Best RV Parks & Resorts near Watkins Glen, NY

We arrived on Saturday, 10.8.22 and are staying for a week. This is a delightful location. Rachel and Doug are cheerful, attentive, and very personable owners who are on-site at almost all times. This park just opened this year, so we checked in at an entrance building that they're using until their primary building is complete. We were greeted with delicious cookies, our site(#9) backs up to a wooded area(with a hiking path buried in there) with a lot of space. We booked early, which was a good thing because they were 100% full for Indigenous People's Day. We chose this site because there was a lot of room around it and we're used to really tightly packed RV parks. But what we found is that all of the sites are very nicely spread out with generous spacing, so that's not an issue. It's still nice to be on the outskirts. We also chose this section per a review we read to be away from the main road noise, but there really isn't much road noise to worry about, anyway. The WiFi is strong and consistent. We're using 30amps, but they also have 20 and 50amp service to each site. The water pressure is great. The bath house is new and very comfortable. Each site has a picnic table, a fire ring and lots of room for big rigs. We watched Doug neaten up sites after other RV's vacated, which shows an attention to detail we don't often find. They also drive by each site every morning to collect trash and recycling. The sunsets are spectacular over the lake(we can't see the lake from here, but it's close). There are numerous award-winning wineries surrounding us and up and down the lake. We're headed out for tastings today. We've been hiking the last few days- Watkins Glen State Park- Gorge Trail(go early or it gets REALLY crowded), Taughannock State Park- Gorge& North Ridge Trail over on Cayuga Lake, and a concert(Rufus Wainwright) at Point of the Bluff Winery over on Keuka Lake. We stopped afterward for dinner in Hammondsport at Timber Stone Grill which was truly wonderful. That's about 35- 45 minutes away. Lots more hiking trails to do in the National Forest and surrounding areas. And there's Watkins Glen, a charming town just minutes away. We highly recommend Finger Lakes RV Resort and we'll be back!

Clute Park & Campground is a pretty quite and very clean park. Sites are moderately spacious but a little packed together. Lots of seasonal sites but plenty of RV sites with full hook ups and a nice tenting area that is somewhat seperated from the RVs.

I booked site 144 at the primitive sites in Oct 2021. It was a great spot and happily, I was totally alone as no one had booked any of the sites near me( the closest people were about 400m away). The sites I was located on all had a small piece of water access which allowed you to sit by the water and the sites were relatively flat (although not perfect). I did not have to deal with any crowds since I was basically completely alone, but I imagine that during the peak season, you will be close by your neighbors as there is no separation between the campsites, just designated spots next to each other on a lawn. Located only about an hour away from Watkins glen, and made for a great home base during my visit to the finger lakes- away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist towns. Would def. Visit again.

We stayed at Sugar Hill for about 10 days, arriving right after Memorial Day weekend. The campground offers a variety of great options for various rig sizes, accommodating different needs comfortably. Its location is convenient, just a 15-minute drive from Watkins Glen, making it an ideal base for exploring the area.

During our stay, the campsite never even got near half full, providing a peaceful and uncrowded experience. For those seeking more privacy, there are numerous secluded spots along the side roads throughout the park.

However, it's worth noting that WiFi and phone service are pretty limited, typically ranging between 1-2 bars. Despite this minor inconvenience, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would recommend Sugar Hill for its tranquility and proximity to local attractions.

Watkins Glen/ Corning KOA this is a nice KOA in the Watkins Glen area. Our site was a full hookup site. Campground offered clean sites with gravel drives and grass areas between them. Offers your typical KOA amenities with a huge outdoor pool, indoor pool and hot tub, water slide, rock wall structure, zip line and mini golf which were part of our site fee price. 

Things to do in the area Watkins Glen State park(hiking, biking and scenic views of the falls and gorge), Seneca Lake(one of the finger lakes), Watkins Glen International Speedway, Corning Glass Museum(Corning, NY), Montour Falls(Montour Falls, NY), Sunset View Creamery(Farm Tour and Store).

Sites are average, needing levelers to get flat. There are a lot of seasonal rigs here. Many site options from full hook up to primitive sites. There are many family friendly activities including a pool, activities room and hay rides. The sites feel a bit crowded with little privacy. The staff is very nice and helpful. Good for families looking to keep the kids busy, not a quiet relaxing campground.

