Cheaha State Park — Attraction in Oxford

A great place to spend the day, or night if camping, as the views are spectacular. The location - actual park and drive to the park - offer breathtaking mountain top views of unmolested Alabama landscape. It's really just a great place to unwind for the day and enjoy the scenery. We have visited a few times for day trips, stayed in the onsite hotel, and have camped in the semi-primitive area (water & restroom access) and never experienced any serious problems. The onsite hotel is seriously "dated" in appearance and would greatly benefit from remodeling/updating. After staying at the hotel which was clean but probably not updated since the 1970's, I would not recommend it. We have never tried the onsite restaurant due to hearing other guests complaining about atrocious food, unsanitary conditions, terrible service, long wait times, etc. As for the campgrounds, we have only used semi-primitive sites and never experienced any problems other than occasionally having to clean up litter left by previous campers. Many of the camp sites are on rocky and uneven terrain, which can make camping a little uncomfortable if not properly prepared. On a recent visit we took one of the provided maps and singled out all the best campsites so in the future when making online reservations we know the best sites to choose from. I highly recommend this procedure for any campground you frequent if the location offers online reservations. Never had any problems with other guests or bikers as some reviewers have commented. On occasions when bikers were present they were always polite and respectful. Sometimes guests using the pool and nearby lake let their kids run unsupervised and they can get loud, along with the occasional person cranking up their radio. Overall it's not a bad place to spend the day - or night IF you are camping. They do charge admission (which most state parks do), the onsite store is very overpriced (make necessary purchases before you arrive at the park), and the roads are bumpy. That being said, the view and peaceful surroundings make up for the negatives - at least for a quick day or overnight trip. On our last visit my son and I were sleeping comfortably in our cozy tent when I was awakened at around 0200 hours by very strong winds. I quickly jumped up thinking we were about to get hammered by a bad storm. I looked outside, saw trees bending sideways, our tent was about to take flight and I became a little concerned for our safety. I then looked up and there was not a cloud in the sky! The sky was so clear and the stars were shining so bright that it looked like someone had strung lights in the trees. I was truly starstruck by the glorious view! That morning we discovered the strong winds had scared off many of the campers during the night. Our tent took quite a beating, but we were not scared off - and we will...

We have been to Cheaha a few times and absolutely love it. It’s the perfect place to explore with kids, climb rocks, hike trails, see the amazing sights from the trails, and view nature. This last time we went, my husband and I thought that our quick relaxing getaway with the kids was completely ruined, due to overbooking. Come to find out the systems were down, of course, at a time we make reservations and voila we drove about 4.5 hours to find out someone else was in our cabin. It’s 10:00 pm and we have driven up the mountain to finally let the kids go to sleep and we don’t have a room. They are completely booked!! So, luckily there was one cabin the people were not coming until the next day, so they let us have that room for the night and told us we would have to be out by 11:00am for the next guest. Shonda, who is the park superintendent, told us she would figure this out the next day. Well I’m thinking this place is booked, there’s nothing they can do, so I spent my entire night trying to find another place to salvage our trip. The next day we wake up, my husband tells me to call first to see what they say and to my surprise Shonda worked magic. She told me she would put us in another place and gave us the stay of our dreams. She even told us we would be able to stay another night but due to my husbands work and school, we were unfortunately not able to. The staff was so amazing, they were all very friendly putting us in our new room and showing us around and giving us information on the best hikes to take with the upcoming weather. Which was very accurate!! The lady in the store was so sweet and helpful, even after she knew I was highly upset the night before. This place is an amazing place to visit, hike, and spend some time to relax. Shonda could not have been any better to turn what seemed to be an inevitable nightmare into an amazing trip my family will never forget. Many businesses have lost customer service, in my opinion, but this place is top notch when it comes to customer service. You will not be disappointed visiting Cheaha State Park for its beauty, nature, trails and its...

We camped at Cheaha State Park for 2 weeks the beginning of June. The park itself is nice. There are trails you can do and they have a tower you can climb to get a nice view. They have two campgrounds an upper and a lower and also cabins, chalets and a small hotel. The restaurant was closed when we were there. They do have a nice pool by the hotel you can use if your staying in the campground. There is also a pond that has a small beach and swimming area. Just keep in mind it's a pond not a lake so not very clear. There is a nice kids playground near the pond. As far as the campgrounds themselves I'm use to having a little more privacy at the state parks. These spots are just right on the road for the most part. There are some decent spots but again everything is like a pull off along the side of the road. We stayed in spot 59, which was basically right on the road. Our picnic table and fire pit were feet from the road right on a corner. I know the speed limit is low but still with little kids you don't have much play area and have to constantly watch them. We stayed here in our 40ft fifth wheel. I did add pictures so you could see some of the spots. We had never been here before so didn't know what to expect. It was relaxing but come prepared, as once you get there it's pretty much 20-30 minutes back out to get to any store or do anything. We did have to make one trip to Publix for groceries. They have a camp store which would probably have about everything you need but very expensive. We did make a trip to the Majestic (Desoto) caverns which was about 50 min away. But we found it fun to do. Overall if back in the area we might look around at other...