The best lakeside camping in North Carolina

When the mercury rises in North Carolina, there’s no better place to be than on the water, where swimming, fishing, boating, and floating are the best ways to stay calm and cool. Across the state are countless bodies of water large and small, many with lakeside campgrounds. Some are in state parks with unique offerings and habitats, while others are near reservoirs or in privately protected or federally designated national forests. You can tent camp at North Carolina’s lake campgrounds, of course, but some offer spacious RV sites with full hookups as well. Some of North Carolina’s largest lakes, such as Lake Norman or Lake James in the Carolina Foothills region, even allow for boat-in camping on off-the-beaten-path island campgrounds. Even the state’s smallest body of water, at Singletary Lake State Park an hour northwest of Wilmington, offers a unique experience. The elliptical rain-fed lake is among the hundreds of mysterious “bay lakes” found throughout the Carolinas. And there’s more than just water sports on North Carolina’s lakes—many are also rimmed by miles of hiking and biking trails. As one would expect, summer is prime time to pitch a tent (or park the RV) on a lake campground in North Carolina.