Best RV Parks & Resorts near Santa Claus, IN

We stayed a few nights at this campground in October.  The campground is made for smaller sizes but we were able to negotiate the main ring road with our 37' travel trailer.  The spot that we had reserved was in an area were we could not get into but we went to the gatehouse and they gave us another spot that was on the main ring road that we were able to park in with no issues.  Cell service was great with Verizon and AT&T service.  The lake was beautiful and the park was well maintained.  Wished the beach, paddle boats, and petting zoo was open...  Still had a great time.  We will surely come back next year when everything is open!!  Had 30 and 50 amp service with water hookups and a dump station at the exit.  Make sure you have plenty of leveling blocks.  We used all of ours and was not level.

 Lincoln State Park in Southern Indiana. About as far South as you can go! (In Indiana!). We did a weekend visit.

  150 electric sites. There's 30 & 50 Amp sites with water at each site!

6 handicap sites. There are NO pull through sites. 

 The best sites are by Lake Lincoln- 40 & 41. 39 is ok, but all 3 of these sites are in the sun most of the day. Also, 40 & 41 are not ON the lake. Trail 1 & a wide grassy area are before the water. The only advantage IMO is an unobstructed view of the water & a short walk to the lake. 

The sites seemed short, but people were able to park very large rigs in them. Check the site dimensions before booking or call the office to make sure you'll fit. 

  There's a large primitive campground. They have a modern bath house with showers. Some cabins.

  There's 2 bath houses in the electric side with flush toilets & showers. Very clean for a state park! 

  A double dump station. 

6 trails from easy to moderate. The longest is 3.7 miles. 

  Boating & fishing are popular, but electric motor only. There's boat rental. 

  There's a beach, but closed after Labor Day. The camp store is in the pavilion by the beach & has limited hours after Labor Day. 

  There's a small nature center. 

 Lots of history in the park & in the area. Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial is directly across the road from the state park

 . Santa Claus Indiana& Holiday World are nearby.

Tipsaw Recreation Area Hoosier National Forest is the place to visit if you have a large group or family event planned.

We had a good time doing basic camping activities while here, nothing flashy just fun water sports, campfire activities and hiking. ( no signal so appreciate the quiet :)

5 camping areas which are mostly group based and reservable. Catbrier Loop is the more wide open campground with large RV sites, a pit toilet, pavilion and small field for group events and a path to the beach. Goldenrod (camping side by side) and Primrose (camping around the loop)offer more shade and area to spread out with pit toilets, picnic tables and fire rings. Dogwood has double RV sites and some singles, and you feel more “in the woods” with full canopy coverage. A showerhouse and pit toilet, picnic tables and fire pits. The largest area is Jackpine Loop, good shade, showerhouse and more privacy. 

The beach area on Tipsaw Lake is very family oriented, nice bathhouse facility, small picnic pavilions on cement walkways and a nice beach with play area for the kids. We did not visit the beach because dogs are not allowed. Adjacent is the boat ramp which is ramp, dock, pit toilet and parking. The dogs had fun here playing in the water along the ramp, not much shore to speak of. 

The Tipsaw Lake Trail is 5.9 miles of technical rolling hills with complete tree coverage. We hiked it and I noticed that it is a little overgrown but overall a nice trail. With all the rain the trail was muddy and several of the small streams still had water in them. Ticks are bad with the rain and overgrowth so apply your bug spray liberally! 

In addition to the recreation area there is the Mogan Trailhead in the area which is shared with horses. A zip line Eagles Wing and Citgo gas station. Tell City to the south has the usual stores and fast food for any needed amenities, the ranger station is also located there but closed on the weekends.

I spoke with several of the camp hosts and they were very informative about the area and took good care of their areas. They also have the firewood if you need some.

