Looking for tent camping near Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area? Find the best tent camping sites near Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. Each spot offers quick access to one or more of Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, Kentucky's most popular destinations.
The campground is located at the edge of the Environment Education Waterfowl Refuge on Taylor Bay of Lake Barkley. Called a "back country" campground, it is primarily used by hunters and anglers and features great waterfowl watching. Boats can be tied up at some of the lakefront sites.
The campground has two sections. One section is to the right of campground's entrance and features very shady sites tucked into a heavy stand of mixed hardwood trees stretching up the hillside. The second section is to the left and has more open sites scattered around a loop. These sites are along the shore and have a view of Taylor Bay.
Seasonal camp site leases are available for some sites through an annual, open-to-the-public, lottery. Contact LBL for more information.
Possible day trips are the North and South Welcome Stations, Golden Pond Visitor Center, the Planetarium, Elk and Bison Prairie, Woodlands Nature Station, and The Homeplace.
$10 / night
A permit is required to camp here.
A Basic Camping Area is an open field area without defined campsites. Amenities might include a vault toilet, trash removal, mowed areas, and a boat ramp. However, they may or may not have picnic tables and fire rings and/or grills. You may camp anywhere within the camping area with a Basic Camping Permit. Basic Camping Areas include:
Demumbers Bay
Pisgah Point
Ginger Bay
Neville BayYou may camp almost anywhere in Land Between the Lakes (LBL). A Basic Camping Permit is required for each person 18 and over when camping in Basic Camping Facilities. A Dispersed Camping Permit is required when camping in non-designated areas of the recreation area. Both permits currently cost $50 for annual permit and $10 for a three-day permit and can be purchased https://www.landbetweenthelakes.us/reservations/ or any LBL facility. Please note that these permits do not apply when camping at Self-Service Campgrounds.
You may camp almost anywhere in Land Between the Lakes. A Basic Camping Permit is required for each person 18 and over when camping in Basic Camping Facilities. A Dispersed Camping Permit is required when camping in non-designated areas of the recreation area. Both permits currently cost $50 for an annual permit and $10 for a 3-day permit and can be purchased online or any of our facilities. Please note that these permits do not apply when camping at Self-Service Campgrounds.
$10 / night
Close to the marina it's a hard walk uphill both ways to the bathroom but they are very nice and well kept. Big open areas for children to play overall very good state park campground
Beautiful view of the river and water access but the bad smells coming from the factory across the river is almost unbearable at times the EPA needs to. come do an air quality test when they release whatever it is
A few sites at a boat launch area.
One large site before the main turnaround point and a couple by the water.
Not a ton of space.
4x4 or awd may come in handy leaving the sites (going back up the gravel hill)
Only stay for several hours,haven't spent the night yet,that will be planned next
This will be the next campground to go
This is lakefront with a vault toilet and no running water. On a Wednesday night everything was quiet and peaceful. It is a self serve campground.
Piney Campground is part of the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. It is wildly popular among locals and travelers alike. Lots to do for kids - bike paths, basketball court, multiple playgrounds, etc. Beautiful views of Kentucky Lake/Tennessee River, nice campground store.
We stayed here in our tent. The lady who checked us in was exceptionally nice and the campsites were clean quiet and shady. The restrooms were spick and span. We would certainly stay here again.
If you want a small affordable campground this is your place. The shower house could use for some regular cleaning. I’m not sure it was cleaned at all the time we were there. Not much to do in the area but fish unless you really want to explore outside of the campground.
I learned after our time there our site is the worst with bugs. I thought the bugs were just extra because it had rained a lot but a friend told me to never book that site bc the bugs are always backs there. Our site also gets all the rain drained from the upper site. When we checked in the host did prepare us our site would flood for a few areas since rain was expected.
The sunsets were fabulous!
Stayed here for a week and it was great. Plenty to do to keep you busy. Nice pool with retractable roof. Playset for kids. Full service marina with boat rentals. Golf cart rentals as well.
