Best RV Parks & Resorts near Bessemer City, NC

Took the new pop-up to Kings Mountain State Park this past weekend and had a great time. The sites are pretty close together, but we still had adequate room to spread out. Each site has water, 30 amp electric, a picnic table, and a fire pit ring. Our site was a pull-through, but the majority of them are back-in. Throughout the campground, AT&T had great cell coverage, but Verizon was non-existent. Our site was a stone's throw from the bath/shower house, which was clean and recently updated. When not in the side, a short walk takes you to the Trading Post, a small store selling firewood ($7), ice, souvenirs, and sundries. Next to that is a large playground connected to a pavilion. A short 2 minute drive (or longer hike if you are feeling ambitious) takes you to the Kings Mountain Military Museum where you can learn of all things historical to Kings Mountain. There's a small model village and numerous other attractions to view while at the park as well. Overall this was a great experience. It's close to home for us, and the price was fantastic ($30 nightly). Let me know if you have any other questions!

Overall, this is a very nice, clean park conveniently located to the interstate I-85) and attractions in the area. It has all the amenities you would expect to find at a KOA such as a swimming pool, playground, dog park, miniature golf, store, clubhouse, and more (including goats). It is by far the nicest private campground in the area that we have stayed at.

This KOA has 127 sites offering varying degrees of services to accommodate RV's, tents, and those wanting to rent cabins. We chose a 50-amp full hook-up back-in site but were upgraded to a pull-thru so we could be in a sunny location to mitigate the chilly air. How nice of them! Our site (#79) was perfectly level as were most others (but not all). Water, electric, and cable hook-ups were well placed at the site and worked fine. We paid $37/night(with the KOA member discount). Nice, large grassy area for dogs to walk and sniff and there is a decent size dog park.  Roads and pads are hard packed gravel with grass in between sites. Some sites are set in a wooded area while some are out in the open with plenty of sun and satellite coverage. The park is big rig friendly and the roads are easily navigable. All sites have a picnic table and some had fire pits but ours did not. Cable is included and offered over 50 channels. Wifi worked well at our site.  The laundry was small with three washers and three dryers but very clean and had a decent book exchange. The bathroom and showers were super clean and looked like they were updated recently. 

The campground is extremely clean and the owners/employees are super friendly. There is a short hiking trail (less than a mile) through the woods and plenty of green space in front of some of the pull-thrus. playground large swimming pool with large deck putt putt with lots of goat humor. 

The only downside would be the closeness of sites but that is pretty much what you expect from private RV parks. Fortunately, we did not have neighbors right next to us which gave us more space. I'm usually not a KOA fan but have to say this one was great for our overnight stay and we would recommend it.

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!

Older campground lots of shade.  staff very friendly and helpful. We were really surprised with how much has been invested in Carowinds over the years by Cedar Fair that the campground has been untouched.  Bathrooms/bathhouses were very clean and seem to be the one part of the campground that has been updated.  One section of the campground has been turned into long term camping and many looked like they had been there for years.  campground was quiet other than noise from air traffic as airport is nearby but it was minor.   Campsites have decent space in between each other which is great bc the sites are small in length and you will be parking either beside the rig or sideways in front of it. We stayed in a back-in site and most back-in sites seemed rather level but pull throughs were hit or miss on that aspect.  If you are staying here to go to the park then it is very convenient and has an excellent shuttle that runs frequently and drops you off near the front gate.  Very small camp store that has most of the basics. Campground overall is clean, safe and secure but we expected a little more from theme park campground.  We live nearby and are pass holders at Carowinds so we will likely stay frequently due to the convenience.

This campground is very close to I-26 and I-81 which makes for an easy in and out for an overnight stay. We stopped for one night after a long day of driving and wanted a full hook-up pull-thru which was long enough for our 45’ RV and tow car. The roads inside the park were easy to navigate and pull into our site and nearby are fuel stations and fast food restaurants. 

Most of the campers in the park were permanent residents and their campsites were pretty junky. Just to create an image in your head, our neighbors had lots of kid’s toys, trash bags, appliances, and laundry scattered about their site while others had old cars, dilapidated sheds, car tires, and tarps stretched across their campers. Other than a swimming pool and decent playground, there really aren’t too many amenities or reasons that you might want to stay here, other than for an overnight. The bathroom and showers were clean and there is a nice laundry. Roads in the campground and at sites are gravel with grass/gravel patios and picnic table. Not all sites have fire pits. Our site (#102) did not have a fire pit but there was an indentation under the leaves where it looked like there was a fire pit and there were a bunch of rocks piled up against a tree that could be used to create one without anyone objecting. All sites are full hook-up, some being 30-amp and others 50. Most sites are pull-thrus and level. Our over-the-antenna picked up about 40 television channels, including all the major stations. Our Verizon phone picked up a 5G signal. 

