Best Tent Camping near Horse Cave, KY

Pros: very well maintained facilities, toddlers enjoyed playground, able to walk along lake shore, could hear small waterfall behind our campsite, within 20 minutes of Mammoth Cave NP via Green River Ferry Con: sites nothing special for tent camping (probably great if in RV). Very sunny, out in open so windy. But nice to have electric and water when camping with toddlers so worth it. Would agree with previous review that the 1 tent site among all the electric sites looked beautiful- right on the water. If you don’t need electric, go with that one!

Been several times at different times of the year. The summer months fill up quick. Great place to visit on its own or with day trips to Mammoth Cave. Water slide, 2 pools, and other things for the kids to do during the hot summers. Karaoke, and games at night at the shelter. Food in the lodge is acceptable snacks for the pool but dont expect 4 star club food. Cabin Rentals, RV Site and Tent sites. All have a fire ring. Cabin came with a golf cart. Cabins are decent. group showers and restrooms are not that great. If I had one down side. If tent camping on the weekend bring earplugs. Durring the summer the adult beverages flow in the evening and into the night and the gas powered golf carts at 2am get annoying. Over all a great place in the summer for a close family retreat.

I was tent camping with my family Thursday-Saturday while visiting Mammoth Cave.

The good: the tent campground has spacious, level sites. The sites are located in a grove of pine trees, which makes for well shaded sites with a pleasant surface of soft pine straw to pitch your tents. A few sites had trees suitable for hanging hammocks if you enjoy that. There are toilets and sinks in the park office near the primitive campsites. There is a swimming beach and boat ramp on Nolin Lake nearby. Convenient to Mammoth Cave NP and fishing and hiking opportunities abound.

The bad: the shower house is in the RV campground and too far away to be a convenient walk. You have to drive there which is a pain with kids. There were few shower stalls and they were not kept clean. The park staff were very friendly but just overworked. Thursday night we were kept awake by loud campers and campground staff weren’t around to enforce quiet hours. Quiet hours do not start until 11 PM which is not ideal for campers with young children. The park started filling up on Friday and Saturday and was obviously very crowded on the weekend. Seems like a "party spot" for locals. 

We might return here but perhaps would choose to camp during the week or during a less busy time of year.

We went during Wet N Wild week and the kids absolutely loved all of the activities there were... The excitement of the Witbit the first day left us sore for a couple days after... ALOT to do at the campground and around... However this is not geared for tent camping... there are minimal shade spots and 95% of the sites are gravel...water and electric are setup for campers not tents... also the whole not being able to squirt water from or too the golf carts is a bummer and killed the excitement. we will definitely be back if a better suited area for tent camping is developed...

Imagine a giant parking lot with trees. That’s your campground. RV and tent camping are mixed. Restrooms were rough, but useable, when you’re done waiting.

Went for an extended weekend tent camp. Facilities were very clean and kept up. Tons of tours (paid) if you're interested. We had a wonderful time.

The bathrooms were beautiful and air conditioned! They were very clean and smelled like a swimming pool. They were nice and cool after a hot sweaty day and tent camping.

Nolin lake was very beautiful and peaceful. The campground had two tent camping locations and a rv area. The scenery was amazing. Highly recommend campsite 23 by the beach, it has the best view....

Got in on a Sunday evening for tent camping. Nice woman working the entrance let us switch campsites without any hassle.

The site was well maintained and had a nice fire pit. Concrete picnic table in the space.

their tent sites kinda suck barely had room for my tent. the camper and rv sites looked good for what they are. had a nice playground for the children but there is a lot of hills.

Nice hiking trails, nice tent site, bathrooms were clean. The shower is coin operated. Three campground is on the grounds with the national park so you can walk to your tour. The ranger was friendly and helpful.

Campground Review: I have stayed at and reviewed this campground before, however this time I am reviewing our experience at site I158 over Labor Day Weekend while using the Red Ledge Thunderlight jacket. Site I158 has no electric or water. It is a fairly small tent site that is very close to other sites. There is only enough room for 1 tent and 1 vehicle. The fire ring is nice and has a grill attached. There is a large picnic table and a prep table with a tall hook, which we hung our trash on. The site is gravel but I was able to put in my tent stakes with minimal effort. The site is completely wooded, so if you don't like tent camping near trees, this site is not for you. The upside is there are plenty of sticks for kindling. I did however get hit with a few falling acorns, and that did not feel good at all. The quiet time at this campground is respected and followed. The beach is great for hanging out and swimming in the lake. The beach had previously been damaged by flooding but was beautiful for Labor Day Weekend. 

Product Review: As a Ranger for The Dyrt www.thedyrt.com, I get products to test from time to time and today I am reviewing the Men& Women's Thunderlight Jacket from Red Ledge https://www.redledge.com/products/mens-and-womens-thunderlight-jacket?variant=7068462153788. I made a video folding the jacket into the carrying bag after I returned home from camping. 

