Looking for the best options for tent camping near Madison? You can find tent campsites by type, including drive-in, walk-in, and even hike-in for a backpacking adventure. Each spot offers quick access to one or more of Madison, Ohio's most popular destinations.
Verified 8/19/2020 Camping is no longer offered here. Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a destination for millions of visitors each year who enjoy hiking, riding the scenic railroad, biking and picnicking. Whether you need an area large enough for a family reunion or just an intimate spot for two, Cuyahoga Valley is an ideal destination. Picnic areas are scattered throughout the park. Two rustic shelters, Ledges and Octagon, are available for reservation in the Virginia Kendall Unit of Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Natural Features: The Cuyahoga River flows through the park for 22 miles, fed by more than 190 miles of perennial (permanent) and ephemeral (temporary) streams. The Beaver Marsh and other wetlands, many lined with cattails and dense patches of duckweed, provide a home for many of the parks reptiles and amphibians and help filter pollutants from the water. Recreation: With many different facilities and attractions in the park, there is something to interest everyone. Most shelter areas have open fields for games and nearby hiking trails.Visitors enjoy riding the scenic railroad, exploring the visitor centers, catching one of the summer concerts, attending one of the ranger-guided programs, biking the Towpath Trail or picnicking in one of the parks picnic shelters. Facilities: Cuyahoga Valleys two shelters are fully-accessible. The Civilian Conservation Corps constructed them with American chestnut and locally quarried sandstone. The shelters are located near Ritchie Ledges, an area with approximately 2 miles of Sharon conglomerate stone cliffs about 30 feet tall. A large play field and hiking trails are available near each shelter. Ledges Shelter accommodates up to 75 people. It has two fireplaces and eight picnic tables inside, as well as eight tables in the outside pavilion and a large grill. Octagon Shelter accommodates up to 50 people. During the summer months its walls are removed; they are in place from about October 15 to May 1. Seven indoor picnic tables, two fireplaces and an outdoor grill are provided. Both shelters have electricity for normal two-pronged household appliances such as coffee pots and crock pots. Drinking water is available at a drinking fountain from May 1 to September 15. Restrooms with flush toilets are available year-round. Nearby Attractions: Visit Brandywine Falls, the historic Boston Store Visitor Center, Ritchie Ledges, the Beaver Marsh and the Everett Road Covered Bridge. These are some of the more popular attractions in the park.
In an effort to provide more opportunities to enjoy our parks, Lake Metroparks offers tent camping so campers may experience unique natural features and the great outdoors. Reservations are required.
Campsites provide a “rustic” experience for small groups of up to eight people staying in tents. Campers must hike or paddle to the campsites. The sites are set back from the developed areas of the parks from about 0.25 mile to more than a mile. Each location is different and provides a quiet, intimate natural experience—much different than crowded campgrounds.
The paddle-in sites may require a three- to eight-mile paddle by canoe or kayak to reach the campsite. The idea is to paddle a stretch of the Grand River, spend the night under the stars and then paddle another stretch the next day. Imagine paddling 27 miles and spending two nights on the wild and scenic Grand River! That is all possible in your Lake Metroparks.
Each site has a designated area to pitch a tent, a place to build a fire, a grill and a picnic table. The sites do not have restrooms, running water or trash cans. Campers are expected to practice a “leave no trace” camping ethic including carrying in and carrying out all supplies and trash, with the goal of leaving the area better than it was found.
$10 - $20 / night
Headwaters Park is a 926-acre reservation located in Claridon and Huntsburg townships. The property is leased by Geauga Park District from the City of Akron in a partnership that allows for conservation of natural areas, enjoyment by park visitors, and outdoor education and passive recreation. It is Geauga Park District's intent to mange this natural area and to protect the water quality for aquatic life and downstream neighbors. Prior to 1932, the east branch of the Cuyahoga River meandered through a lush ravine as it made its way through Claridon and Huntsburg townships. Picnickers enjoyed many summer afternoons along it's banks; vacationers escaped to cottages nestled around adjacent Crystal Lake and along the river's edge. When the City of Akron began purchasing land in Geauga County in 1932, the cottages and neighboring farmhouses were moved and a dam was built to impound the waters in East Branch Reservoir. Having secured a stable water supply for the businesses and homes in their community, City of Akron officials opened the reservoir and surrounding land to local residents in 1959. In 1996, Geauga Park District's Board of Park Commissioners signed an agreement to lease the land and reservoir, and renamed the area Headwaters Park because of its location at the upper reaches of the Cuyahoga River. Visitor activities are regulated by Geauga Park District in accordance with the City of Akron in order to achieve mutual stewardship goals of protecting natural resources and water quality. Camping is available by permit in the designated tent pad or lean-to sites. Reservations for all facilities can be made online or by calling the Park District office.