Ives Run has been a favorite site for us for the last 5 years. Lake Hammond is beautiful with great access. You can easily walk, bike, skate on miles of paved roads and you can also take the 1.5 mile roundtrip down the stone road to Pine Camp, a non-full hook up area that's on the lake edge. Plenty of wildlife to see from eagles to squirrels, chipmunks and more. This year we had a very hard time with gypsy moth caterpillars, first time we ever saw them. Camp hosts and rangers keep the campground at its best. Plenty of large full hook up sites available and AT&T and Verizon work well there. Trees are sparing enough to allow great Starlink access as well.

Cayuga Lake State Park has a massive campground but most of the sites don't have water or electricity and are squeezed together in tiny loops. If you stay, I'd recommend the 800 or 1000 loops--the sites were much bigger in those areas. But we stayed in the 100 loop (appropriately named "Minnow) and ended up leaving early because our neighbors were just too close for comfort. 

The lakefront area of the park was very nice and we enjoyed walking on the drive down in front of the lake. Plus, Seneca Falls is an adorable town and it was great to visit the Women's Rights National Historic Park and the homes of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Harriett Tubman, while we were in the area! 

To be fair to this park, we came directly from Watkins Glen State Park (which we loved) and our neighbors were rambunctious. We may have had a better opinion, had the circumstances been different. And in any event, we did really enjoy the area but decided to leave after 2 nights (rather than the 5 we had booked). 

Oh and if you have a boat--the dock area of the park seemed really nice. We'd have loved to get out on the lake!

Camped here often as a child. Now back as an adult. Great site lakeside. Very dark at night which is great. Quiet campground. Need to do self check-in if after hours. Full hook up. Great place to sit back and relax. Not much to keep busy which is how we like it. Did take a drive to see pa Grand Canyon. Had our 2 dogs with and they loved it!

The sites are all super spacious and private.    The lake and picnic areas area just amazing.  The only downside I could mention is if you area looking for Full hook up you area out of luck.   Only the inner sites had shared water connections out on the loop roads and no sewer connections you has to hit the dump station on the driveway coming in.   If you are prepared for this ahead of time it is not an issue at all.   We stayed for a week and honestly didn't want to leave.

We have gone to this campground for the past 5 years. We have always had a great experience and the camp has always been clean and bathrooms also have always been clean. Only down side is that there are not full hookups. But we really don’t mind that at all. The campground is perfect location near Keuka lake in Wine Country, also close by to branchport, Penn Yan, and also Watkins Glen! Will continue to go to this campground!

Taking everything into consideration, it’s hard to find a nicer campground to stay for a night or two weeks.

• clean, well maintained and monitored.

• large sites on macadam pads. Large fields behind most sites for activities.

• full hook ups available

• numerous hiking trails, large lake for boating, fishing and swimming.

• centrally located between Mansfield, Wellsboro and Corning

*pet friendly. Alcohol allowed

the only draw back is that it fills up quickly and you need to reserve many months ahead of time especially for holidays. Not group camping friendly because of the reservation system. No pavilions for group activities within the Campground

Wow, what an absolute delight! From the gorgeous hike up the Watkins Glen Gorge to watching the sunset over Seneca Lake to enjoying some wine from the grapes grown in the region, the Finger Lakes regions is hard to beat for total family entertainment. We came for a couple nights to check it out and stayed for over a week!

The campground at the state park is a classic one, with six loops each representing a native tribe from the area. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring, with no bells and whistles. You can choose from non-electric or electric sites with full-hookups.  We stayed in site #9, just across from the bathrooms, in the Cayuga Loop (non-electric). There is not much privacy between sites, but we were there the week after Memorial Day, so hit it during a lull period. The bathrooms are old, but kept clean and the showers are awesome. There are a couple of playgrounds for the kiddos, picnic areas/shelters, and a pool. There are also some nice cabins for those not interested in camping.

But, the campground is only the beginning of what this area has to offer! Just a short walk from the campground, you will find Watkins Glen Gorge. Entering from the main entrance (as early in the day as you are willing to get there to avoid the crowds) will afford you a walk through what feel like you have stepped into another country (or world for that matter). It is truly one of the most spectacular gorges I’ve ever seen in the U.S.!  Photos simply don’t do it justice.

