Patoka Lake Campground, near Eckerty, Indiana, is a fantastic destination for those looking to enjoy the great outdoors year-round. With spacious campsites that allow for both tent and RV camping, it’s a place where you can kick back and soak in the natural beauty surrounding you.

The campground is known for its welcoming atmosphere, where visitors can enjoy amenities like electric hookups and picnic tables. Many campers appreciate the nature center, which offers a serene escape and a chance to learn more about the local environment. As one happy camper put it, “Patoka Lake has become our go-to campground for many reasons.”

For those who love water activities, the campground is close to the lake, making it ideal for fishing, boating, and swimming. There are also plenty of trails for hiking and biking, ensuring you’ll never run out of things to do. Just be mindful of the boat traffic if you have little ones with you, as it can get busy.

While some sites may lack shade, the open spaces provide a great opportunity for stargazing at night. Clean facilities, including showers and restrooms, help keep your stay comfortable. Whether you’re here for a weekend fishing trip or a family getaway, Patoka Lake Campground offers a little something for everyone.

With 26,000 acres of land and water, Patoka Lake campground is a fine example of lake ecology. An 8,800-acre lake provides habitat for freshwater jellyfish and bald eagle nesting sites. River otters and osprey were reintroduced at Patoka by the DNR. Camping: -Electric / 455 sites -Primitive / 45 sites -Dumping Station

Patoka Lake Campground

Birdseye is an ideal place for camping adventures of all kinds. There are tons of hikes and other fun activities to partake in. Experience some of the most stunning views that Indiana camping has to offer. Search nearby campsites and find top-rated spots from other campers.

Birdseye

The Best Camping Near Birdseye, Indiana

My Aunt loves their trips to Patoka Lake & I can relate as to why after this weekend. We went for a wedding at the marina & ended by a lovely cove. The sites all had close access to restroom facilities & they were expectantly clean. Everyone was very polite & having a great family time. We are planning our next trip in the very near future! 

Patoka Lake Traditions

Huge campground where they pack in the sites. You do have some tree coverage and decent flush toilet facilities with showers. There is also potable water and play grounds...

This area has a ton of stuff from archery and boating to hiking and volleyball.

As i was leaving I mentioned how the sites are a bit to RV friendly and was told that somewhere are some walkin primitive sites...

Huge and packed

Camped Monday thru Friday, quite until Thursday. Filled up and noisy.

Nice place to camp and fish 

Nice clean campground. site 199 has nice shade. the site does not have much level ground. 


Site 199

It is family friendly in most parts. No lake view sites, but has a fitness trail with some neat stations accessible from the campground. There is a beach (decent walking distance away)

Not bad, lots of hiking possibilities 

there is hiking trails that connect everything and you can ride your bike on them. there is a disc golf course too. the camp store has a lot of your daily needs. the lake is a bit big and in high weather the waves gets huge 

good

Very nice campground! The park offers a lot of activities and campsites are very roomy. They have a very nice playground as well for the grandkids! I would give this park a solid 4 out 5

Patoka State Park

We went for a Halloween weekend with a group of friends. We had a blast with all of the activities the park had planned. Sooo many trick or treaters (bring A LOT of candy if you plan to pass any out)! We had hammocks and campers. The sites were good sized and not “cookie cutter,” almost like no two sites were the same. We were on an outside loop so we had plenty of trees, which helped to block the wind! The grounds are huge, and everyone was so nice and participated with the holiday theme!

Large, but a sense of community. 

Our campsite had Great Lake views and a nice path to get down to the lake.  Bathrooms and showers were clean.  

Great Lake Views

Tons of stuff to do while camping. Boating,fishing,swimming and so much more!

Love it!

We went here for 6 years straight for our annual adult camping weekend  and then had to find something a little closer. We still love it though! A ton of great camping spots and large campground! The lake is huge and was always beautiful to drive around. We plan on making a fall trip this year with the family! Photo was taken by my incredibly talented friend Jason Hinton of Hinton Photography. 

A favorite 

Heads up for my fellow tent campers: there are some real doozies of campsites at this campground (at least in the modern campground we stayed in). There are lots that are very uneven or aren't very spacious for medium/larger tents. 

Luckily, we hit the jackpot and found a perfect spot where we set up 2 small tents under some trees, had space for hammocks on the other end of the site, and had room for our car and a fire pit area. 

The amenities were perfectly located next to our site - a campstore and also modern bathrooms. We came during coronavirus and the bathrooms smelled of bleach, which was nice. The only issue was the men's bathroom floods in one of the two stalls. The showers were nice and clean. 

Our car battery ended up dying sadly and the DNR ranger was very helpful in getting us back up and running. 

