Best Campgrounds near Madisonville, KY

It’s a great area with the small beach nearby and garden of the gods so close, the only problem is the drinking water pump is broke so you must bring your own water. You can get firewood from the garden of the gods outpost and some really good shakes and icecream!!

The sites had amazing views. Spaced pretty close together but still felt private enough. There was an outhouse that was very clean and in the center of the camp sites. No showers. We loved it!

Great for quick, hassle free stop while traveling. Just 5 miles south of Western Kentucky Parkway on US highway 431. Also has several seasonal workers from Paradise Power Plant staying here during an outage. School bus picks kids op at the stop sign. Really nice family hosts. Full hookups at each site and new picnic tables. Beautiful country and Dollar General just down the road.

We found this campground using Google Maps looking for different campground (CG) options. As this was the first week of November on a Tuesday, we did not have any trouble getting reservations to include getting site 25 that we’d seen recommended in reviews. When making our reservation, we were told by the owner, Angie, to follow our GPS to the end of the road where you will find the CG. Angie met us and we were escorted to pull through site 25 with water and electric(50/30/20 AMP). This pull through is a large half moon. It was difficult to get straight on the rig but we made it work for an overnighter. We would not recommended trying to anything longer than a 38’ rig into the site due to the turn to get out. We needed levelers on the door side. Once we were set up, we were delighted with this site’s lake view. The water pressure was good at about 50 psi and no issues with the 50 AMP service. We got three bars on Verizon. We could have put out satellite, but did not for this overnight stay. They have a restroom/bath house, but we didn’t use it. This CG is mostly full of seasonals. We noticed that golf carts are the thing here. As we were here during the week, there was very little CG activity. However, we can guess this place is quite festive during the summer months and associated weekends. From what gather from their website and saw, they keep about 10 sites available for short term stays(max 28). Of the 76 sites total, the only pull through was site 25. We had to maneuver to get out of the site with our running over the railroad tie border. We wouldn’t go in there with anything over 38’. The sites here vary a lot on how close they are to each other. The website states the sites are 50 feet long, which is probably correct. We enjoyed the lake view from our site plus we saw deer and eagles in the CG during our overnight stay. The owner Angie, was very nice and accommodating.

This will be the next campground to go

This park was very quiet, easy to access and owners were very friendly. The grounds we very well kept. Showers and bathrooms immaculate. We will definitely stop again in the future.

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.

We are group camp from lds church I needs 3 days over there

I stayed here and camped for a bike rally. I think you can only camp during an event. And cost is different from each event. Nice place

Was the only one there $ 20 with Electricity, what a Deal Steve is a great Host Also had free Music….. Cicadas

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.

Smaller campground with many older run down campers that are likely full time living here. All sites are pull through, and within 2 feet of the drive. Good spacing between sites, I didn’t feel like I was right up on my neighbors

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

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.

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.