There are 2 primitive sites here. The West Woods is a 902-acre park that protects the historic sandstone ledges of Ansel’s Cave, Silver Creek and its watershed, extensive wetlands and mature forests.
$35 - $55 / night
Traveler
Stopped through for 1 night with no reservation. Called and the camp host was super helpful and friendly! Got in after dinner and luckily we were just car camping, because we got (in our opinion) the best site there! 23 has a great shot of the lake, nice cinder blocks built up to block any wind from the fire pit. Didn’t use showers, but the bathrooms were well maintained! The lake view was amazing! Very quiet and small location…perfect for what we wanted for the evening. Would highly recommend!
Scout
Stayed two nights mid September. Lovely weather. Clean bathrooms and showers with hot water. Firewood, ice, free drinking water, and trinkets available at registration booth.
RangerStayed here again while passing through the area. Facilities are still looking good and the host was very helpful with getting us settled in. Will visit again!
Guide
I don’t have much to say about this campground but to start off on a high note the pool was nice. Now the reasons for our low rating. WiFi was nonexistent, everything was dirty and run down. Our RV site was ok. Family rented a cabin and it was disgusting. Dirty furniture-dishes-run down. Toilet looked like someone died in it. For $250 a night our recommendation is get a hotel-cheaper and cleaner (which is what our family ended up doing). Oh and letting permanent sites fly all sorts of political flags makes this KOA unwelcoming and honestly a little scary. Do not waste your money here.
Scout
Fun little campground with friendly staff and wide open spaces. Clean bathrooms, great pool, fun little game room. The playground got 2 thumbs up from a 4 and 6 year old. There was a movie night every night. Close to stores (15 mins). The KOA is close to Presque isle and the amusement park, which is a fantastic place for kids. Sites were a good size and comfortable to be around.
Traveler
My 6 year old daughter lived her farm animal dream life for a week! The hosts were so accommodating. My daughter loved the free movie nights under stars, running wild with the goats, and the play grounds and play houses kept her busy for hours! The eggs were delicious, I spent time by the fire, in a hammock, and soaking up the sunshine. It was the rejuvenating experience I needed. I will definitely plan to stay here again!
Ranger
Again it is a nice large place with activities all day for all ages. Pool was great due to temps being in the 90s. Not all sites are full hookup and 50 Amp. The street lights suck as they fully illuminated our sites. Fireworks were OK.
Traveler
We stayed here with our Coast to Coast membership, so it was good for that price. The main restroom/shower house is attached to the office. There are 5 restrooms with flush toilet and hand sanitizer scattered around the park. Most all of the sites are back in. We stayed at a site that shares a pole with water and electric hookups with 3 others. The first time I connected to the internet at our site, it connected right away with good quality. For about 30 seconds. I never got internet at our site again. It is good in the game room by the office, but there isn't anywhere with air conditioning to sit. AT&T has one bar of signal. Many problems getting internet with that. We did enjoy the indoor pool. Until it became crowded with kids. So, we went to the swimming pond. It was quite nice. We took out a paddle boat. They offer paddle boats, canoes, and rowboat to use for free. The one we had wouldn't steer. We went in circles to the right in the middle of the lake for 45 minutes before we got it back to the dock. I think it needs more trees.
Traveler
There really aren’t words! Everything is clean, quiet and serene! The people that work there we super friendly! Can’t wait to go back!
Scout
The Tuttle Campground was enjoyable. It is a well maintained park with big spacious spots.
Traveler
Quiet park. Some road noise from campsite J100 but US route 322 is lightly traveled. Typical tent site with fire ring and picnic table. Across street from bath house with shower and toilet which was clean.
