Paintsville Lake State Park Campground

Spent the night here passing through. I did make a reservation just in case but there were a couple sites open. Nice, small campground, most sites are back in but there are a few pull through sites. The staff were friendly and the campground seems maintained fairly well. No wifi and Verizon is touchy. Out in the recreation area I had one bar and LTE though the data seemed pretty good. My site was right at the beginning of the campground. Inside my camper I could only get a signal if I put my phone in the window. The signal was good enough to stream and FaceTime but if I took it out of the window I’d lose signal.

The sites are nice and not on top of each other. They are a nice finer type gravel and mostly level. Big patio area with a picnic table and fire pit. Some of the sites at the front will give you a decent view of the lake, site 18 being the best I believe, I was in site 20.

It’s open year round according to the website. Not sure how big rig friendly it is and I couldn’t find any information on the website, I’d call first. I don’t recall seeing any 5th wheel or motor homes back there.

Overall, very nice campground and I would visit again. There is an 1850’s mountain house in the park just prior to the entrance to the campground/recreation area. There is a fee and you’ll have to check the hours. I forgot to take a picture but the song on the gift shop door said certain days by appointment only and I think Friday thru Sunday they were open for a period of time.

As the title says, it is a nice campground, and we would recommend it to anyone, but actually getting a reservation is difficult. I tried for two years before I finally got a reservation. While we were camping (last weekend in March), I checked again and it was all booked up 😨 all summer, crazy. Primitive sites are easy to reserve, and they are in a nice little holler, that offers plenty of shade from the sun, which will be nice in the summer.

They have nice bathrooms/showers/toilets. Need updated but cleanliness is what matters most. Laundry facilities on site too. Wifi available bc there is no LTE service. We love fishing on Paintsville Lake! The boat dock is just above the playground and basketball/volleyball courts, plus there are plenty of places to fish on the bank. Gorgeous views. The Marina has a restaurant in in, but we didn’t get the chance to try it. There is also a gas station 2-3mins up the road that has firewood and propane. It is 10 mins from town too. It is right on the lake so expect geese poop. And as for doggie poop, they even have poo bag stations set up in several different places! Of course we bring our own, but it’s the first campground I’ve seen offer that.

The RV sites are level with gravel and spaced apart. If you’re thinking about camping here AND can get a reservation, do it.

We tent camped at one of the hike-in (it's a well maintained gravel path) sites at PLSP, #33. This is the first site on your way in. I was by myself with my son and dog so I felt more comfortable being here near the bathhouse. There are raccoons who like to eat so be sure to put your food up at night. The lake is really calm. There are boats coming in and out but not "traffic" per se, no issues at all kayaking and we went out several times. Fishing was good with rooster tails and panther martin spinners (silver), 1/8 and 1/16 oz. The water was down so there were a lot of places to paddle onto the shore and wade fish. There is some access right at the campground for littles to get in the water. I really recommend water shoes as there are some hooks/lures in the water. We never left the campground during the weekend, so I can't comment on the proximity to restaurants but it was only 5-8 min or so back to town. I had terrible phone service with Sprint here. We did have one new camper come in at 3am on Saturday morning to set up their tent and being so close to the entrance of the hike-in spots, I woke up. That was tough. When we go back, I'll pick a site further back up the hiking path and bring a wagon to tote our stuff. The staff at the gate are amazing and so friendly. The restrooms are clean. Three showers. NO ONE other than the tent campers seemed to use the bath house so I never waited for a shower or anything and there were several families tent camping and the rv sites were completely full. It's a really nice and safe place. I really recommend it and look forward to going back. One thing, the actual tent pad was 11x13 and seemed a bit small but worked fine for us.