There were signs everywhere about not letting your dog off-leash so I’m assuming there was a problem in the past. While we were there, we never encountered any unruly dogs or any off-leash. There are lots of large trees for shade which are not a problem for pulling into or out of a site but may be a problem if you are trying to get satellite television. The sewer outlet at our site was placed in the back of our site and I needed a hose about 35’ long to reach it.  Some of the back-in sites are pretty close but it appeared they were for seasonal/permanent campers.

The electrical hookup was a little sketchy. It appears they updated an old electrical box with a new 50-amp outlet and taped the other one shut so you could not open it. There was no breaker on the new outlet you could access. Despite the way it looked, we never had a problem with the electric.  Our sewer was a different issue.  The sewer drain needed to be cleaned out because when I opened the grey valve it did not drain properly and began to overflow.  I had to shut the valve, wait for the water to go down, and reduce the flow which took about fifteen minutes to drian 25 gallons of grey water. 

At $45 for a full hook-up site, we would not stay here again.

South Mountain State Park, NC From I-40 Exit 104, you twist and turn, up and down but keep a sharp eye for the small, brown State Park signs or you’ll pass your right hand turns. 

The South Mountain Visitors Center is very spacious and attractive but doesn’t offer a great deal. There is a cool 3D topo map display of the state park. At present, this is a 23,000 acre State Park...and ever acquiring more land. 

The family campground is a short distance further inside the park on the left side(approx 2 miles) marked by a small brown sign...and is situated at 1400 ft elevation. 

The campground is tiny and narrow, running between a creek and the state park roadway. The sounds of the creek melodious, the road traffic noise-not so much. I would definitely advise selecting the creek side campsites as they lay deeper in the wood line out of sight of the roadway and have the creek noise to cover roadway noise.(note: the roadway dead ends at the trailhead/picnic area, so the only traffic are day visitors and park staff) Be forewarned, Cell service is nonexistent. Your site will have a WiFi password for internet at the Visitors Center, but you need to be at or in the building for it to work. 

PROS:

•Small campground with few amenities

•Mountain/creek location

•Nice modern facilities

•Water

•Adjoining trail network

•No cell service

•80’ Waterfall•Interpretive Hemlock Nature Trail

•Beautiful Day Use picnic area 

CONS:

•Road noise for sites 10-14, during working hours and day use hours.

•No cell service 

Site 13 backs up toward the roadway, and without much understory, passing traffic is very visible and noisy(the high shoals falls and trail network are popular day use attractions). On the sites between the campground roadway and the State Park roadway, you are much closer than the website maps post, and without understory vegetation, you have direct visibility of several neighbors and normal conversations can be heard. Night noise restrictions, on our visit, were observed so it wasn’t an issue. My visit was Wed, Thurs. midweek Oct 7-8. 

Our site was an“leveling,” octagonal, elevated, crushed gravel pad, surrounded by landscape timbers...an elevated fire ring with a swing-over, non-adjustable grate, a picnic table and metal lantern pole. It worked fine but I used a small two-man tent. Depending on wind direction, fire ring embers would present a problem for a larger tent. Our site parking area was 45’ from the raised timber to campground roadway. 

The restroom/shower house is a monstrous, mountain lodge style modern facility...very clean, spacious and well-stocked. 

Walking the Family Camground my future site picks would be 5 or 7. Site 5 is a park and carry but it did not appear to be more than 50’ and it sat on the creek. Site 7 is on that same small loop but had a larger rectangular raised pad, for keeping tents distanced from fire pits. 

Some sites have a deep enough gravel drive for a small camper or popup. And a few have electric. 

Several trails lead from the NW end of the family campground parking lot and vary in length and difficulty. Most notable is the Raven Rock Trail to the High Shoals Falls Trail, which, depending on your level of fitness could be deemed a moderate to strenuous 2.35 mile climb and descent to the upper falls and then wooden boardwalk and steep steps down to the gorgeous 80 ft High Shoals waterfall. Smaller falls and cascades continue on the descent. Our total loop mileage was 5.5 with nearly a thousand foot of elevation gain. 

Park employees both at the Visitor’s Center desk and in the field were very friendly and pleasant. The NC State Park Ranger was very informative and helpful, as well as giving much appreciated suggestions for great and often lesser traveled hiking trails. 

Roughly 16.5 miles of mountain bike trails intermix with hiking and equestrian trails. There is a separate equestrian campground between the Visitors Center and the Family Campground. Note: there are several backcountry backpack-in campsite areas(Upper Falls Campsites offer picnic tables, fire ring and a couple pit latrines).