Luzerne State Campground — Hotel in Town of Lake Luzerne

I just stayed here for the first time. I decided last minute to do a weekend camping trip with the kids, and my usual spots were booked. I tried Luzerne - and saw some a few openings in the H section. I didn't realize the H stood for horse. I don't have any, but the kids loved that the site next to us had 3 horses right on the site - but keep that in mind when booking, because you have to be careful when setting up keeping in mind that horse dung may be on your site - as it was on mine.

This is a basic campground - something between some of the full service State campgrounds, and the more wilderness ones. You get the basics - a water spigot somewhere nearby, bathrooms that may or may not be close by, and one shower building that, while technically walkable, was better to drive to. Also - bring in your own wood and ice - they aren't available on premise like a lot of other State spots. There is a general store right across the street, which has pricey small bundles of wood. Good for a night, but if you want a better deal there are plenty of places to drop a 10 spot in a box and grab a few cubes of wood.

Most campgrounds I go to have a 10PM quiet time rule - but, if this one did, not many obeyed it and it wasn't enforced. Fires, music and partying went on later than that, but by 11:30 or so, everything finally died down.

The area is beautiful, I didn't even realize how close to Lake George this was, only about 7 miles away. But the Luzerne area had it's own unique charm with plenty of water based activities and a rodeo right down the street. Normally I cook -- a lot -- when camping, but wanted to mostly eat out this trip as I didn't do much in the way of pre-planning. There wasn't a ton of dining options close to the campground other then the venerable Up River Cafe --- I did see a "western" themed place heading north on 9N, but didn't feel tempted to stop.

The staff is friendly, and I did see them picking up horse droppings from one of the sites. Other than that, site maintenance is very lax. I wish I brought my own rake, because my site was heavily overrun with pine cones and needles. Not a huge deal, but not my normal experience at one of these sites. Most of the fire pits are in a state of disrepair, and so are parks of the road. The beach area is small, but when we went it wasn't overcrowded and you can rent boats and kayaks.

If you have kids - there are better options. I saw no playgrounds, and the fact the showers are so far away, and even the bathrooms if you are in certain spots, you are going to be away from your camping spot taking small children back and forth.

With all this said, I'm giving 3 stars because of location, and availability on short notice. While the staff was friendly, this place could use some TLC and money thrown into it. I would only go back here if I wanted another impromptu camping trip and they were the only ones with availability. This isn't really a knock on Luzerne, but like I said, with kids, I'm so much better of at other places. Moreau or even Hearthstone offer more in the way of close by activities. However, if you need a place for your horse too, or want a spot that isn't overbearing to have your fire go a little longer, take...

Not a place for privacy or peace. I cut my stay short as it’s not a very enjoyable place to relax and enjoy nature. Check in happens at the booth where you drive in. If you’re curious about the H loop, there’s a single area for all of the horses behind H3. Struggled to find a flat spot free of roots and rocks. Each site has 2 picnic tables. There is a fireplace, no grill. There’s a frill grate at the site, which may or may not be chained or even mounted. Water, bathroom - neither are particularly close to that site. The bathroom there is horrendous, looks straight out of an 80’s horror movie. 2 stalls were immediately too few. I don’t think it can be rehabbed, they need new restrooms. Campers are not courteous and do not follow the direction of the loop. Folks at the beginning are subject to them driving by on their way out and on their way in - hugely invasive and selfish. The folks at the other end of the loop drove their 6 cars past me no less than 200 times in 3 days. Whats crazy is they could have similarly gone the other wrong way around the loop and would have (like me) not had to drive past their neighbors’ campsites at the beginning of the loop. It’s like camping next to Main St on a parade route - someones neck is always broken looking at what I have at my camp. Also lots of people who were not camping in the loop driving through looking suspicious. The beach is very small, but the water clean and clear and a bit warm. Staff is friendly and helpful, no store on site. Lots of attractions, stores, etc nearby. Not much wildlife activity, mostly birds n’ bugs, chipmunks, deer. If you want to enjoy camping, chose another campsite. If you need a cheap place to stay near the various attractions, Luzerne will work. Oh and the main road is narrow and lots of campers are trucks towing wide equipment. No raccoons lurking at dusk or at the...

Long post but this place was frustrating the weekend we visited. Nice sites but bathrooms in loop pretty bad. New bath houses with showers were nice. Didn’t make it to the beach so not sure how waterfront is but seemed like standard NYS campground. Issue is so many campers disregarding all rules and no ranger making rounds to enforce them. At least 60 campers from a group assembled the two nights we were there until 10pm and in the morning at 7am on empty site next to ours for loud religious or spiritual sessions lasting hours. Not totally sure what it was since it was all in Spanish but was absurdly loud. About 6 members stayed on site after the group broke up until 2am being extremely loud, throwing wood blocks into fire pit like a shot put breaking the entire fire pit. Burned about a cord of wood each night and re-supplied in the morning with another truck full. They were also enjoying shooting BB guns at who knows what. Generators being used until close to midnight. Loud music and lots of yelling from all over the loop. Campers using headlights from cars to illuminate sites until they decided to call it a night. Overall what should be a relaxing place to camp was anything but due to lack of rules enforcement. Never experienced anything like this camping along the Fulton Chain, high peaks or finger...