We found out upon arrival that the check in gate is not manned/closed on Tuesdays so we took a picture of the campground(CG) map on the gate building info board to proceed to our site. Heading into the CG areas was a little confusing as the campsite signs only show the numbers of where you are and not what sites are ahead. However, it was pretty much a straight shot down to site E70 that’s an easy back-in with water& electric(50/30 AMP). The pad was just long enough for our 39’ 5th wheel and truck so when we disconnected we had to angle the truck to fit. The CG was pretty full even though it was mid week. We had a great view of the lake with easy lake access. However if it's wet, the ground is red muddy clay. We noticed that we were the last site along the lake with hookups so that was pretty cool since no one came in beside us the 2 days we were here. We explored the 100 area that’s to the right as you come in the gate. It's an interesting campsite layout that includes going up the hill above the lake. Shorter rigs, due to the site slopes, would be okay but ensure you know what you’re getting into if you decide to bring in anything over 35’ into sites 122-137. Not all sites have a steep slope(see our pics). There’s one formal walking trail we saw out the back of the 100 area. However, there’s plenty of room to walk your dogs as this is a large campground that winds around the lake. There’s also a huge swimming area which explained the draw for all the families with kids. Space between campsites varies a lot in this campground. In the 60s-70s area, the sites are nearby where other loops/areas are more spacious. For example, the hotspot map pic we provide shows decent space between sites 59 and 60, which was true so you can use that map as a guide. We got a solid two bars on Verizon and the CG WiFi was fairly good. There are WiFi coverage maps on the restroom/shower houses. We were on the outskirts of the shaded area but the WiFi still worked okay, though the signal occasionally dropped. This was the worse COE dump station we have seen to date. There are two dumps in this tight circular dump station. The first dump is on too much of an incline to effectively get all the stuff out. We moved to the second hole about a few yards away that gave us a better angle. We had to backup to depart so our rig would not go up over the curve. The dump station is also where the CG’s only dumpsters are located. There are no garbage cans/dumpsters located within the campground areas. We just didn’t“feel it” here so this CG was a one and done. Big rigs: do your research before booking a site here. There are plenty that will fit bigger rigs but there are slopes in the 100 area sites that you will not want to deal with. Dawg Haus out

Lincoln State Park is right down the road from Santa Claus , Indiana and Holiday World. Needless to say it was a little busy, but not as bad as the Rudolph RV Park in town.

The RV/camping area was well laid out and the sites were nestled in quite close to one another. That being said it was a smaller campground and surrounded by trees and lake on two sides,roadway on the other.

Probably the main thing I didn't like about it. The day use area was a fence row away. Which while convienant to walk to, sorta cut down on the whole camping in the woods privacy thing.

Direct access to the trail system/lake boardwalk and the cabin area was co-located on the same trail. The trail was sort of well marked, though there were a few trails leading off with no markers.

The beach, boat rental and general use area was well maintained and had some cool old buildings in use. There is an amphitheater that has a good venue of events.

The general use pit toilet was fragrant, old and in need of a good cleaning. There were newer facilities but seeing as it was right in the middle of the area you would think a little sprucing up would be in order.

Very nice lake! CLEAR water, a lot of water activities going on.

Directly across from the park is another park area with historical stuff if you like that kind of stuff.

Very nice state park campground with electric, (50 on some, 30 on some), and water hookups. Two clean shower houses. Two dump stations. Lake for swimming, fishing, canoe, paddle boat and Jon boat rentals. Hiking trails and fire tower. Typical camp store on site. Gas station with propane about a mile from the camp ground. Has primitive sites and cabin rentals also. The park has a large outdoor covered amphitheater with several concerts throughout the season. Most sites are pretty level. There are a few that are not. The majority of the sites have at least partial shade. Weekends are usually booked up in advance. Through the week is no problem getting your choice of sites. Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial is adjacent to the State park. It has a living farm. Both are free. Admission to the state park is $7.00 per vehicle or a Indiana State Park annual pass for $50.00 gets you into any Indiana state park anytime for the year. You can book through reserveamerica.com or calling the park directly.