Best Tent Camping near Windsor, SC

I was originally a little nervous about booking this because I tent camp and the only sites available were full RV ones. I like to be more alone and tucked in the back somewhere. The RV sites do not offer much for privacy as the trees are spread out and far between, however each site is spread out enough that it’s not terrible. The sites were shaded and the whole park was very clean and well maintained. Even the trails after days of heavy rain was cleared and looked good. Camp host was super nice and offered us his axe to help us with wood. You had the option to rent kayaks and little paddle boats that was closed due to Covid 19. There was like 6 different trails to choose from that we enjoyed. We took advantage of the lake and did a lot of fishing. I would definitely go back and hopefully will have the opportunity to stay in a tent site because they looked awesome!

Whether camping in a tent or renting a cabin, all are $20 per night. 🤔 Beautiful lake, flushing toilets and hot showers. I am passing through but see others boating, fishing and hunting. Laundry available upon request and current availability.

I was passing thru SC on the SCAR headed down to the Palmetto Rally and stopped here to camp. It was a very nice campground with level pads, picnic table and fire ring (bring your own wood). As well there were several vault toilets and there was even a water faucet. It was a good campground and I would stay here again. It is not reservable so first come first served. There was some cell coverage as well. I tent camped so can not comment on RV as the others in the campground were tent camping as well.

This State Park is large with camping for everyone, RV’s, tent camping. On lake Thurmond between Plum S. C. And Modoc S. C. On hey 28.

We tent camped and stayed right on the water. Sites were very clean and spacious. Bath houses were pretty clean. There is water and electric at each site for those who are in a RV but the dump sites are pretty close by. We will definitely be back! We saw quite a lot of wildlife during our stay and enjoy taking the trail around the lake.

Magnolia Springs State Park is a nice Georgia State Park. Located just north of Millen, GA, the park offers ample camping for both RVs and tents.

Spots are flat and easy to park campers and set up tents with enough room between each for a bit of privacy and a few walk-in tent sites for increased privacy. Cabin rentals are available as well as a group lodge. There is a bath house in the main campground that is well kept complete with flush toilets and showers, as well as a coin laundry machines.

Kayak, canoe, pedal boat and bike rentals are all available from the visitor center to explore the spring fed lake and mostly flat trails in the park.

This is a lovely park to camp and spend time in, but is a 2-3 hour drive to Atlanta or Savannah if you are interested in exploring GA. The town of Millen has fast food options, as well as ample opportunity to pick up essential goods.

A lot of the sites are on the waters edge and offers beautiful views. The red clay was horrible though, especially with a white dog and after it rained. We had site 145, beautiful views but difficult to maneuver into the site and access the water, but we made it work. We would return though. Site 144 and 143 had gorgeous views of the sunset...I’ve heard 108 and 77 are prime spots. Be aware of booking a site and how you’re awning will face! Bathhouse is about 1/2 mile away, so too far to walk when you have to go. Not many bathhouses either so there was a line for the shower (only 2 shower stalls and 3 toilets for at least 75 campsites with the tent sites included). Only 2 single access dump stations for the entire park, so there was a line of 8-10 campers at both on a Sunday morning!

It was a pleasant stay at Congaree. As a SC resident I was surprised to learn we had our very own National Park and just had to take the short drive from Charleston to experience it - glad we did! The sites did not have water or power but were a decent size. We stayed at tent site 1 which was right at the beginning of the Bluffs Trail. We took our 2 dogs hiking to the boardwalk trail which led back to the Visitor Center.. this was a decent 3+ mile hike our dogs were pooped! Overnight guests should be prepared to gather your own wood as none is sold on site. You can also get water from the Visitor Center (which is a better drive than walk if carrying a large or multiple jugs). The bathrooms on the campground part were essentially glorified port-o-potties (a building surrounding a hole in the ground). The Visitor Center was a better bathroom experience. Overall, I would return here to camp. The hikes were not too challenging but the boardwalk provided a unique experience!

