Mountain Lake Marina and Campground

I can't give a perfect review of this campground marina, because I usually stay as a guest. But as a guest, my stay here is always phenomenal. The guests are usually friendly and the staff are super helpful.

About 1/2 the campground has permanent trailers with full hookups. I do not know the prices for a temporary stay. The guest restrooms, showers & pool are locked now because of some uninvited guests in 2016.

The marina is free to use as a guest, but you may have to pay a fee for large watercraft such as pontoon boats or schooners. Residents own, and most do not rent out the houseboats or other trailors here. But there are some for sale in the home office.

There is almost No signal here for Sprint phones, but you shouldn't have much tech with you anyway. The views are breathtaking, the air is clean, and the water is warm in the summer.

To be clear... the campground was great but the Marina however was NOT.

I have never been so livid.... we planned a trip to Norris Lake for my birthday and booked a camping spot at Mountain Lake Campground as well as booked a tri-toon at the Marina in July 2020. On our way down Labor Day Weekend which was 2 months after we made the reservations we decided to see if we could get the boat for an extra day and that’s when I called and found out that our boat was canceled without us even knowing! The guy said I called and canceled it a week prior BUT I DIDN’T. He insisted that I did which was making me even more upset because why would I drive 3 hours to a location that has nothing to do except to boat on my birthday just to call and cancel it?? He even knew the day it was canceled and made sure to say it was within the period where I wasn’t charged. The entire situation was way too suspicious. The couple we went with called them too to try to get an answer because I was so upset. Of course I called every marina within 30 miles but of course nothing was available due to the holiday. We were told by the campground to contact the manager Paul but he was the one we were talking to the 3 times we called. We made our way down to the marina but he wasn’t there at the time. All I wanted was an explanation of how this could happen because NO ONE knew where we were going to cancel my reservation. I’m assuming maybe a personal friend or family member of an employee there needed a boat and since my card wasn’t charged yet they decided it would be ok to cancel mine. This was the worst run business and poorly ran management experience I’ve ever had to deal with. This was not acceptable and I would never rent or recommend any one rent a boat from them unless you want to risk having it taken from you. They should probably have better protocol if someone is calling and canceling reservations for someone other than themselves.

This place is amazing. The bathrooms are clean, and have their own private shower ROOMS. The pool area is always clean and you can look out at the lake while swimming. The staff, especially Vietta, are always polite and professional and will go out of their way to help you. There is a place to eat, they have an ice cream shop for the little ones (and the little ones at heart). I have visited Mountain Lake several times over the last year and have never had any problems with anything. Highly recommended.

Would not recommend! The sites are very small with no trees/shade. There's no fire ring but they sell firewood 🤔. It looks like people just start a fire in the stone driveways if they don't bring their own firepit. There's no grill. There's no picnic table. I feel like these 3 things should come standard with any site. The only nice thing about the site was the concrete slab for grilling, even though it wasn't level. The campground seems to filled with mostly permanent sites so if you're a nightly renter, consider calling ahead to reserve a golf cart rental if you're not planning on bringing your own. There's only 1 local dealer for 50 miles so call at least 2 weeks in advance. The Marina is nice and the restaurant has great food! The ice cream is pretty darn good too. Overall, I was quite disappointed. The people were friendly on the phone when we booked too. Will not stay again.