Do you have a favorite go-to place near home that you L O V E? We do, it’s Maumelle Park Campground in Little Rock, Arkansas. Whenever we have RVer friends roll through town, we ALWAYS recommend Maumelle Park to them! It’s SUPER close to pretty much anything you’d want to do in Little Rock, and DIRT CHEAP!
We’ve had church picnics and family reunions there, as well as camped and fished at Maumelle Park. In fact, time before last when we camped there, we saw an old friend who was just exercising in the park…LOTS to do!
Let’s hop to the review since you can CLEARLY see I love the place.
MAUMELLE PARK CAMPGROUND REVIEW
As always, first order of business is to share the booking info for the campground. This is a US Army Corp of Engineers campsite. It is both basic and beautiful! The campsites are HUGE and scenic. A few sites do have full hookups, but most do not. They do, however, have water and electric on each site and dump stations available from just about any campsite.. All sites are paved, most are pretty level and there are a few pull-through sites.
I was surprised to learn this last time that there are medical needs sites for people who have families at UAMS in Little Rock. It’s my understanding that these sites are free, though I don’t know how to obtain them. I’m sure a call to the office would clear that up if this is something you’re interested in.
We’ve seen all kinds of RVs at Maumelle, ranging from super expensive class As to tiny popup campers. The people camping there range from little kiddos on bikes to silver-haired retirees! 🙂 If I’m not mistaken, you have to move your rig every two weeks, but I could be wrong…and frequently am!
CAMPGROUND/CLEANLINESS
Ok, so I think I’ve made it clear that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this campground. Part of the reason for that is that it is almost always pristine! Maybe the only exception would be right after one of our world-class storms…you might find some leaves or branches after a storm, but otherwise, you can always expect this park to be clean.
Not only is the campground clean, but the campsites are HUGE! Look at the picture above. This was taken standing by my neighbor’s water and electric hookup. This actually doesn’t even do it justice because I had to crop some of it.
There’s also a nice concrete table to the back my camper just above that big drain culvert. Each campsite has a table, fire pit, and grill.
MOST of the campsites are shaded by these LOVELY towering trees. As you can see from the above pic, our site took on some sunlight in the early part of the day, but was pretty well shaded by afternoon.
About half of the campsites are located right on the water, which is nice. When my cousin stayed here, she had some geese that frequented her site.
BATHHOUSE
Y’all would be so proud of me…I’m actually starting to remember to peek in the bathrooms! Usually, the bathrooms are of no consequence to me since we have one in our camper. Glynn likes to use the facilities the campground provides since he’s so tall (6’2″). Our camper shower leaves a little to be desired for him.
Maumelle Park has utilitarian bathhouses. By that, I mean they are nothing fancy…nothing to write home about. It is a toilet, and a shower, but it was impeccably clean as I would expect. The one I went in (near loop A), had one toilet and one shower. If you needed a shower, you could certainly get one here!
I’ve been in the one in loop B, and it is equally decent, and again, nothing fancy.
It wasn’t creepy like some others I’ve been in, so I gave it a 7/10 because it’s decent, it’s clean, and they’re centrally located in each loop.
AMENITIES
Even if you don’t go into the city (Little Rock), there’s plenty to do at Maumelle Park. You can bring bikes and bicycle in the park, or even go out on the main road for a more vigorous workout.
You can also go for a hike on the Nuttall Trail. I did not even know this existed, to be honest…so I’ll have to slip back over there for a picture! 🙂
One of Maumelle Park’s amenities is it’s boat dock and fishing. Of course, if you’re camping, you should get an appropriate local fishing license and fish right from the shore of the Arkansas River! I know for sure you can catch crappie, bream, various types of bass, catfish and more.
This park has several playgrounds for little ones, and a large, open field for big kids!
Another great amenity of Maumelle Park is that you can rent one of the many pavilions for picnics or social gatherings. We’ve done this several times and NEVER regretted it! There’s always plenty of room for everyone to spread out, and plenty for everyone to do.