Traveler
It was a nice location to the turnpike but the bathrooms are so out of date. We have a small TT and use the bathhouse frequently. The stall doors hit your knees and the well water stinks…couldn’t wash my hand in the sink. Only one shower stall in the one of 2 bathroom locations. It was nice to see an area designated for dog swimming area. The office closed at 6 PM so no late arrivals. Nice pond but it was a little murky.
ScoutWe will definitely be back. The sites are very level, so setup is a breeze. There's plenty of spots to go fishing and hang out by the lake, plus different things to do in the area.
Scout
We enjoy camping in this local park. It's quiet, and everyone is very nice here. The park Mgr. is very nice and helpful as well.
ScoutSites aren't on top of each other. Best sites are along the river and store has lots of fishing supplies. Wifi was too weak at my tent site and Verizon service was mostly unavailable. The site has a tire rim fire pit and picnic table with electric and water. Gravel pad where I parked was nearly level. Bathroom was cleaned the day I used shower and hot water was good. Prices for the site was $31/night and this was early season. I'm in a pickup with rooftop tent.
Ranger
My wife and I stayed here in late September so it wasn't overly crowded. The camp sites were fairly spacious and level. There seemed to be water fill stations scattered around the campground for convenience. I was actually able to fill me fresh water tank from one near by. The campground is fairly large and we rode our bikes around quite a bit, including our to the campground store at the entrance. There were numerous playgrounds and activities for kids. They have full hookup sections, but most of the campground is electric only. All in all the best review I can give is to say that we would go back.
Traveler
My friends and I decided to stay here for the weekend. Even with the colder weather it was nice and cozy. Plenty of fire wood provided and a short distance away from the gorge to walk. The second night had lots of coyotes around, which is cool but can be dangerous if not careful of course. Coyotes were heard all around the general area. Other than that quiet and the roads close by are unheard. Overall a great experience and definitely recommend for a rustic experience.
ScoutWe booked a tent plot for two days in advance, once we set up camp though the weather report said 30% chance of rain it proceeded to rain nonstop all night long. Our tent leaked horribly bad and it was evident with the forecast we would not last another day in the tent. We had to pack up and leave. KOA was not sympathetic to us at all. In fact when I called to ask questions I was ignored on the phone then disconnected. We were packed up and checked out by the check out time and they refused to refund us for a night. There were plenty of spots open so it's not as though they would have been loosing money. Not only that but we bought$25.00 worth of firewood that was in plastic that we could not use because of the non-stop rain. They would not take it back for a refund. Then oddly advised us to take it if we wanted to, knowing firewood is not to be transported. We left the unopened firewood at the campsite which I'm sure they were able to resell. All in all we spent about$140.00 for one night of camping where we were stuck inside of our leaking tent. Never again will we ever stay at another KOA camp.
RangerThe hosts were very friendly and helpful during our short stay. The area was clean and safe. Would stay again!
Guide
A lot to do. We had bad weather coming in so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked to.
GuideWhen we booked our site, the camp website showed cabins on the lake. We booked site 88 for our glamping, but a water leak at site 90 had our water off. Site 111 was available for the night right on the lake. We were happy to pay the difference to spend a night with the lake right outside our bedroom window. The water was back on in site 88 the next day so we enjoyed the rest of our stay in a beautiful site 5 minutes from the lake.
Guide
The Staff Was rude and called our camper too long when it is only 34 feet!
ScoutCampground was clean and well maintained. Only issue we ran into was that the fire pit was not cleaned out after the last folks. It wasn’t a huge deal but there we had quite a bit of debris and wet ash to deal with. The wash houses scattered throughout are new and very clean. The one across from our site had 4 private bathrooms with a toilet and shower. Very well patrolled and tons of stuff to do within biking/running/driving distance.
Legend
We had site # 9 which had electric hook up and you fill with water. To fill with water you have to pass the entrance for this loop and it's down a little on the left. Our site was waterfront which had a nice view. It was a steep slope down so we couldn't access the water from our site. A few sites you can. Out site was a nice size and shaded for the most of it. There is a dump station onsite.
