Lake Norman State Park Campground, near Statesville, North Carolina, is a fantastic spot for campers looking to enjoy the great outdoors year-round. With a variety of accommodations, including tent sites, RV spots, and cozy cabins, it caters to all types of camping preferences.

The campground is known for its clean facilities, including well-maintained bathrooms and showers, which visitors have praised as “fantastic” and “immaculately maintained.” Many campers appreciate the spacious sites equipped with picnic tables and fire rings, perfect for evening gatherings. One happy camper noted, “The bathhouse was an unexpected luxury,” highlighting the attention to cleanliness and comfort.

Outdoor activities abound here, with beautiful hiking trails winding through the forest and along the shores of Lake Norman. Campers have enjoyed exploring the area, with one reviewer mentioning the “well-maintained hiking trails” that branch out from the campground. Whether you're fishing, hiking, or just soaking in the scenery, there's plenty to keep you busy.

While some campers found the park a bit large and hilly, the overall vibe is friendly and welcoming. The staff is known for their helpfulness, going above and beyond to assist visitors. If you're looking for a peaceful retreat with great amenities and access to nature, Lake Norman State Park Campground is definitely worth considering.

Lake Norman State Park, on the largest manmade lake in North Carolina, boasts one of the region’s more popular mountain biking network, offering 30.5 miles of single-track trail. Nearby are a 125-yard-long swim beach and bathhouse complex as well as a boat ramp and opportunities for fishing from spots along park trails. Lake Norman campground with 32-sites and a group campground are available during warm-weather months, and a community building with kitchen facilities, restrooms and fireplace can be rented for family and group events year round. Free interpretive programs are complemented by educational exhibits throughout the visitor center and along the child-friendly Dragonfly Trail.

Lake Norman State Park Campground

Whether you're an RVer or tent camper, Troutman, NC is a great place to post up for the weekend—or longer. Troutman is an adventure-filled destination for those who love the outdoorsy camper lifestyle. But it's also great for those who prefer to spend time near the city, exploring and sightseeing. Find the best campgrounds near Troutman, NC. Read reviews from campers like you and find your perfect campsite.

Troutman

The Best Camping Near Troutman, North Carolina

A beautiful man made lake in NC. Stayed her and very satisfied during or first stop in NC on our way to the city

First stop in NC

I was skeptical about the location being more urban than rural but upon arriving I was happily surprised at the serenity of the place. Good trails and beautiful views of Lake Norman.

Lake weekend

Have stayed at this park a few times and each time I find something else I like. Each site I have stayed at had tent pads. No more clearing an area for your tent to be set up. The trees here offer a great span for my hammock also. This campsite is located right on Lake Norman, which can be seen from some of the sites on the far side of the park. Bathrooms are clean but far from some of the sites. Park rangers are not seen very often but there is a resident "camp host" that rides around frequently.

There are plenty of walking trails and mountain bike trails with a boat ramp and "beach" a short drive or a hike away. Beach is only accessible at a fee if you want to swim. A wristband is given to determine who paid.

Great park 

The beach is nice but gets very busy during the summer months. Lots of hiking trails, with lots of people using the grills etc.

The beach is nice but crowded

We stayed here on Memorial Day weekend in a pop-up camper. The site was level and spacious. There were wooded trails leading to the large bathroom/shower facility. Short drive to the swim and fishing area.

Nice restrooms, nice sites

This campground has a lot to offer. Hiking, swimming, fishing at it's Carolina best. Outdoorsies will not be sorry if they visit Lake Norman State Park. It is located at the northern end of the lake, where it is quieter(motor boat wise) than farther south. It is a huge lake of some fifty square miles and over 500 miles of shoreline. The park is pristine and well managed. Rangers give guided informative hikes(a mile or so) at different times in season and there are plenty of hiking trails. Enjoy!

Big lake, primo camping and hiking.

Camp hosts were TOP notch! Super friendly. A camp host can make or break a camp and these guys showed up! The sites were not cramped and offered tons of shade. If you are lucky to score a view of the lake, like us, you also get a great view to open up your door in the am. Pads are a bit smaller than normal so we had to bring our backup tent to this one but it was level. When driving around we noticed a lotnof the out lieing sites pads flooded so if you know there will be rain make sure you call in and get yourself an interior or one up the hill. It rained for our trip but site 16 stayed mostly dry except for one small corner. The bathroom/showers are older but super clean and HOT showers! 

Loved

At the beginning of the trip, I checked in at the visitor center. Carla was very helpful, providing maps and info about the campground. After a beautiful drive through the woods, I arrived at my site. The pad was well maintained and clean. The lake was about 100 yards from my campsite, with a nice trail down to the waters edge. I met the camper in the site next to mine, and we ate dinner together and swapped stories and talked for a while. During the night, the raccoons were a little noisy, but eventually they scampered off to do whatever racoons do. 10/10 Totally recommend.

