Best Cabin Camping near Balsam Grove, NC

I found this campground through airbnb. They have tent camping as well as two cottages. The cottages are titled "Paddlers Paradise- Camp Driftwood Cottage" and have cable TV, a laptop friendly work space, heating, air conditioning, and a private entrance. The tent camping sites are titled "Camp Site- Camp Driftwood" and have fire rings, picnic tables, and access to a shared bathhouse and common area. Both of these have free parking and are located right on the French Broad River. The water is easily accessible and tubing is frequently seen along the bank. The entrance to the area is directly off the road, but has a VERY steep decline immediately following. Be cautious in driving too far up the bank as the path becomes soft, especially after a good rain. Overall, a small and personable camping option that is worth a visit!

My family is usually tent campers, but we decided this year we didn't want to deal with the hassle of setting up & breaking down camp. We chose this campground because of the rustic camping cabins they offer. The price is right, and the experience felt just like our usual camping trips without the set-up (& no worries about leaking tents during rain!).

Cabins are VERY rustic (perfect for us), one-room, with a handful of bunk beds & electricity. Ours had 3 bunk beds, so slept all 6 of us easily. You bring your own bed linens, and use the same shower-house/restrooms as tent campers would. Your site has a picnic table & fire ring. I believe they asked us to keep food out of the cabin. Not a big deal, since the cabins are basically just enough room to sleep anyway. We did breakfast most mornings of our week-long stay at our own campsite, as well as a few easy dinners (hotdogs), but for our bigger dinners we used their picnic shelter (which has a decent grill & a lot more space). If the park had been very busy, it might have been a little difficult to do so, since they only have the one picnic shelter, but we honestly didn't see more than a handful of other guests during our stay.

The grounds themselves are nicely kept. They come around every morning & pick up your trash from your campsite. They do have a pool, playground, park store, bathhouse. All the essentials. Did notice that the pool & bathhouse were often closed for cleaning mid-day. The bathhouse had a sign stating cleaning took place between 1-2pm, but it seemed like that block of time always ran over quite a bit. Not too big a deal, since most days we were out doing things off-site for the bulk of mid-day, but if you were tent camping & stay on the campground all day I could see that being a lot more annoying. The bathhouse is pretty typical of most state and national parks - maybe even a bit nicer. Kept well cleaned.

For the price, & the number of additional amenities, this place was perfect! Lots of waterfalls, hikes, & opportunities for outdoor activities in the area. Cherokee's not far away, and definitely worth a visit.

We had a great time staying here. Some of the sights were rather inclined, but they listed this on the website when booking(it's on a mountain after all). The areas between most of the sites was spacious, we were able to hang 2 hammocks to chill in. The Bathhouses had been remodeled and were kept clean while we were there. (There wasn't hand soap at the sinks that was a little weird for me).  The Large trash bins were located back down across from the Park Center, as was the play ground. It would have been more convenient for campers to have these things closer but were convenient for day use visitors. The park center is a gorgeous stone/log cabin type building with a long porch facing the Swimming area. There are Adirondack chairs on the porch, then between the porch and the lake are wooden lounge chairs and benches to relax on while taking a break from swimming or hanging out. There are miles of trails and streams to explore. We had a lovely time and plan to visit again soon.

The park is very well maintained. You can tell the owner takes pride in the park. The place is laid out so that almost every site is creekside. Bathrooms are placed all throughout the park. plenty of parking. extremely nice bath house with 4 showers and dressing area separate as well as 4 toilet rooms also had 3 washers and 4 dryers, looked very new. plenty of hot water. we stayed in a camping cabin which had a full bed and sleeping loft. the loft is very large, 3 10-12 yrs old as well as 3 3-4 yr olds fit up there nice and comfy. they have camping cabins, fully equipped cabins, rv sites as well as tent sites. every site has a grill/fire pit and picnic table. they gave a camp store with firewood and just about anything else you need or forgot to bring. the town of sylva nc is only 15 minutes away and it has fast food, restaurants and, grocery and a walmart.

