Best Dog-Friendly Camping near North Vernon, IN

Owners are fantastic. They will get to a 5 as they continue their hard work making it an awesome place. New owners took over 4 months ago. They have many activities (was yogi bear till it was sold) put put, bowling, chess, volleyball, fishing. Dog park, Play ground was nicely done. Lake has lots of algae. Pool is brand new. It is by highway however, that did not bother us personally. I will visit again and would consider seasonal. Service id rate them a 5. Wonderful people and the place as much potential.

Gorgeous property with such kind and friendly owners. New owners that are making improvements to the property but it is so nice already.

The lake is GORGEOUS. Sites have mature trees, variety of singing birds. Really nice stay here as we were passing through. There is a sand volleyball net, gah gah ball, dog park, playground, mini golf (not ready for summer yet), and a new pool soon (concrete poured the other day).

Campground is a few miles from interstate and right off the highway so some highway noise but still a great picturesque place.

We will definitely stay here again if we are in the area .

Park is well maintained. Nice sized pool and very clean pool area. Park has a playground and dog park. Lots of space between campers with cement patio, fire pit and picnic table and lots of trees. We had no issue pulling in our 42’ 5th wheel. We came in after hours and our name with sits number was posted on the door and plenty of maps for the park. Nice layout! You could barely hear a train off in the distance which sounded cozy. Campground is about 30 min from Madison and Ohio River is across the street. Only con- trash cans are like in a whole different country and hard to get too. Would stay again!!!!!

The sites are well-spaced and there’s a beautiful lake where you can kayak, canoe, fish, let your dog swim, etc. Disc golf is the big activity at this park. Awesome walking path and a petting zoo. The park is exceptionally clean. Sites on the lake view side are noisy due to traffic on the highway.

This was my first time visiting. It’s a very large campground with lots of amenities. I’ve noticed a lot of bad reviews on other platforms about potholes and mud, and although some of that is true, it seems to be mostly on the KOA side. The only major potholes I have encountered are upon entering and exiting near the ranger station. The lot is gravel and very large for my small rig which was cool. It was nice and level, so I didn’t have to do much. I have great service here with my T-Mobile 5g internet as well as my starlink. Because it’s off season, there isn’t a lot going on, but I’m ok with that. I also appreciated the dog park that was well maintained to give my pup some freedom to roam off leash. I would definitely recommend.

Update: The only negative things I encountered while staying at this campground were the loud golf carts with their music blasting until late at night on the weekends. It seems like the same person would just cruise up and down the roads all evening. The other thing that wasn’t really an issue for me (due to being off season) were the limited amount of washers/dryers for the size of the campground. I can’t imagine what it’s like during peak season.

We absolutely love this campground, very friendly staff and well kept and clean!! They are pet friendly and allow portable fences.

This campground is very family-friendly and fun. There are horse trails, a beach, and great water for swimming/kayaking/canoeing. It is pet friendly as well. The bath house in our area was older but fairly clean. We felt like there was good spacing between the sites, and we weren’t too close to our neighbors. Beautiful in the Fall!

My husband and I had a nice visit to Starve Hollow recently...we stayed 4 nights in our camper with our 3 dogs. We hiked 10 miles throughout the park, which was clean and pretty. We brought our canoe and a kayak, and enjoyed fishing the lake for small mouth bass, crappie, and cat fish. It was very nice to camp right on the water! Grounds were very clean, facilities were clean. We will definitely be back!

With COVID, it seems that everyone...and then more people are going camping. It's a bittersweet type of situation. Nevertheless, it's been very hard to find decent camping in Indiana that isn't packed in like sardines, while also trying to escape the city and get into nature - not around more people.

Luckily, a friend and I came here last October and this place was great. We got a non electric site and were in the middle of the sites. We had a great lake view and were very happy with our setup. It was a pull-through site, although not all are like that. We were able to set up in no time. 

We had lots of space, away from our neighbors. The campstore had wood and random items that you might need should you forget. We were just steps away from the lake and enjoyed walking down there every morning. There aren't the best hiking trails around, so you'll need to drive to the nearby Brown County or National Forest to hike on trails that are actually worth the time. 

I will add that the setup is a bit odd for non-electric. You basically had to pull up to the gatehouse, get your reservation info, then do a U-turn and go back out past the campstore in order to get to your campground. Very odd setup to say the least.

Batesville KOA is located within the Indian Lakes Campground, 10 minutes east of downtown Batesville, an hour to the east of Indianapolis and an hour to the west of Cincinnati. Reserving the KOA site was effortless on the KOA website. We generally do not stay at KOA’s for more than 1-2 nights because they do not allow you to pre-reserve a specific site. Sites are assigned at management's discretion. We’re a married couple in our forties traveling with two dogs and a cat in our 37 foot motorhome. We arrived at this KOA with the intention to bridge into our stay into the larger property, we were only in the KOA loop 2 nights. This was the week IN/KY/OH began Covid-19 stay at home restrictions. The KOA loop of the Indian Lakes property has lots of green space, the sites are all gravel with a small lake inside the loop that offers calming views. We stayed comfortably at a 30amp/water/sewer site. Because our stay was early in the season the property had not received their updated property maps. We did not access the laundry, restrooms or camp store due to COVID-19.

This is our go to campground. Not overly large but it’s clean and quiet. The owners are friendly and helpful. Bathrooms/showers are clean. Laundry on site. Small store and library where you can borrow books. Nice dog walk and small fenced dog area. Sites level and good for big rigs down to tents. Three cabins also available. Owners are relatively new and have been working on improvements continually. Highly recommend!

If you don’t mind gunfire 24/7 this is the best place ever. No issues with me or my Service Dog.

Well kept campground. Cleanest campground bathrooms I have ever seen. Friendly staff. Our site was directly beside a tiny cabin and could have been a little bigger but that’s what you get often times with RV sites. Unfortunately, witnessed one of the staff members abusing their dog.

Rolled into this area for water and found two free campgrounds next to the river with a large park for the dogs to play in. A pretty solid spot except you don’t have much privacy. Other than that would definitely recommend for a night or two.

May 29 & 30th. Great place to camp, 20/25 mins down a heavily wooded country road so it’s secluded and quiet. The place was pretty full of campers, both tents and campers. The grounds were very well kept, with a nice but crowded swimming area. Every one was very friendly and I think almost every camper had a dog with them. I would come back and stay.

I would highly recommend this place to anyone looking to do some light backpacking for an overnight/weekend trip! Wonderful trails, dog friendly and nice places to camp off the trail. Can’t wait to go back!

Heads up! Refill your water when you come across it; the lake is harder to get to than you think. I would also bring bug spray and check for ticks!