Big Meadow Family Campground
8215 Cedar Creek Rd, Townsend, TN 37882-3345
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Room & Suite (3)
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About
4.5
#1 of 21 campgrounds in TownsendLocation
5.0
Rooms
4.6
Value
4.8
Cleanliness
5.0
Service
4.8
Sleep Quality
4.6
Tripadvisor gives a Travelers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travelers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Escape to Big Meadow Family Campground, your gateway to Smoky Mountain adventures. Nestled amidst serene landscapes, our campground offers convenient access to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park wonders and nearby attractions. Our spacious pull thru sites, equipped with concrete pads, and full hookups, accommodate even the largest RVs. Enjoy the tranquility of our gated community, featuring coded bathhouses and laundry facilities, and a refreshing splash pad. For furry companions, we provide a dedicated dog park. Unwind in our gazebo with fire pit or gather around your site under a starlit sky. Big Meadow Family Campground-your perfect Smoky Mountain retreat.
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Property amenities
Secured parking
Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)
Fitness Center with Gym / Workout Room
Children's playground
Children Activities (Kid / Family Friendly)
Pets Allowed ( Dog / Pet Friendly )
Gift shop
Newspaper
Wifi
Kids' outdoor play equipment
Outdoor fireplace
Self-serve laundry
Room types
Mountain view
Good to know
HOTEL STYLE
River View
Mid-range
Location
8215 Cedar Creek Rd, Townsend, TN 37882-3345
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travelers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
Grade: 52 out of 100
52
Mc Ghee Tyson Airport
17 mi•
See all flights
Rental Cars
27 Restaurants
within 5 miles
Reviews
4.5
178 reviews
Reviews summary
This summary was created by AI, based on recent reviews.
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Big Meadow Family Campground comes highly recommended for its picturesque location close to natural wonders and its immaculately maintained premises that guests have called out for cleanliness. The friendly staff and well-kept amenities are also a hit with many visitors, although a few have noted occasional lapses in service and felt that extra fees detracted from the campground's overall value.
Despite the praise for the site's cleanliness and convenience, some reviewers would appreciate the addition of more facilities, such as a swimming pool.
Location
Picturesque
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Immaculate
Service
Inconsistent
Amenities
Satisfactory
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Detailed Reviews
Visited Big Meadow again this past weekend. We had a nice quiet stay with absolutely no issues. Facilities were very clean and in great condition. Camp sites were very spacious. I had room both in front and behind my RV to park trucks.. My kids enjoyed the large playground with other children that were camping. The bath house and laundry facilities are top notch. WiFi worked well enough to stream TV over a Roku. I needed a few small repair items for my RV that were readily available at the office and priced as well as Amazon. Greg and Liz were great assistance in the office and offered up recommendations for dining and entertainment. We booked another stay for May and can't wait to get there!
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Date of stay: March 2021Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We love the campground! The staff is excellent, very friendly and helpful. The campground is immaculate. I’m glad there isn’t a fire pit at each site. It’s nice to breathe in fresh mountain air and not choke on someone else’s trash burning in a pit. The campsites are well maintained and spaced apart nicely. Beautiful area.
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Date of stay: June 2022Trip type: Traveled with family
Room Tip: This is a campground, not a resort, so don’t expect resort amenities. What you will get is a...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
A lot to digest? Read an AI-generated summary of recent traveler reviews.
Since retiring we have been taking our grandsons, 10 and 8 years old, on a trip each summer. This year was in our newly acquired Airstream and our first stop was 4 nights at Big Meadow Family Campground. This family run facility is centrally located and convenient to everything in Townsend. It's right on a small river and within walking distance of the areas most popular tubing company, River Rats.
The campground is secure with access controlled thru the use of electronic gate controls. There is a playground and small water park for the kids and the bath house and restrooms are clean and in excellent working order. Cable TV at the sites and internet access are adequate but we had the advantage of a mobile hot spot which was helpful.
The staff was friendly and more than willing to help. They escort you to your campsite and even help back you in and get settled.
We're already planning a fall trip back to Townsend and will definitely be staying at Big Meadow again.
The campground is secure with access controlled thru the use of electronic gate controls. There is a playground and small water park for the kids and the bath house and restrooms are clean and in excellent working order. Cable TV at the sites and internet access are adequate but we had the advantage of a mobile hot spot which was helpful.
The staff was friendly and more than willing to help. They escort you to your campsite and even help back you in and get settled.