There’s also a grocery store practically around the corner from the park as well as a great big WalMart store a few miles away!
CELL SIGNAL
We’ve not ever…NOT EVEN ONCE…had a hard time getting a cell signal at Maumelle Park. As mentioned in previous reviews, we’re on Verizon, but many of our friends are on AT&T and no one ever has any issues getting a signal here.
It’s actually kind of surprising really. The park is kind of on the outskirts of town and near the river. Go figure…but cell phones work out there!
INTERNET/WIFI
If I have one complaint about Maumelle Park Campground, it’s that they don’t offer wifi. That being said, I still ranked them 8.5/10 based on the fact that you almost always have a great 4G signal.
No wifi didn’t stop me from getting my work done on my computer. I just had to bounce the internet off my phone to my computer. I was still able to do my social media marketing all weekend and work on the blog some from camp.
If you’re anything like me, MOST RV parks have disappointing wifi anyway and I usually use a hotspot anyway.
NEARBY ACTIVITIES
Let’s just talk about this for a sec…this last time we stayed at Maumelle Park because there was a concert in downtown Little Rock. It was a convenient place for us and 2 other couples to congregate. Since I don’t drink alcohol, I am often invited to be the DD for the weekend and all of us camping in one place just made sense.
Little Rock is also host to a GREAT festival downtown called Riverfest. We do this once per year on Memorial Day weekend (usually) and it marks the beginning of summer for many. Lots of great music, local art and food, and LOTS of people! 🙂
When you stay at Maumelle Park, you are practically on the footsteps of Pinnacle Mountain State Park. You can hike a decent peak there, as well as walk several trails. On our last stay, we walked one such trail and saw people fishing from kayaks on the Little Maumelle River.
I also did a whole post about things to do in Arkansas. It’s really a pretty neat place! Little Rock is rich in history and arts. You’ll find MOST of the neat stuff downtown in the River Market area.
STAFF
I’ll be honest here, I really haven’t encountered the staff at Maumelle Park that much. The few times I have though, they were very kind and accommodating. The lady in the gate house was talking to me one time about blogging. She seemed really nice and curious about blogging.
Another time, we were cutting up about driving the rig and parking it while my hubby wasn’t watching. I know, it’s hard to imagine me cutting up…haha! If you can’t see it in this post, read THIS ONE!
All that to say, I haven’t had any problems with the staff.
If I had one complaint, it would be that it is often VERY difficult to get them on the phone. As mentioned, we’ve done multiple events at Maumelle Park and had to call on MANY occasions. It’s just not easy to reach them. If that’s the worst complaint, I’ll take it! No worries there, for sure!
PRICE
The price is UNBEATABLE! Campsites are anywhere from $22-26/per night. The price is determined by which amperage you need for your rig. We can’t complain AT ALL about. It’s a great price for a great park!
All in all, Maumelle Park is a FANTASTIC place to stay if you have anything going on in Central Arkansas. It’s a great home base for local exploring. There’s lots to do in Arkansas and you’re right in the middle of it all if you stay here!
P.S. If you’ve ever thought about starting your own travel blog, click here for how I learned!
Pros
- Near to EVERYTHING
- Beautiful surroundings
- Plenty to do
- LARGE campsites
- Plenty of shade
- Grill, picnic table, & fire pit on each site
- Decent bathrooms in each loop
- Near restaurants, groceries, and more
Cons
- No full hookups
- Can be SUPER humid near the river
Thanks for sharing this. We’re actually planning a stop in Little Rock for a few days in September. I’ll have to check and see if this is available.
Message me on FB and let me know! I’ll come out and meet you! It’s a beautiful park…you’ll love it!
Maumelle is so nice! My grandpa used to live there, and we often enjoyed taking walks around a lake near his house!
It certainly is a beautiful place! It would be perfect if they had full hookups (which they do for UAMS, a local hospital, long-term patients but not the rest of us). If that’s my biggest complaint, then it’s negligible, right? 🙂
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