C.

  Guide

  

  Feb. 3, 2021

  Redbud Campground at Bell Smith Springs

  Good tent camping experience

  We found this little gem at a last minute camping adventure on the way home from out of town.  It was one of our first tent camping experiences.  Nothing fancy, but the pit toilet and water supply worked just fine for us and our kids.  We found some beautiful hiking and water holes.

• 

  Gina J.

  Traveler

  

  Jul. 15, 2018

  Turkey Ridge Campground — Ferne Clyffe State Park

  Great Hiking

  There are a lot of hiking trails and we really enjoyed them all! The tent camping accommodations were less than stellar, simply because of the “outhouses “. There was a ton of wildlife though and it was really neat to listen to all the different species throughout the night. Overall the grounds are quite nice.

• 

  Tye K.

  Scout

  

  Aug. 8, 2020

  Backpack Campground — Ferne Clyffe State Park

  Just an easy going stay

  Not a lot of tent sites, but enough. Nice wooded primitive sites with easy access to water and toilets. Had my pups with, and no problems at all. Nice trails for different hiking skill sets. Only issue I found at all was firewood is surprisingly difficult to come by.

• 

  Michael B.

  Traveler

  

  Apr. 5, 2022

  Oak Point - Lake Glendale

  Great base for exploring Shawnee NF

  CG offers sites with electric and water and then sites with no hook-ups. The electric/water sites were much better than the “tent” sites. Tent sites were closer together and not very level. The “RV” sites, however, we’re pretty level and well spaced out. We’d recommend sites 20-24 for their lake views. There were two bathroom buildings both with flush toilets and showers. We only used the smaller one. They were pretty clean. CG sold firewood for $4 a bundle or 3 for $10 and 22 lbs ice bags for $5. Staff were friendly. $22/night is a great price though I wish they’d take reservations. We went during Spring Break for a long weekend and CG didn’t fill up, still a bit chilly to camp for some I guess! Roads in the Glendale Recreation area are in need of repair. Trail around the lake was a nice 3mi hike and is easily accessed directly from a number of the sites, including ours. This CG provides a great base to explore the surrounding area’s many natural wonders.

• 

  Joy H.

  Guide

  

  Oct. 9, 2017

  Giant City State Park Campground

  Great experience!

  Camped here for a weekend and was not disappointed! There are multiple easy to get to "primitive" campsites for tent camping but all are within an easy walk of the outhouse, water hydrant, and parking lot. There are several easy hikes within a short drive to other areas of the park. The park also has a 6 mile hike-in campsite for backpacking and a lot of electrical hookups for RV camping. The trails are over cliffs and through gorgeous boulders.

• 

  Debra G.

  Guide

  

  Jul. 7, 2018

  Fern Lake Campground and RV Park

  Camping Quilter

  Located on the edge of Paducah, Kentucky this is the perfect place to stay if you are going to the quilt shows or visiting the National Quilt Museum. Supplies are just walking distance away and there is a good 24 hour restaurant across the street.

  There are shady pull through sites with full hook ups or tent sites. There is a small stocked lake to fish in. The bathrooms are clean, as is the entire well maintained park.

• 

  Dusti M.

  Guide

  

  Aug. 20, 2022

  Redbud Campground at Bell Smith Springs

  Just ok

  Only stayed here for 1 night. Pit toilets were dirty even for pit toilets. Decent primitive sites, not very level though. Good for tent camping or small camper. Unfortunately some other “campers” showed up late in the evening, played music, yelled and partied until around 3am. It seems to be an ongoing problem at that campground. The only plus is the amazing rock formations, good trail system and great little swimming hole. Great place to spend the day and maybe the night if you can sleep though all the commotion.

• S

  Sadie R.

  Guide

  

  Oct. 7, 2020

  Giant City State Park Campground

  No privacy at tent camp, hike amazing!

  So first of all- I think it’s fair to state before I leave a review that my husband and I prefer primitive and private camping. The fewer people we see while we’re out, the better. We live in a city so when we camp, we want the opposite. If you enjoy RV camping or don’t mind not so Private spots, this is a decent spot to spend the night. If you like primitive/private camping- il fill you in below!