PROS 

Discounted camp fee with senior pass 

Reserved 169 days prior to arriving 

Friendly and helpful gate attendant 

Nearly 100% shade at each site 

Excellent dark sky viewing 

Private sites with large space along with vegetation between sites 

Very quiet 

Asphalt parking pad surrounded with bean size gravel 

Concrete picnic table 

Metal fire pit with cooking grate 

2 hook lantern pole 

Electric at water connection for heated water hose connection 

Recycle bins in campground loop 

Trash dumpsters immediately out of campground loop 

Firewood for sale but gate attendant told us to buy at Ingles (grocery store) where it is $3 bundle cheaper and we did! 

Next to North Carolina Arboretum 

Close to Asheville Outlet Mall and Camping World 

CONS 

3 bear sitings a day prior to our arrival in campground, according to gate attendant 

No overnight gate closure even tho RULES proved at check-in stated gates closed at 10pm, but no open hours in RULES

 Lakeview site 38 not level 

Up hill sewer connection at Lakeview site 38 

Fire ring not cleared of ash upon our arrival 

Non-moveable concrete picnic table and beyond camper awning 

2 toilets and 2 showers for entire Lakeview Loop (21 campsites). There were lines! 

Low hanging tree branches over roadways and roadside tree branches over roadways so it was a maneuvering obstacle challenge to not scrape camper roof and sides Campground roads narrow with tight curves along with roadway asphalt dropped off to steep shoulders; could be challenging to novice rig drivers (as we witnessed that more than once) 

Two-and- a-half-mile drive on a twisty hilly road through residential neighborhood to get to the campground 

No WiFi 

1 bar Verizon

This is an absolute top-notch campground.  It just opened in the spring of 2020 and I can already tell this is going to be a very popular place.

First, the staff is incredible.  Everyone is friendly, helpful, and goes out of their way to make you feel at home.  The owner was onsite every day and checked in on us several times.

The camping options are very unique and diverse.  They have your typical RV sites (all full hookups) and tent sites, all of which have green space around them.  Our site backed up to a beautiful stream with some trees for hammocks and shade.  The tent sites are clustered together next to a stream in the woods, providing tons of shade on hot days.  Nearby are a few treehouses that you can rent, similar to old school sleep-away camping cabins.  Around the corner from the tents are several vintage RVs, many from the 50s, that have been completely renovated with beautiful interiors and modern updates.  They each have their own deck, fire pit, and grill.  My mom stayed in one of these while we were visiting and loved it!  There are also camping pods - basically an igloo shaped cabin that is good for a couple people.  Yurts are just up the hill from those, alongside two beautiful tiny homes that are some of the most unique campground rentals I've ever seen.  Book these early - we were here in late June and they were already full until October!

The amenities are very nice as well.  There is a resort style pool with built in seating almost all the way around.  It's next to a pavilion area with picnic tables, corn hole, a community fire pit, outdoor movie screen, and performance stage.  Nearby is an inflatable jumping pad and volleyball net.  I spoke with the owner and he has plans to add many other game such as bocce ball as well as complete construction on a playground and wooded play area for kids.  You can also rent many campground games at the camp store such as spike ball and ladder ball.  More hiking trails are being added, and a large dog park made exercising our pup easy.

Oh and the wifi is off the charts for a campground.  Total coverage everywhere you go.  I was getting 30/30 speeds at my site.  I work remote so it was very important to have good internet, and Emberglow did not disappoint here!  They obviously invested heavily in a quality network infrastructure and it shows.

The location is nice - off the main roads so you get plenty of peace and quiet, but only 20 minutes to Lake Lure and Chimney Rock.  It's easily accessible from Charlotte, Asheville, and Spartanburg, SC.

Every campground owner needs to come take a look at this place.  This is what campgrounds should be aiming for - clean, modern, lots of nature, friendly staff, good prices, and fun activities.  I was not paid or asked or endorsed in any way to do this review, I simply think this is an awesome place that you should come check out!