Was the only one there $ 20 with Electricity, what a Deal Steve is a great Host Also had free Music….. Cicadas
Stayed 2 nights. Nearly empty, but we’ll kept camp. Best sunsets!!! Lake is beautiful. Many many lakeside spots. Lots of room.
Primitive campground with electric and water, who knew. Nice sites well kept. Showers were disgusting, drain had accumulated crud. Sinks also gross.
We camped here with our pups to see the eclipse in Paducah. The area is not really pretty or scenic. You can walk to the dam from the campground but it's nothing super special to see. There is dead fish laying around everywhere and it also smells like it. The campsites are very confusing. There is no map anywhere, except online. Sometimes you can't even read the numbers on the piles. The bathhouse was pretty ok. It was cleaned daily and always stocked. The water pressure was very low. Our camp host was super awesome and nice. There are also no hiking trails close by. The town of Paducah was worth a visit, otherwise we would not camp there again.
Very nice campground, better than what I expected. We stayed at site 20 with a 36' travel trailer we had to actually drive all the way to the end of the campground to turn around so we could back into the site. Cravens Bay is secluded and about a 2 mile drive off the main road running through LBL.
There is a attendant at the site that you have to check in with first who will let you know what sites are available and pay after you have chosen your site and settled in. The attendant station did have some snacks for sale as well ice, also in the event that you may need assistance with any problems at you camp site or even with your camper the attendant more than likely has the tools to help you.
The road leading into the campsite is paved but narrow, the roads at the campsite are well hard packed gravel and very narrow. Cravens Bay basically breaks down into two areas, the low ground (first sites upon entering) and the high ground (sites further in at the top of the hill), there are some sites scattered in-between these two areas but for the most part the largest campsites areas are the high and low ground sites. The sites in-between the two high and low ground areas are very private and two are definitely secluded.
We stay three days and during that time other than the occasional fisherman or the attendant driving by it was definitely very private and quite. There were some seasonal campers there who were very helpful and friendly (even cut up some timber for us to burn).
If you don't mind not having any hook ups and dry/boon docking with your camper Cravens Bay has a lot to offer in terms of privacy, peace, boating, fishing, and swimming. Defiantly for the nature lovers out there, nothing like seeing a Bald Eagle hunting fish while drinking coffee first thing in the morning.
We called from the road to get an overnight stop - the staff were super nice both on the phone and in person. When we arrived, the lady who checked us in gave me a coupon for the drive-in movie theater that was literally down the road. Normally, when we camp we arrive so late it’s impossible to take advantage of area attractions so we decided to go and can I tell you, it was awesome!!! The theater accommodated our camper and the food (cheese fries especially) at the snack stand was great. As far as the campground, our site was a bit hilly but we had a nice view of the lake and close proximity to the playground. My kids also enjoyed the pool. Solid place to overnight!
This was a fantastic dispersed camping spot! A few cars went by looking for whatever, but the road dead ends at Energy Lake. It was quiet most of the time. Occasionally heard some obnoxious people across the lake where I believe a campground is located. Also heard a sound during the night, possibly coyotes. Otherwise, I felt safe and had a great time here!! The ground was flat and there was a lot of room. We were just passing through and needed somewhere quiet to sleep after two days of driving. There is a lot to do in this area! I hope I got the location right… it wouldn’t let me add the exact coordinates I saved when I was there.
I stayed at two difderent spots in March 2024. You might need 4wd; it had rained all day before I got here and there were some rough/sloppy patches in the road. The pit toilt at the entrance is about a 10-12 minute drive away. Both spots had fire pits
This is a convenient and pleasant campground, just off exit 3 on I24 in Paducah. The staff was friendly and walked us to our site and showed us the hookups. He gave us a lovely spot in the shade by the little lake. Have not used the showers yet so can't comment on that. We stayed on a Sunday night. The park was about half full. Seems to be a nice quiet family place.