  We do tent camping and Saw there were walk-in sites and hike in sites at this campground. Usually walk-in sites are pretty private and dispersed well - atleast where we’ve been before. The 14 “primitive” camping sites were right next to eachothwr with little to no privacy at all. Good tree cover for shade but otherwise you’re basically setting up your tent and area in an open field. That was a little disappointing to us because it wasn’t what we thought we would find. The RV spots also seem super close together but again- we like things spread out so maybe it would be an OK place for some.

  The vault toilets near the tent sites were...as clean as vault toilets get! And we did not use tje shower facilities so can’t speak on that.

  If we had been just the 2 of us, we would’ve hiked in to do our camping along one of the hiking paths but we were meeting two other friends and were unsure if they would want to hike miles to a spot so we opted for the tent spots just after the RV campground. If you want more privacy for an evening of camping, you’ll need to come with your gear packed up decently enough to hike it out atleast a mile onto the trails. There is camping allowed along the trails as long as you are 100 ft from the trail so that was an option, but in certain spots along the trail it’s challenging to find a clearing (hammocks would be great along the trail). There is also an official primitive camping site halfway through the 12 mile loop of the Red Ceder Trail. We day hiked almost the whole loop but made a Weird little detour so we didn’t get to check these spots out.

  We were hoping to find a campsite that- as get as difficulty of accessibility level- was in between a 6 mile hike and the tent spots in the field but there isn’t any official spot like that even tho there’s tons of space and potential for it. Rant over about the campground. Let’s talk about the hiking! The hiking was truly awesome and felt like it balanced out my disappointment with the campground. Doing the whole 12 mile loop of tje Red Cedar Trail was a challenge for us! We really enjoyed it. In some spots, the trail markers are a little confusing, but overall it’s decently marked and the map is somewhat helpful just to kindve know vaguely where you are. The 2nd day, we went back and did about half rhe loop and also checked out the more popular section of the trails back there that include Giant City Nature Trail, Devils Stand Table, and a few others. Very cool rock formations. Pretty busy in the weekend over there but the test of the trails away from that area with those big landmarks was completely deserted and there are some super cool rock formations not on the map at all.

  Over all, this was a fun 4 days. We would return and plan on hiking out into the trails to camp for our evenings. If you like privacy around your campfire at night, I can’t recommend the campground.

• 

  Scott N.

  Guide

  

  Sep. 24, 2018

  Turkey Ridge Campground — Ferne Clyffe State Park

  Spacious, great trails, and even better views.

  My brother and I camped here in September on a weekday. We were the only tent campers, so it was nice and peaceful. The sites are large and include a cooking grate. It was easy to find firewood with out having to go very far, becareful there is a good amount of poison ivy. The only trail I hiked was Happy Hollow. A large portion of it is an equestrian trail, so the path was very wide. The veiws on the trail were amazing.

  Click here for my video.

  Click here for my write up.

• 

  Erik C.

  Scout

  

  Jul. 13, 2016

  Redbud Campground at Bell Smith Springs

  Rustic and remote

  Had a great time. This was my first time tent camping since I was a teenager. This campground is super remote and is near a couple trails with waterfalls. Other than that you have to go pretty far to find much else interesting so if you want to explore maybe pick a different one in Shawnee. If you're just looking to relax in nature this one is great! It's pretty basic. We saw a coyote and racoon next to our campsite. The campground was mostly full of campers which was nice. There are no bodies of water nearby so next time I think I'll go to one near a lake

• 

  S F.

  Scout

  

  Sep. 17, 2023

  Crab Orchard Lake Campground

  LOVED!

  Visited crab orchard campground for the first time ever for labor day weekend. We had a pretty good size spot with a few trees where we hung our hammocks! We did a tent site right on the water. It was absolutely gorgeous. Very quiet area too. Quiet time starts at 10 or 11pm but actually you don't hear anything after 830pm. Very friendly. Bathrooms and shower were decent for what it was. It was nice to have it then not. Only 1 spider in the shower otherwise clean and good water. If you hate bugs I reccomend bringing an electric bug zapper as there is ALOT. Esp being by the water. Also keep in mind there's many spiders if you pick a spot with trees. But they're only out from 2am-5am.