Awesome campground

Great camp site. Great camp host. Hot water at the showers. Trail around the lake was nice but only 5 miles of trails for hikers. 

Almost all good 

This park was nice the night I stayed. Had we utilized to swimming area or spent more time I would know more. The sites were nice and the bathroom was clean. 

Decent

My camp site (#5) was about 50 yard's from the water. I found a place I could sneak right to the water and fish. Really enjoyed the peace and quiet here. Something to note is I did hear a few boats going up and down the river late at night. My only real complaint is I couldn't find a single electric plug anywhere. I tried the picnic area, the bath house, the swimming area.. Nothing. I was trying to top off my phones battery but had no luck. 

Quiet and water all over

LNSP is just a 45 minute drive from Charlotte and 1.5 hours from Asheville.  The campsites are spacious, and surrounded by woods with plenty of shade to keep the summer heat in check. The Lakeshore Trail takes hikers around the lake with opportunities to swim along the way. If mountain biking is your thing, there’s plenty of miles of trails for all skill levels just 2 miles away from you campsite. Lake Norman is huge and has a boat launch for everything from motorboats to paddle boards.  You can even rent canoes, kayaks, peddleboats and standup paddle boards for $7 per hour.  RVers will have to rough it - there’s no hookups  but a dump station is available. Reservations are made through the state park website. 

Escape to nature’s playground 

We camped here in December and it was just us and the camp hosts in the campgrounds.  It was such a fun experience even if we froze our tushies off at night! 

We’ve visited this park before but this was our only time camping there. The facilities were very clean. There are a lot of nice hiking trails as well as biking trails and of course water activities. We will be going back soon!

Nice sites! Lots of activities!

My wife and our four kids have had a great time. Plenty of shade and plenty to do. We fished, rode bikes,hiked and saw plenty of wildlife. Not too close to the neighbors, and the camp host were nice. This is not our fist time here and the shower house used to have lots of insects and spiders, this is not the case anymore. The shower house was very clean. We live fairly close so we will be coming back. 

Quiet place to Relax

Friendly host, close to lake and well shaded, clean bathrooms, large enough tent sites, great for families.

Very nice

Very clean and quite and very close to Charlotte. Nice, moderate hiking trails. Swimming and kayaking. You'll probably see deer but have never seen a bear.

Clean and quite

This was a fun trip. Only went for a night to get away for a bit but the sites were large and spread out. Trails all around that were both long and short. Ranger was friendly, helpful and good to talk to. Bathrooms were clean, water spigots to get drinking water from, sink waste water disposal sites too. Access to Lake Norman was pretty easy and maybe a 15 minute walk. Worth going to for sure!

Great car camping site.

We love this campground! Clean, big sites. Grocery store is close. They are currently adding a new loop and bathhouse.

A great campground 

This is such a great place to go if you are wanting to escape from the city!

Awesome place close to home

It was surprisingly busy, almost all sites occupied.
There is not much space between the sides, but the park is huge and right at the lake.
We stayed only one night. A lot of young families were here with their bikes.
Restrooms were fair.
All in all a nice campground if you  don't mind little privacy.

Thanksgiving weekend

We stayed in July 2019. For a NC state park, some of the sites are a little close to each other. 
It is well known that NC parks do not allow alcohol, so we did not bring any. 

The camp host was a little insulting with how they kept on checking on us over and over and over and reminding us that we can't drink. We weren't even playing music or making noise. And we weren't drinking. It was just the two of us, and we are experienced campers, so... We know better. 

I'd go back and give it another try,but having to insist that we weren't breaking rules... I felt like a kid in Catholic school all over again and frankly, I do not go camping with the goal of re-living that.



Nice views but....

First time camping with my family . We had a tent with electric and water ( only $10 more ) . So worth it because we can use our heater and anything else we needed eletric or without having to lug around the generator . Bathrooms were very clean and everyone was so friendly. Great experience! 

Serene and Clean 

Great place. Reasonable price for all the amenities! Clean, hot water showers!

Awesome hiking trails and lake access!

Amazing amenities 

Wonderful wooded sites. Very quiet and peaceful with hiking trails.  No electricity at our site.  Bath houses were very spacious and clean.

First Night with new SylvanSport Go

Full hookups were all filled but site 29 was a primitive, deep, level 57 foot site right near water siphon and a beautiful modern bathhouse picnic table and fire grate/ring. Fair amount of space between sites, firewood sold by camphost or ranger. Made yummy hot dogs over fire, wonderful night, hot showers, clean facilities.  You will be thrilled with this park, lake is beautiful,  many hiking trails, biking, etc. Verizon cell service was excellent at our site and appeared good throughout park.

