We stayed at Carolina Landing RV Resort for ten days in early May. We were in the Carolinas area for business reasons and also were able to visit with our sons while we were in the region. We don’t do full reviews on every Thousand Trails RV park we stay in because they’re fairly consistent in experience. However, this one is different enough from the norm that we thought it would be good to share our experience.

This park does have some things going for it. The location is convenient if you need to be in the north Georgia, upstate South Carolina area. It’s right off of I-85 near the GA/SC state line and about 20 minutes from Anderson, SC. The office staff here are extremely friendly and accommodating. We were able to take delivery of numerous Amazon packages at no extra cost, and we even had a full size tractor trailer truck delivery of lithium batteries during our stay (Watch out for our future video on the lithium battery install ! 🙂 ! ).

Most of the sites at Carolina Landing RV Resort, are allocated to long-term / annual lease holders. There is a small section of the park where short-term stays are placed, and these are mostly pull-through sites. There are very few 50 amp / full hookup sites — mostly in the short-term area, and there is a $3/day charge for 50 amp service. The majority of sites are 30 amp / water only with weekly honey wagon service included. There are picnic tables at most sites, and fire rings at a few sites. The site surfaces vary from gravel, to concrete, to asphalt. We ended up staying at two different sites within this campground. Our first site had little to no usable outdoor area. We scouted out a better site after a few days and decided it was worth moving since Scott was going to be doing a lithium battery install, and the weather was going to be good for outdoor relaxing.

There are limited amenities with an adequate pool, a mini golf course, and a very small playground. The family lodge is only open for planned activities, and the “adult” lodge now shares space with families. The kitchen areas in the lodge are very dated, and the furniture throughout is basic and worn. The bath houses were kept clean on the days I saw them. The roads throughout most of the park are in poor condition and very narrow in many places and not suitable for big rigs. It is possible to navigate with big rigs around the short term area, but it is certainly more tight quarters than many campgrounds. The grounds maintenance is very inconsistent; the area around the office is well maintained, but the camp sites are poorly maintained with grass growing tall and debris (cinder blocks and pallets) left at several sites. Normally, Thousand Trails parks have a gate at the entrance, but the gate at this park had been removed.

Fortunately, we had other things on the agenda for this stay and didn’t expect to make use of resort-type amenities anyway. Scott was able to do a mapping project at the Morgan Family Cemetery in Six Mile, SC as well as replace our failing AGM coach batteries with new Battleborn lithium batteries. Of course, we captured video of that process, and we’ll be sharing that in the next month or so. We had planned to go on a couple of days worth of motorcycle rides with our two sons, and unfortunately, the weather was not cooperative which caused our older son to miss out. We did venture out to get a few rides in while dodging rain but didn’t get to get up in the high country as planned. Lesson learned — the weather pattern in the southern Appalachian mountains is pretty volatile in the Spring, and it’s best to plan rides for the Fall when it’s typically dry and sunshiny. This was our first time renting motorcycles since becoming nomads, and we will be sharing that experience in a future blog post and video.

While there were numerous challenges about the park, we did like several aspects. The park is set in a very wooded area and on the banks of Lake Hartwell, which is a very large lake and with great fishing opportunities. There is access to the lake within the park via a fishing pier. The park roads meander through heavily wooded areas and are very hilly which makes for some heart-pounding walks around the campground. While we prefer to get higher in the mountains for motorcycle riding, there is an avid cycling buzz around the upstate of SC. For a sampling of bicycle rides around Greenville, check out this info from The Swamp Rabbit Inn. There are numerous hiking trails and many waterfalls to discover in upstate South Carolina, and we absolutely recommend a visit to the City of Greenville.

While the name for this park states “RV Resort” in Google and in the Thousand Trails directory, this is not a destination resort. The sign at the entrance states “Preserve” which is a much more accurate term. We give this park a “C” since even though there are limited on-site amenities and the overall maintenance is subpar, the location is convenient, there are activities nearby, and the staff are excellent.

For a printable summary of this review, click this link:  Campground Review – SC – Thousand Trails Carolina Landing RV Resort-Fair Play.

Please see this post for more understanding of how we rate campgrounds:  Our Idea of a Perfect Campground

We welcome your comments or questions about this campground below.