Best Glamping near Murphy, NC

We stayed at the State park from June 6-9. There are only about 24 sites, some cabins, and some new glamping tents. There is a bathhouse with individual showers. You are fairly close to the lodge. You are also right at the falls. BEWARE- there is a steep 24% grade getting to the campground. The campground was neat, clean, and quiet.

Expensive but worth it. The owners are going all out with this campground. Tiny homes, glamping tents, and cabins for rent. Then there are on river and off river RV sites. The on river rv sites have a gazebo over the picnic table. Great facilities that are only being made better.

It is right before the entrance to the Smoky Mountain National Park. Townsend is called the peaceful side of the Smoky Mountains.

Fun and relaxing creekside Glamping treehouse, there's plenty of space for a few tents as well. The creek is cool and refreshing to enjoy rock hunting. Large fire pit and grill to make our dinner. We stargazed on one if the clear nights, looked like the planetarium! When we went to sleep we we're comfortable in the Air-conditioned beautifully decorated treehouse. Lots of fun places to go within 20 minutes in any direction... really centrally located in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains!

We loved this campground! Very nice and spacious sites. The campground was developed along the Little River and is absolutely gorgeous! The bathhouses are the nicest I have ever seen. The sites were level and had full hook-ups. They are renovating the pool and it looks like it will be amazing. It was easy to get to anything Smoky Mountain related including Cades Cove. If camping isn't your thing, they also have vacation homes, glamping tents, tiny houses, and airstreams to rent. We rode our bikes at Cades Cove which is closed to cars on Wednesdays, hiked the Spruce Flat Falls Trail and Rainbow Falls Trail. It was a great camping experience!

We stayed the weekend in a yurt, this was our first time in a yurt. My family and I had a blast at Jenny's Creek, we will definitely be returning for vacations. The owners and staff were really friendly and welcoming, they aided us with all of our questions and needs. Clean bathrooms, clean campground, the yurt was clean, the game room was filled of fun things to do. We played on the playground and all around had a great weekend. thank you! I wish I could have taken pics, the kids kept me busy.

Such a beautiful place. Lots of activities for children of all ages. Well kept swimming pool and bathroom areas. Lots of options on lodging. Short drive to downtown Cherokee, North Carolina. River access. Even has the start of a hike that goes to a Mingo falls.

Ashley here with The Dyrt. We're so happy to have this property on our platform. There are several lodging options to choose from: Tent, Rv, Yurt, Cabin, Mini Cabin. Check them out and come back here to leave them some love.

If you’re into hiking, water sports and/or mountain biking you’ll love Jackrabbit Campground. Located on Lake Chatuge in both North Carolina and Georgia, you can ride right to the biking trails or launch your paddleboard right from your lakeside site.  RVers will have to rough it with no hookups, but there is access to a dump station. There are 95 sites with bathrooms and showers, a beach area and motorboat launch. Make reservations through Reserve  America.  Open April 1 through October 1.

Yes this campground will be packed in the middle of the summer. The great smoky mountains are the most visited National Park and this campground might be the most popular of them all. Right outside of Gatlinburg so plenty to do and see if you feel like exploring outside of the park. So if you want it to be quiet, go to North Carolina side or come in the fall or just embrace the madness.

I booked a yurt for my husband while I was hiking the AT. The manager was very polite until I complained later. When my husband arrived, he could not locate the yurt, because the name had been changed, and I was not told. The bed was made up with (animal) haired imbedded into the comforter and hair on the linens, which the manager was witness to and changed himself. The heater did not work. My intention was for my husband to enjoy the resort and its amenities, but he wouldn't go to the tavern after tge other experiences. Per our conversation, the manager agreed to a monetary refund that we never saw. After a month, I left a message asking for a call and I received a text saying that he would give us a $35 gift card to the tavern (which we can never use). I asked for a phone call and was told that he didn't have to call me, because this was his final offer.

