Lake Hartwell Anderson KOA Holiday Review
Located conveniently off of I-85 between Anderson and Pendleton, South Carolina, the Lake Hartwell Anderson KOA Holiday is a great stop over on your travels.
While this campground doesn’t have lakefront access, it is close to everything this area has to offer.
The campground is one of the smaller KOA campgrounds that we’ve stayed at, but it still has plenty of amenities to keep your kids happy whether you’re here for the week or just an overnight stay.
We stayed here recently while visiting my in-laws who also live in this area, but it wasn’t my only stay here. This KOA was where my parents stayed for the Clemson University games while my sister and I went to school there!
Over the years, the campground has been well maintained, and it was fun to return with my own kids.
Let’s take a look at the campground and amenities as I share some tips to make the most out of your visit.
Anderson SC Camping: What to Consider
Much like the rest of South Carolina, Anderson’s growth has exploded in the last 20 years.
When I was a kid, I went to school in Anderson for most of my elementary school years, and it was a small, fairly sleepy town.
Today, you’ll find just about every store imaginable from coffee shops to craft stores to restaurants.
Barring Greenville, the rest of the Upstate’s towns don’t offer this much variety, so Anderson is a great home base if you’re planning to do a South Carolina waterfall road trip, go antiquing in one of the many small towns, or hike on one of the many trails around here.
You will want to note that Anderson, Pendleton, Central, and Clemson get VERY busy in the fall during home games at Clemson University, which is less than 20 minutes from the campground.
If you’re planning on camping here during one of those weekends, you’ll want to book early.
Other than that, you shouldn’t have too much trouble nabbing a reservation the rest of the year.
When I made this reservation, I hadn’t stayed here in more than a decade, and I was worried that something similar to what happened at Lakewood Camping Resort in Myrtle Beach would happen again.
I’m happy to report that the Anderson KOA still has plenty of life in it, and it’s been well maintained.
Other Campground Options Nearby
Of course, the Lake Hartwell Anderson KOA isn’t the only campground in town, but it is a great one that we plan to return to again soon.
Still, it’s good to know what else is nearby.
I will note that the campgrounds on or near the lake tend to have significant drive times back to Anderson because of the lake—you have to go around it, and there aren’t any shortcuts. This is something to keep in mind when laying out your itinerary.
Sadlers Creek State Park Campground
This campground is about 20 minutes from the KOA, and (in another direction) about 25 minutes from downtown Anderson.
PIN ME!
If you’re looking for lake front camping, this state park campground is a great option.
The sites are RIGHT on the water, which makes for some beautiful views while you’re sipping your coffee in the morning.
However, it doesn’t have full hook-ups (water and electric only), and the sites lack significant vegetation. This second point means that you’ll have red dirt everywhere in your camper. It stains everything and was the reason I wasn’t allowed to have white tennis shoes my entire time in elementary school.
The lots are smaller on average that what you’ll find at the KOA, which is a consideration if you’re driving a bigger rig.
There are a couple of pull-through spots here, but, again, they’re short. My 23’ trailer would fit in most, but even that would be a squeeze.
The state park’s amenities are also not within walking distance, so you’re going to have to hop on a golf cart or in your car to get to the covered picnic areas, the hiking trail, the main visitor’s center, the playground, or the basketball court.
Shores of Asbury RV Park
This campground is just a part of the larger Shores of Asbury Resort.
There’s a Mexican restaurant, kayaking rentals, an arcade, and a huge inflatable water play space in the lake.
In terms of amenities, Shores of Asbury has much more to do during the warmer months than the nearby KOA. (But the nightly price reflects that, too.)
While the resort is on the lake, the individual campsites are not. Many of the sites are also not quite level, so be prepared with some leveling blocks.
Something I didn’t like about this resort is that the water park is open to visitors who aren’t staying at the campground. While I know that no campground is perfectly safe, I do like campgrounds that have more of a closed visitation policy.
While each camper does receive a free session at the water park, anyone in the community can purchase a day pass to the water park, which means it gets very busy during the peak of summer.
This is a newer resort, so the overall landscaping still leaves a lot to be desired. The lots will look much nicer once the grass, trees, and other landscaping has a chance to really take hold.
Now, the KOA’s mature trees beat out the gravel lot and sparse grass at each site.
Lake Hartwell Anderson KOA Review
Check-in Process
The check-in desk is inside the KOA camp store.
We arrived at the Anderson KOA mid-afternoon in the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be super busy or completely empty.
In reality, it was somewhere in the middle, and the front desk staff had us in and out of the camp store in no time.
I will note that the area to park your trailer/RV while you check-in is smaller than other KOAs we’ve visited, but that tracks with the overall smaller size of this KOA.
There is a clearly defined check-in parking lane that’s nice and long. If there was more than one person check in at a time, this area would get crowded, however.
We were given a bumper sticker at check-in, as well as a map of the KOA and area around the lake.
One of the front desk staff hopped on the classic yellow KOA golf cart and escorted to our lot.
NOTE: If you’ve got a big rig, you’ll want to go around Clemson Curve and then work your way around to the main RV camping area. The turn around the office onto Main Street might be tight for a bigger Class A. There’s also an incline, so you’d have to turn and accelerate at the same time.
Setting up Camp
After we’d gotten into our site, the KOA employee stopped to make sure we didn’t have any questions.
We’re familiar with the KOA camping experience since we stay in so many of them, so we let the lady know we were good and began to set up.
Our Winnebago Micro Minnie 1800BH in our campsite at the Anderson KOA
We had a full hook-up site, and everything was laid out normally.
I also liked how the campsites during the low season are staggered every other site so you can pull your tow vehicle in the site next to you instead of parking awkwardly in front of or behind your RV.
