Best Cabin Camping near Waverly, NY

Campers arriving at Watkins Glen State Park are immediately captivated by its dramatic gorge scenery, where 19 waterfalls cascade through narrow stone walls. Their campsites are nestled among hardwood forests, offering a perfect balance of sunlit clearings and shady retreats. Each site comes equipped with a picnic table and fire ring, making it easy to prepare meals after a day spent exploring the park’s famous Gorge Trail. The park’s facilities blend rustic charm with modern comforts: clean flush toilets, hot-water showers, and convenient potable water stations. Hiking enthusiasts appreciate the interconnected trail system, which includes the popular Rim Trail for elevated views of the gorge, as well as more secluded footpaths through hemlock groves. Families particularly enjoy the nearby swimming pool and easy-access picnic areas overlooking Seneca Lake. To simplify travel logistics for out-of-state visitors, many campers opt to pre-book an airport transfer so they can arrive at Ithaca or Elmira–Corning Regional Airport and head straight to the park without the hassle of car rentals. Those planning to explore multiple stops along the Finger Lakes often choose the provider’s reliable city-to-city rides for comfortable, door-to-door transportation between destinations. All in all, Watkins Glen State Park delivers an unforgettable combination of awe-inspiring gorge hikes, well-appointed campsites, and family-friendly amenities. Campers seeking both adventure and relaxation will find this New York treasure hard to surpass.

This park is technically a “state park” because the land for it was donated to the state for public use. However, once the state became the official stewards, there werent funds in the state budget to maintain it as a park. A lical group, the Friends of Salt Springs, stepped up and offered to maintain the park with funds raised by their group. The result is a small but unique property open to the public for day use (picnicking and hiking and fishing) along with 2 small rustic campgrounds. One campground has a large open mowed grassy meadow with level sites for car camping or small campers, no hookups are available but each site has a fire ring and picnic table. On the other side of the parks trout stream are seven secluded primitive hike-in tent sites along with three basic camper cabins. The Friends of Salt Springs makes a good effort to maintain these two rustic campgrounds, however it seems there isnt a ranger on site at night so a camper said the meadow campground can get a little noisy some nights. The hike in sites are relatively quiet and secluded though, and are positioned nicely along the stream, one site actually adjacent to a good swimming hole.

The camper cabins are basic with bunks, bring all your own gear. They are fairly new and have electricity but no water or heat.

On the grounds in the day use area are picnic spits, a pavilion, and an activity barn. When I was there, the barn was featuring a local quilt show.

The special aspect of this park are the hiking trails through old growth hemlock forest, said to be the largest hemlocks in Pennsylvania. The trout stream also cascades through some some waterfalls, and there are gorges with unique geology.

There is a village nearby with limited supplies, you may want to stock up on groceries before heading out to this somewhat remote park. There is, however, a local brewery, plus an odd coffee shop featuring both donuts and ammo, an unusual combination…..

This is a gated campground that we stayed at 6/30/19-7/04/19. We are NOT an RV. We own a Napier tent that hooks to our truck so that we can sleep up in the bed. However, due to it being a holiday week, the tent sites were completely booked and they only have 4(which also have water& electric). The tent sites are located in the back of the campground behind the sports field within the trees. I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to see them but they have them pictured on their website. They let us book an RV site and it was rough setting up on a gravel RV site but we understood that we were not within a normal tent element and placed an extra tarp under the tent. The campground is located at the top of some beautiful and scenic driving through farmland in Pennsylvania and you will be 30 minutes from anything like shopping or small town amenities(we drove to Walmart after setting up to get our perishables since we drive up from Virginia). Our site had water and electric, was a drive through spot for a typical RV with a section to the side of the drive through for the fire pit and picnic table. We were located right next to the shower/bathrooms/playground and had some tree coverage and shade. A lot of the RVs in the campground are permanent sites and our neighbors never showed so we had a quiet buffer but it was not a noisy campground. It appeared that they cleaned the bathrooms twice daily and we were impressed with the cleanliness of the bathroom/showers. There were 4 in the building so we never had to wait. The staff were friendly and helpful. They had a store right next to the pool area that offered common items and RV'er might need with a small grocery area as well which included bundles of wood($6 honor system after hours) and Ice($1.78 per bag). We were allowed to run an account which we paid at the end of our stay. Our campsite was required to be paid at check in. The campground is 18 acres with gravel roads, a sports field, fishing, horse shoes, bocce ball, multiple playgrounds, a rec center with some games, claw machines etc. a splash pad and salt water pool. You will be doing a lot of walking or bring your bicycles like we did. They offer scheduled activities for holidays etc and various weekend activities. You can rent non electric boats and they offer catch& release fishing without a PA license in the lake. My son caught 2 sunfish :) They have guidelines for visitors and quiet hours(my cousin came to visit us in the evenings as she lived close by). We enjoyed camping here even if we were on an RV site. We booked site 211 which had the little bit of tree coverage and was located right next to the showers/bathrooms/playground with a quick walk to the lake for fishing. Most of the other available sites in the road ahead of us had no tree coverage but closer to the lake had more trees and shade. OR, just get an actual tent site :) but they are all the way at the back of the campground, furthest from the lake so I actually preferred our site.

