Best Cabin Camping near Tupper Lake, NY

Bike path, kayak rentals, close to Lake Placid Olympic center, Wild Center in Tupper Lake

Cranberry Lake is a fantastic place to get away from it all. It really has so much to offer. Many of the sites offer quite a bit of privacy from your neighbor, and are laid out nicely for tent camping. We go there to kayak so it’s also nice that there are a lot of water front sites. If hiking is your thing, there’s a nice trail right within the campground. It’s not a terribly long hike, but it takes you up to a spectacular view of the lake and islands. Bonus points for the campground being within 30 minutes of two breweries (Tupper Lake) 👍🏻

Beaver Camp (or, officially Adirondack Mennonite Camping Assoc.), is a classic summer youth sleep-away camp on Beaver Lake. Sleeping in cabins with bunk beds, swimming, canoes, and a high ropes course, gathering around the campfire to end the day- Beaver Camp has it all.

Weekend and week long programming for youth and families, or site rental of cabins and platform tents is available, as well as day use access to the beach and high ropes course.

This camp is a great way to access a beautiful area in a way customized for your family!

Great getaway in upstate New York

This site has good tent sites that are separate from RV area and rental cabins. Very reasonable rates and friendly staff, also showers on site tho they're a bit rustic. Great experience; if you tent, try to grab a spot on the outer ring for a quieter time, larger space and better views

Most of the campsites at Fish Creek Pond are along the waterfront, offering easy access to the pond. Some campers even build temporary docks that they leave behind for subsequent campers. Most of these sites are huge and provide areas that are relatively flat, even if some parts slope toward the pond. Sites in the low 130s tend to be narrower. The sites ring the pond; at night you can see the lights of campers on the opposite bank and listen to the call of the loons. At 10pm, Taps will ring out to mark the beginning of quiet hours. The firepits are deteriorating and do not have grates. Mine was half filled with debris, ash, and the previous campers discarded food.

Bathrooms throughout the campground provide toilets and running water in old CCC constructed buildings that have been renovated somewhat and are clean, but small with a single sink. They also come with a warning not to leave items plugged in because of risk of fire or theft. A newer, large, centrally located bathroom provides showers. 

The day use area and beach were closed for the summer of’20 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

There are two entrances to the campground, but one of them is closed in the evening. Depending on the direction of your arrival, you may need to continue past the first entrance you reach. Signs will direct you even if Google doesn't!

There’s a trading post just over the bridge from the campground where you can buy gas, necessities, order a sandwich, pizza, or barbecue(daily menu posted in back by the deli). In the parking lot out front, there’s an ice cream truck that’s open in the afternoon. If you’re looking for paddling maps, check behind the counter at the trading post or at nearby Hickock Livery.

There's a bike trail in the campground and you'll see lots of kids on bikes. In addition to the numerous paddling opportunities in the area, several of the surrounding towns have created hiking challenges featuring 3-9 easy to moderate peaks in their vicinity. Tupper Lake offers not only a hiking triad, but a paddling triad. The reward for completing each series is a patch. Occasionally a single bar of coverage on Verizon, very spotty and random, so I left my phone on airplane mode most of the time.

On my last morning, I finally spotted through the mist the loons that had entertained me with their calls throughout my stay - 6 of them!

Great Cabins! Lots to do!

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I am one of the lucky ones who gets gear to review from time to time. We recently tested out the Aftershokz Titanium Bone Conduction Headphones at this gorgeous campground in the Adirondacks! Pretty cool…

Gear Review

What we liked most about this product:

• Versatile: Can be used just about anywhere you want to be able to listen to music or a podcast (without disturbing others), but also want to be able to hear people coming down the trail, birds singing, the ocean crashing along the shore, etc. They are just as great in a library as they are outside.
• Compact: While they don’t fold down as small as a pair of traditional headphones, they are pocket-sized and can easily be stored in a jacket or a pocket of a backpack.
• Lightweight: You barely feel them on your head and are very comfortable to wear for long periods of time.
• Better for Ear Health: Because the headphones use bone conduction technology rather than sit inside your ear, they are much better for the long term health of your hearing.
• Blue Tooth Technology: Cordless is wonderful…enough said!

What could be improved:

• Adjustability: If they were made to adjust to each person’s head size, they would be even more comfortable. If you have a smaller head, they drape down a bit at the nape of your neck and bounce a bit while walking/cycling. They fit my husband’s head perfectly, but are a bit large on me.

Product Video Review: https://youtu.be/uj20w4_Yu14

Campground Review

Wow, what a gorgeous campground! This one came recommended from a friend and we fell in love at first sight. The campground reminded us of summer camp on the lake, as it seemed frozen in time. Each site has a picnic table and open grill and all sites are non-electric. We stayed in site #45, right on the edge of the lake, with great kayak access.

We spent one day kayaking on the lake and another day hiking. While the mosquitoes weren’t bad at the campground itself, they are terrible on the trails this time of year, so bring your bug spray, or better yet, bug shirts! We’ll need to come back in the winter and do some snowshoeing on these trails, so we can enjoy them mosquito free.

