Hot Springs Campground

We stayed at this place because we wanted to hike and visit this Appalachian Trail town. It's very tiny town, with only 2 or 3 restaurants, one DollarStore, one convenient store, a Library with the best Wi-Fi in town, one Gas station, and one outfitter. There are some small specialty stores, and the famous Spa Resort with the mineral baths tubs, which we definitely tried. The best part are the tubbing on the river, biking in town, and of course hiking the Appalachian Trail if your into that. The campground has a lot of trees, and birds, but the red dirt roads make everything very dusty. At dusk you get some bugs due to the river being so close, but they were not that bad. The down side of the place was very limited phone service, and the Wi-fi even though they advertise it, only works at the front of the campground by the guard house. We had to drive to the library where everyone gathered to check their mail. They also will not accept any packages or mail, you will have to send it General Delivery to the local post office That only opens 4 hours a day, two hours in the morning, and two in the afternoon. Other than that the place was very relaxing during the weekdays, but on the weekends is a very popular place. The Sites are mostly Back-in sites, very tight to maneuver, with only a few pull through sites. Bathrooms and shower were very clean, and Showers worked awesome! The river can be accessed anywhere on the campground. The Resort hot tubs are a little pricey, but worth the experience.

We made a small detour to stay at Hot Springs Spa & RV Resort just so we could have a soak. The campground and hot tubs are pricey for what you get – but face it, options for hot tubbing are limited in an RV. 

The campground sites are a combination of tent and full hook-up with either 30 or 50 amp. Site quality varies considerably and the sites are not well marked or particularly well maintained. Roads and site surface are dirt. We couldn’t fit in the first site assigned to us even though we were clear about our rig size. The sites were so tight, we actually thought ours was already occupied. This late in the season the campground wasn’t manned, so we had to go to the resort to register. They were very accommodating and gave us a couple of alternative sites to choose from. Still tight, but doable.

The campground has a store adjacent to the entrance and is easy walking distance to the town of Hot Springs and the Appalachian Trail. However, you aren’t far from the railroad tracks and the fairly regular and noisy train traffic either. There are outfitters in town for rafting/floating the river and from the bridge in town we watched a young kid catch a decent sized brown trout.

The Hot Springs Spa offers several options for a soak, the cost was $43 for two people for a one-hour evening soak in a private Jacuzzi tub. Rates are slightly less before 6pm. Reservations recommended – the only slot left the day we arrived was 9:45pm. The hot springs mineral water is piped in fresh for each session. The tubs are situated along the river and are designed to provide some privacy. Other spa services (massage, facial, wraps, etc.) are also available.

We had only 2-3 bars of Verizon 1X. They offer free WiFi, but it didn’t work at all for us in the campground, only in the resort lobby.

While this is a fairly typical RV/campground, the location is awesome! Within an easy walk, you can access trail loops off the AT, a spa with outdoor hot tubs form the hot spring, bars, restaurants, & shopping in this little town. Have stayed here 3 times and enjoyed it very much, FYI there is 0 cell service here unless you have US Cellular

This campground is in the woods and right on the French Broad River. It isn't the quietest campground as there is a train that goes by and it seemed that the weekend we were there, a lot of groups were there too. However, the Sunday that we were there was a lot quieter as the campground cleared out. The site we were in was pretty level and while we couldn't see the river from our site, we could hear it! There was also a path out of the back of our site that was a quick walk down to the river. The bath houses were fine - clean, but nothing spectacular. The town itself is a cute tiny town right on the Appalachian Trail. A lot of motorcycles visit this area too. We did some fun drives and hikes off the AT and walked to town for both lunch and dinner. We had a great time! There was no cell phone service at all. Just a heads up!

We are so happy we camped here! Full-hook ups, pull-through sites, right on the French Broad River and the Appalachian Trail.

We did make use of the hot tubs. The natural hot springs mineral water was 102 degrees that day. The water is effervescent and a great exfoliant!

I got to hike my first couple of miles on the Appalachian Trial!

The quaint town is so close, with laundry, gear store, hardware store, post office, Dollar General, and at least two restaurants/bars with vegan options!

The only issue I had with the camp site is the lack of recycling bins and only one large dumpster near the entrance. And, of course, very limited cell service.

We didn't mind the train at all.

Limited easy access for 38’ rig to get to Hot Springs unless you come South from Asheville on I-26 or North on I-40. Either way, Hwy 25 is safest access otherwise you’re driving on switchbacks and steep grades. Check-in we had to drive across street from campground at the Hot Springs Resort which didn’t make sense with limited RV parking and weaving through parking lot only to go across Hwy 25 to set up in campsite. Had FHU w/50 amp but neighbors sites closer than I like. Enjoyed the stay but spent time visiting Biltmore about 45 mins away. Not sure what comfort stations looked like as we didn’t need them. Not sure if we’ll go out of our way to this area again, but the campground is suitable for others to try especially if you tent by the river sites.

