Best RV Parks & Resorts near Laurens, SC

Overall, this is a very nice, clean park conveniently located to the interstate I-85) and attractions in the area. It has all the amenities you would expect to find at a KOA such as a swimming pool, playground, dog park, miniature golf, store, clubhouse, and more (including goats). It is by far the nicest private campground in the area that we have stayed at.

This KOA has 127 sites offering varying degrees of services to accommodate RV's, tents, and those wanting to rent cabins. We chose a 50-amp full hook-up back-in site but were upgraded to a pull-thru so we could be in a sunny location to mitigate the chilly air. How nice of them! Our site (#79) was perfectly level as were most others (but not all). Water, electric, and cable hook-ups were well placed at the site and worked fine. We paid $37/night(with the KOA member discount). Nice, large grassy area for dogs to walk and sniff and there is a decent size dog park.  Roads and pads are hard packed gravel with grass in between sites. Some sites are set in a wooded area while some are out in the open with plenty of sun and satellite coverage. The park is big rig friendly and the roads are easily navigable. All sites have a picnic table and some had fire pits but ours did not. Cable is included and offered over 50 channels. Wifi worked well at our site.  The laundry was small with three washers and three dryers but very clean and had a decent book exchange. The bathroom and showers were super clean and looked like they were updated recently. 

The campground is extremely clean and the owners/employees are super friendly. There is a short hiking trail (less than a mile) through the woods and plenty of green space in front of some of the pull-thrus. playground large swimming pool with large deck putt putt with lots of goat humor. 

The only downside would be the closeness of sites but that is pretty much what you expect from private RV parks. Fortunately, we did not have neighbors right next to us which gave us more space. I'm usually not a KOA fan but have to say this one was great for our overnight stay and we would recommend it.

This is a typical Corp of Engineers campground, well kept with a variety of pull through and back-in sites.  Sites are 50/30/20 electric with water, picnic table and fire ring.  Many sites have a tent pad, are very level packed gravel/sand and well situated with very few having very close neighbors.  Shade is at a premium on some sites due to cutting of pine trees a couple of years ago but almost all are waterfront with an excellent view.  Some sites have direct access to the water allowing boats right at the site and swimming.  The swimming beach is very nice and well maintained as are the playgrounds.  Three bath houses are convenient to all loops, well maintained and clean.  Cell service is very good as is over the air TV with numerous channels available.  The dump station is easy in/out.  Sites 10 through 40 have awesome views of Lake Hartwell.

This campground is very close to I-26 and I-81 which makes for an easy in and out for an overnight stay. We stopped for one night after a long day of driving and wanted a full hook-up pull-thru which was long enough for our 45’ RV and tow car. The roads inside the park were easy to navigate and pull into our site and nearby are fuel stations and fast food restaurants. 

Most of the campers in the park were permanent residents and their campsites were pretty junky. Just to create an image in your head, our neighbors had lots of kid’s toys, trash bags, appliances, and laundry scattered about their site while others had old cars, dilapidated sheds, car tires, and tarps stretched across their campers. Other than a swimming pool and decent playground, there really aren’t too many amenities or reasons that you might want to stay here, other than for an overnight. The bathroom and showers were clean and there is a nice laundry. Roads in the campground and at sites are gravel with grass/gravel patios and picnic table. Not all sites have fire pits. Our site (#102) did not have a fire pit but there was an indentation under the leaves where it looked like there was a fire pit and there were a bunch of rocks piled up against a tree that could be used to create one without anyone objecting. All sites are full hook-up, some being 30-amp and others 50. Most sites are pull-thrus and level. Our over-the-antenna picked up about 40 television channels, including all the major stations. Our Verizon phone picked up a 5G signal. 

There were signs everywhere about not letting your dog off-leash so I’m assuming there was a problem in the past. While we were there, we never encountered any unruly dogs or any off-leash. There are lots of large trees for shade which are not a problem for pulling into or out of a site but may be a problem if you are trying to get satellite television. The sewer outlet at our site was placed in the back of our site and I needed a hose about 35’ long to reach it.  Some of the back-in sites are pretty close but it appeared they were for seasonal/permanent campers.

The electrical hookup was a little sketchy. It appears they updated an old electrical box with a new 50-amp outlet and taped the other one shut so you could not open it. There was no breaker on the new outlet you could access. Despite the way it looked, we never had a problem with the electric.  Our sewer was a different issue.  The sewer drain needed to be cleaned out because when I opened the grey valve it did not drain properly and began to overflow.  I had to shut the valve, wait for the water to go down, and reduce the flow which took about fifteen minutes to drian 25 gallons of grey water. 

At $45 for a full hook-up site, we would not stay here again.

First time staying at Chester State Park. Checked in at the Ranger’s station with friendly staff and a small store front with ice available. Picked pull through site 16. All 25 of the sites are on mostly level ground. The lake from the campground has a fairly new access via a ADA compliant walkway with lighting leading to swings, benches and Adirondack chairs surrounding a rock fire pit. There are benches facing the lake for sitting and or fishing and a new deck that provide even better views of the lake. The trails are well marked and wide that run along the lake edge. There is fishing, kayaks and canoes at the boat dock for rent and to our children’s disappointment no swimming in the lake. The other side of the park has the boat dock, playgrounds for the kiddos and plenty of grassy areas and picnic tables for sitting by the lake. Also there is a professional disc golf course on site. Last but not least the bathhouse is up to date, clean and well stocked.

We stayed one night at Calhoun Falls, SC site 86. The site is the first one in the second grouping of campsites directly across from the camp host. Site 86 is a pull-through. There are 12 steps down to a lower level picnic table and fire pit area. There is a short path down to the water. 

There is 30amp power available as well as household style 110. The 30amp power seemed to be a little finicky. 

The camp host's dog barked for several hours after our arrival which was not very relaxing. During the barking, the camp host decided it was time to run a leaf blower for a while. So we decided to take a walk. 

We liked the walking paths and the public fishing pier. 

There is a rail line that crosses the lake. We heard the train horn a couple times that night. Dogs, leaf blowers, trains ... not the relaxing weekend we had hoped for. 

Security seemed a bit lax. There were several cases of motorcycles and show cars, maybe lost boaters come in an out of the camp area at all hours. 

The dump station was in bad enough shape that we did not feel it would be in our best health to use it (see picture). 

We probably will not go back even though this is not too far from home.