A few weeks ago, we were invited to join our best friends at their lake house on Lake Hamilton. Since they were going to have a houseful of guests, we decided to stay down the road at Lake Hamilton RV Resort.
With its location ON Lake Hamilton, this park is a GREAT place to stay for water-based activities!
LAKE HAMILTON RV RESORT – RV PARK REVIEW
Lake Hamilton RV Resort has eighty-one 20′ x 50′ sites including about 15 or so waterfront sites. They offer a 10% Good Sam discount. Their rates range from $27.50 to $38.50 per night.
I thought it a little odd that you can’t book online. Maybe it’s not so hard to believe in rural Arkansas, but this is the 21st century. It’s my understanding that you can make reservations via email if you want to feel like it’s this century, but honestly, it’s easiest just to call.
CAMPGROUNDS/CLEANLINESS
Lake Hamilton RV Resort was SUPER well kept! It was clean, mowed, and nicely laid out except for one SMALL details. The campsites were VERY close together with a yard about the size of another camper in between you and the next guy.
Now, if you’re staying at Lake Hamilton RV Resort, I would guess water sports would be the reason why. IF you’re staying at this park for water sports, I would guess that site size is not a big deal. Most people stay out on the water all day and only hang out at their campsites at night.
If you intend to hang out and chill for a bit, you might find the campsites EXTREMELY cramped. We basically just parked our camper there for the weekend to have a place to sleep and shower, so it was PERFECT for our needs.
I could also see staying here during the horse racing season. Even though it’d be too cold for water sports, it still has beautiful scenery, and I bet you’d be able to get a site on the lake pretty easily. It would be SO CALMING and serene.
Close quarters
AMENITIES
If your intent is to stay at Lake Hamilton RV Resort the whole time, there’s plenty to do on site. The park has a boat ramp, so you can bring your boat or kayak. They have a boat dock too, so you can stay as long as you like. Lots of people bring their pontoons, ski boats, and fishing boats to park and play for their stay.
Even if you don’t have a boat, or are unable to bring it (although I’m sure you could rent one nearby), you can still bring your fishing rods. You can fish right from the dock!
I don’t care much for fishing (SHOCKING, I know…a southern girl who HATES fishing…just did too much of it as a kid!). If my BFF didn’t live 2 miles away, I’d still be able to swim in the pool at Lake Hamilton RV Resort.
Their website claims that they have beautiful walking routes and recreational areas. I didn’t see these, but I’ll be fair and admit that I didn’t stick around much. Even if they don’t, a walk around the park would be beautiful enough!
I might even be tempted to take my shoes off and wade in the water at the boat dock.
Lake Hamilton RV Resort also has shower houses that are locked with a numbered keypad for safety, as well as a laundry room onsite.
I should also mention there are various fast food restaurants nearby and a grocery store…that’s handy for people like me who almost ALWAYS forget something!
BATHHOUSES
This one makes me a little embarrassed! I have to admit I didn’t even go in the bathroom. All I know is that the rest of the park was kept up very well. I’m going to take this one out of the rating system since I didn’t even go in.
Even though I took the bathhouse out of the rating system, I’d still like to mention that it was concerning to me that they had posters up about checking the stalls BEFORE using them. That’s just a bit creepy to me considering that most people put signs up AFTER something creepy happened.
CELL SIGNAL
Verizon is my provider and my signal was a DREAM…ALL WEEKEND! As long as I was at Lake Hamilton RV Resort, my signal was golden. We had 4G LTE internet and full bars on our cell phones. We could call and receive calls just like home with no problems.
INTERNET/WIFI
Consequently, since our cell phones were golden on the internet all weekend, we didn’t need wifi. However, I did try to connect…just to test it for you guy.
I’m sad to say that the park gave me the wrong password, so I couldn’t connect. I did find that disappointing. Again, since the signal was so good, I didn’t bother calling them to connect.