Great campground

Pretty nice park with a ton of sites. From a good size circles in open areas to more private sites along the ridges. Nice paves sites with electric. Water was turned off when we were there. Don't know if it's permanent thing or because of the just opening. Fair Att &amp; Verizon, but no OTA TV.

$23 a night plus tazes &amp; an our of state entrance fee of $9.

We lucked out and made reservations a couple of days prior to arriving, cause the place was full. SOLD OUT. Guess all the virus escapees were out for some fresh air and some space. All in all not a bad park and probably would return. But not on the weekend. The large lake draws a ton of people.

Patoka Lake State Park

Really enjoy this place everyone we go.  So much to do!

Everything you want in a lake!

Love finding new places to visit. Found this on a map and decided to give it a drive. Well worth the drive from NW Ohio. Beautiful campground. Clean and well kept. Beautiful views of the lake. Park was full but did not feel crowded at all. 
There are a couple access points to the lake from the campground I only wish they were a little easier to navigate. 

Nice large campground... most sites are very nice! Electric hookups only... fresh water fill as you enter and spigots throughout the park to top off if you have enough hose... Marina has boats and toys to rent... dump station has 4 lanes... cell reception is ok and antenna tv is pretty good... a couple of bars/restaurants right outside the gate to the park along with a local winery... gas station with lots of camping and boating supplies 

Great campground with access to an awesome lake!

We stayed at site 197 from Wednesday to Sunday for our third trip to the Patoka campground. By far the best location as we had a trail from our site directly to a rocky beach on the lake. Frankly, site 200 is the penultimate site on this loop with copious amounts of space and two trails to the lake from the site. Being only three sites down, it was not a bad walk. Small bluffs and large rocks there make a perfect perch to watch lake traffic, amazing sunsets and breathtaking views of the night sky. We could see just about all the stars. It’s a bit of a hike to the bathrooms and even more so to the showers and it’s a solid hike with two 5 year olds to the playground. Going forward, these will be the first sites we check. 

Location location location

Update review: LOVE this park. Friendly people, great spots and awesome beach/lake. Sopts are 65ft wide, so your not on top of each other. If you got a boat...GO there, the lake is huge! 

Update review

A large group of us rented two of the floating cabins and it was a blast.  Plenty of space for sleeping with a kitchen and modern facilities.  The boating and fishing are pretty good as well.

Floating cabins! 

Large sites. Great access to water. 30 and 50 amp hookups. Bathhouses clean and easy access to fishing, local attractions and if you do need something the staff was eager and fast to get the problem fixed. Definately a campground to keep on the revisit list..

A campground to come back too

Nice and very clean for the most part ,will go back 

Patoka lake ,it's absolutely beautiful there, for the most part pretty clean,campsites was nice ,but priced high

To get in the camp ground was easy, the staff was all friendly and helpful. The space wasn’t bad we had plenty of grass area to use. Our camper was a bit long for our spot and we had to park in the grass. The water fill stations were easy
To use but even with a filter the water smelled like eggs. There’s 4 dump stations and usually a line to dump. The spaces between sites wasn’t bad.

Was not my favorite place

Came here with our toddler for the weekend. The spot was spacious, with plenty of flat areas for our tent. 

The bathrooms were super clean and well stocked. There were a lot of activities going on with the nature center. 

We spent part of one day driving around the park to get our daughter to take a nap, and the rest of the park is just beautiful. 

Lots to do and some beautiful views 

We camped at Patoka in the fall. The rv campsite is very busy and books up for weekends quickly. We had 30a hookups. There was a water filling station at the entrance along with a dump site. Sites have a fire pit and picnic table. While there are trails in the area, they don’t offer a trail map. It might be handy to check them out on an app like AllTrails before hand and save them. Cell service is not good for AT&amp;T or Verizon. 

Clean Campground

We spent a week at this campground. The spots are large which is nice. No water hookups at sites but there are spigots throughout the campground except after Oct 31. On Nov 1 they started shutting off all the water spigots and we had to get water from the faucet on the outside of the camp store. Looks like there are 30 and 50 amp service at all sites. Bathrooms remained open and were heated. Showers were nice - no temp control but there is warm water you just have to press the button a few times to get the cold water out of the pipes. One time Park entrance fee. Some of the sites are more rugged/“naturey” than others. Can have 1 RV and 1 tent or 2 tents on each site. Reception is ok. We have Verizon and I was able to use my hotspot at times. Sometimes it was great, other times slow, other times non-existent. Some people were able to stream sports games though. 

Nice Campground

This is a huge campground with multiple sections over a very large area featuring a wide range of camping styles.  There is camping for dispersed campers, campsites near the beach, fishing and outstanding facilities for the casual camper and RV'ers.  There are no water hookups and winterization is in effect for the water access.  Great accommodations including a timed but nicely warmed showers. 