1. What I liked about this product: The jacket fits great. Using the size guidelines on Red Ledge's website, I ordered the appropriate sized jacket and it fits perfectly. I like the sealed edges that kept any water from getting to my clothes underneath. This jacket is lightweight. It is a great jacket to use anywhere, but this would be great for back country camping. Because it's lightweight and breathable, I also used it for sun protection while sitting on Rough River Lake beach. The hood hangs over a little bit keeping the sun and rain out of your eyes. The cuffs and the bottom of the jacket are adjustable, which I love. Red Ledge offers this jacket in 13 different colors, but I chose Mercury(gray). The price of the jacket is a little higher than I expected, however, I believe this jacket will hold up over time and be completely worth it. As a tent camper, I have learned to spend a little more money on better quality products than to buy cheap stuff and have to keep replacing them. 

2. What I didn't like about this product: I didn't quite understand how the hood adjust worked and it took me a little bit of figuring it out. However, once I understood what I was doing, it worked great. 

Overall, I would recommend this jacket. My son has the youth version of The Thunderlight and he loves it. I think Red Ledge has made a good quality product that anyone can use and appreciate.

My only complaint is I didn't have more time to spend. Our site (L4) was shaded all day long, which is important when you tent camp. The grounds are well kept. Plenty of park hosted activities for kiddos and adults. A lot of trails, good clean pool, nice clean bathrooms, excellent staff!

Very nice campground the tent sites even have electric and water but my advice is try not to setup tent near the little pond they have, it stinks. Showers are great, if your tall like me, your gonna have to bend a knee to get underneath the shower head. LOL bathroom water pressure could be better. Very affordable!

Mammoth Cave NP is a nice National Park, and not as crowded as some other more popular parks. We tent camped in the drive in campground. Bathrooms are few and far between, and the showers are located at the general store and are pay to use showers. They showers are probably one of my least favorite shower facilities I’ve been to. Overall the cave tours are fantastic and the weather was nice on October.

This camp ground is very quiet with super nice people running it. The bathrooms are extremely clean.This campground has a multitude of rules down to men cannot be seen not wearing a shirt, no cursing, no drinking but is a smoke free site. Also, it is housed next to a motorcycle clubhouse which can get loud at night. The tent sites for some reason, are on low ground while the RV sites have the high ground, potentially causing extremely wet tents.

We stayed in site 7 for a couple of nights with our tent-camping friends who stayed in site 8. Though neither of these sites are shaded, we were able to park “backwards” in our pull-through site and we shared our awning. The little catch-and-release pond is well-stocked and there is a catfish pay lake across the street, so our boys had plenty of fishing to keep them busy. Our site was reasonably level, but if there is rain forecasted, I strongly recommend different sites as these sites are the low point in the CG. I’m sure the very friendly owners would be happy to switch you to a different site if that happened though.

We really enjoyed this place! It's located on the green river and has very spacious campsites. Plenty of room for the kids or dogs to run around. Very secluded. There is a concrete picnic table, pole and fire pit at each spot. Across the road to the ferry is a large pavillion with several more picnic tables for bigger gatherings. There are a few porta potties and no water or hookups. Primitive camping only. We tent camped here in July and saw hundreds of lightning bugs (see video)! It was magical, that really made the experience so much better for us!

Highly recommend a cave tour as well at Mammoth Cave National Park. You will not be disappointed!! Can't wait to go back!

We camped in tent site 15, which is the far back corner of a large rectangular tenting area. Each site had a table and fire ring, and shared water and trash were located in several central locations. Some sites are between two parking areas (sites 7-9, I think), and some sites are along the lake shore. While most people rate the lake shore sites highly, I think you'd get a lot of headlights flashing at you as they're right along the parking lane. We really liked the back corner for privacy, and relative proximity to the bathrooms (located in what looks like an office). Showers, firewood, ice, playground, and laundry are in the trailer campsite nearby. 

One caveat is that, if fully booked with weekenders, I can imagine this place getting a bit noisy at night. It's also pretty hot, though very well shaded, in July.

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.

This is a beautiful place with decent facilities and very kind campground hosts! The downside is the campsites are close together and the guests are more into partying than enjoying nature. We had one nice night, and the next night a RV pulled in almost on top of us (due to very close campsites) and started up an unusually loud generator, so we ended up leaving our stargazing / campfire and sitting in our car until 10 when they turned it off. Guess what? Quiet hours are 10pm to 6am - which is when it started up again. They got belligerent with the campground hosts about it, so we just packed up and left a day early. We just wanted some peace and quiet, which is why we were camping in the first place. So my recommendation is: if you're into quiet tent campsites, look elsewhere 😊 happy camping.