Very laid back atmosphere. Calm camping from yurt to primitive within short distance of each other and camp house . Beauty scenery of mountain worth viewing on rainy day! I’ve never camped without a river or pond and enjoyed it so much ! It was just beautiful and peaceful. They do event also. I imagine may not be as peaceful then ;) really nice people and place to visit.

This was our second visit, we always stop here when we are traveling between North Carolina and Alabama. This particular day it was super foggy and sprinkling (nothing to stop us though) and it turned out really great because we got to see a completely different scene from our last summer, sunny day visit. Short walk to the overlook, we took our 3 children; ages 7, 5 and 2. The view shows a beautiful cascading waterfall. To get to the bridge and bottom there are a good many steep steps, but worth it if you're able. There are about 50 campsites, some RV with hookups and some tent! Each site has a picnic table and fire pit. If you have kids the visitor center is really cool and they have a playground!

Campground Review:

This Campground is really unique and beautiful with a good variety of natural settings for both tent and RV sites. If you look through my pictures you will see that almost every RV site is on a roaring creek as are the tent sites, and there are cabins on site as well. This would be an excellent site for a multi family gathering where some want cabins, some want RVs and some want tents. There are 4 waterfalls on the property, 2 of which are pretty solid hikes to get to. One is 200 ft tall and the other is 400 ft tall. The Falls are wild and roll through the forest so you don't necessarily see the giant drop off but there are plenty of opportunities for backcountry type scrambling to find sweet little pools and seats to cool off in. the AT is just 1.5 miles away. Another amazing little secret about this place is it is about 2 miles from Chatahoochee Spring, which is on the AT and the actual origin of the Chatahoochee River. The hike to the spring offers an amazing experience to see how the creek narrows as you rise to the lone Chatahoochee spring that starts the entire watershed. The place is currently owned and run by Dr. Scwan, a former chiropractor and is sort of in transition to new owners/ caretakers. I visited the Campground 3 times, once was an unannounced visit. Each time the staff was friendly and helpful. My son and daughter fell in love with this place. They loved the trampoline park, the petting zoo, and the campground dog "spirit".

If you love family camping they have it, if you love kitsch, they have it, but more importantly, they have some serious hiking trails! You can take it easy or put a pack on your kids and take them into the wild-something I did and my kids are still trying to figure out if they hate me for or not.

The motel rooms appear to not be currently functional due to flooding this past winter. The owner is trying to bring the property back up to speed after a rough winter of flooding and tornadoes that passed over the property. There are new staff on board for the season. One staff member has hiked the entire AT twice, the last time at age 70! With a side trail off the AT of about 1.5 miles, this would be a nice resupply site for thru hikers. The air there feels good and you know you are tucked in a true mountain cove with streams and waterfalls roaring on either side. The prices reflect more of a "glamping" experience but the natural camping experience there is worth the visit.

Product Review:

As a Dyrt Ranger, I get to test out products and on this trip we tested out two Gregory Backpacks and a Gregory hydration pack. This was the first backpacking trip for our family of four. I backpacked before kids all the time and once I had babies, I made the decision to only car camp until the kids could carry their own packs. That seems like yesterday but wouldn't you know, it's already 9 year later and so we suited up to hike up to the AT for the night. We used the stout 75- men's navy blue pack, the Icarus 40- youth cape green, and the hydration 2L reservoir.

The stout worked great for my husband, who carried the most weight and has developed quite the dad bod over the last 9 years. As a result, he needed the extra adjustment features such as the torso, hip belt, and sleeping bag entry adjustment.

The 2 L hydration reservoir, well we fought over who got to carry that. It fits nicely into the pack interior and Gregory has hat great hook and h2o hole. The thing that separates the Gregory hydration pack is that there is a little magnetic clip that fits in your pack and clips to the spout. It makes for easy access. The wide mouth opening makes it easy to fill but screwing on the top can be tricky. If you don't lay it completely flat then it leaks. The first night I lost all my water this way.

