Monte Sano State Park Campground

One of our favorite state campgrounds, with large sites in heavy woods on a bluff over Huntsville, with adequate bath houses, and the best spring birding site we've ever camped in. There were April migrants a'plenty, plus various soaring birds working the wind at the large overlook. For campers traveling together, there are three joint sites (accommodating six camping rigs) that friends or families will love, also close to the bluff!
The only negative was that the sites on the ridge side, with easy trail access, are really full of Virginia creeper vines, which some people (like me) are highly allergic to. We changed sites easily, though, as it was early in the season (April).
As a big plus, the staff is just excellent and always available to help campers with any problems.

We’ve camped several times here. We love it! We usually get the back loop near the primitive tent camping. Sites #67 or #69. The lots towards the back have more space between the sites than the ones near the entry gate.

Sites are gravel and fairly level. Dump station has 2 stations. Never had to wait to use them when leaving.

Camp store is nice and stocked with the essentials. We love biking and hiking here. Numerous trails for all levels of difficulty.

Great location. 15 minute drive and you’re in downtown Huntsville close to nice restaurants. Highly recommend this campground.

The park is wonderful with spacious campsites. There are lots of things to do and the staff are fantastic!

We love, love, love having this attraction near our home and enjoy taking our camper up for weekends at the State Park!

Quiet, clean, well run. Trails are super well maintained. Bucca Family is fast and flowy.

Stunning greenery, spacious, well maintained campsite. Good water, newer electrical pedestals with 50/30/20 amp connections. Campground bath house clean and well stocked. Very limited cellular signal. No public wifi.

I had a lovely stay at Monte Sano. Affordable prices. They have a few full hook-up sites that are convenient. Utilities work well. Sites have decent space between campers. Very peaceful location with deer and birdsong. Great access to trails and views. There is even a very slow wifi, which was important as I had very little cell signal. In fact, I am writing this review using that wifi.

We loved it there so much, we didn't want to leave. We will plan to stay a month next time.

Good Campground in a great park for hiking, even for biking.
Sites are gravel and level.
The kids can easily ride their bikes and scooters around the loops. It was not crowded at the end of March. I'd recommend getting the sites along the outer loop on the Northeast (like 61). They look over city lights at night.
Note that the planetarium/observatory is open to the public only Saturday nights @1930 (according to the sign near it).

Great State Park with access to Huntsville. We made a quick trip during Fall Break to visit the Rocket Center and wanted to try out the state park. I will say large rigs need to look at the directions CAREFULLY! YOU MUAT COME IN OFF GOVERNORS DR!!! I believe that all sites have now been upgraded to 50 as I read on the website. We were on site 8 which is full hookup and it wasn't an issue with our 39ft toyhauler. Our boys loved all of the trails and the bike track. I did go into one of the bathhouses and it was clean. We will be back!

Great camp sites with plenty of room. Super clean bath houses. Could have used better water pressure in the showers but overall this state park is amazing. Lots of trails for mountain biking and hiking.

DO NOT COME IN FROM THE NORTH with a camper...it's got a couple of sharp switchbacks on steep two lane hills shared with bicyclists. Come in on 431 to Monte Sano. We made that mistake and when we checked in she gave me a map with directions that were much safer! Overall the campground was great. We only had water and electric so book a premium site if you're looking for full hookups. The bathhouse with laundry facilities was very clean. Even though the campground was completely full the weekend we stayed it did not feel like it. We had adequate space between the sites. It was quiet. Picnic tables and fire pits. Close to the Japanese Garden trail as well as the overlook and other trails. Dog friendly including trash bins and waste bags.

Beautiful! Lots of room! Plenty of trails. Quiet yet people are always walking by saying hello - friendly place.

First time camping at Monte Sano state park campground. Sites very wooded and spacious. Good amount of privacy for an Al state park. Bath house clean and in good working order. There are many utility upgrades in progress as of 9/25/21. They also offer some buddy sites. We will come again. We had site 74.

This is one of the better State parks, great access to hiking and biking trails! Great folks at the front desk, easy to work with and great customer service. The views and many overlooks are the best!!! A very rare wild albino squirrel can be seen every afternoon near the CCC Museum at the big overlook parking area.

Great campground with level spots and full hook up. Picnic tables and fire pit on every site. Staff is amazing.

Absolutely the best customer service! We were 3 hours away from the campground when our trailer caught fire! Thankfully we are all ok. The staff were so kind and helpful when I called to last minute to cancel our reservation! They were truly wonderful in a terrible situation for us!

Absolutely beautiful park. Definitely will be returning. Camping sites were in excellent shape, (didn't try the bathhouse). In process of upgrading some of the utilities so much of the park was completely empty. If in RV or camper I would recommend using the south road up the ridge.

Excellent camp ground.
Some sites have a Sewer connection. The power boxes are being upgraded and the lines running to them (Jan 2022). It appears each upgraded box will have 50, 30, and two 20 amp outlets. Plus there is an LED bulb to lite up the panel.

Most sites are back in however there are a few pull thru sites. All pull thrus we saw were single camper and no tent. A few of the back in sites were A-B sites which allowed 2 campers to share the site.

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 Sano are polite.