Asheville is one of the few mountain towns where you can pitch a tent in a national forest and be downtown for dinner in twenty minutes. The campgrounds below are all in the Asheville area, from Lake Powhatan in the Bent Creek Experimental Forest to the RV parks along the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers.
How to choose
- For hiking and biking: Lake Powhatan puts the Bent Creek trail network at your campsite.
- For RVs: the parks on the west and east sides of town have full hookups and are easy to reach from I-26 and I-40.
- For views: hillside campgrounds north of the city trade convenience for long valley views.
When to go
Private campgrounds around Asheville generally have longer seasons than the high-elevation public campgrounds, which makes them the best bet in spring and late fall. Summer and October weekends book up early everywhere — reserve ahead.
Every campground below links to the trails and waterfalls nearby, so you can plan the whole weekend from its page.
