Monte Sano State Park Campground — Hotel in Huntsville

If you want to go camping in North Alabama, do yourself a favor and come to Monte Sano. I'm not trying to throw shade on Guntersville, but here I go... Monte Sano is a better immersive camping experience than Guntersville. I went camping in Guntersville in October so we could have a nice view of the lake, only to find the primitive campground is more of a small dog-park-like area, very small with very few trees. Which means you, the Boy Scouts troops and their snoring chaperones, and all the obnoxious Dodge Ram drivers in the whole park are sleeping right on top of each other. Combined with the wind from the lake, it made for a chilly, noisy, crowded camping experience. Needless to say I won't be going back. But I didn't come here to criticize Guntersville. Let me tell you about Monte Sano. Trade the lake view for a breathtaking panoramic view of the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. The primitive camping is on the crest of the ridgeline, which means you have a prime spot for an amazing sunset view of the mountains and hills to the west. But here's the best part about Monte Sano's campground: it's wooded and private. There are 20 primitive camping spots in a roundabout area, but you have enough woods and privacy between each spot to feel like you're the only camper on the mountain. Even if you do happen to share the campground with a Boy Scout troop and a snoring chaperon, you really won't hear them, because the trees block the sound. I'm not making that up. One time I took a group of friends camping for my husband's birthday, and we had several snorers, but I never heard them. And this time, we discovered a raccoon's pawprints trying to get at a wrapped-up half-eaten can of beans, but I was never disturbed from my peaceful slumber. Even the raccoons up on Monte...

This park is beautiful. The cabins are very rustic but have all of the basic amenities. The bathroom is very small and you should bring shower shoes. Please temper your expectations because the cabins are not some 3 star hotel, but nearly 100 year old one room structures. I do have some gripes that I feel should be addressed which may only apply to cabin 6 but valid. I killed a few cockroaches in the bathroom. If you are visiting during the colder months you should bring an extra blanket. There is a lot of dust throughout the cabin that gets stirred up as you move things around. We could not use the fireplace because there was smoke backfeeding into the cabin. We had to leave the door open in order to let the smoke out. The smoke alarms in all cabins should be checked and tested. I think the battery in our alarm was weak because when I pressed the test button, it did not work until I took the alarm down and pushed the battery in. The light would blink for about a minute and go out again. Considering there are fireplaces in some of the cabins, they should install carbon monoxide alarms. DO NOT purchase the $8 bundles of wood from the camp store. It is difficult to get the wood lit and it does not burn well. Bring your own towels because the towels in our cabin were dingy and had hair on them. There are several trails to explore with different difficulty levels and everyone we met was very friendly. This is a great park and I look forward to...

We stayed at Monte Sano State Park for 5 nights and this is our 178th stop. We used this stop as a jumping off point to Huntsville and to enjoy the park. The initial registration via the website was easy to use but only receive one email leading up to your stay. The drive up the mountain was fine with our large motorhome as long as you take the route indicated in their correspondence. The check in process was super quick and appreciate the coded entry. The biggest challenge was maneuvering the rig into our site as the car across the street made it very tight and the one way roads are narrow. The site sloped down in the front so it took a bit to level it and had large gravel with landscape timbers around it. The utilities were located in a good position - we had full hook ups where there just 21 in the park. The park is heavily wooded and cool on a hot day. Nice space between you and your neighbors. It is a good place to reconnect with nature, get in a great hike and is quiet/peaceful. And in mid-May, no bugs. Overall, would rate a 4.7 and would stay here again in the future. Another excellent state park in Alabama. Connectivity: Verizon (not really); T-Mobile (227 down/1.86 up); park WiFi next to office (9.8 down/2.4 up); 50 channels...