Best Cabin Camping near Fort Knox, KY

Mammoth Cave and the surrounding area offer many activities to suit anyone's desires. There are several competitive runs (5K and up) almost every weekend in the surrounding communities, and several are hosted in Mammoth Cave park itself. There is also the opportunity to go "caving", and you can walk through the caverns, and there are numerous hiking trails. Mammoth Cave offers tent, RV, and cabin camping - just be aware the cabins have running water, but no kitchens or air conditioning.

The Louisville South KOA is approximately 25 miles south of downtown Louisville in Shepardsville, KY. The location is easy to find off the exit of 65(which also has a Walmart and other stores nearby to resupply). 

The campground has both pull through gravel sites, back-in, and tent sites. The sites were close to each other but provided plenty of space for the average sized rig. Many were longer than other KOAs, which enabled the tow vehicle and TT to be parked. Full hook-ups and 30/50 amp services at the sites, some leveling required. The campground store is well stocked and the employees are very friendly. 

There is a pool(no hot tub-filled in with stones), play/game area, bounce pillow, and 2 miles of hiking trails around the campground. While the campground was nice, there is a lot of“stuff”(old broken trailers, mowers, etc) laying around the edges and in need of mowing between the sites. These items tend to take away from the overall welcoming feeling of the campground. 

This being said, the wifi was strong and it is very convenient to sightseeing around Nashville, especially for the price of$54 per night.

We enjoyed this park so much, we are headed back! We stayed in the cute yellow with green shutter cabins nearly in the parking lot. It got hot during the day...no A/C in the cabins, but we headed underground to keep cool.

I loved the educational talks each night which was a close walk from cabins and campground. Watching the bats fly above us as the sun set during the talks was a plus.

The Visitor's Center is crowded! Tours fill up fast! So, book your tours ahead of time via the website and save yourself that headache. There are restaurants next to the Visitor's Center if you want to dine out.

I would plan for more time our next visit.   There are so many different cave tours.   We stayed in the cabins.  Nice area and the cabin was very clean with comfortable beds.   The ranger program for the kids is nice and they receive a badge when completed task in the book.  The park area was nice.   We saw deer 🦌 all evening.   No complaints.

This is a great family campground with excellent amenities, clean sites and grounds, beautiful surroundings, multiple cabins, pavilions, and a welcoming host office. We would love to visit and stay again. Do not let the short rural entry drive deter you. Yes it's hilly and curvy but take it slow and careful I promise it's worth it. Free firewood is just a bonus. Get a shady spot and enjoy the stay.

The Rough River Lodge , Falls of Rough , Ky no longer has a campground co-located, it was closed a few years ago when the dam was renovated. That being said there are two campgrounds Cave Creek and Axtel, in the immediate area, with the total available around the lake being 5.

The Lodge is an older building, the rooms overlook the lake. There are two cabin areas and a 2ish mile nature trail connects them with the lodge and Marina.

The area offers a small airport, boat ramp, miniature golf, beach, pool, tennis courts, small playground, picnic pavilion, and basketball court. Not much shade and just like the rest of the area busy.

What a cool park! Having been spelunking at small caves near home I wasn’t expecting this to be SO massive! The tour was impressive and informative. The park had more to offer than just caves though; there are many short hiking trails in the park as well. We stayed in one of the Woodland Cottages in a wooded area near the visitor center. Cabin was well maintained and nice. We checked out the campgrounds for family that was going to visit a couple months after us. Mammoth Cave campground was nice! Lots of trees seemed to give some seclusion to the large sites even though it was very busy. If we visit again, we will camp.

We stayed here one night. It's a small campground about 35 mins from Louisville and has about 40ish sites for RVs with electric and water, some with sewage. Our site was fairly small and pretty close to other sites but it was easy enough to get into and fit our 12ft pop up without issue. They have 2 bathrooms(the one by the laundry/store is very nice!), a catch and release pond(small, but there are small bluegill and some bass), a nice playground, clean pool, store on site, and overall we had a great time. There are also several connections for wifi, and cable(we didn't try it). The staff seemed very nice. Our site without sewage was $30 plus tax, they also offer tent sites and small cabins($40-50 with air conditioning) if that's your thing. Our site was nice and shaded. We were disturbed a few times by trains in the middle of the night- otherwise it was pretty peaceful and quiet.

Clean restrooms, coin-OP showers, very well-maintained fire pits, and within biking or walking distance of the visitor's center (where the tours run from).

Definitely book cave tours in advance. When I visited they only had one walk-in tour available due to Covid restrictions.

It was still worthwhile!

Also was able to hike most of the trails in the main part of the park in a four-hour morning.

More trails are accessible via Green River Ferry on the other side of the river.

Also, check out the kayak/canoeing rentals in the area.

I have my own kayak and found a service that would drop me off and pick me back up 8 miles down the river for $30!

Charlestown State Park is a great, quiet campground for us to get away in our RV. We love that all of the sites are paved and most of the full-hookup sites offer a lot of privacy.

There is always a bathhouse close by and they are usually very clean. Staff is always super nice.

We prefer Charlestown because the hiking trails are wonderful, there’s lots of paved roads for biking, but the lack of a pool means that there tend to be fewer kids and it’s a lot more quiet than some of the neighboring state parks. There is a great boat ramp for the Ohio River so many campers are there to spend time in the river on their boats.

My husband and I camped here in the May to escape Derby in Louisville. It's close enough to the city that it makes for an easy get-away. Even if you're not camping the hiking is pretty incredible and none of the trails are really to strenuous for an experienced hiker compared to other trails in the region. 