The main campground is flat making it easy to back up campers or RV’s in slots. Some pull through spots. We were tent camping and choose a walk in slot. 27, 28 & 29. Our site was 29 it is about 100 yards from the main campground down a single lane sandy road that leads into a wooded area. We saw vehicles on the other 2 spots and decided to just pull in by our space as well. I really like the walk in spaces because they are away from the main campground. I do like seeing stars at night but the tree canopy blocked them. The spigot on this spot was leaky. We did watch chickadees take an evening bath in the puddle. We noticed some little pieces of broken glass on the tent pad. The bathhouse was clean. The 28 acre lake and trails throughout the property are well maintained. Signs to watch out for gators are posted. We saw 2. The springs are so pretty and clear, so many turtles and fish to see. I would’ve liked to paddle board in the springs but wasn’t sure if that was permitted. We did paddle board and kayak in the lake.
If you are up to a history lesson the Camp Lawton museum is a bargain at $2 ! It is very informative. We had lovely weather and would return in the fall or spring. Summer may be to buggy and hot.

We had a great experience that unfortunately ended a day early due to some heavy rain. We checked in on a Thursday evening from the drive from Florida. Campsite was chosen from a map, which seemed to have an upfront water access. Apron arrival, we found out there was actually another campsite squeezed directly in front of us and a RV showed up to obstruct the breeze and view of the water. We wanted our own water entrance and the view, so we moved to campsite 103. Best decision we made was moving to campsite 103, highly recommend. It’s on its own point, more secluded from the other sites, almost no visibility from your neighbors. The best part was the view, sunsets over the water were beautiful. There is a slightly steep step down to get to a lower ridge that walks into the water, be careful in the rain, but that’s where we scattered our hammocks throughout. Campground wise, we had 2 tents set up, trucks parked about 20’ away and still had room for Cornhole boards, fire pit and tables. The lake access was awesome because we bring inflatable paddle boards and there was a small island about 1/2 mile out that we would paddle around and back

The drive in is easy and paved. I do always hope for that off-road, overland kind of drive in but not here. Campground is huge with multiple sections so pay attention to the signs. Campsite #s where spray painted yellow on the ground if I recall correctly.

Overall, great getaway, the cell service was almost gone, every now and then a bar would pop up so just throw it in airplane mode to truly escape. Make sure you get a site on the water if you are tent camping. It would suck to have your view impeded and not have a back up campsite so choose wisely.

Seclusion might be an issue at some sites but they do have a couple sets of bathrooms around that are well maintained at the campground. Nothing crazy but they are clean.

We went camping at Hamilton Branch State Park in October 2019 for a week. There are so many wonderful things to say about this campground. 

1. Almost ALL sites are lakefront- There are very few sites that are not right on the water. There are some sites that have a steep drop off to the water(mostly the tent sites around the sites 123-128 range). We found several sites that we thought were the best. Sites 77, 168, 98, 97, 103, 105, and a couple of others I can’t remember. Nice views and access to the water. 

2. Sites are very spaced out- We were there during a quieter time, so we had several sites around us that were empty, but even if they had been full, we thought there was a lot of space between them, and most faced the water, so they all kind of faced away from each other. So, it seems to be very private. 

3. Park is LARGE- This is a huge park, and even though there are 200 sites, those are all distributed over 9 different areas, each area consisting of at least 1 loop each. So, again, very spaced out and private. 

4. Clean Bath Houses- Obviously we stuck to the bath house closest to our site, but it was extremely clean and appointed. Toilets cleaned every morning. Shower clean with good shower curtains! If you have camped before, you have likely encountered shower curtains that were hanging on by their last 2 or 3 loops. We even brought our own, in case that was the case here. Nope, it was very nice to have the bathroom so well taken care of. 

5. Friendly Staff- We had originally booked a specific site, and when we got there, we wanted to change it(due to the steep drop to the water, that would be hard to do every day with kayaks). We looked around the park to see what else would be available and Amanda at the front office was very helpful in checking for availability and helping us change our site. In addition to the very helpful Amanda, we encountered several camp hosts. Since the park is so big, there are multiple camp hosts. Everyone we encountered was friendly, helpful and seemed to enjoy being there. 

6. Beautiful Lake/Nature- Obviously the big attraction here is the lake. Thurmond Lake is ENORMOUS. And the park is on one small part of it. We kayaked a few days and saw a lot of fish, bald eagles, geese, blue herons, white egrets, etc. At our campsite we saw a couple of deer and a few raccoons. For a 6-night stay, we only saw the raccoons one night. We must not have had very good tidbits ad they gave up on us. 

We stated several times that we will be coming back to this campground, and that it might be one of the best we have ever been to. I hope this gave you some info and insight into this park.