We had the pleasure of renting a cabin at World's End State Park for the first time in February 2016 after being convinced by friends to check it out. We were immediately in love with the babbling river that ran right beside our cabin. On cold days and nights we could stay warm under our roof covered front porch fireplace and still enjoy being outside. There is no better place to curl up with a book and some coffee on a cold, winter morning. The cabins stay very warm with a wood burning stove- sometimes even too warm and windows need to stay cracked open. We purchased wood from a local gentleman who delivered. A list of these services are available inside the check-in area, which also serves as a cool local mini-museum of sorts. There are several amazing lookout spots in the area that you can access via car. The cabins generally sleep 6-8 very comfortably with 4 double bunk beds in most. The cabins also have electricity and include a stove and refrigerator. There is no plumbing, so no sink or toilet but there are several very well maintained and equipped bathroom houses throughout the cabins area. The bathrooms are private and have showers and dishwashing stations. If you are looking for comfort, bring your own good camp chair. The cabins are only equipped with wooden chairs and a wooden bench seat. As soon as we left the park and were able to access cell phones again, I booked another cabin for myself and kids for their Spring Break in April 2016. This may become a tradition as we had a fantastic time hiking the area in the Spring. Butternut trail is right in the campground and is a perfect two-hour hike for kids who don't mind a good hike. There are some tricky spots, but it's manageable and well worth it when you reach the lookout at the top. The folks at the welcome center are knowledgeable and can point you in the direction of some great local trails. Forksville General Store is also nearby and there you can get cell service and a nice meal. The owners were regionally from Philadelphia and according to my son, make a fantastic cheesesteak. We are excited to visit World's End again this spring and winter. We have not visited in the summer but hear that it gets more crowded. We have friends that recently stayed there in a tent campsite and had a great visit.

This is one of the main attractions for the area. Locals come here when the weather is nice.

We stayed in yurts, which are round tents ($38 per night). We had a cozy wooden deck and slept four people in two bunk beds. We also had a cooking stove, refrigerator, heat and electricity.

There is plenty of fishing and hiking to go around.

Really recommend this campsite if you have a little extra money to spend and are looking for a light getaway with friends.

If you're looking for a secluded place for yourself or with a loved one, I would look around the area for a less-popular campsite.

Tent camping in the large loop area. 

Escaping the Maryland summer heat, the cooler temperatures in Ricketts Glen State Park was perfect. This park offers a variety of activities. Hiking along the Falls Trail being a highlight. The Large Loop is closer and banks along the lake, where there are two separate beach areas perfect for swimming. Kayak rentals, fishing are some of the great water things you can enjoy. 

The campsite was perfectly sized for us - tent campers and close but not too close to the clean restrooms. A water spigot was handy across the road. Behind the restroom building is a dishwashing station. While there are showers there, the hot water was actually...cold.

There is a great small camp store if you need last minute items, and the concession stands at the furthest beach sells firewood and ice cream.

There are cabins available to rent, which looked really comfy. All linens, etc need to be brought along though.

General: It really does feel like you drive to the end of the world to get to this beautiful park/campground. We camped here mid-week at the beginning of November and when we arrived with friends, we were the only two campsites occupied but by the next day, several more campers arrived. There are two campgrounds– one with hookups and one without; both campgrounds are fairly small(in terms of the number of sites). There are also rustic cabins with electricity but no running water. This is another Pennsylvania state park with excellent recycling facilities. Firewood was for sale on the honor system conveniently located near the campsites plus trail maps which was good as we had zero cell service. 

Site Quality: The sites are spaced a decent amount apart and are generous in size. The pet-designated sites are close to the road (154), although there was not a lot of traffic (at least when we were there). Each site has a large picnic table and fire ring and we stayed in the area with electric hookups. Most of the sites are nicely wooded. Bathhouse: This is the third Pennsylvania state park we have stayed at recently and all get an A+ for the bathhouses. Very clean, heated, and the showers appear to be in good condition (did not use so cannot comment on more than the appearance). There was also a dishwashing sink with dish detergent INSIDE the bathhouse (women’s– not sure about men’s!), something I have never seen before but which was appreciated in the colder months. 

Activities: We came for the hiking and there are numerous trails in both the state park and neighboring Loyalsock State Forest, some of which are accessible from the campgrounds. The trails are very well marked and most of them prohibited hunting but when we tried to hike to Cottonwood Falls, hunting was allowed; since we were not wearing blaze orange, we decided to turn back(we did see some “lesser” falls). I recommend the High Rock Trail(accessible from the Visitor Center) but do it in a counterclockwise direction. There is a lot of rock scrambling, but it is a beautiful trail. The visitor center has a nice playground, but it is a mile away from the campground. In season, you can horseback ride, swim, hunt, or cross-country ski or snowmobile. The Park is open year-round. 

Conclusion: This Park turned out to be a hidden gem for us, but I think it was more so because it was so sparsely inhabited; as with many other campgrounds we have stayed at, I’m sure it would have a completely different vibe during the summer months.