The bathrooms are kept tidy, the shower house is classic and clean, and there is an extensive recycling facility (yay for NY and ADK!). There is also a sand volleyball court and basketball hoop. Bonus: There was a huge stack of free wood piled near the shower house!

The Village of Cranberry Lake has some supplies, but not much except the very basics at the general store. You’ll need to head to Star Lake or Tupper Lake for anything of significance.

We did our usual reservation-less “pull up and see what they have open” style of camping, but during the main season, this place is busy! You’ll definitely need to plan ahead and make reservations if you plan to be here during the crazy season.

Normal KOA with the same activities but the location is beautiful. Whiteface Mountain isn’t too far and you can drive to the summit and hike to the top. The town of Lake Placid is also very lively and they have lots of nice shops and restaurants. Amazing location with lots of wildlife and the cabin at the campground was very homey.

I have done tent, cabin and t.v. camping here. a lot of family activity in my favorite place. the outdoor choices are plenty, but the campground is slipping trying to be too much and seems to let the infrastructure slip. it is owned by corporate KOA and it shows that the making money is more important than making it a home away from home that I use to love.. still will come back

We found this sweet spot perfect for our weekend winter stays to attend our daughter’s collegiate alpine ski races at the hill where the Olympics once were. Clean, cozy and warm can describe our cabin that was on the beautiful river and wooded enough for privacy but close to the mountain and anemities in Lake Placid. Our dog Crawford loved exploring as did we. This is a place where we are planning on some summer and fall weekends to experience the Adirondack’s and have a place to land each day. Highly recommend.

This campground has the best staff you can find in northern New York. The whole time they are open they have activities planned for the kids all summer long. The staff is always smiling and welcoming you into the campground. Quiet and comfortable place to stay. If your kids like to read. There is place they can find a book and read a book.

Stayed here on a busy Memorial Day weekend. The Cabin was fantastic and so much was provided! Our favorite being the Keurig with Coffee pods and the option to purchase more from the amazing onsite Store! (That also offered and excellent menu of food throughout the day) The Lake Placid area is beautiful and there's so much to do! Hiking in the High Peaks is great and for those who aren't able to hike, The Whiteface Highway is minutes down the road and will take you to the top of the mountain, offering excellent views of the Adirondack Mountains! There's also hiking by the Ausable River on the Campgrounds with a beautiful waterfall.

Our family has been camping here every summer for the past 40 years. We couldn’t believe it today when we heard from the front desk at check-out that they are closing this location for good at the end of the season (mid-October). No explanation was offered other than KOA purchased another campground less than a mile down the road (KOA Wilmington/North Pole) and that it would be the only option after this year. We went over to check out the “new” property and it is nothing at all like the KOA Whiteface. It’s not nearly as scenic, the pool is gross, the cabins look ancient, not much privacy at all. It makes no sense. We just don’t understand why KOA would shutter one of its most beautiful properties in favor of the rundown mess down the street. What gives KOA?!

My friend is a local and recommended this campground for the sunsets. The rain made that difficult to confirm, but we loved the place. It’s the standard weird-ass New York thing where you have a site and you can park wherever the hell you want within it (so foreign to me), but you should spend some time with the map. Site 158 is probably the dopest (we were next door in 159), but there are some others near the lake that would be sweet. The further back from the lake, the more of a camping-in-the-deep-woods vibe. Looks like some folks leave a camper here all summer (can’t imagine spending that much, but it’s probably cheaper than a lake house) and many bring boats. I think if you’ve got a SUP, canoe or kayak, you’re gonna dig this campground in specific and the area in general.

There’s no explaining the views around here. The mountains are beautiful, Lake Placid is beautiful, and this campsite is amazing. It’s pretty secluded, and from what others have said.. yes, beware of the roads coming in. 40MPH is too fast for these torn up roads. The campsite itself is great. They have cabins, lean-tos, and tent sites. My boyfriend and I braved the 12° nights and pitched a tent. There were a lot of campers, but the sites are spaced out and people were very respectful of noise/lights/other campers. I was bummed out to see no wildlife, but we did see a moose print on the hike up Mount Marcy!! (Unfortunately I only made it about 3/4 of the way and had to come back down. Not in amazing shape, but working on it 😂)

This is really one of my favorite spots. The Adirondack Loj is warm and inviting. The facilities are clean and well kept. I will FOR SURE be visiting again soon.

Solid 10/10 would camp again! We stayed at the Heart Lake Campground for a week and a half utilizing it as our home base for adventures into the High Peaks Wilderness and the greater Adirondack region. We had a very pleasant stay here and personally found the weekdays to be best for “camp days” given there were few people—weekends are PACKED and there were more than a couple of party sites. It did appear that you would be able to drive in without reservation on a weekday and find yourself a site! Specifically, our site was fairly flat and most were like this but there were some that appeared to have a slope if you happened to be car camping. There are two wash houses with showering and bathroom amenities that are cleaned weekly (from what we observed). Multiple water fill stations sprinkled throughout the campground area. This campground is primarily tent centric, however, there are yurts, lean-to’s, and a handful of cabins available (and of course the ADK Loj has rooms). There is Wi-Fi at the Loj and meals are served but we believe these are for Loj guests only.

We had a relaxing weekend getaway. The staff was nice to make sure you are taken care of