Balsam Mountain Campground

Very small site, but quiet campground and clean bathrooms. Nice bench for viewing sunset at the end of the road down the Flat Creek Trailhead just a little bit. Beautiful one-way gravel road there as well to get back down to Cherokee.

Great facilities and the most beautiful camping spot. Tent pad, table, bathrooms, and roads in fantastic condition. I love that this campground is so much more isolated than others in the Smokies and there were no RVers. My only complaint is that my neighbors consistently violated quiet hours. This is not the campground’s fault. However, there was no campground host on site to hold them accountable. I do wish that there was a host onsite to help patrol unwieldy campers.

Extremely quiet campground at 5300 ft.
Some of the sites are fairly well spaced, but most of the sites at the back end of the campground are very close together. All trailer, van, popup and RV campers must camp on the campground road (tent campers have tent pads off the road). There is no electricity (not even in the restroom building so make sure you have a flashlight). Bathroom buildings have flush toilets and there is a dishwashing station.
If you like to hike, there are numerous hikes within a few minutes of the campground.

Extremely quiet campground at 5300 ft.
Some of the sites are fairly well spaced, but most of the sites at the back end of the campground are very close together. All trailer, van, popup and RV campers must camp on the campground road (tent campers have tent pads off the road). There is no electricity (not even in the restroom building so make sure you have a flashlight). Bathroom buildings have flush toilets and there is a dishwashing station.
If you like to hike, there are numerous hikes within a few minutes of the campground.

The campground is well kept by staff and campers. Bathrooms were clean, just need a light for nighttime use.
I have already booked 3 more trips to Balsam Mtn campground.

The campground is well kept by staff and campers. Bathrooms were clean, just need a light for nighttime use.
I have already booked 3 more trips to Balsam Mtn campground.

A nice, quiet, remote place to commune with nature. It is quite a ways into the park by car, taking more than an hour from the Tennessee border, but worth it if you have the time, as you will climb the mountain on an upward trajectory for about 30 minutes, to over one mile in elevation. There are many great hiking trails nearby, and it is not that far from whitewater rafting (one hour) and seeing the central part of the park to the west. The campsites are a bit close together, so you will be close to your neighbors. It gets quite cool at night, around 50 degrees in late Spring, warming up a bit in Summer. Daytime temps are about 68 in the same time frame. And there is lots of free firewood on the ground around the site!

A nice, quiet, remote place to commune with nature. It is quite a ways into the park by car, taking more than an hour from the Tennessee border, but worth it if you have the time, as you will climb the mountain on an upward trajectory for about 30 minutes, to over one mile in elevation. There are many great hiking trails nearby, and it is not that far from whitewater rafting (one hour) and seeing the central part of the park to the west. The campsites are a bit close together, so you will be close to your neighbors. It gets quite cool at night, around 50 degrees in late Spring, warming up a bit in Summer. Daytime temps are about 68 in the same time frame. And there is lots of free firewood on the ground around the site!

During our camp there was a couple of larger groups of very noisy young people. They had fun but kept us awake til the middle of the morning. The 'quiet after 10' idea was recognized by them.
Second the restroom facilities were pretty grubby.
Of all the great sites we have camped in I would rate our experience of this one as pretty low.

The hiking was amazing. We went to Hemphill Bald and hiked 5 miles. The nature, wildflowers on Balsam Mountain were beautiful.

The park and drive coming in to campground is so well kept up. We just love the scenery, the bathrooms are clean and the hiking path inside campground that leads you to overlook is awesome.