In addition to great hiking and gorgeous waterfalls, this area is filled with bike trails, water sports of all kinds on Seneca Lake, Farm Sanctuary, the Watkins Glen Int’l Raceway, an extensive wine trail and more! Watkins Glen is a small town, but has all that you need to resupply…including more ice cream shops than I’ve ever seen in just a few city blocks.

We did our usual reservation-less “pull up and see what they have open” style of camping, but during the main season or race weekends, this place is nuts!  You’ll definitely need to plan ahead and make reservations if you plan to be here during the silly season. Note: Prices are lower on weekdays and you get a reduced rate for your second night, too. Bonus!

Hills Creek is a great park to camp! When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised by the size of the sites and many sites now offer full hook up!!! We did not know this on arrival as it wasn't on the site! The site was very spacious!!! Plenty of room!!!! Bathrooms were clean!!! Plenty of shade and trees to hang your hammock for relaxing! There are some short trails through the campground! Lake available for swimming complete with snack bar, including ice cream!!! The rangers offer educational programs that are free of charge! Near by attractions: PA Grand Canyon! Beautiful!!!! Go for the day and take hike! Plan on many steps though!!! You are also close to a cute little town called Wellsboro! Go and visit for the day! Warning, there are black bears and other wild life at Hills Creek, take care to lock up your coolers!!! We heard some fighting raccoons at night! Happy Camping!

A nice little campground and RV park that is within minutes of Binghamton’s attractions-including several of the carousels! There’s a lake, which is quite scenic, and several paths and trails.

We were looking to spend a couple of nights near Watkins Glen to hit the wineries, waterfalls, and nearby museums around the finger lakes of New York and this park seemed to be in a good location for us to do all that. There were other options closer to downtown Watkins Glen but they were closed for the season when we visited. This park is quite large and can accommodate any size RV with plenty of activities to keep the entire family busy without even leaving the park (but we wouldn’t recommend that because there is so much to do in the surrounding area). 

Typical KOA with a wide range of RV sites and lodging options and tons of activities and amenities. We booked online and got our KOA discount, so check-in was easy and we were greeted by friendly people. There is a mix of site types which you can pick out online. If you don’t see the type you want online, give them a call because sometimes they can move people around to accommodate you. The roads in the park and campsites are gravel but the park is easy to navigate. They do have short fences at the front and back of sites which can make maneuvering into your site a little tricky. Not sure why they have these unless it is to keep people from driving or parking on the grass. Deluxe sites with fancy paved patios are available for a bit more$$$ than standard sites. All sites have a picnic table and fire pit.

Our site was level and long enough to fit our tow car. The pad was gravel but the patio was paved. Our fire pit stuck out pretty close to the road which was a bit awkward. Sites are definitely close so upon check-in we noticed that the park was not very crowded and asked that they not put us right next to people if at all possible. The women in the office told us that our neighbors were leaving the next morning and that was the only site option. Turns out they didn’t leave and there did appear to be other sites available. Oh well! 

The park advertises free wifi and we were skeptical as to how good it would be but it turned out that it worked well at our site for surfing the internet. Our 4G Verizon phone reception was good and the open pull-thru sites work well for those wanting to use satellite. There is cable which broadcasts 70 channels. 

What we liked about this campground was: the pastoral setting yet it was close to many attractions and things we wanted to do. The hiking trail was a big plus and really appreciated by our Labrador retriever. Wifi worked great and there were lots of cable channels. Our patio was paved which is nice but it is more expensive than standard sites with grass (so we ended up paying for that). 

By far the worst thing about this park is the price. If you come here in the summer and use all the amenities then maybe we could see paying $100/night. But we really just wanted a place to park and hook-up the RV since we spent very little time there during the day. The only amenity we were even slightly interested in was the heated indoor swimming pool. 

The surrounding area boasts lots of activities from exploring the natural wonders to wineries and museums. The region is known for its waterfalls including the popular Watkins Glen Gorge that has 19 waterfalls and many more in the surrounding area. Watkins Glen sits at the southern end of Seneca Lake and offers many opportunities to get out on the water for sight-seeing and a diner cruise. Close by are 40 some wineries and breweries that draw many visitors. A 30-minute drive south will put you in the town of Corning home to the spectacular Corning Museum of Glass and the Rockwell Art Museum. Watkins Glen Speedway hosts major motor racing events including the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Click here for a link to our blog post about what we did

This was our first experience at a Hipcamp site, but we took advantage of a $30 promotion from REI and decided to try one out. Camp Elderberry is located on an organic vegetable farm in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Weekend tours of the farm are available for a nominal fee. There are two sites here, both quite separate from each other so they are very private. You can camp in an RV or in a tent on the grass. Due to recent rains, the grass was quite tall, so we did not go deep into our site, which had a view of Seneca Lake. No hookups at either site. 

