Best Glamping near Killeen, TX

Pace Bend is one of my most favorite places to camp in Texas.

Not far from the old (and new!) Backyard (a great place to see live music in the live oak capital of Texas), Pace Bend is a quick drive away. A perfect spot to pitch a bunch of tents, jump off cliffs, swim and barbeque. Maybe 45 minutes from downtown Austin (without traffic).

I won't lie the cliff diving kinda freaks me out. Be careful is all I'm saying!

There are several primitive campsites throughout the park with picnic tables, grills and toilets. Additionally there are 20 RV hook-up type sites that offer running water, electricity, restrooms and showers.

Natural springs w/tent & RV camping (NO PETS), fishing, kayaking, lake access, hammock areas and day use picnic w/grills. CASH ONLY FACILITIES!! Family owned. Beautiful Butterfly garden great for yoga, reading or enjoying the mind of a gardener. Several RV w/H20 & electric hookups (reservations required). Tent sites are not #, random locations (30 acres), plentiful and 1st come 1st serve. Toilets/showers near RV sites, portable toilets farther out. Pack it in/out, dumpster at office area. Love this place and grateful the owners share their haven with the public!

Pros:

• Very small park

• Great view of the lake as trees/shrubs are minimal

• Clean campsite except for the trash in the fire pit

• Most sites had 2 sewer hookups.

• Most sites had a nice distance from neighbor sites.

• Crushed granite surrounds the site parking pad so no muddy mess after rain

• Lantern pole, BBQ grill, fire pit with grilling grate and wooden picnic table at each site.

• Extremely clean restrooms/shower facility.

• Heated restrooms/shower facility(we camped the week after Christmas).

• Restroom/shower facility sink had hot water and soap dispenser

• Mini golf course in the park.

• 2 bar signal AT&T

Cons:

• With reservations made 153 days prior to arriving for our 4-night stay, we encountered confusion by a rude check-in clerk who told us to come back at 3 pm (it was then 230pm and we could clearly see our campsite was vacant). Since the entry lane was down to one lane, we tied up traffic for nearly 20 minutes until the check-in clerk finally realized that we were camping and not checking in for their cabins. I’m not sure why she didn’t see our truck and 28 ft bumper pull trailer.

•$6 fee to reserve on-line.

• No mention on the park website there was a burn ban in effect, so no ground fires permitted, not even for cooking.

• No site privacy due to minimal trees/brush throughout the park.

• Campsite BBQ grill and fire pit were next to each other, so it would have been difficult to gather around the fire pit.

• Good condition asphalt site parking pad was uneven side-to-side as we noticed nearly all sites in that condition with all requiring leveling.

• NOT A DARK SKY FRIENDLY CAMPGROUND! Numerous street lights throughout this camping loop and unfortunately we had one directly across from our site#11 which lit up our site like daylight! Who camps under a street light???

• Non-stop highway noise, even throughout the night, from Texas 261.

• Doors on toilet stalls were only 5 feet tall.

• Lots of large roadway speed bumps.

• No hiking trails.

• No park WIFI 

We used Black Rock as our “jumping off point” for various Hill Country Holiday Light displays, which worked out very well. Kingsland is closer to the park than Burnet where there is a HEB, Ace Hardware, Dairy Queen and local restaurants. Closest Walmart to Black Rock is in Marble Falls, along with a HEB.

This park is a short drive to all of Waco attractions including the famous Silos. We stayed Friday and Saturday nights. 

Pros:

• Very friendly gate attendant

• Extremely quiet park except for arriving/departing aircraft at Waco Regional Airport

• Great view of the lake as trees/shrubs are minimal

• Clean campsite

• Very clean campfire pit

• Most sites had a nice distance from neighbor sites

• Crushed granite surrounds the site’s asphalt parking pad so no muddy mess after rain

• Pedestal BBQ grill, fire pit with grilling grate and aluminum picnic table at each site

• Some sites had aluminum roof pavilion over picnic table

• Some sites had lantern pole

• Park roadways in good condition

• Entrance gate locked at 10pm

• Plenty of TP in women’s restroom

• 4 bar signal AT&T 

Cons:

• Filthy women’s restroom. Human feces on floor. Two of the three stalls locked for days. One remaining stall the door would not close and latch. Sign posted on door that restrooms were cleaned Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, but the human feces were on the floor Friday night, Saturday all day and Sunday morning. Exterior door would not close completely.

• No water to sinks in women’s restroom

• No soap dispenser and no hand dryer in women’s restroom

• Men’s restroom door locked Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning

• Exterior door to one shower room was unable to be closed

• Extremely low water pressure to campsite

• No site privacy due to minimal trees/brush throughout the park

• Low hanging tree branches over roadway and campsite pad

• Our campsite pedestal BBQ grill was extremely corroded

• No wildlife sightings- not even a squirrel

• NOT A DARK SKY FRIENDLY CAMPGROUND! Boat launch lights across the cove lit up most of the campground. Large lights on the toilet/shower building that made it nearly as bright as daylight!

We had a 3 night stay here and it was our first experience with a COE campground. It is located on Belton Lake. It is a gated entrance and the gates locked at 11:00pm. Our site was situated at the end of the loop and it was very spacious. It had water/electric with a dump station. It had a picnic table and fire pit. It also has a laundry room near the entrance. There is a playground, restrooms, and showers. There is also a boat dock. It is a very well kept campground. I did not use the bath house, so I cannot give a review on how it looked. The laundry room was spacious and the machines were in working order. It was a perfect campground. My review would have been 5 stars but there is no swimming area.

Pros 

Not charged a fee to make my own on-line reservation 

Friendly gate attendant 

Level asphalt site surrounded by crushed granite 

Grass neatly mowed throughout campground 

Large aluminum picnic table that is moveable from site concrete pad

BBQ grill, metal fire pit and lantern pole 

Night sky friendly. No street lights 

Spacious-space between each site but no privacy due to lack of vegetation 

Very quiet Sunday thru Wednesday nights except for Waco airport aircraft approach and Space X rocket testing 

Entrance gate locked 10pm-6am. Exit only permitted 

Clean toilets and showers 

Plenty of TP in restrooms 

Trash can in toilet/shower facility 

Sufficient trash dumpsters throughout park 

Deer sightings at Park entrance only 

2 LTE Verizon bars signal 

Cons 

Exterior restroom doors desperately need repaired. Have to move rock away from door to gain access. 

Sewer connection at rear of parking pad. Bring the looooong stinky slinky! 

Waco airport aircraft departing/arriving as early as 6am and as late as 11pm. One night we counted aircraft performing touch and go manuvers 42 times. Approach was directly over our campsite. 

No patrolling host or ranger 

No soap or hand towels in toilet facility 

No playground, basketball or tennis or volleyball courts 

No lake swimming area 

No park WIFI 

No hiking trails