Charlestown State Park Campground

Charlestown State Park was a last minute campsite that ended up having plenty of room. The sites are spaced out with some tree cover.

It is back a few miles from the entrance of the state park, but not too difficult to find. Check-in was at the entrance building, just pull up and tell them your name and site number and they’ll give you a window hanger and map to your site.

There was a bathhouse nearby that was in decent shape. We had full hookups with no issues. No problems with low branches or access for our big rig.

We got 9 down/10 up on Starlink. 3 bars on the Verizon phones and 5 bars with the cell antenna (35/8). AT&T was 5 bars with the cell antenna (24/7).

The State Park grounds are HUGE at this place, the campground seems to be a very minor section of the greater park area. The State Park property is right on the Ohio River, but the campground is not, it's about 5 min drive (still in the park) to get there. The river seems mostly for boaters but also had some nice picnic spots.

When we pulled into the first gate (main gate) we had to pay a Day-Use fee ($9 for non-resident), but once we got registered at the campground gate, we received a placard that allowed us to come and go during our stay without any other day-use fees. No big deal for us, but good to know in advance, they can't bundle them together.

The campground area was typical, classic state park camping. A variety of site lengths, mostly level, and moderately spaced. We had full hookups at our site, which were well maintained. The staff there were excellent about mowing, spraying, and keeping up the grounds. (There are no dumpsters in the park area, only up by the gate).

The bath house near site 93 were nicer than any state parks I've seen. Staff cleaned them at least twice a day. All tile and well lit. The other bath houses didn't seem as nice.

For a mid-week stay, the park was nearly empty. It's very close to town and easy to get to so it's likely to be a much different experience on weekends.

We were there for access to the cities, and it was a great location for that. Quiet at night with the bonus of fireflies, it's not a bad place to escape the city mayhem.

State parks are our favorite campgrounds because of the space between campsites and the access to hiking and other outdoor adventures. This park didn’t disappoint! We tried several of the hiking paths, including going down to Rose Island. The camp hosts were great, and staff always very friendly.

However, be incredibly cautious about ticks if you’re here in the summer. In one week, we found almost 20 ticks on us (granted, we have a dog), most after hiking on the wooded #5 and #6 trails. It sounds like the area didn’t get cold enough in the winter and there are more ticks than usual. We also saw chiggers but thankfully didn’t have any issues with that.

The bathhouse was very close to our site (30), and since we were staying for so long we used it quite a bit. Unfortunately, two of the ladies' showers flood regularly, which made it sort of gross to shower. And although we saw staff in the bathhouse as much as three times a day (so the trash was always empty and there was plenty of toilet paper available), the building needs a good deep clean to get rid of all the dead bugs. Not our favorite bathhouse experience.

Louisville is about 40 minutes away, depending on traffic, and we also enjoyed the towns on the Indiana side of the Ohio River (Jeffersonville, New Albany, etc.). Closest grocery store to the campground is Jay-C in Charlestown, which is owned by Kroger. We also went to the laundromat in town (Charlestown Coin Laundry) which was a tad expensive but clean and most of the machines worked.

Verizon: 83.9 Mbps up, 5.5 down
AT&T: 50.3 up, 0.2 down

Loved our overnight at Charlestown State Park. This place is huge. Keep that in mind. The sites are asphalt and level. The lots are big and feature a picnic table and fire ring. There are paved walkways to the nice playground and to the bath house. The back of each lot is a thick brush which adds to the sense of privacy. The water was not turned on for the season yet but there was a water filling station. Our 30 amp service was strong. Remember that this is a big state park and you have distance between you and some of the camp features. We thought we would take a look at the Ohio River which borders the park. It was probably a 4 mile drive to get there. This is a great place to land and relax and ride bikes but may not be an easy walk to various attractions within the park. We weren't able to see the fossil dig but hope to return to do so. The town of nearby Charleston has many services and restaurants. We will gladly stay here again. $25.

Pros: large spaces, nice staff, easy access to Louisville, nice roads, level sites, we’ll-maintained grounds, offers some full hookup sites.

Cons: quite a few sites aren’t very private, bathrooms need updated and I would give a 4 on cleanliness, showers all have buttons you must push repeatedly to turn keep the water going which is annoying, when we were booking ( one month out) the website showed most sites being full, however when we arrived most sites were empty. The river isn’t that close to the campground.

I love this state park! It is well maintained. The two times we’ve stayed there were in full hookup sites. Easy to back into, level. Well spaced out, lots of room, some site separated by trees or bushes. There are 6 different hiking trails marked from easy to rugged. The most popular is the Rose Island Amusement Park Trail. Be prepared! The hike down to the amusement park is lovely. The hike back up is stroke inducing! It is super steep. Close to Louisville, Ky and Madison, IN

We were in one of the full hook up sites. This particular site sloped quite a bit and our front wheels were off the ground to be close to level. You also might need the sewer slinky holder to help it go downhill. We chose this site from google maps to be easy to back our big rig into, and that it was. Depending on site, this campground offers lots of privacy with space and bushes between sites. We really enjoyed the ranger led “hike” on Saturday morning with the history of Rose Island. It was an easy stroll beyond the big hill to get there and the ranger will drive those that need it up and down in a van. Also enjoyed trail #6 near the Ohio River. If you plan to go into Louisville, just be aware of the toll road/bridge (our IPass gave us the discounted charge). Also recommend booking bourbon tours in advance. Maybe it’s just bc everyone is tired of the pandemic shut in. Beyond the nightly rate, we also had to pay $9 upon first entry with our out of state tags. I think in-state was $7.