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

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 

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 

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

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

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

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 

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

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 

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 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. 