• 

  Melissa H.

  Guide

  

  Apr. 9, 2023

  Crab Orchard Lake Campground

  Gorgeous, inexpensive, right on the water!

  This campground has it all - spacious sites with many right on the water. Gravel lots were level and plenty big for our 38' Class A motorhome + Jeep. We stayed at site B8, which had a massive yard right and on the lake. The interior sites had full hookups (but were still just a short walk to the water), while the exterior (lake-side) sites had water and 50A electric. It is a FCFS place. We were there the first week of April and arrived by 10am and had no problems securing a spot. There is a swimming beach (though it was closed till Memorial Day - and too cold anyway!), some older but functional and clean shower houses. There was a pile of firewood waiting for us and they allow for picking up downed branches for fires. It was a quiet, lovely place with great sunsets over the water, as well as herons, geese, turtles, and deer. The hosts were extremely helpful and accommodating. We have AT&T and had full bars (we also have a booster, which may have contributed to a strong signal). Also, we were amazed by the inexpensive pricing - I believe the prices are going up a little later this season, but at the time we were there (Apr 2023) prices were $25/FHU and $20 W/E. And of course even less for tent camping.

• M

  Mia S.

  Scout

  

  Sep. 22, 2020

  South Campground — Reelfoot Lake State Park

  Such a unique lake and amazing birds.

  We camp here a lot and have tried several spots in the South campground.  The ones near the lake have views but don't have water access.  There is also a pavilion near the lake.  

  Sites 22, 24, 25, 70 backup to the forest and have lots of room to set up tents, however they are the first to flood and stay wet longer.  

  The map is pretty good about and shows pictures of the sites.  At the time of this review the bathrooms between sites 64 & 66 were closed.  The bathrooms and showers near site 23 are bigger and more accessible.  The bathrooms and showers near site 4 do have a ramp but it is uneven, the space inside is much smaller and would be difficult to navigate with a wheelchair.

  Site 43 has trees on both sides of the pad and, based on comments from another camper, can be difficult to back in a larger camper.

  Sites in the mid and upper 40's are also good for tent camping.  The cypress trees in the area send roots up and the ground can be lumpy because of them.  The campground has lots of gopher holes all over.  The mosquitoes are bad and you should take some strong bug spray. 

  The campgrounds does have drainage issues when it rains and if your forecast predicts rain, you might want to put your tent up on the pad.

  They opened a small gift shop this year.  The sell worms, and they now rent canoes and kayaks.  There is a boat launch near the entrance, but you can't launch anything too wide.

  This campground is due for a makeover and I heard that it is in the works.  

  If you love bird watching or photography this place is a dream; osprey, eagles, herons, egrets, and so many others are everywhere.  Pelican's stop here on their migration and I recommend the pontoon tour in October during the festival if you want to see them on the water.

• A

  Alison S.

  Traveler

  

  Aug. 6, 2020

  Horseshoe Lake Alexander County

  Beautiful and peaceful

  We had a quiet RV site with electric. Many of the sites also have water but not ours. Shaded area. Lake is more of a swamp with cypress trees, very pretty. Showers dated but clean. They are multiple stalls.

  Of note, there is not much around in the way of stores. We managed to find one small grocery store. The town of Cairo is a ghost town but Ft. Defiance is worth seeing.

• 

  Thomas J. T.

  Traveler

  

  Sep. 15, 2023

  Fort Massac State Park Campground

  Nice state park on the OHIO RIVER

  Nice little park on the side of a small town in metropolis, Illinois

• M

  Michael B.

  Scout

  

  Aug. 22, 2021

  Shawnee Forest Campground

  Great Clean Campground

  While they cater mainly to RV's, they do allow pitching tents. Angela was super friendly and helpful in selecting a site best for pitching a tent. It was moderately busy with RVs. The bathrooms were very clean and grounds generally well kept. It's quiet at night but it is near the highway and a relatively slow main road, so you will get some traffic noise, especially if your not in a motor home. All in, it was a great quick stop for us as we travel north.

• j

  julian H.

  Scout

  

  Oct. 20, 2021

  Mandolin Grove

  What?

  This site is marked on Illinois but says Kansas. Confusing to say the least