Mammoth Cave Campground

We spent a single night here so we could visit the cave. We had a nice pull-thru site with lots of trees. There are no hook-ups, but there is a dump station and drinking water. It was an easy walk from the campground to the visitor center where the cave tours start. We visited in late October and the campground was nearly empty, but the cave is very popular, so a reservation during the summer months is recommended.

This open wooded campground was upgraded at some point to accomodate larger rvs and trailers, since a quarter or more of the sites are paved pull through. The spacing is good between campsites, but there is little understory, so you see to other sites. There are no hookups, but there is water available, dump station and bathrooms with NO showers. You have to go to the camp store for showers which are $3 for 10 minutes. There is a laundry room there too.

Since there are no hookups you are going to hear generators, which are a detraction for me. Since it was early April, not many people were in the park and few ran their generator for a short time. It might be very annoying in warmer weather since generator hours are from 6 AM to 10 PM. There is a small tents only site, away from the main campground loops. The leaves were not out, but I don't think this would be a place with good options for solar. If you have a portable unit, you might be able to capture patches of sun during the day.

The campground is a short walk or bike ride to the information center and where you meet your tour, get information or view the museum. There are several options for cave tours and only one option doesn't require a reservation. I suggestion you make your reservation days or weeks ahead depending on the time of year. When we left, which was early April, the next four days were sold out.

Grocery shopping in the area is abysmal. Save-a-lot is the biggest grocery store, which provides groceries at rock bottom prices with a limited selection. Bowling Green, a half hour, away has more options.

I love off-season camping, lots fewer people and without leaves on the trees, I was able to get enough power using my solar panels. Summer would be impossible to get charged.

Sites are pretty large and have nice separation. The showers are adequate, it takes what seems like a minute of your time for them to get warm. Flush toilets, lots of pull-through sites. During the off season there is a loop closed, I think it was called D loop it has 40 sites.

I was able to find a hole in the trees for decent Starlink connection. I had no cellular connection with Google FI, T-Mobile. Our site was close enough to the camp store that I could get a connection from the park wi-fi, though it dropped alot, but sufficient to do email.

The park is amazing, lots of good hiking from the campground. Camp sites are half off with the Lifetime Senior Pass and it also gives you half off of cave tours for one person. With a family, it would get expensie quickly doing the cave tours. We did the Heritage cave tour and it was great! The cave is incredible, not like any cave I have been in before, but still beautiful.

The big drawback is the generator usage. My opinion is everyone ought to figure out a way to function for at least 24 hours without running a generator. Also people lack respect for the generator hours and there was no enforcement of the hours, which are from 8 to 8. First morning, the guy across the street started his up at 6 am!

All in all a great stop.

Overall this is a very nice campground, especially for NPS. No hook-ups but there is water in the park and a dump station at the front.

In the mornings and evenings, deer would walk though the campground. Rangers came by every day to clean up an open sites.

It's a short bike ride or walk to the visitors center. There is also a nice bike path in the park.

We had one of the larger sites and no problem with our 30' trailer and truck.

We wound up stopping by in early April. Even though it was in the middle of spring break season and all Cave tour tickets were sold out for the week, getting a site was not an issue at all. The campground is nice a spacious with paved pads, many which are pull through. No hook ups, all though they did offer one full hook up site for $50 a night.

If you're here to see the caves, you can't get closer, unless you stay in the hotel connected to the visitor center. The visitor center from which all the cave tours leave is an easy 5 minute walk from the campground. Be sure to reserve your tour in advance as they sell out, especially over the weekends. The campground, on the other hand, was mostly empty when we visited in mid-April and we had our choice of sites with very few neighbors. The ranger directed us to loop C (sites 54-90) because it had plenty of pull-throughs. We thought our site (#85) was ideal because it was a pull-through, it was perfectly level, and had enough break in the tree cover to allow decent solar generation with our portable panel. The area around the fire ring did get a little soggy when it rained, however. The site separation was nice and the campground is fairly densely wooded, though you can definitely see all the neighbors.

In addition to the cave tours, the campground has direct access to the hiking & biking rail trail that runs roughly parallel to the main park road. There are several different small hiking trails around the visitor center that can be done individually or linked together for a longer trek. There are tons of other, longer trails in the park, but the "backcountry" trails are all on the other side of the Green River and can only be accessed by using the Green River Ferry (which has weight limits and may not accept RVs in times of high or low water) or entering the park from an ancillary road. If you're here mostly for the longer hiking, there are several campgrounds in the backcountry area that would work better.

Cell service was very poor (1 bar 4G on AT&T) but we were able to use the free wifi broadcast from the campground office in our site. It was definitely faster in the early mornings when loads were less, and would never be enough to stream, but should be enough to check weather and email even if the campground is full. The camp store is pretty well stocked with snacks and emergency food items and there's a post office in the camp store building. I think I'd give this 5 stars if the bathrooms had showers.

We enjoyed several days here in March. Sites are nicely space but most were empty this time of year.
We had a pull through site but the pavement was curved, short and between trees so a big rig would not fit here. The sites are quite variable in size and how level they are so check specific site reviews if concerned about this.
Adequate showers and laundry are not new, but clean. Dump station and potable water are available. WiFi at the outside the camp store and visitor center was helpful. I had 2 Verizon bars at my site and could make and receive calls there but our site was more elevated than many.
Make your cave tour reservations ahead of time as they are largely sold out on the day of the tour.

Since we came in the winter season (11/1), spots were on a first-come basis but we had no problem getting a spot. Ours did not have hook-ups but there were spots available with elec-water for $50/night. Our site was paved, only slightly off-level, and clean. A small herd of deer came through the campground as we were setting up! The visitor center was a short 2 minute drive down the road. Overall a great spot. We wish we could have stayed longer.

We spent three nights here in early October. The campground was pretty full when we arrived on a Saturday but was rather empty the next two nights. The sites were in good condition with clean, well-maintained restrooms nearby. The only showers are located in the nearby camp store, and operate on quarters ($1.50 for four minutes). The store itself sells mostly t-shirts and souvenirs, so don't rely on it for essentials. There are no hookups available, but there is a dump station at the entrance to the campground.

In addition to touring the cave system, there are several hiking trails in the area and river access for canoeing and fishing within a short drive. A former railroad grade serves as the basis for a rail-trail that would make an excellent bicycle trip. It's a great place to spend a few days.

We stayed here for 3 days in early October. Enjoyed our stay and while all cavern tours were cancelled due to COVID we were still able to participate in a self-guided historic cave tour. We actually enjoyed the ability to take our time in the caves and there were multiple park staff available to answer questions. Multiple trails directly from the campground which was also nice. If you have bikes I highly recommend the Bike and Hike trail - beware of the hills!
Site itself was very spacious and they had sites roped off to maintain a semblance of social distancing. Downside with all the trees was almost zero sun for our solar panels. Bathrooms were old but clean; showers were closed due to COVID; dump station was roomy and easy. A few noisy generators but nothing unbearable.