We had a second KOA employee stop by while we were setting up everything. I should say that I was setting up everything as I’d waved my husband off from helping—I’m working really hard to be confident and fully self-sufficient when it comes to the camper, and I often opt to do all of the set-up and break-down on my own to practice.
The second KOA employee was worried that I might need an extra hand. Given that I sometimes do need an extra hand when I’m camping alone with just the kids, I appreciated the gesture.
He stayed and chatted for a couple of minutes, pointing out where his camper was located in case we needed anything before the office building re-opened in the morning.
Individual Campsite Review
It was freezing outside, but that didn’t stop my 7-year-old from sitting by the fire in short sleeves!
We were in site 16, which was the 3rd site on Biggs Boulevard. This site put us in the heart of the RV camping area, and it was a quick walk back to the bathrooms, which are in the same building as the camp store.
We could hear some road noise from nearby 187/24, but nothing like the sites 32, 11, and 10, which border the road. It’s just a small 2-lane highway, but it can be highly trafficked mid-day.
Our site, like nearly all of the RV spots, were pull-through. There are a few back-in sites on the part of the campground that’s the furthest from the camp store.
We had full hook-ups, which was convenient, but we barely used our RV bathroom since we were so close to the bath house.
The site had a few tall pine trees, but nothing that was obtrusive or made it difficult to get in or out of the site.
The site was level with well-packed gravel. We also had a picnic table, plenty of space to roll out our awning, and a fire pit. It was cold while we were there, so we made use of that fire pit every night of our visit!
Check out our other KOA campground reviews:
Anderson KOA Campground Overview
Overall, the Anderson KOA is a great example of what to expect from a KOA campground.
While we stay at all sorts of campgrounds, we tend to look for KOAs, thanks to their consistency in quality and the variety of activities at each.
The Anderson KOA has plenty to do (though many of these activities do close in the winter), friendly employees, shady lots, and cute cabins.
Let’s take a look at what to expect throughout the campground.
Campground Layout
The campground entrance is located just off of Highway 187/24 on Wham Road; you can see the entrance from the highway, thanks to the large, lit up KOA sign.
You’ll drive past the pool, then turn into the entrance, where you’ll see the single lane for check-in and the camp store.
Just past the camp store, you can continue on straight, which will take you to the tent camping area, or you can swing right onto Main Street, which takes you to the RV camping area and cabins.
The tent camping area does loop back into the RV camping area if you happen to go the wrong way.
On the other side of the camp store is the mini-golf area and the pool. You’ll also access the bath house here.
Near the entrance is the playground and game room.
If you have a site without full hook-ups, there is a dump station near the tent camping area. You can also purchase propane next to the dump station.
Cabins at Anderson KOA
The deluxe cabin nearest the camp store
This KOA has 11 cabins. 2 are considered deluxe cabins with larger sleeping areas and attached bathrooms. The others are all smaller, more rustic cabins without bathrooms.
One of these cabins is called the “Haunted Cabin,” but you won’t have to worry about doing any ghost busting here! It’s been decorated to be funkier than the standard cabins.
It still has all of the usual amenities, including indoor and outdoor eating spaces, a grill, A/C, and 4 beds (2 of which are in the loft).
Campground Amenities
There’s plenty to do and see here!
Bath house
Surprisingly, this campground only has 1 bath house, and it’s attached to the camp store.
The bath rooms are older and could do with some sprucing up, but they’re clean and in good working order.
The showers in the women’s bath room all had hot water with good water pressure, though the shower head in the middle stall was much better than the other 2.
There were a few things that needed to be fixed like the misaligned bathroom stall door lock on that middle shower stall.
The bath house is middle of the road—we’ve seen campgrounds with much better ones (like the Vineyards Campground in Grapevine, Texas), and campgrounds with bath houses that needed lots of attention.
Putt-putt
Even though the temperatures barely topped 40 while we were there, my kids insisted on making use of the mini-golf/putt-putt course.
The course is small, but clean, and it has several fun decorations scattered throughout.
The clubs and golf balls can be picked up in the office, where you can pay for your round, too. It’s $2 per person per round and includes your equipment rental.
Playgrounds
The KOA has 2 playgrounds: one next to the entrance and another at the end of the RV camping that backs up to the highway.
The one near the entrance is larger and has a basketball court in it, though when we visited in December, the courts and the playground were clearly not in high demand.
My kids wanted to play in the tiny cabin on the playground, but they found a dead mouse on the ground in there.
There are also swings, a large Connect 4-style game, and other colorful equipment to play on.
It was cold, so we didn’t get to make use of the playground as we probably would’ve.
There’s also a jumping pad at the back of the playground, but it wasn’t inflated. My kids were the only ones we saw during our almost-week-long stay, so I’m guessing this campground doesn’t get a lot of family business during the winter.
There’s a second, smaller playground at the end of Biggs Boulevard.
However, it’s for younger kids as both of mine (7 and 10) were too big for the swing and little playhouse.
Pool
It was winterized during our visit, but the property does have a pool for use from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
The pool is rectangular with several pool chairs around it. It’s not huge, but it’s plenty big enough for kids to splash around in after a long day of sightseeing or hiking.
Since the campground isn’t on Lake Hartwell and doesn’t have direct lake access, having this water feature on site is great for water-loving kids.
Walking trail
If you fancy a quick walk through the woods, there’s a little walking trail that curves around the exterior of the property.
It starts at the corner of Davidson Drive and Pags Path, heads behind the back-in spots and one of the deluxe cabins before swinging around the tent camping section.
The other end of the trail is just behind the playground and jumping pad.
In all, it’s less than half a mile, but it’s a good place to stretch your legs.
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