We're already planning a fall trip back to Townsend and will definitely be staying at Big Meadow again.
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Date of stay: July 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Called before we made reservation and asked about refund policy. The person I talked to said it would be $31.00 and change to cancel the reservation. Well had to cancel the reservation and it ended up costing the full one-night stay of $83.93 and was told there wasn't anything they could do about the bad information given by their employee. Hope they use that money wisely as they will never get anymore from me. There are plenty of better options just down the road.
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Date of stay: November 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The staff were extremely friendly!! The place was well maintained and easy to maneuver with our rv. It was our first rv trip and it was awesome!! Also very safe and secure. Our child enjoyed the kid amenities and there was a river to play in. River Rat tubing is right near the campground and we could walk right to it. We could also watch the tubers as they went down the river. The campers there were friendly as well. Definitely will be going back!!!
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Date of stay: August 2020Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This campground has nice staff, who were not wearing masks. Thanks for caring about me. Mandatory or not they should wear when dealing with the public close up.
The campground is very nicely kept up. We booked a site on the New River of which there are only about 10 sites. These are without a doubt the worst sites in the campground.
There is a public road between your site and the river. It has traffic all day, cars, pickups, motorcycles, etc. and speeds are all over the map making it a mini highway. There’s tiny little speed bumps that slow no one and make even more noise as driven over. This was a constant disturbance all day and at night when trying to sleep.
But wait, it gets worse. If you are in sites 1-9 you have two more roads on the other side of your site. The office is across the way and you have the arrivals on one side and the departures on the other side. Gravel crunching madness all day. In addition the office is receiving supplies being off-loaded from trucks, a mini tractor and other noise in general.
Our stay was completely overshadowed and they charge more I believe for these “premium” noise sites.
While the river views are very nice they are marred by thousands of Tubers floating by o big yellow tubes from 10 AM to around 5:30 PM. So much for the tranquil view.
One more thing, I don’t know how this park gets such high ratings without a pool.
Bath house nice and clean with code.
Pick a site with meadow views as far away from the entrance and river as possible for a getaway feeling. At least it looked that way.
I felt like we were on the California 405 the entire time we were there.
The campground is very nicely kept up. We booked a site on the New River of which there are only about 10 sites. These are without a doubt the worst sites in the campground.
There is a public road between your site and the river. It has traffic all day, cars, pickups, motorcycles, etc. and speeds are all over the map making it a mini highway. There’s tiny little speed bumps that slow no one and make even more noise as driven over. This was a constant disturbance all day and at night when trying to sleep.
But wait, it gets worse. If you are in sites 1-9 you have two more roads on the other side of your site. The office is across the way and you have the arrivals on one side and the departures on the other side. Gravel crunching madness all day. In addition the office is receiving supplies being off-loaded from trucks, a mini tractor and other noise in general.
Our stay was completely overshadowed and they charge more I believe for these “premium” noise sites.
While the river views are very nice they are marred by thousands of Tubers floating by o big yellow tubes from 10 AM to around 5:30 PM. So much for the tranquil view.
One more thing, I don’t know how this park gets such high ratings without a pool.
Bath house nice and clean with code.
Pick a site with meadow views as far away from the entrance and river as possible for a getaway feeling. At least it looked that way.
I felt like we were on the California 405 the entire time we were there.
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Date of stay: July 2020
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip: Stay away from river and office building.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The campground is located on the river, which makes this a nice attraction for the campground. However, the river is across a road and your camper must be backed up very close to the road if you are on a river site. This means traffic runs behind your camper (between you and the river). I would be concerned if I had pets or children. Additionally, the water leaked and we had to report it several times before someone would listen to us (it was not our connector). They advertise internet, but it did not work for us (I need it for work). The front office has been friendly in the past but wasn't so much when we stayed the last time. Overall, I would recommend choosing one of the many other campgrounds in the area.
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Date of stay: July 2021
Location
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Such a nice place! I made our reservations online quite a while back. They called to confirm the reservations a couple of weeks beforehand. On our anticipated date of arrival, they called to make sure what time we expected to arrive, that we hadn't had any unexpected issues, etc. We were in the process of turning in to the campground when they called, so we all had a good laugh about that when I told the lady we expected to arrive in about 30 seconds. Once we got to the office, they gave us all kinds of useful information about upcoming events both in the campground (charity pancake breakfast) and in the surrounding area (hot air balloon festival and Jeep invasion). The campground is super clean and neat. It's in a great area, close to restaurants and the national park. The sites are well laid out and easy to maneuver a large camper in. Ours is a 38 ft 5th wheel with 4 slides, and we had no problems with room, hookups, etc. The campground was quiet enough that we could rest, but not so boring that we couldn't get out and chit chat with other campers. We've stayed here in the past and have always had the same excellent experience. Every time we bring our camper to the mountains, this will always be our #1 choice of places to stay.
