Balsam Mountain Campground

Everything lovely but quiet time was not enforced. One campsite very loud until after midnight.

One of my favorite places. A group of friends camps here every year in August. This year there were eight of us. Over the years, some have migrated from tents to campers. We spend our days hiking or just hanging around camp. Balsam Mountain is a wonderful place. I'm told that it has the highest rate of repeat campers among all national park campgrounds.

It was beautiful- and a welcome relief from the heat in Georgia! Very personable rangers- quiet campers, all good!

I’ve been coming here for years and it’s always great. This place is so quaint and I always meet new people. The campground host are always friendly and will speak to you every time they come around.

4th year and love it

Enjoyed this campground and everyone (including host Gary) was very friendly and helpful. Campground was mostly clean and situated in high elevation which kept nice cool air in August. Close to Maggie Valley, and easy drive into town. There’s also a great picnic area, trails and scenic overlook nearby. Each site has a bear box which was bery handy. Website says there’s no Internet or phone service but we had no problem getting either. Our tent site (26) was positioned practically on top the site (31) in front of us so we booked on the spot to avoid too close of proximity to strangers. The campground map on website was not to scale and was inaccurate. That layout is absurd for those two sites. There was not enough room to build a fire in our own site as fire grate was right next to picnic table—it would have torched our pop up shelter. I suspect the people who lay out these campgrounds have little to no experience actually camping in one. Also, someone crapped on the mens room floor which I reported on Friday morning. By Sunday it still had not been cleaned up—disappointing and gross. But overall, we had a great time. If we go back, I’ll know where to more strategically select a site with more elbow room. And maybe rubber gloves and a hose for the bathroom

Love the area, but the campground is very cramped and the sites are tiny. It's best you like your neighbors since there really isn't any privacy and they are practically eating dinner with you.

Wonderful, out of the way campsites. And the elevation sure beats the heat.

The drive up to the campground was very nice with views and wildlife, but be careful if traveling at night. The facilities were clean. The 11'x11' tent pads were large and level, which worked great for our 4-person tent. We were at site 36, which has about eight steep uneven rock steps from the car down to the camp area that can be tricky, so be careful carrying equipment. However, site 36 gave us slightly more privacy than most camp sites. Sites 35, 36, and 37 drop down from the road, so they are hidden from the sites across the road. For a larger group of people, these three sites could be grouped together to make a great large retreat. We had a deer visit us each day in the morning and evening for several minutes. Most other campsites are very close to each other, and you can certainly hear and see your neighbors. We hiked the 0.5 mi campground nature trail and about 0.5 mi of Flat Creek Trail. Flat Creek Trail was slightly down slope, but easy walking. The nature trail was a little more rugged. I would suggest walking up the road to Flat Creek trail and at least see the Heintooga Overlook, which is a great view even if you don't want to go further. Then, I would come back and do the nature trail down hill to the campground.

There is no one in charge at the campground. The campsite next to us for tents only had 3 tents and 12 people and 3 cars. There were multiple sites with too many people. Quiet hours were not observed. People were pitching tents after midnight.