Best Glamping near Cross, SC

Nice RV Site if you are visiting Charleston, South Carolina. The site is very hot due to no trees. Currently the restrooms and showers are down, so you need to have a self contained unit. However, very quiet. No pull thru sites. Must back in.

Reservations during the main season are key if you have any hope of getting a campsite in this awesome Francis Marion National Forest campground which sits just along the gorgeous intercoastal waterway, about 40 minutes northeast of Charleston, SC! We pulled in without reservations and nearly every site was booked out. The campground host was super helpful, though, finding us an empty spot (due to a cancellation) for a couple nights, then moved us to a non-reservable site for the remainder of our time.

The majority of the sites are designed for very large RVs, with a few very nice waterfront sites designated for tents. Each site is spacious, complete with a picnic table, firepit, 2 lantern poles, and electrical hookups, with a dump station at the back of the campground. The bathrooms are equipped with flush toilets, sinks, and a shower and kept relatively clean.

The campground itself is dripping with live oaks and speckled with Palmetto trees, so lots of shade is available, especially in the tent areas. The boat launch is walking distance from the campground and has a nice picnic area adjacent to it. We watched a pods of pelicans and dolphins come through the area, as well as many other sea birds.

We kayaked along the intercoastal waterway and out into marshy sea grass areas and had one of the most amazing wildlife encounters to date (and we’ve been all over the country). We saw a pod of dolphins in the distance, which appeared to be feeding. We stopped about 150 away and just enjoyed watching them dance and dive in the morning light. Then, two of the dolphins peeled away from the pack and headed straight toward us. As they approached our kayaks, the larger one gave an extra tail fin flap and dove under our boats, coming up just a bit on the other side. As naturalists, our hearts were pounding with excitement! We also hiked and mountain-biked along the gorgeous Palmetto Trail (which is a mountains-to-sea trail across South Carolina, and this campground serves as its coastal terminus).

Also, don’t miss the famous Sewee Restaurant for some downeast coastal Carolina fare, as well as the Center for Birds of Prey just across the highway from this restaurant. This wildlife conservation and rehabilitation center is doing some amazing things for birds and in the region and doing a great job of public education. If you head up the coast, be sure to stop in Boats & Hoagies in McClellanville for a bite to eat. Cute place, great food, awesome service!

The $20 per night fee is a great price for the amenities this campground offers, especially with full hook-ups and showers, and a boat launch. Check out our blog on The Dyrt's Online Magazine about our experience on the coast of South Carolina.

There are quite a variety of things to do at this state park, and the camp sites are spacious. There is a little store where you can buy any of the little things you may have forgotten. There were not too many people camping during our visit, but it could be that not many people want to stand the South Carolina heat! Either way, it made the visit quiet. There are also plenty of geocaches around, if you're into that. There are 2 places to shower in the campground, so I imagine that once it fills up, you may have to wait to shower. It was pretty clean and the water was clear, so I guess you could just go for a swim! I wish we had brought our tubes and some rope to float out on the water!

When making reservations at James Island County Park we had modest expectations, but we were going to tour Charleston most of the time, so we decided anything close to the city would be good enough. The campground turned out to be very nice. We wished we had stayed there longer to enjoy not only Charleston, but the nature beauty of the park itself. The campground is located in a huge park with lots of amenities. The sites are spacious, covered with trees, full hookups with 50 amp service. There are a lot of shaded picturesque walking and bike trails in the park. The dog park was amazingly big, with a little doggy beach for water lovers. There is a big kids playground with a fun looking spray play fountain. It is located just 15 min drive from the campground to downtown Charleston. It is a great campground to stay when visiting Charleston. We have a video on our YouTube Channel- Summertime RV Rovers- about this park- Great Campgrounds in Coastal South Carolina: Charleston and Hilton Head Island. Please check for yourself. We camped at James Island County Park in a Motorhome.