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Date of stay: August 2022Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed here in a 35 foot motorhome pulling a jeep. Easy to navigate into our pull through spot and unhook our jeep. We loved that the campsite was right by the river with an easy access for swimming. It is also right next door to River Rat Tubing which will allow you to enter the river right by the campground and will take you back once you finish floating the river. Staff was friendly and there was a little store on the campground. Clean, well maintained with gravel roads throughout.
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Date of stay: June 2021
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Most campgrounds in this area will allow for partial
if not full refunds if you need to cancel. I understand not refunding any money at all if it is within a short window of time. But 2 months in advance?? I had a reservation for May and due to health problems I already know we cannot make the trip. Yes, it is posted on the website that there are no refunds of a deposit but under extenuating circumstances I would think they could refund at least part of the money….it’s certainly not like they won’t be able to rent that spot nearly immediately. 😡 We had even made plans to have our camper stored there for a monthly fee but now will NOT be doing that. Didn’t get to stay here at all and won’t be staying there ever….thanks for nothing Big Meadow Campgrond. A VERY expensive lesson learned……
if not full refunds if you need to cancel. I understand not refunding any money at all if it is within a short window of time. But 2 months in advance?? I had a reservation for May and due to health problems I already know we cannot make the trip. Yes, it is posted on the website that there are no refunds of a deposit but under extenuating circumstances I would think they could refund at least part of the money….it’s certainly not like they won’t be able to rent that spot nearly immediately. 😡 We had even made plans to have our camper stored there for a monthly fee but now will NOT be doing that. Didn’t get to stay here at all and won’t be staying there ever….thanks for nothing Big Meadow Campgrond. A VERY expensive lesson learned……
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Date of stay: February 2023Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Barbara Johnson, Owner at Big Meadow Family Campground
Responded Mar 12, 2023
We are so sorry to hear about your disappointment as we wish for all of our customers to be satisfied. Big Meadow does its upmost to ensure all of our customers are aware of the refund policy, whether posted on the website or over the phone. As posted, we take a 1 Night Non- Refundable deposit on all reservations. Again we are very sorry you were not pleased with our cancellation policy, and we would still love to try and accommodate you in the future. Thank you.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
The sites on the river are not actually right on the river. There is a road between the sites and the river, so they are more accurately close to the river. These sites will hold an RV up to about 35 feet and they are about 25 feet wide, also 30 amp.
"The one thing to avoid, and Malcolm will be the first one to tell you this and that is not to follow the GPS directions to their place. Don’"Read full review
"Right off Wears Valley Hwy, close to Pigeon Forge but in the quiet side of the mountain!"Read full review
LOCATION
United StatesTennesseeTownsend
NUMBER OF ROOMS
75
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Big Meadow Family Campground
Which popular attractions are close to Big Meadow Family Campground?
Nearby attractions include Smoky Mountain River Rat Tubing (0.2 miles), Foothills Parkway (4.9 miles), and Tuckaleechee Caverns (2.8 miles).
What are some of the property amenities at Big Meadow Family Campground?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include free wifi, a fitness center, and kids activities.
Is parking available at Big Meadow Family Campground?
Yes, secured parking is available to guests.
What are some restaurants close to Big Meadow Family Campground?
Conveniently located restaurants include Dancing Bear Appalachian Bistro, The Artistic Bean, and Trailhead Steak & Trout House.
Are there opportunities to exercise at Big Meadow Family Campground?
Yes, guests have access to a fitness center during their stay.
Are pets allowed at Big Meadow Family Campground?
Yes, pets are typically allowed, but it's always best to call ahead to confirm.
Are there any historical sites close to Big Meadow Family Campground?
Many travelers enjoy visiting Little Greenbrier School (5.3 miles) and Walker Sisters Place (5.9 miles).
Does Big Meadow Family Campground have any great views?
Yes, guests often enjoy the river view available here.
Is Big Meadow Family Campground accessible?
Yes, it offers wheelchair access. For specific inquiries, we recommend calling ahead to confirm.