Best Tent Camping near Gainesville, TX

Since the primitive tent sites are down due to flooding, we set up our tent on a nice RV spot near the lake (site 9). If you drive around, you’ll find some good spots like this for tent camping. A little expensive at $30 per night, but it was still worth it. Pretty water. Gorgeous sunset. Good fire pit. Running water and electricity was nice.

Only complaint: our neighbors a couple sites down were blasting music until 1am. Not a peaceful experience for sleeping. I wish the park attendants would have stopped them sooner, as the official quiet time is 10pm. Otherwise, excellent spot!

Absolutely no tent camping. Read this.... NO TENT camping.

Lake Murray is a large state park which is an easy drive north from the DFW area, so I stay in the SP frequently, but never at this campground. It’s located a bit off the beaten path on the South end of the park. It’s also a smaller campground which accommodates smaller RV’s. Also, there is boat ramp, but it is not large and has little parking, plus it’s not located down the road that leads to the campsites. This means there isn’t constant traffic and power boat noise. 

The campground is tucked into a cove of Lake Murray and is down the road from the dam.  There are some very nice walk in tent camping sites where you could walk down to the rocky lake edge and swim. There are also a few drive in tent sites. However, be aware that when I stayed here in spring of 2020, there is no bath house or toilet facilities. There was a nice playground and a little picnic area right on the lake.

The RV sites are scattered around a circular road and there are several right on the lake. These are the best in my opinion. One of them (site 17) is labeled “premium” and I would pay the extra $ to snag this site. 

• Site 14 - Water/Electric 50 and 30 amp, no sewer (dump on site)

• gravel pad, mostly level, has a tree on awning side so couldn’t deploy my awning, but really unnecessary because the site was nicely shaded

• Cement picnic bench, BBQ, fire ring

• Walk down from site to water with rock ledge to sit a chair on and dangle feet in the lake!

• Site is private on 1 side with forested creek/water run off area, but neighbor is fairly close on other side

• ***No bathhouse (gutted - see photo)

• Little cons: no trailheads within the campground, but Tucker Tower is a bike ride or hike over the dam and the trailhead to Ski Jump Campground the the Lodge connects here. (8.5 miles). Also Dump station at the campground is easy access, however the exit up the somewhat eroded gravel hill may require some maneuvering for larger rigs.

Definitely check out Tucker Tower when visiting and Lake Murray SP Nature Center is very well done! I’ll return again for the always good hiking and try to snag the premium site or site 9.

UPDATE 5/2021 - Marietta Landing Campground is being revamped.

Nice area to tent camp

Excellent tent camping right next to Lake Lewisville.

Lots of good tent sites both on the water or a short hike to it.

Great Tent camping. The grills are combined with the fire pits. The RV area has showers that are separate from the toilets. There are no electrical outlets or hand dryers or soap dispensers.

This park is very large! There is camping for everyone here! Great marina, fishing, hiking, kayaking and camp fires! All types of RV and tent sites! The swimming beach is the best, but you have to walk way down a hill to get to it!

Easy reservation process on recreation.gov. Stayed in the tent section for $10 a night. Each tent site has a picnic table and fire pit. Water was off when we were here. Trash cans are conveniently located (throw your trash away!) Relatively large park for being in the city. Good hiking trails and a boat launch. Shopping and restaurants so close, DoorDash delivers here!

Loved our stay here in the tent section. Trees provided much needed shade, yet enough for solar to stay charged. Restrooms were close, showers were a little bit of a walk. Each tent site has a table and fire pit. Lovely views of lake Texoma. Great hiking and rock climbing opportunities. The marina store is a short walk away and you can rent kayaks and canoes!

I have camped here many times. The park is well maintained and offers beautiful hiking trails and scenery. It is also safe with plenty of staff making rounds to ensure everyone's safety. I have stayed at their pull through camper sites, shelters, as well as tent camping with no complaints. The park is also undergoing construction upgrades and new paved roads ATM but the areas are clearly identified on their website. Definitely a family friendly park with plenty of wildlife to enjoy!

We loved the proximity to north Dallas. It makes for a nice getaway weekend. We enjoyed exploring the different areas of the park. We noticed most of the trailer/tent sites are almost in pairs. So two sites, have a common grassy area. Makes this park great for camping with friends or for making new friends, as we did! The store are the marina was a great break for ice cream on a hot day. Our friends have a boat on Lake Texoma and their home was only a 15 minute drive from the park.

Look, I found this campground by total accident following signs. There is so much construction around Lewisville Lake it is difficult to get where you want to go. There are better parks around Lewisville Lake like Pilot Knoll Park.

This is mostly for RV's and camper trailers. There are a few tent sites near the beach but you are surrounded by baseball fields and city parks. It has a shower house and a laundry facility, but the campsites are stacked on top of each other.

The campground staff was very helpful.

I tent camped here in December at the Hawthorn campground site 8. One thing I wasn’t expecting was that this was a walk in site. It was about 100 yards from the parking lot to site 8. Kind of a pain when setting up camp but it makes for a very quiet camping experience once you’re done. Water spigots are close by. The bathrooms were really clean and there are hiking and biking trails nearby. Unfortunately I didn’t get to explore the park much but it seems there is lots to do. There is a marina where you can rent boats and a swim beach nearby. I’ll definitely be going back for a longer stay.

We found a nice secluded tent site, despite it being fall break weekend. There are many campgrounds at Lake Murray to choose from. We chose this site which was conveniently located near a nature trail with a beautiful lookout point, as well as a hiking trail. Did not use the restroom facilities, but judging from the nature center, lodge and other park facilities I am sure they were nice. The recently built lodge is beautiful. The staff we met were friendly and helpful. Seems like a very nice and well rounded park even if you aren’t planning any lake or water activities. dog friendly. We will be back!

Was able to spend a night at Buzzards Roost campground while visiting Lake Murray State park.  Our tent site was at the point and provided us with great views of the marina, and Tucker Tower.  There is plenty of parking and the tent pads were nice and level with plenty of space for larger tents.  Each fire pit had it own grate that provides a cooking surface over the fire; however, must were damaged but still usable.  Bath house is a little older but the amenities were nice.  There are 4 showers that are available with great pressure and temps.  All but a few campsites were on the water so it makes it easy to put in a small water craft or even pull a larger boat up to your site.

Very well kept area. Two restrooms. Each little camp site has its own picnic table and grill. On a Monday night there was only one person using the lake for fishing and one person camping in the shaded part. There is a little slide. Not very private at most of the tent sites. Although, I did see a fire ring out alone in the grass on the other side of the parking lot but it was in direct sun with no trees or shade nearby. There were two men working on the site. Its also pretty close (12 minute drive) the trails over at the lbj grasslands spot which is where we were staying for the night. We just popped over to black creek lake to check out the day usage and restrooms.