Beautiful park, great facilities 

We stayed in the new glamping cabin #2.  Very clean, comfortable bed, nice AC, lovely porch to relax on.  All cabins are in walking distance to the bathrooms and showers.  Those as well were pretty clean for a camp ground, I was pleasantly surprised.  The path to the bathrooms light up at night so you can find your way very easy in the dark.  Camp ground itself was very clean and I often saw the staff working on cleaning it and interacting with the campers.  The designated swimming area was like a piece of heaven.  Small not to overly packed, very clean beach.  We plan on coming pack to do tent camping with our dog, fantastic family or romantic couple retreat.  

Fantastic quiet get away

Arrived at park and followed directions to camping only to find out check in is on the other side of park past where we entered.  Park is maybe too big and hilly. Want to go to swimming beach? You'll have to drive. Want to get wood, ice or vending? Several mile drive. Bike trails? Miles away. Want to drop a boat in the water? You guessed it, mile away.  Very steep parking pad so your leveling blocks or jack are probably useless. The tent pad was very level although.  Bath/shower house was very nice even with the men's room door broken and wouldn't shut. Fresh water spigot in camp was broken.   We had some rain and a huge tree fell on out campsite destroying some of our gear and narrowly missing crippling or killing us both. 

Maybe too big?

I camped here with a friend and our dogs. 
We were in campsite 14. It was very shaded and surrounded by woods. The tent pad was super spacious and made of gravel. There was also a picnic bench, fire pit, and a lantern pole. 
The campground also has beautiful little cabins. 
The bathouse was absolutely top notch and super clean. 
The park staff takes very good care of the area. 
Unfortunately there are some little beaches along the trails that have trash, mostly from fishing. 
The park offers some very nice hiking trails. This time I just did the Lakeshore trail and the dogs had a blast. 
We would camp here anytime again.

Such an amazing campground

We were traveling form ma to SC. I needed a place to rest for the night and we went here. Unfortunately during the night or cat got out and we didn't realize it until morning. The staff there went out of there way to look for our cat unfortunately we didn't find him. We are grateful for all they did including a couple of free nights so we could continue to look for our cat 

Nice place 

I am curious about why the listing states that the campground is closed. I am writing this from my campsite in the campground! It closes on Christmas day, but as far as I know, that is the only day of the year when it closes.

The campground is in a forest on the shores of Lake Norman. Well maintained hiking trails branch out from the campground. RV sites are paved, with a picnic table and fire ring on a compacted gravel base next to each site. 

Sites and facilities are very well maintained. I made an off-hand comment to a staff member about drainage at our site, and the next time we visited, the problem had been satisfactorily addressed.

Excellent campground 

We stopped for one night along a road trip. Bathrooms were fantastic, site was paved and level, rangers rode through and did our check-in at our site for us. 

Well kept, lovely park 

As a beginner too RV camping, this location was an excellent beginning. The campground host were courteous and friendly and they assisted me in backing in my trailer.  The bath house was an unexpected luxury and was immaculately maintained through the park service. Lastly, it’s in a beautiful area with a lot of available outdoor activities.

TOP NOTCH

I stayed at this location for 10 days. The campground is well kept and clean.  The staff and the camp host were very courteous.  It was a very quiet stay.  The bathhouse was new and well maintained. I would recommend this place to anyone.

Well kept and clean.

I have camped all across the US and this was the nicest and cleanest campground I have ever been in. Fantastic experience. I highly highly recommend! 

Nicest & Cleanest Campground

We pulled into Lake Norman State Park around 6 PM on New Year’s Eve, mainly because we didn’t want to drive a couple more hours to our original destination. We only planned to stay one night, but the campground surprised us—in the best way—and we ended up staying three nights instead. 

  

There were plenty of available campsites, and every site we saw was at least decently spaced, with several feeling nicely secluded. The campground was quiet and well laid out. The bathhouse was clean and modern, and having water spigots available in the no-hookups loop was a big plus. 

  

One of the highlights was riding our e-bikes on the Hawk, Hicks, Norwood Creek, and Monbo loops. These are the easier sections of the Itusi Trail system and were a lot of fun—though still a bit too unpaved for my wife’s taste😄. Even so, the hiking trail access from the campground made it easy to get out and explore. 

  

This stop wasn’t planned at all, but it turned into one of those stays that makes you glad plans changed. We’ll definitely be coming back to Lake Norman State Park.

  

Check out all the sites in 360° in our video: 

[https://youtu.be/UzYublJ-BZg](https://youtu.be/UzYublJ-BZg)

Photos of Lake Norman State Park Campground

Real photos from real campers