They are across the street from a Mexican restaurant. There is a liquor store next door. Other businesses nearby.
Noise from the nearby traffic may bother some, but we didn't mind it and it was not loud enough to hear inside our RV.
It is a good place for us to stop on our way from MN to visit friends in FL. Also convenient for visiting the National Quilting Museum. We will stop here again.
We had so much fun at Energy Lake Campground. We were only able to stay one night but it was the reset we needed. Our pups loved it too! Bathrooms were clean, electricity worked great and the view was STELLAR! Super easy check in and check out.
Mostly seasonal and permanent with a few spots for weekly and overnight. All sites are level, gravel with concrete patios and fire rings. The staff makes you feel like a friend immediately. Laundry is 1.50 per machine and the showers are large and clean. Interstate 24 is half a mile from this campground and some of the best restaurants in the area are within walking distance.
Great dispersed campground. Approx 1-1/2 miles off the highway down a one lane gravel road. Approx 30 sites. Sites are gravel and pretty level. At least half of the sites have a view of the lake. All sites have fire rings and picnic tables. Definitely would like to go back and camp there again. Were there with a 26 foot towable.
Fern Lake was super easy to book and very inexpensive. The host was easy to access and was happy to show us to our site since it was dark when we arrived. We stayed on site 51 which had a fire pit (we brought our own wood) and very pretty view of the lake. The bathhouse was very close to walk to and the showers and bathrooms were fine. Like most small campgrounds, it was pretty outdated but had the basics. One bummer was that the electrical outlets were not functioning in the bathrooms so I had to leave them with a wet head assuming I could dry my hair in the van, but unfortunately the electric pedestal was not compatible with our 30amp plug. Our inverter doesn’t like the heavy power suck of a blow dryer so I was counting on plugging in. :( Being in the 30’s I was looking forward to dry hair. Oh well.
We usually start camping in November since the campgrounds are usually getting closer to empty. This place was packed with people hunting and fishing. The camp sites are so close together that you can hear the people talking at their campsite next to you even when they are talking at a very calm conversational level. People were letting their kids run wild until about 10pm then you could hear a pin drop it got so quiet. However, by 3 am the place starts hopping. People getting in and out of their cars, doors closing and cars driving off in the gravel, RV doors opening and closing, gravel crunching under foot as people walk to and from the bathroom. Two women stood outside our tent (but at their camp site) at 5am chatting it up and opening and closing and opening and closing the car doors for over half an hour. If you can function on 5 hours of sleep and don't mind hearing everything everyone around you says in clear detail it isn't a bad place. The bathrooms are clean and warm in the winter.
We basically had the place to ourselves. Just a couple boat launchers was it. Dark skies, lots of stars. There are seasonal showers, ice and firewood sales. Boat ramps, day use areas... it was really nice. I would definitely come back here again. Good cell coverage too.
We stayed here November 2023, site 9 up on the hill. Nice and quiet, beautiful stars at night and good cell service if you needed it.
Some of the most beautiful waterfront sites we’ve been to. Most of the water sites were very big, with several being huge. Lots of separation between most of them, fresh gravel, mostly level. Some of the sites are elevated and the pads have nice guardrails so that kids can’t access the rip rap and fall. Very quiet when we were there, and hosts were great as well. Had Consumere Cellular and mostly had 2 bars, easily enough to stream.
Camping near Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, Kentucky, offers a mix of beautiful scenery and outdoor activities. Whether you're looking to relax by the water or explore hiking trails, there’s something for everyone.
Camping near Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, Kentucky, offers a great mix of outdoor fun and relaxation. Whether you're in an RV or tent, there's a spot for you!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is Taylor Bay Campground with a 4.4-star rating from 8 reviews.
What is the best site to find tent camping near Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area?
TheDyrt.com has all 31 tent camping locations near Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, with real photos and reviews from campers.