The Icarus 40 youth pack was great for my 9 year old. It was his first trek. He was able to carry his pack, his sleep pad, some of the food and some tent poles. He had a Nalgene bottle in the side pocket hat kept sliding out when he leaned over and that was frustrating for him. But his shoulders were not sore at the end of the trip and he said at the end that he liked backpacking after all (the first few climbs were not so easy). Speaking of, this pack can handle being flung to the ground in frustration by a 9 year old who is exhausted and just wants to "go home". Remedy- just keep strapping it back on, apply plenty of water and encouragement and in about 2 miles "backpacking isn't so bad".

Gregory is a great brand to get into if you are starting or restarting backpacking. They are cost effective, long lasting, and have been around a long time. Not to mention, when you call the 800 number there is an option to be put through to someone immediately if you are on the AT.

We are traveling in our 33 ft travel trailer. We work full time remotely and use our hotspot to do so. The Verizon service in the rv section of the campground is very poor and we were not able to use the hotspot. The service is better higher up in the campground. The campground does offer wifi (paid) that was fast enough for me to work and do video calls. They kindly offered us vouchers for a couple of days as well.

The campground is super cute. The pool and hot tub area is gorgeous. They have a coffee lounge with communal board games which is cute. The bathrooms and laundry room are clean and very nice. Our dog also loved their dog park.

Their check in system was perfect for our late check in.

We visited in the winter and it was cold enough that they had us turn our water off every night at 6 which was inconvenient but not a real problem considering how nice the showers are.

We stayed in spot A1 which felt a little small because it butts right up to a yurt, but it was enough space for us. Especially considering how cold it was, we didn’t spend much time on the patio.

This is a BEAUTIFUL outdoor resort with five star amenities, truly. We have camped here as a tent camper, and in our camper. The sites are small and close together, but this is still one of my favorite places to camp. You don't feel like you're on top of one another. The grounds are well appointed, landscaped, and maintained. The playground is beautiful and the kids loved it. There is a community firepit with rocking chairs around it, and it looks like it came out of a Martha Stewart magazine. The bathrooms were FABULOUS. SERIOUSLY. I've never wanted to bathe I'm a campground bathroom before, but I do it out of necessity. Well these bathrooms were luxurious and modern and so SO clean. I gladly bathed in the showers here and felt so clean afterwards! Lol. The bathrooms are locked with a pinpad and the codes are given upon check-in so you know random people aren't walking in off of the highway or anything. There is a pool on site, but we stayed in the fall so we didn't get to use it. There are also cabins and yurts available and they look really nice! There is a coffee shop on site also, with a playroom for small kids, and nice comfy chairs to lounge in. The coffee comes from a local artisan coffee roasters up the road and it was so tasty. The owners live onsite and are present and interacting with the campers. They run the office and shop, they checked us in and sold us our firewood. One weekend we were there (Fall) they had a live band for entertainment, on a Saturday evening, and it was awesome. They also had a S'mores bar set up for the kiddos, so that was pretty cool. We spent a lot of time at the community firepit meeting people and having adult beverages. It was wonderful! The campground also offers free WiFi and cable so we hooked up our TV and tailgated (during football season) and had an awesome time.

We found Kennedy Creek in September 2023 and have been back five times since then. The setting is absolutely beautiful with direct views of the mountains and sprawling grounds where the resort sits.

They offer everything from tent or RV camping and yurts, to beautiful cabins. We’ve tent camped once and brought our RV five times. If you’re camping, expect spacious campsites with amazing views. You won’t feel crowded in this place. If RVing, you can opt for a site with 30 amp electrical hookup and water (3 of these at present on a first come first basis and usually available). They do have showers so we didn’t come close to filling our gray/black tanks on our recent 5 day stay. What I like as an RVer is the open space and views. You won’t feel like you’re in a crowded RV park that’s for sure.

Their onsite tavern and restaurant is a great gathering place and is usually opened starting with Friday dinner through Sunday breakfast. The menu is top notch with special dishes that change regularly. John is the chef and he puts out some of the best food you’ll find in these beautiful mountains!

