Fairview-Riverside State Park Campground

We stayed in March and were lucky in our timing of rain. When it rains, the park can be very wet. There are only a few short trails for hiking. The park is small and mostly campground. Lots of fishing and boating. The boardwalk near the campground was not usable, but the boardwalk through the swamp was a really interesting hike. Bathrooms were clean - nice showers and laundry facilities. We stayed in the smaller section, which wasn't as wet. Regular campers here told us that it often floods. Sites were paved and level. On the weekends, lots of river boat traffic. There are nice playgrounds and a museum that is can be toured on appointment.

We stayed here, because I wanted to ride the Tammany Trace. Evidently that’s what many cyclists do. The rep at the visitor center said that the park gets many older visitors, whereas Fountainbleu Park skews to younger visitors and families with kids. Site C20 stayed dryer than the spot across the street. Repeat visitors know about spaces in the back on the river. Use the second entrance where the main sign for the park stands. The first entrance leads down a narrow street.

My husband and I couldn't be more grateful for this park. We ended up having to cancel our reservations at another state park we had booked because my husband works from our camper and we couldn't get any Starlink signal or cell phone connection so we were in a pickle. We looked around and found this one. I called and spoke with Mary (who is a PEACH!). She was super helpful and understanding. I told her our dilemma and that we needed a site that didn't have a lot of tree coverage for our Starlink and she got us in a spot for the night (Site 53) and told us to look around when we got here and write down which sites we thought would work best for us and to bring them to the office the next morning and she would go through them and see if they had any availability for the week for those sites. We ended up getting site 70 for the remainder of our time. There's two different campgrounds. One is the "improved" which is up front by the check-in station. This is the bigger one of the two. The other one is the "premium" which is in the back closer to the river. There was a $5 difference between the two. Some of the in the sites in the premium campground had sewer hookups. Not sure if those were any more expensive than ours. The Otis House museum was closed during our stay due to remodeling/repairs. Each campground has its own bathhouse, laundry, and dumpsite. Its a beautiful campground! For $25 a night this place was a steal! We would definitely stay here again.

We stayed here for 3 days/2 nights. We got the last campsite on the "premium" loop and it was well worth it! The views of the river and all of the moss covered oak trees were amazing! The first night the loop was completely full but amazingly quiet. The site included water and electricity - there are two dump stations. One was in the loop and the other was on the way out of the park. There is a boat ramp, board walk thru the swamp, playground and several pavilions available for family gatherings. Each site included a picnic table, fire ring and small grill. We did not visit the bath house but our neighbors said it was nice, clean and well-maintained. We would definitely stay there again - but in the same area because the other area has mostly tall pine trees and not as much shade. Since the sites are close to the river and swampy areas, mosquito protection is a must as is protection from redbugs/chiggers. Don't ask me how I know! LOL!

The park is very close to the lovely little town of Madisonville, Louisiana. Great to stop for groceries and a good meal at one of their many restaurants.

Leaving Fairview state park. It was ok. A nice FIRST camping trip (on our own) not much to do here- lots of older people in big fancy trailers. Less than a half mile hike on a boardwalk. We stayed in site 26. I believe it was the best one- some shade, and on the end of the row. (No sewer hookups) There was some flooding in the fields around us- had to take the (not so) long way to the VERY nice bathrooms to shower. The bathrooms were excellent.