We saw big Blue Herons, Oriels, Robins, and lot's of little song birds. There are some groundhogs there too.
The lake is big and you can boat, fish, kayak & canoe in it. There is a boat launch onsite. There are several playgrounds, lakeside picnic shelter an Amphitheater and a nature trail onsite. The town is close so there are places to eat and stores of all kinds.
Our favorite sites in the Golden loop are #6, 7, 9, 12 and 17.
The main loop sites # 72, 66 and 80.
The new duck loop all the sites with electric are on the inside not waterfront.
The NON electric loops favorite sites are:
The Pine Loop # 130, 161, 118, 121, 123, and 128.
The lake view loop sites # 49, 39 and 31.
The Old Duck loop Site # 212 is waterfront and has good water access.
The road going into the duck loops aren't as nice as the rest of the campground roads.
If you are camping with a generator they don't allow them to run after 10 PM during quiet hours.
Legend
Ashley here with The Dyrt. We're so happy to have this new property on our platform. Book your stay with the today and come back here to leave them some love.
Scout
We stayed here for 4 days and 3 nights, I will not be returning ever. List of things that were horribly wrong with this campground..-The whole place smelled like rotting sewage, the public bathrooms had pee and poop all over the floor like the toilets had been backed up and they were like that the whole time we were there.-The playground was covered in caution tape, so it could not be used.-The billards room looks like if you even touch anything, the whole place is going to fall in. The ceiling was falling in, the pool table was a mess, there were broken darts for the dart board, the stereo did not work, the trash was over filled and was infested with bugs.-The owner is horribly rude, we had an issue with something and we tried talking to him about it and the answer we received was"yeah yeah" and walked off.-The swimming pool is a lot smaller than the pictures on their website, by probably more than half the size.-The lake is covered in green stuff, so fishing if very hard to do there.-We stayed with another group of people and we both had golfcart rentals which they had to double pay for because they messed up their reservation, they also lost their golfcart for a good chunk of the day because the tires were bad and it had brake issues and they never received any type of refund or anything for that.-Were yelled at for having children on laps on the golfcart(one being a baby) and was told they had to be seated. So we had to get out and walk,(even though there was a lot of golfcarts where there were people sitting on laps and not getting yelled at.)-The day we were leaving we tied one of our dogs up outside to return the golfcart(which the dog can't be in) and we already had the camper packed up. So we tied her up in a shady area at the site with water for not(5minutes,) the owner was at our site and yelling at my 10 year old daughter for leaving the dog out. 1- she is 10 and 2- the dog is not allowed on the carts or allowed in the store and you have a strict 12pm return time for those. She was perfectly fine for those 5 minutes. There were a few other times that the experience was just not enjoyable and I am sure the owner will comment back and deny everything like he does in any post that has anything bad to say about him. Was a horrible experience and would avoid this campground at all costs. There are so many better campgrounds and for a cheaper price!!
GuideNice and spacious sites. Great launch area from the campground to set out on your kayak or paddle board. Walkable to the marina and beach area. Beach area was small but clean and had new sand. The bathhouse was clean and maintained. There was a small swing area in the campground but you kind of had to walk through some sites to get to it. No hiking from the campground. We did ride our bikes out of the grounds and through town a little to the Pymatuning Spillway trail. The trail head was a bit of a challenge to find. We entered behind the church in town. The trail was great and we stopped at the spillway to feed the carp. On our return we found out that the trail was finished a little further down from where we entered and we rode to the end over a bridge and back into town. We had Verizon cell service at the campground.
Camping near Madison, Ohio, offers a variety of experiences for outdoor lovers. From serene lakeside spots to family-friendly campgrounds, there’s something for everyone in this beautiful region.
Camping near Madison, Ohio, offers a mix of fun, relaxation, and adventure. Whether you're with family or enjoying a solo trip, there's something for everyone in this beautiful area.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Madison, OH?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Madison, OH is Cuyahoga Valley National Park - CAMPING NO LONGER OFFERED with a 4.4-star rating from 26 reviews.
What is the best site to find tent camping near Madison, OH?
TheDyrt.com has all 13 tent camping locations near Madison, OH, with real photos and reviews from campers.
