Taughannock Falls State Park Campground

Have to disagree with another reviewer who said tent sites seemed to offer more privacy. Ours was supposed to fit a vehicle and tent and it felt like one or the other. Our (small!) tent was 3 ft from our car and we had to maneuver to fit both without hanging into the road. There was zero separation between us and the sites on either side and no privacy at all.

Campground was packed, noisy, full of smoke, and teeming with people. It's a beautiful area and all of the NY state parks and their trails are dog friendly (6-ft leashes required). Great hiking, lakes, waterfalls, woods, creeks — so much to do. Unfortunately the three campgrounds we visited (staying at Taughannock and driving through Buttermilk Falls and Robert H Treman) offered small, crampted sites and little to no privacy.

Paying for a campsite gives you access to all the state parks in the area (no additional vehicle fee required) so you do get a lot for your money in terms of places to see and things to do — but an unpleasant campsite experience and not one we would repeat.

We have camped at Taughannock Falls State Park for 2 nights each of the last 3 years. Nice camping area with clean restrooms and showers located across the road from beautiful Cayuga Lake. Hiking, waterfalls, kayaking and more. Our only issue with this camping is its location near a busy road can be quite noisy at times. Located only a few miles outside Ithaca NY.

I made reservations on Reserve America. Upon arrival tings got interesting. The campground itself is on one side of the road, the office for it is near the beach area which is down the road and across and not signed/labeled very well. After finally finding it and checking in, we made are way back to our site. We were in the electric loop site 8. It is really tight in this loop. My rig is 26 feet long and we had to jack knife to get into our site. We filled our water tank at the water spigot near our site. The site was small and barely fit my 26 footer. No room for my truck. The bathrooms and showers were a short walk and really good condition. Interior roads are a mix of gravel and pavement. Big rigs will have a hard time moving around as there are low hanging tree branches, tree's close to the road and the roads are narrow with sharp curves. The sights of the falls and exploring the area was great. Very nice playground, but the beach was close all three days we were there because of blue/green algae.

I stayed here for 2-night layover enroute to my destination campground. I chose Taughannock because of its location and for its trails.
The electric sites are very close together and provide no privacy, the tenting sites are somewhat better in this regard. The Comfort Station in the electric loop is older, but was clean, provided good, hot showers and an indoor wash station.

The rim trails provide fantastic views of the river and the gorge. You can access both the north and south branches of the rim trail from the gorge parking lot. Both branches start with a staircase of about 120 steps--although there is an 'alternate route' around the north rim steps that I did not explore. If this is too daunting for some, you can access the rim trail from the North Rim Visitors' Centre. The gorge trail is flat all the way to the falls. At an easy pace, I hiked both the rim loop and the gorge trail in about 2 1/2 hours, which included many stops for photos and a short delay while a crew was scaling rocks above the gorge trail. I hiked approx. 5 miles in total.

There is a large park along Cayuga Lake by the Park Office. Due to my limited stay, I did not have the opportunity to explore it, I would definitely like to return to hike the trail again and to kayak.

It's very easy to drive right past the campground entrance sign in the dusk, since google maps drops you off at the park office down and across the highway. Look for Taughannock Park Road off SR 89, 1/4 mile north of the park office.

The campground was mostly clean and well-maintained. Sites on the electric (first) loop were a bit close together, without adequate greenery between some sites - our picnic table was very close to the water service. There's also noticeable but rarely obnoxious road noise.

The showers on the second/non-electric loop are nicer - that bathroom has an all-new interior, so don't let the "vintage camp" exterior mislead you.

One negative was that after we spent 15 minutes picking cigarette butts off the ground at our site and the vacant one adjacent (hey, we're good neighbors!), the Parks employee who came by shortly afterward to water the newly-planted saplings flicked his butt to the ground - at our campsite, no less.

That said, even in the extreme drought the hikes along Taughannock Gorge to the (3) falls were beautiful. The gorge hike is an easy, mostly level, handicapped-accessible wide path through a mix of woods and open creekside, ending in a scenic lookout at the base of the middle (Taughannock) falls. The rim trails are more difficult, but you can drive halfway up and park at the Visitor's Center to hike just part of the North Rim Trail if preferred. Another substantial trail is under construction and will eventually span 8 miles or so to connect the Upper Falls with Ithaca, NY.

We expect to go back in a year or two. It's the only state park campground near beautiful, lively Ithaca which offers electric hookups.

Cell coverage listed includes w/booster.