As mentioned in my Ozark RV Park review and my Brushy Creek Campground review, being unplugged is one thing I HATE!!!
If my cell signal had been bad, I’d have been burning up their phone lines to get that internet password. We also went on Memorial Day weekend. I suspect the wifi lines would’ve had a lot of traffic on them. I haven’t experienced a busy weekend at a park yet that the internet works perfectly.
Just for reference, I still graded it based on the fact that they gave out the wrong code. We had friends camping with us at Lake Hamilton RV Resort…they couldn’t get on it either due to an incorrect password.
NEARBY ACTIVITIES
This is where it gets good!
I’ve mentioned the boat dock and possible water sports (skiing, tubing, fishing, etc.). Horse races have also been mentioned (racing season is late January thru Early May). What I haven’t mentioned is all the other stuff!
Oaklawn is not only a horse racetrack but also a casino. I don’t understand horse racing, but I like to go President’s Day for the races. They sometimes have live music, but often have the inner circle open for spectators. Getting to watch both people and horses…THAT’S what I’d call a PERFECT day!
These guys…OMG! They gave me chills! It was opening day (or some other occasion) at Oaklawn and they were there as entertainment. I’d go see them ANYWHERE!
Not into horse races and gambling? That’s ok! You can take the short drive downtown and walk along the historic Bathhouse Row. Enjoy the natural hot springs, get a massage, or just take in all the small shops and attractions.
There is also a tower just outside the city where you can pay a small amount to go to the top and get a bird’s eye view of the whole city.
If you’re not the lake type, you could also go to Magic Springs/Crystal Falls amusement/water park. Of course, if you’re not the lake type, I’d stay somewhere besides Lake Hamilton RV Resort! 🙂
It’s a very quaint drive to get to the RV park. You’ll see lots of antique shops along the way and those can be fun to stop in and browse around in.
Garvan Gardens also has some beautiful scenery and is a VERY popular wedding location.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of things to do in Hot Springs. I listed some other things in my top Arkansas destinations post.
MOST activities are only 10-15 minutes from Lake Hamilton RV Resort.
STAFF
The lady that I spoke with on the phone was super nice. I really had no complaints about anyone that I encountered. Best as I can tell, they were very friendly and professional.
When I asked Glynn his opinion (as his opinion is often different from mine), he mentioned the strange rules they have at Lake Hamilton RV Resort. I felt like this wasn’t a staff issue, but he felt that someone on the staff had made the rules. I’ll mention them in a minute.
PRICE
I struggled with rating the price on Lake Hamilton RV Resort. I think overall the price is FANTASTIC for being right on the lake. However, that being said, the campsites are T I N Y! The price is a little bit more than a state park, but it’s RIGHT ON the water.
We felt like it was a fair trade.
OVERALL
We really enjoyed our time at Lake Hamilton RV Resort. This would be a great time to mention that we basically slept and showered there. The rest of the time we spent down the road at our friend’s house.
This is after all the other RVs had cleared out on Monday!
They did have strange rules posted in the office stating that there was a STRICT policy of no borrowing…not sugar, not cigarettes, not money. Again, I’m guessing this is due to some obnoxious person borrowing from everybody. Who knows?! But if you’re running low on sugar, this is not the park for you! LOL!
My friend was told to check the stalls in the bathroom before going in to make sure there weren’t any men in the women’s restroom to assault her.
THAT kind of CRAP really makes you wonder about a park…am I right or am I right?!
There were also protective road spikes that I ALMOST didn’t’ see one night. Again, I will give them the benefit of a doubt and say that entrance to the park is near a busy street and that they’d want to deter traffic through the campsite. But ROAD SPIKES?! Dang!!! That’s pretty SERIOUS!
These few things really made us wonder about the safety of the site, but all I know is that WE didn’t have any problems…just double check your sugar, cigarettes, and cash before you check in! Haha!
All of that to say that I will almost SURELY go back again. It’s so close to everything and such a reasonable price…it’d be stupid of us not to go back!
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