Best Campgrounds near Bethel, OH

This is the closest RV Park Campground to the Ark Encounter-only 10 miles south.  It is on a beautiful piece of land with wooded acres all around.  It is quiet and peaceful with a true camping vibe.  It has 3 beautiful hiking trails.  It has a small fishing pond with a beautiful fountain that provides a neat camping experience.

Autumn is the best time to camp in Ohio. Lots of small bathrooms. Lake access. Only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was due to the fact there was no quick reentry. Had to wait for rvs in front of me to register.

General: Huge state park with over 400 sites. All are pet-friendly and electric. About 20 are FHU. While tent camping is permitted, certain sites are not recommended for it as there would be no place to pitch a tent. One loop is for equestrian camping but when we were there, I only saw one horse trailer, and the rest were occupied by RV campers. 

Site Quality: All camper pads are paved and most appeared level or just very slightly sloped. A picnic table and fire ring complete the site. Some sites have more trees to provide privacy while others are closer together with little separation.

Bath/Shower House: Not all loops have their own bath house and the I loop where we stayed was one of them. We used the one in the H Loop. The bathhouses were clean, and the shower had nice hot water, however, it doesn’t seem like there were sufficient facilities for how large the campground was (H Loop had two showers, two toilets, and three sinks). Hooks or shelves would have been appreciated.

Activities/Amenities: Many activities can be enjoyed here including mini golf (small nine-hole course), soccer, basketball, tennis, volleyball, corn hole, boating, and bicycling. Playgrounds are in several loops (I saw them in C and G). Rentals are available but most are only in season (ended September 30). There is a nature center and several hiking or paved biking/walking trails. There is also a camper beach for boating and swimming.

When we reserved months earlier, we knew that our first night (a Saturday) was 100% full as we got the very last site. What we did not know is that there was a HUGE Halloween celebration complete with 30-40 decorated golf carts parading through the campground. The road was closed until 6:45 pm (we arrived around 7 pm) and cars lined both sides of the approximately two-mile road! If that's your thing, great but it wasn't necessarily ours!

I appreciate that this park encourages so much outdoor activity, but it is not very pedestrian-friendly. I walked the road from one end to the other and there was no shoulder and, in many spots, no place to safely step off into the grass. I’m guessing it is assumed you will either have a car or golf cart to get around. 

One final note: for a park so close to a large city (Cincinnati), I was surprised the cell service was so lacking (on Verizon). We eked out one and occasionally two bars of 4G.

Not sure about Mound Ridge. This is the Campground for Caesar Creek State Park. Excellent facilities. Clean bathrooms with showers. New electrical posts.

We stayed in Site 12, which was huge and conveniently located close to a fairly new shower house. That facility was among the very best I've seen! Amazingly clean!

There are many things to do here: Saturday night movies, Bingo, and, of course, the lake. Canoe, paddle board, and kayak rentals.

The park was not full but somewhat busy, yet, outside of kids playing and dogs occasionally barking, there was little noise.

We drove through the entire campground. Some sites were bigger than others. Most sites were relatively flat.

Fall is a good time to visit Caesars Creek. The trees are turning beautiful colors. Also, the park is convenient for the Ohio Renaissance Fair and events at Roberts Arena.

RV Sites are gravel w electric hookups. close to major highways. staff were friendly.

When you check out, Eastfork, you should look at it personally instead of just online. My mistake was I did it online and I ended up with My Family being in the middle of the rich snob class of loop I lol.? We did have a very nice neighbor across from us the last couple days. The bathrooms were clean . Our lot was full of acorns very very dry and very very small lot. They say you’re supposed to camp or park your tent from the electric box over.

This campground has nice big sites, not the tiny sites that some Ohio state park campgrounds have. Most of them looked relatively level. However, there is no privacy, you are smashed right against your neighbors on both sides, and some parts were essentially just an RV parking lot.

The showerhouse was fine, I wouldn't call it clean as there was hair and scummy stuff everywhere, but I was there on a fully booked weekend so I guess you'll have that. The toilet/sink building nearest to our site reeked of urine, think gas station bathroom that hasn't been cleaned in years- looked clean but smelled terrible. There was also just one pedestal sink in this bathroom, so nowhere to put your things if you want to brush your teeth, even wash your hands. 

The big problem was the noise. We were there on "camper appreciation weekend" and they way they "appreciated" us was have an extremely noisy, not-very-talented cover band blare extremely loud 70s and 80s music for three hours on Saturday night. They had big speakers, amps, drum set, the whole bit. You could hear it quite clearly and loudly from every corner of the campground. I go camping for peace and quiet, to hear the crickets and birds and the crackle of our campfire. I do not want to have to endure three hours of men wailing on their guitars and belting out every top forty hit ever written by Lynyrd Skynyrd. It was extremely annoying, disruptive and jarring, and took away from our camping experience of sitting peacefully by our camp fire. If I were to return here, I would call first to make sure they are not "appreciating" the campers and putting on an unsolicited rock concert.

Me and my partner went during Labor Day and left the fourth. We were there for three days and two nights. It was amazing. Our spot was a small walk to the water so we could fish and still keep up with the fire. We were right against the woods. There was a perfect flat spot for the tent. The trees were great cover from the bright sun. We were also able to walk to the restroom and could see the whole building from our site. We were site 009. So the bathroom was across the road. Everyone was very friendly there as well! The only downside was the grill for the fire pit. It’s at an angle so cooking on it was difficult as it was hard not to spill food

I have always had great experiences at this campground.

Lot372 sits in a little into the woods. Makes it cool for camping. Real camping without a camper. lol shade some sun but watch out for the yellow jackets!

We enjoyed this site a lot. Neighbors weren’t sitting on top of one another. There was a tree for shade and plenty of space and grass to walk our dogs. Shower house was great!

I have stayed here several times. The showers are clean and the staff is friendly. Camp sites are spacious. The full hookup sites are a bit smaller. Over all a nice campground!

We used site 64 Sunday through Tuesday. The park was peaceful and pleasing as the employees and volunteers obviously take pride in their efforts. A 12-year-old was with me; she enjoyed shooting basketball and swinging at the playground. Fellow campers were quiet. I'll be back!

We've been to Cowan a few times, first time in this loop and was not disappointed. Bathroom was clean and well stocked through the weekend. Additional vehicles have to pay $3.

The Cedar Point group camp at Caesar's Creek is a large hillside camp site. Yes, hillside. The site sits at the end of an access road that circles back on itself and has a reasonably large parking lot. A large flat lawn sits inside of the road circle but the majority of the campsite is a steep hill with a few flat spots for tents. There is a fire pit and picnic shelter at the top of the so you'll be lugging your supplies up the hill for meals.

Several trail heads start all around the site, both on top and at the bottom of the hill. One of those trails leads down from the hilltop to a small beach on the water. Since the trailhead starts from the picnic shelter at the top of the hill it's reasonably private and we enjoyed fishing and swimming from the beach. It does sit in the wake zone so you'll have to deal with waves from the boats.

The restrooms are at the bottom of the hill and have flush toilets with running water for washing, though only the cold water was working when we visited. The worst we encountered there were carpenter bees and some spiders. They were reasonably clean when we arrived too. The park service did come and close them early on our checkout day, but they came back and reopened them for us by request.

Overall, there are better group camp sites at Caesar's Creek. Wellman Meadow has the same amenities, except for the beach, and is flat as a board. Book that site if you can but if it isn't available, and the hill won't be a challenge for your group, Cedar Point is fine.