Having been on the road for about three months before coming to Congaree, we were happy to arrive to such a quiet and tucked-away campground. For $5 per night, Bluff Campground was the perfect spot to hole up for a few days and relax surrounded by the old growth forest of Congaree National Park.

Our time at Congaree was different from the other national parks we visited, because South Carolina had just undergone major flooding and much of Congaree -- especially its trails -- were under water.

With no crowds and not much to explore, our three days in the park was very relaxing. We chose Bluff Campground -- a one-mile walk-in campground near the visitor center -- because we knew it would be less popular than Longleaf Campground, and we knew we’d be spending a lot of time there. The one mile hike seemed further than we thought because of our heavy loads, but once we arrived at our camp, set up our tent, chairs, hammocks, and slack line, we were able to just make the easy walk in and out each day.

The campground itself has no facilities; its only amenities are the fire ring and picnic table at each site. We encountered only one other camper in our two nights here. We did encounter many mosquitoes, though, so don’t forget bug spray!

At Congaree, there are several hiking trails and kayaking trails that we would have liked to do, but with our plans foiled by rain, we spent time at the visitor center, around the short boardwalk trail adjacent to the visitor center, and kayaking through the flooded plains, straight off the boardwalk.

You can read much more about our three days in the park on our blog: Switchback Kids (Congaree)

We stayed 3 nights in the “walk in” tent area of this state park. The park called the day prior to our reservation to see if we would need firewood, a big plus. “Walk in” is a little deceiving, because, gladly, you can drive to the 3 tent spots and park a vehicle in this area. We stayed in spot 29. The three tent spots all have water at each site. They all have spacious tent pads in a wooded, heavily shaded area. 29 has the tent pad very close to the “road/trail”, but there was very little traffic on it. We arrived at night, and the camp host was friendly and directed us to the site. The park was full, but the sites were spaced well and the park was pretty quiet. The bathrooms were very clean and did have hot water. There were numerous signs posted for alligators and bears. I didn’t put a lot of stock into the bear signs due to the fact that none of the garbage cans or anything were “bear-proof”. We did finally see one gator as we walked by the spring one of the days. I thought that we had seen on their site that no hammocks were allowed, or anything tied to the trees, so we didn’t take our hammocks. This was not the case, as there were many hammocks up when we were there. You can look up the history of this place on their website. We were there May 8-11 and only had one colder evening and weather in the 70’s during the day. We would definitely go back.

This place is awesome! We slept in the primative tent section. It was nice and peaceful. Facilities are clean. Great views ❤️

We stayed in Longleaf site 1 and site 2 in April. Site 1 is the closest to the parking lot- like 20m away. It’s very public and right beside the trail for all the other Longleaf sites. Site 2 is a further walk down the trail and then a walk into the bush. So it’s more private but there’s a lot more plants everywhere. These sites are more for smaller tents and not massive ones. There are a lot of tree roots which it tough if you have a huge tent. There is one washroom open at the visitor centre and a potable water tap available all night long- but drive there walking is too far. There is a vault toilet at the parking lot for Longleaf.

However you want to camp you can. Tent, RV, you name it. With lake access on virtually every spot you’ll wake up to amazing views and great days in the sun. Almost every spot has a walkable path to the water. It’s pet friendly and has amenities for even the least experienced (and least willing) campers.

The tent area with electric and water hookup of this campground has no privacy. Our first time at a private campground. We prefer state parks. The kids did enjoy the dome they got to jump on at various times of the day. The playground is great! The hike was pretty uneventful. They have a pool although we did not swim when we went, much too cold in November. The staff is great. Bathrooms were clean. This place is great just depends on what type of camping you enjoy.

Sites 2,10 and 8 are private or not to close to other sites. It a easy walk in from the parking lot. Bathroom are clean but no water anywhere next the campground. The sites were clean but the tree roots are horrible, it night you will trip over them and there will be some under your tent. Very nice park office,young ranger a bit rude but the volunteers nice.

Another awesome place if you are a boater! Beautiful views. Grounds need a little work. Electronic and water hookups on sites. Bathrooms and showers available. We did a quick tour of the area to stay next summer.

From the website: Located on the north shore of Lake Murray, Putnam's Landing (no website; 1201 Putnam Dr, Chapin; 803-345-3040) is open from April to October and features 24 sites for tents or RVs. Sites include sewer and electrical hookups, but offer central water only. Shower and restroom facilities are located in the campground, and Putnam's landing also offers an on-site restaurant.