Best Cabin Camping near Fontana Dam, NC

Glampknox is located in Knoxville, close to downtown and The Smoky Mountains. The area is rural and beautiful, and the views from the site are wonderful, and the location is very convenient!

The property has a beautiful cabin that is also available to rent, as well as a wedding/event barn venue. There are horses on the property too. It is some of the most picturesque property you’ll find!

The site has a really nice tent cabin, with a covered porch, rocking chairs, and a wood burning stove. The tent has two twin beds, and they were super comfy. It has battery powered lanterns inside for light.

The site does have restrooms and an outdoor shower, both of which are just a short walk down to the barn. There is a large fire pit in front of the tent, and plenty of space for extra tents and great trees for hammocks. There is also a hiking trail around the property. The host also had firewood stacked for us at the tent.

Highly recommend GlampKnox for the perfect getaway!

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.

Amazingly clean campgrounds 10 minutes from the entrance of the National Park and 20 minutes from the Visitor's Center.

You have a choice of "rustic" tent sites, tent sites with water/electric/cable hook-ups, RV, or Cabins. All sites are pet-friendly including cabins. All camp sites include fire pit and picnic table.

Lots of amenities are included in your stay. 2 bathroom areas, 1 shower area, pool, wi-fi, etc.

There's a general store in front of the campgrounds with gas station and small cafe attached. The general store will even deliver your purchased firewood to your site.

This Koa is near a lot recreational places and some restaurants. Also near towns like Gatlinburg, Pidgeon Forge and Knoxville.

A nice vacation spot.

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.

Near Fontana Dam and along the Appalachian Trail, there is the most modern trail shelter that I have ever seen.  I have stayed at a few trail shelters, but this is the first one I have seen that has a solar charging station for electronic devices.  There is a reason it is called the “Fontana Hilton.”  I had been to this shelter before in years past, and it was much more rustic.  Now it is clean and modern.   Although mainly for through-hikers on the Appalachian Trail, the road to Fontana Dam runs beside it, and there is a parking lot close to the camping area.  You don’t have to worry about road noise at night, however, because the road ends at Fontana Dam less than half a mile down the road.  I use the term “camping area” because there are also tent pads close to the trail shelter, so you can choose to stay in the shelter or sleep in a tent.  I preferred to stay in a tent.  Also unlike the other trail shelters where I have stayed, this one has a bath house, complete with running water, flush toilets, and hot showers.  Next to the trail shelter, there is a gathering area with picnic tables, a place to hang your lantern, and a fire pit.  I got a chance to meet some other campers—most of them were thru-hikers.  It was interesting to see what gear they were using.  I was curious and asked, and as I suspected, a couple of them were using alcohol stoves because of their light weight.  Among other things about this camping area, you are beside Fontana Lake, so the view is pretty special, especially at night when the moon reflects over the water.  When you are not at the camping area, you can go to the dam and visitors center.  Being the highest dam east of the Mississippi River, seeing the dam with your own eyes is pretty awesome.

 Greenbriar campground is located in Pittman Center, west of Gatlinburg, adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains. The campground is certainly one of the nicest camping spots I’ve n the area. The campground is very large, and has multiple camping options. They have tent and rv spots, as well as cabins, but I also saw some teepee style tent cabins. The campground is very wooded, so you feel like you are getting a legitimate Smoky Mountain camping experience. The pigeon river runs through the campground, and is great for fishing, or swimming/tubing in summer. There is a dog park also, and the campground is pet friendly. This campground has so many things to do, and it is very popular, so if you want to camp here, I would suggest booking early, because spots are booked months in advance. The campground is very quiet at night, with just the sounds of nature. There is a camp store, with firewood, and you’ll want to enjoy a campfire, even in the middle of summer. I Highly recommend Greenbriar Campground for camping in the Smokies.