Communication with Lael was very good from the beginning, and he met us as we arrived to help us get settled. We arrived much later than planned due to a flat tire, so we did not spend much time exploring the property. There is also a ½ mile hike to the beach that I would have explored if we had arrived earlier. I had read there is a porta-potty, but we did not use it. There is also potable water and a cold-water shower. No WiFi, but the cell signal was strong on Verizon. There are many wineries nearby but again, because of our late arrival, they were all closed when we got there. 

We have been exploring a variety of camping options including Tentrr, Harvest Host, RV parks, Corps of Engineers campgrounds, county parks, state parks, and national parks. Hipcamp campsites vary widely by accommodation and price. The price for Camp Elderberry was not unreasonable ($50) but is more expensive than most standard (non-private) campsites. We did enjoy the unique experience, however!

A few full hookups, some with electric and many with no hookups. Nice quiet and clean restrooms with showers!

——REASONS I STAYED HERE——

The see Watkins Glen, of course! And go paddleboarding nearby.

—————BASIC FAQ—————

[Tent camping with a Subie]

Dump station? - Yes

Water fill or hookup? - Water fill at dump station but no water hookups. Water spigots are scattered throughout each loop.

Electricity? - Yes, some loops have it but not mine

Clean site? - Yes

Clean bathroom? - Yes

Flush toilet? - Yes

Showers? - Yes

Laundry? - No

Dish washing sink? - Yes, in the bathroom

—————PROS—————

→ The access to Watkins Glen! My site was in Loop D (Onondaga Village) which has a direct hiking trail to the trail along Watkins Glen! I highly recommend going early to beat the crowds. It’s peaceful and easier to enjoy and take photos.

→ Proximity to Seneca Lake! We went paddleboarding. We put in at a boat launch at the very southeastern corner of the lake near Seneca Lake Kayak. You can paddle down to Hector Falls and see it from the water.

→ You can drive to the many waterfalls nearby. I recommend Havana Glen Park for a short hike to the waterfall. Also, drive to Chequaga Falls.

—————TIP—————

→ There’s a power outlet in the bathroom. It was very common for people to charge phones while showering. Or leaving a battery in there to charge.

—————OVERALL—————

5-stars - Speaking for Loop D, of course. Clean site, clean bathroom with hot water, access to Watkins Glen, no issues while staying there.

—————INTERNET—————

Verizon via iPhone 12: 20 mbps down and 0.03 mbps up with 74 ms ping.

Watkins Glen was absolutely beautiful. The sites are quite wooded with plenty of space in between. We stayed in a 30 ft. motorhome, and the roads within the campground were kind of tight to get through with trees and curves. The gorge trail is a MUST. Definitely go check this campsite out!

Okay, we all get that there is awesome hiking, scenery, wineries, racing, and more in the Watkins Glen area. So let’s just chat about the campground.

The bathhouses were A+. Clean, well maintained, newer…just overall impressive!

There were water fill up stations EVERYWHERE! We camped in the dry camping loop - it was the only one available to us in our 35’ class A. We didn’t miss anything!

The playground was OUTSTANDING! All adults in our party and we couldn’t help but jump on some of the swings. It’s a newer type playground and is hands down the best I’ve ever seen!

Last, and certainly not least…personnel.

We had the opportunity to speak with the campground ranger, facilities engineer, and gate attendants. Everyone was accommodating, friendly, warm, helpful, and more. :).

One of the BEST campgrounds out there! Thank you New York State, the NYState park system and all the folks at Watkins Glen State Park Campground who make the magic happen!!!

One mention: our site was rated for a 25’ RV, we were 35’ long and fit nicely. Other sites rated for 35’ RV were NOT long enough. (We had to switch sites).

Definitely one of the top places to camp and visit in New York, Watkins Glen State Park never disappoints. Each time I come back, I find something new to discover and have a great time doing that. Pair awesome trails and camping space with world class wineries up the lake, you cannot go wrong.