Was a little disappointed in this cg, but probably just had my expectations too high. Stayed in my 15 ft tt way in the back in row G. Not too many people there since it was a Sunday and in off-season (11/1/2021). Stayed in the primitive section in back right next to the river. Sites weren't particurly clean: left over bits of trash, a dirty diaper, plastic bags, someone had hurled a pumpkin into the river instead of properly disposing of it. Pretty muddy, but hey this is western NC and it rains all the time. Was able to fit into my site without trouble despite a sign that said "no RV turnaround". Section G is not for big rigs. Vans, small tt, popups all fine. No one was camping around me because it was a Sunday night, so that was nice. No dump station that I could find, and was told by the desk person there isn't one. So 55.00/night for a primitive site, with a two night minimum, without a dump station, in my book is too costly regardless of being within walking distance to town and the hot tubs. FHU 65.00. Great hiking as it's on the AT. There's a really good outdoor supply store, appropriate since it's an AT trail town.

This campground was ok. It was rather buggy even being one of the furthest sits from the river. A couple of the sites that back up to the river can go down to the river. Site had sewer, water, and electric (50amp/30amp). water pressure was so bad we ended up filling our tank and using our pump. Sites were level. We were here in mid July and it was sooo hot! (90+ degrees everyday with near 100% humidity). This is a very common stop along the Appalachia Trail and the bathhouses were pretty dirty. While we had 2 bars of Verizon LTE very little would work on these. You will need a booster if you rely on cell service.
Only 2 sites would be suitable if you use Starlink: C1 and C4 - no other site was good enough (many us tried at different locations)

We did book the mineral hot tubs and that was by far the best part but it is expensive.

When you arrive be sure you go to the resort first and check in to get the code because there is no way to turn around if you pull into the campground entrance and no one was there at the booth.

The town of Hot Springs is SMALL but has a nice brewery. Bring what you need because its about 25 minutes back to a grocery store.

I've stayed here twice and I'm sure I'll stay here again. It's the location that is the selling point of this campground. The campground itself is not any sort of "resort" though they elude to that on their website. It's far from it.

On the positive side, and I will pay this money again...is that it's one of the few campgrounds anywhere where you can park your RV and walk into town. The small town of Hot Springs (less than 600 full-time residents) has restaurants, coffee shop, outdoor adventure outfitter, hardware store, and a brewery! (A big plus.) The campground is also next to the French Broad River and the Appalachian Trail crosses right in front of the campground. And if you want to take advantage of the actual mineral water hot springs, they are on the "fancy" side of the road and you'll get a discount as a camper.

Now, the negatives. The campground is dated. It doesn't look like much effort is put into bringing it up to the quality that $70 a day (with a two-night minimum) should match. I mean I'm heading to Sun Outdoors Resort in Sevierville, TN in a few days and it IS a resort and even with their "resort fee" is cheaper than Hot Springs Campground.

Since the campground is adjacent to the mighty river, perhaps it floods. And I will say, when I visited, they had had a heavy rainfall the day before. Many of the campsites, including mine, were mud pits. For what they charge, they could bring in some loads of gravel from time to time.

While being connected to the outside world isn't absolutely necessarily..these days, most of us want it and for $70 a night - you're expect they could spend some money on their wi-fi system. I was able to get some "slow" service at my site - enough to check email. My neighbors one site over could get nothing. My Verizon phone had no bars whatsoever, my neighbors had AT&T and said their cell signal was good.

The showers/bathrooms were closed for the season (even in early March), though they did have one facility that was open. It was near the entrance. I'm sure this was stated ahead of my visit---but it certainly didn't jump out at me. The RV sites are full-service...or at least mine was....so electricity and water and sewer were open.

The final negative was that it just wasn't clean. A lot of small litter on the ground throughout the site. Now, you might think - who cares? Apparently, not the folks who left the litter. It's not like a trash dump...but everywhere you walk there's small bits of trash. Maybe this is in every campground....but having stayed in about a hundred campgrounds over the past four years - they've all been cleaner than this one.

Perhaps when summer comes and the campground is totally in use - they will send a crew around for daily clean-ups.

I don't recall seeing a playground and I walked the camp roads a couple of times, but perhaps I just missed seeing something that resembled a playground.

But, like I said. It's a campground I love to hate. $35 or $40 and I would say it's a bargain. $70 is more than I've paid per night for any campground except Hershey, PA during the Hershey RV Show.

But I will go back...because I love being able to walk to town and the brewery and restaurants. Really, the walk is just three or four minutes.