Best Campgrounds near New Palestine, IN

A quiet little lake/ big pond in the Hoosier National Forest with a few spots to camp.

At the pond there was a pad of concrete leftover from who knows what. I wouldn’t be trying to pull a travel trailer back into here unless it was very small.

On the weekends, the activity picked up with a lot of partying and hunting.

There were a few pickups that patrolled through here regularly, all through the night too. I was never bothered by anyone, but the area is small and I kinda felt like I was on a stage with every passerby.

It was our first night in our brand new RV. Our first RV. Wendy was awesome! She helped with the reservation, she greeted us when we arrived, she even called to make sure we were doing ok driving it the first day. Great site, I’ll be it is terrific in the summer when you can stay outside and use the lake.

Very clean, friendly staff and lots to do for the whole family!

This campground is decent if you get one of the few good spots. Many sites are small and can only accommodate a tent. Has water and vault toilets. This campground typically remains available as an overflow camping area but is still a good spot.

The site we stayed in was lovely. It was backed up to the edge of the woods which made for a lovely view. Driving through the campground it looks like there are some sites pretty close together but ours wasn’t too bad. I would say pay particular attention to the size of the site you’re booking as some were pretty small. Also, some sites were fairly sloped as well. This site was a slight slope and overall I would book it again. We have a full size truck with a small travel trailer that fit perfectly. Camp store was stocked nicely. Staff was friendly. The campground itself was very quiet and you could enjoy being out in nature. The site was walking distance from showers/bathroom. The park as a whole is beautiful and there’s a trailhead that’s walking distance from the campsite that leads down a beautiful trail to a lake.

Very long secluded road. Took a bit to find the first spot to camp, once we found it the other spots weren’t too far past.

Very clean and quiet campground. There was not a lot to do, but we took Kayaks and had a good time. However, our son and his family joined us for the weekend and any time they pulled in the campground host would follow them down to our site and remind them that there is only 1 car allowed at the campsite(which we already knew). Friday, they came in and, within 40 seconds, got the 1st"reminder." He was just there unloading the car. Saturday morning, he went home to pick us up his wife and came back. Again, less than a minute later, the host came down to remind him of the rule. He unpacked the car of a scooter and bike and 1 more blanket. Both Friday and Saturday, his car was down at the site to unload a total of 3 minutes before he went to park it in overflow parking. We have camped there for 30 years and always obey the rules. We do not camp to get harassed each day we are there. Then you look around the campground and there are 2 to 3 cars parked at every 3rd campsite we came to. They need to give people 15 minutes before following them down to harass them and spend that time letting the people know the rules that were next to us with 2 cars parked at their site the entire weekend

The perfect dispersed site for my way through, quiet and peaceful. Good spot for tent camping , we enjoyed our stay.

Beautiful secluded site that is pretty far off of the road, but not too far. There was no traffic or other people in site. I have a promaster conversion and had no trouble making it to this site, however the road was gravel and steep at times. I have lived in Indiana for ever and have made many trips this way, but I never knew sites like this existed.

 First off- Brown County is a lovely park. This review is only for the campground. 

The only time we ever camped here was in 2003 when we had 3 kids & a popup. New to the park I thought the Racoon Ridge Loop looked good & picked site 121. Bad mistake! We stayed 3 nights & every night we had a weird thing happen. The worst was the bat that found it's way into the popup one night. None of it was in any way Brown County's fault, but we never went back. 

We were staying at Paynetown recently & decided to visit Brown County & the campground. The mirror tag helped with this. We visited on a Saturday morning in late June. The whole campground was full & it was jumpin'!

 We skipped Buffalo Ridge. Raccoon Ridge is the smallest loop. Close sites. Our former site 121 has a pit toilet right next to it now. There's several sites along the main road, also very close to each other & right on the road.

 I thought that Taylor Ridge was the best loop based on my memories from 2003. It's really a long warren of close sites, some with terrible inclines.

 I was able to write down a few sites I thought would work- Sites with no one close by: 193/194/266. 

265 was the only pull thru I saw, but there may be others. 

End of loop: 317/318 

Ridge view from your site: 310/311/312/313/314 

Random sites that looked ok: 179/188/215/223/225/242/259/260/265/277/280/287/422- these sites are just what I eyeballed while the husband was cruising down the main road. 

We decided we were never going to camp here again. The sites are too close together. There's too many people crammed in a small space. If you go be aware that summer weekends & leaf peeper season will be very busy. The middle of the week or shoulder season would probably be your best bet for a more relaxing experience.

We traveled to Indianapolis for the Olympic Swimming Time Trials. Stayed here 2 nights with our 2 grand-daughters. The area we stayed was directly adjacent to a bike path. It was separated by a fence and there was a gate right next to our site. The gate was locked however the gates were far enough apart that someone could get between them. Our first night, someone actually did this and walked right behind our site.

The shower house was in serious need of some improvements! Old, dark, leaky pipes. 

The area was OVERLY well lit, to the point we were hanging sleeping bags over the windows to try and make it somewhat dark inside the camper! 

Getting to the sites took some figuring out also. We entered at the main gate to the fairgrounds and there were no signs directing us to the sites. Had to use GPS with satellite view to figure our way there. 

For comparison, we've stayed at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and this is a night and day difference. Iowa Fairgrounds sites are $20 less per night, very nice shower facilities and plenty of room between sites. 

We would stay here again but we'd need to exhaust all other options first.

BTW, the price listed is wrong. We paid $50/night.

Very convenient location off of interstate 65, very quiet and spacious park with tons of shade. Will definitely park here again.

We stayed pretty much on our site. Generally, we aim to do a bit of exploring, but we used their camping as a rendezvous. I was slightly disappointed by the site selections being mostly on a slant, but we did find one on the overfill site that suited our needs and we ended up loving it. I do plan on returning specifically to update a better review on the available views.

Summit Lake is our go to get away. Beautiful campground with several amenities. Several campsites offer full shade and most are level. There are a few pull through sites. There is a large (shallow) lake for fishing and kayaking. Idle speed only allowed using a motorized boat. There is also a beach area for swimming. Several picnic areas with beautiful views of the lake. This campground also offers several walking trails. All are easy walks with various distances. Campground is very well maintained and staff are very helpful and friendly.