The resort also has a 2000’ x 60’ grass runway (GA87) which is absolutely gorgeous. In my opinion this should be a bucket list destination for all pilots that can manage to get in to 2000’ fields. The owner has a beautiful Just Superstol XL bush plane and a Highlander, and he can usually be found flying most Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings. You might even get invited to go flying :-)

The staff is super friendly and will take great care of you during your stay. It won’t take long for you to realize that they absolutely care about you and your experience. They’ll go out of their way to make sure you enjoy their little slice of paradise.

This probably sounds like a paid advertisement but I’m just a happy camper that hopes this place experiences the success it deserves. I’ve been to Ellijay, Helen, Blairsville, Dahlonega, and a lot of other well known mountain spots, and this place is my favorite by far.

My family of three stayed here for one night in late June. We got in a little late, around 7:30 pm, after we met up with some friends for dinner in Murphy.  My one regret is that we did not get here earlier to allow more time for play during daylight hours. If you are not entertained at this site, you are not trying hard enough. There is an amazing amount to do in this small space. First is the treehouse itself. You can get up into it by climbing up a spiral staircase or up rungs on one of the support logs. To get down you can go down one of two slides or shimmy down a firepole. Inside the treehouse are two twin bunk beds and one fold out cot. The space inside is rather small. With the cot folded out there was barely any room to move. However, since you will only be inside to sleep, it works. The beds were fairly comfortable, though the top bunk is quite close to the roof. I slept in the top bunk and my husband slept on the bottom. Every time I would turn over in the night I would hit my knee on the roof and wake him up.  :)  There is also a small table, first aid kit, candles, and a composting toilet with a curtain in the corner.  The toliet was a bucket with a seat, and not being used to such a small, low potty, it was a little uncomfortable, but doable. The treehouse is not sealed - the roof is sound but there are spaces between the planks on the sides (screen has been placed over the sides to help control bugs). The windows have cloth hangings, and one of the entries has a closing door. The other is wide open. Being summer, I was worried about heat and bugs, but I didn't have a problem with either. We were provided two battery-powered fans to keep us cool. By the time they died it as late enough that heat wasn't a problem. 

Now that's I've described the treehouse, let's talk about the rest of the site. Underneath the sleeping platform is a ground floor platform with a hammock and small propane stove with pots. A water cooler and trash can are also here. A few steps away is a firepit, and a few chairs, with provided firewood and marshmellow-roasting utensils. For play, there are hula hoops, a half-buried tire to climb on, a slack line, and a tremendously cool rope swing. This swing is about 30 feet high, and to start to climb up to a platform 5 feet above the ground. When you swing, it is a huge pendulum. What a thrill! Next to the treehouse is a homemade sled slide (see pics) that is also a blast. Down next to another rented space (the Hollar House) is a small zipline. Up the hill are blackberry bushes. So like I said, lots to keep you happy and entertained. 

The lows: There's always got to be a couple things about a place that I wish could be better. For us, it was the Hollar House. The folks staying there came in at 9:30 pm and their headlights showed right into the treehouse. When they spent a minute or two turning around their car in front of the house, the lights blinded us at the campfire. And when they turned on the string lights on the porch and went inside, it was too bright to enjoy being around the campfire. I went over and kindly asked them to turn the lights off, since they weren't outside anyway, and they graciously obliged, but other campers may not be able to or want to approach strangers to ask them to turn off lights. 

The highs: Besides the cool swings and slides, the owners were most definitely the best. Emilie and her two sons were very friendly and helpful in greeting us and getting us squared away. Her youngest son was the same age as my daughter and they had a great time playing together. She gave us bowls to collect blackberries and showed us how the swings and zip line worked. Awesome folks. 

Overall, would recommend. Don't come here expecting a 5-star suite. It is tight and rustic. But it is a lot of fun!

Lovely , quiet beautiful lake