Quiet and spacious weekend.

We camped the first full week of April. Only waterfill location was at the camp store. Shower house was open and warm water was available. Big DNR presence and staff was friendly and helpful. Quiet campground wasn’t many occupants. We camped Sat-Tue. I would definitely stay here again. Our site was fine but next time I would stay further back in the park. We were directly across from camp check-in.  We did have a skunk visit us one evening but we didn’t have any issues we just kept the dog inside. 

REDUCED AMENITIES (NOVEMBER - APRIL): Please note that most properties turn off water, close modern restrooms, and winterize full-hookup sites during winter months (November through April). Camping is still available at a reduced rate at almost all locations during this time period. Properties will begin turning on water and opening other facilities between mid-March and late-April depending on the forecasted temperatures. If you plan to camp during early spring and/or late fall, please contact the property office to check on the availability of water, modern restrooms, and full hook-up camping. FULL AMENITIES ARE AVAILABLE MAY - OCTOBER EACH YEAR.

Quiet park

Spacious!! You’re not stacked on top of one another! 

Tent camping

All roads and campsites are paved and for the most part, level.  The fire pits have grill grates and the picnic tables are in good shape.  Try and pick a campsite that has water nearby and you won’t have to unhook your rig to fill your tanks. Fishing, beach on the lake, boat rentals and tons of trails to hike or ride your bike.  Bath houses are plentiful and spotless.  Push button showers are a bit of a pain and there are no full service sites.  Choose your site carefully and you will have a great stay here.

So peaceful

All roads and campsites are paved and level for the most part.  Pick a site that has water near and you won’t have to unhook to fill your tanks.  So many sites are in the shade all day and peaceful.  Showers are spotless but fun on the push button system.  So many trails and bike paths, fishing, boating and nature center.

Patoka has always had a hype about it for years; big lake, tons of boats, and fishing. This was our first trip here. We stayed in the Fishermans Primitive Campground. Our spot had full shade, a picnic table, a fire pit, and enough room to park two vehicles. (We backed in our boat with the suv). We stayed Thursday through Saturday night. Thursday we were the only campers in the entire campground! Creepy but nice. MAKE SURE TO PUT AWAY ALL OF YOUR FOOD!!! Even scraps and Yes even DOG FOOD. We had raccoon visitors both nights. Bathrooms are nice. Clean but without sinks. Water stations are throughout. Boat ramp is within the campsite. Fish cleaning stations is right off the parking lot for the boat ramp so very convenient. Overall we had a nice trip; but the fishing is very difficult here. Restaurants are very limited as well. Highly recommend Bennys! 

Weekend fishing trip at the lake

Roads and grounds are in good shape. Tons of sites and all different types (secluded, group, field, lake access, lake view, etc.) Sites were clean and in working order with 30A service. Facilities were in working order but didn’t appear to be cleaned daily. Seemed to have a high ratio of campsites to showers so things get crowded with all the lake people wanting to shower frequently.  There is a beach of sorts with rocky sand but good enough for a dip. Showers at the beach are … ok. Gang showers (men and women) so more for just rinsing off. Camp store was WELL stocked with an assortment of items from milk and bread to cake mix. 

Cell service was poor. (T-Mobile 0-1 bar LTE , AT&amp;T 1-2 bars LTE, but NO internet service when things get busy Thursday to Sunday afternoon …weird)

4 dump stations at exit but still lines due to shear number of sites but things moved quickly. 

Never made it it nature center. 

Great for lake fun, but camping is just okay  

Nice Park, but not cheap for nonresidents. 30 something plus tax AND a $9.00 entrance for nonresidents. Electric only at sites. Many of the sites were not the most level and in the open. Well spaced &amp; few with a water view.

ATT &amp; Verizon both worked well.

Huge park with plenty of open sites, not much shade.

Patoka Lake has become our go-to campground for many reasons. The nature center is a delightful feature, offering a serene escape into the beauty of the surrounding area. The spacious campsites add to the allure, providing ample room for relaxation and enjoyment. It's worth noting that there are no water hookups, so remember to fill your tank before arriving at your site. During our visit over fall break, the Halloween festivities and trick-or-treating added an extra layer of fun to our experience. We also had the pleasure of exploring the local winery and brewery, which were a big hit with our group. The abundance of activities at this state park ensures there's never a dull moment. However, it's important to exercise caution due to the high volume of boats in and out of the campground. Parents with small children should be especially vigilant, as vehicles towing trailers with boats are constantly coming and going. Despite this, our love for Patoka Lake remains unwavering. It's truly a special place that we look forward to returning to time and time again.

Photos of Patoka Lake Campground

Real photos from real campers