We used it as a 3 day stop on our way up to the Northeast. It is a ways from 95 and all but well worth it. peaceful and as stated very big. If you have a boat and or love to fish this is great place. Other then that, not much was happening while we were there. But to be fair it was spring time and this looks like a campground that is rocking in the summertime.

Our ATT hotspot was fine and our phones which are on the T-Mobile

Added a few pics to give you an idea.

This RV park is massive and has immediate access to water for your boat, kayak or canoe.  Shortly after entering, you'll only need to continue due straight until you reach the double boat launch (extra points here for Rock Pond providing their own gas pump - and according to the fisherman I spoke with, they don't gauge you on the price of gasoline, which is nice for a change).  Boat launch fee is $5.  Nearby there's a tackle store for all your fishing needs - they also have basic toiletries and sundries in case you forgot something behind.

The park itself has plenty of shelters (but on holiday weekends, like when I was there, they book up fast, so if you're interested, call up early!), easy load-in and all of the amenities you would expect, including 30 / 50 amp hook ups, water and electrical lines.  Theres tons of ancient Oaks dripping in Spanish moss along with area folklore and local spots that have tons of history.  While the campground is open year-round, the store itself is closed between November 1 and March 1.

Let me tell you what I love most about this place.  While I was there with a friend of mine and his young family, the place is perfect for kids - there's lots of places to go fishing, whether you are on a boat and want to venture further out, or don't want to leave land and just cast your line from one of the many points they have at this campground - there's a fishing pier, a dedicated fish pond and even a smaller pond that is just for the kiddos.  How cool is that?  And again, there's the big open Lake Marion itself, which is nothing short of fantastic.  Beyond this, there's a small mini-golf course, a couple little playgrounds and recreation halls.  The staff was friendly - nothing really short of fantastic and the security was top-notch.

A couple insider tips: 1) if you've got a boat and want to get out on the water, do it early before the long line takes you at least an hour of waiting; 2) bring earplugs - it can get somewhat noisy at night; 3) bring plenty of mosquito repellent (you're next to the water in the south, need I say more?); and 4) hit up JB Fishtales just a short jaunt down the way where they're serving up a whole of mischief, some incredibly awesomely bad karaoke (I just couldn't believe no one liked Ricky Martin out in these parts!) with some great whiskies and bourbons - Bonnie, thanks for not kicking me out on that last night!

Only downsides to this campground is that it is primarily for RV's with seemingly endless barren rows full of slanted parking spots.  During the holiday weekend I was there, because there is not a whole lot of cover / shade / trees, noise carries and so it feels a little bit like camping out at Bonnaroo without all the A-list talent playing live. Other than this, you'll find this to be a pretty great place to get out on the water and lie beneath the stars.

Happy Camping!

We stayed at Santee Lake in a 37' travel trailer. Sites were tight for a rig that big but we made it work. Our site was level, others were definitely not. Nice dock for fishing. Great playground along the shore. If it wasn't near freezing, there was a nice spot for swimming. Ordered pizza and had it delivered to the campsite! Nice touch!

Worth the upgrade to lakefront sites.

My wife and I spent one night here out of necessity but would definitely return to actually visit and relax. It’s right on the Santee lake and even though we didn’t have a lakefront site we could still easily see it from ours. We didn’t get to just walk around and check things out but the staff were very friendly. I did use their restroom and it was clean. We did like how there were many birds active and chirping, there were some squirrels, we love all the critters.

It’s right off I-95, getting to it is simple. It can be a little tight in some spots but anything should be able to get through where your rig will fit. Our site did require a good bit of leveling. Plenty of water pressure, will definitely want a pressure regulator.

They serve Hunt Brothers pizza from the office. You can call and place an order, they’ll charge it to your card on file if you’d like, they’ll even deliver it to your site. And the pizza was phenomenal!!

Overall we were pleased and would be happy to visit again.

We stopped here for a night on our way back to Florida. We were on C5 which was a very large pull through and relatively level. We did not even have to bring out our leveling blocks, the auto leveler was able to handle it well. Power was stable and water pressure was good. Only things we did not like is that every site was just dirt and there was not much shade at our site.