The best TENT SITES camping near
Lazy Acres , TENNESSEE

This is a campground with lots of trees and water front lots but seems like the prime areas are filled with long term campers, so much for the 14 day limit, no openings for the weekenders near the beach area and only a couple of waterfront sites are available. The road is rutted and potholes thru out and our neighbors ran their generator all night, very loud considering I was in a tent. I’ll probably stay again but not my top choice.

Well maintained, large campground. Plenty of bathroom/shower facilities located around the campground; clean and functional. Lots of good hiking nearby, as well as other outdoor activities (that I didn’t do). Informative visitor’s center with helpful rangers onsite (even on weekends). Great history lessons about the Big South Fork area, interpretive hikes (which I did do) and fair warning about the ticks.

BEAUTIFUL hike. It's all uphill till you get there, but totally worth it.

If you're going to go to Smokie Mountain National Park, the is the side to stay on. Gatlinburg is absolutely nuts while Townsend is about 1000% calmer. The KOA is exactly what you'd expect. Knowledgeable staff and clean facilities. 

Pros: 

-Fantastic bathrooms and showers. Laundry was on point as well.

-The river is beautiful 

-Immediate access to the national park

Cons:

-Like most KOAs, it's packed.

-Children run the night like Westside Story.

-The playground was the center hub of a swarm of bees. 

Long story short, stay here. It's great.

Unreal and must visit Smoky Mountain destination. Awesome automobile loop scenic drive and several other hiking paths we took. All sort of wildlife and abandon cabins and farm houses.

Walked, hiked and toured the Elkmont area and campground in the Smoky Mountains. Campground not yet open but have spots picked out next to heavy flowing streams. Great history as old time cabins have been preserved. Read about the history of this little now abandon town. Some stuff it’s haunted. Awesome day here.

While this campground is beautiful, the gate is still closed for the season. Website says it will open mid-April, so should be available soon!

Great trails, walkways, and a lot of activities available (tennis courts, basketball, frisbee, etc.). The restrooms/showers were clean and well stocked. The only drawback was the slow, and sometimes non-existent, wi-fi service.

The Townsend KOA is located close to the entrance of Cades Cove. It has many rv, tent, and cabin sites. The sites on the river seem to be the best. They are out of the way and a little more spaced out. We had the pull thru patio site #61. The site itself is really nice. It has a big patio and fire pit. The major downside is it’s next the main in/out and basketball court. So cars are driving by and the basketball court was slightly annoying. Lots of screaming kids and bouncing balls all day until midnight the first night. Not very peaceful. It’s weird that they put one of the nicer sites next to the court. Other than the site location everything was nice. The playground is large and nice. There’s a great store on site. The people were really helpful. Cellphone and WiFi was very hit and miss. I would definitely stay again but not in that site.

Honeysuckle Meadows is a small low key campground in Wears Valley between Pigeon Forge and Townsend. The sites a spaced out so you have privacy. We really enjoyed that it was not crowded and busy. The sites have full hookups and WiFi was excellent. There is a pool and pond. It does not have a bathhouse, laundry, or playground. I would not recommend for kids unless they don’t need the bells and whistles to be entertained.