This isn't the most quite campground you're going to find. There is an RV area and a loop for tent camping, the sites are fairly close together with some only having as little as a few saplings or briars between sites. The loop itself is a bulky gravel road that is VERY NOISY when campers drive on it, or in our case... a child drives their Barbie Power Wheels up and down the road until 10pm in the dark. 

That being said.... it's close to the city. It's inexpensive and the firewood bundles are sizable. Our site didn't have a picnic bench, just a fire ring but the ground was mostly grassy and very level. It was a comfortable site and the majority of them looked pretty similar so it's hard to say there's a "best site" for privacy on the loop.  Our site was on the road leading up to the loop and those sites seem best since a few don't have campers across from them and they are spaced out slightly more than the sites on the actual loop... although you're further from water.  

*This campground does allow you to make reservations

We really enjoyed the four days we spent at the Mammoth Caves Campground, right in the national park. I have to correct some information on this listing, though. There are no electric hookups. There is water available at spots throughout the campground, but not at the sites. There is one difficult to use dump station. Also, internet connections are terrible. You need to rely on the WiFi at the visitor center and lodge.

Setting that aside, it’s a beautiful, wooded campground with large and generally level sites. You’re right in the middle of the park, with all it has to offer. Its about a ten-twelve minute walk to the Visitor Center, which is where all the cave tours and many of the hiking trails start. The Visitor Center also has a great exhibit explaining the geology and history of the park and area. It is connected by a pedestrian bridge to the park lodge, which has several restaurants. Both buildings are wonderfully air conditioned, which helped a lot in the August heat.

Also helping with the heat are the caves themselves, which are spectacular and not to be missed. Other activities right in the park are lots of hiking opportunities and canoe and kayak rental.

There are modern and very clean bathrooms throughout the campground. It’s a mystery why they didn’t include showers when they built those bathrooms. Instead there are paid showers in the building housing the camp store. You insert six quarters and get a decent amount of time. For me, this was the only real downside of the campground, one I could put up with given all the other advantages.

Site 35B was a great site and was next to a small field, giving us extra space and privacy.

First, the good: Lake Shelby was easy to find. The signs were easy to see and tent sites are well marked. The office, RV area and restrooms were easy to find and also well marked. The tent sites were shaded by nice trees and were located right next to the lake. The group tent sites looked nice and had shade and open areas. You can rent a paddle boat or canoe. However, there has to be an adult in the canoe for rental. There are several docks and a boat ramp. You have to pay to launch and there is an honor box for that. The campsite itself, was mostly flat and partially shaded. The fire pit was nice as well. Now, the bad: The lake was brown and had an oily film across the top. It smelled of dead fish and something else that I couldn't identify. I saw people fishing, but I never saw anyone actually catch anything. The tent sites were down a dead end road, however the amount of cars that went past our site made me feel like there was a parade that lasted almost the entire time we were there. The paddle boat lost steering when we were halfway around the lake. The only thing we could do was go in a circle. It took 20 minutes for them to send someone to assist us. There was a trash can next to our site, however, it was nearly full when we arrived and no one ever emptied it. The restrooms are located at the RV parking area, so we had to drive to use them. In my opinion, the restrooms should have been built in between the RV sites and tent sites to make them easier to access by walking. Overall, I didn't hate my time at Lake Shelby, but there was nothing great enough to make me return or recommend it to friends.

What's that name...

Campground Review: Coming from Western Kentucky Parkway W or KY I65 either way you drive in to Moutardier Campground you will end up on Rt 259.

Several interesting places along Rt 259; The Bee Spring motorsports ( MUD DRAGS!) and The Bee Spring Restaurant. Further out is Ralph's Market, fuel and groceries and Alexander's Farm about 6 miles down Rt 259 toward Litchfield, JOHN DEERE TRACTORS, enough said !

Right outside Moutardier Campground on Rt 2067 is Sherry's Red Roof restaurant (open Sunday! And local fare; catfish, ribs, spuds, fried appetizers and ice....it is NOT fast food but the locals were eating there sooo)

Now the Campground. Army Corp of Engineers knows how to landscape and maintain a Dam, Lake and beautifully manicured and laid out campgrounds. Moutardier fits the mold. The sites are strategically stacked in each loop. Close but angled so you see a lot of your neighbors but a lot of scenery too.

The staff was awesome; friendly, informative and helpful. The facilities were well maintained and clean. I asked to change sites due to there being no trees on the site I had reserved. The attendant opened C loop for me, which is not directly on the lake and was in the trees.

Product Review: As a Ranger for The Dyrt I get to test gear, I won a Tentsile coupon in May from The Dyrt.

Tentsile's tree tent is an eco-friendly concept which is a totally cool. I upgraded to a Connect Tree Tent, which is a two person massively huge , lotsa head room tent. The set up is actually really easy once you get the hang of it. There are 4 zippered openings on the tree tent, mess pockets for your phone, keys, etc and the option to go topless or throw the rain cover on for rain and weather protection.

The one major con is finding an appropriate area to set up the Tentsile. If you don't know the campground you may end up in a site without any trees or not the right configuration needed. The Tentsile can be set up on the ground but what's the fun in that.

Otherwise I am totally liking this Tree Tent! I tried it with and without an air mattress. The mattress worked better for my decrepit self. Took the dogs a bit to get used to it, was like a slip and slide for them. We figured it out though, I put their mattress pad in and that worked well for them ;)