Campgrounds and RV parks near Forest Home, NY

Forest Home is a small hamlet on the northeast edge of Ithaca in Tompkins County, tucked into the Fall Creek gorge just below Cornell University. For RV renters, it works as a quiet base within the Finger Lakes region, with several campgrounds within a short drive across the Ithaca area and along Cayuga Lake. The closest public campgrounds sit inside two neighboring state parks. Buttermilk Falls State Park is a wooded property south of Ithaca with a gorge trail past a series of waterfalls, and Robert H Treman State Park is home to Enfield Glen and the 115-foot Lucifer Falls. Both parks operate seasonal campgrounds with rustic cabins, tent sites, and sites suited to smaller RVs. Private and municipal options round out the mix. Myers Park, a town-run lakefront park in Lansing, offers waterfront sites on Cayuga Lake about ten miles north of Ithaca. Spruce Row Campground sits above Cayuga Lake with full-hookup sites and cabins, and Pinecreek Campground occupies wooded acreage south of Ithaca in Newfield, off Route 13.

State park sites use the New York State Parks reservation system on ReserveAmerica. Reservations for campsites may be booked up to 9 months in advance for a one-night minimum stay, with a maximum of two sleeping tents, or one camping unit and one small tent, per site. Reservations can be made online or through the ReserveAmerica call center at 1-800-456-2267, and same-day campsite reservations are allowed until 3 p.m. Cabins carry longer minimums. Cabins require a two-night minimum during non-peak season, a three-night minimum on holiday weekends, and a seven-night minimum during peak season. Myers Park takes reservations through the Town of Lansing, and Spruce Row and Pinecreek book directly through their own websites. Proof of rabies inoculation must be produced when checking into the state park campgrounds, so bring pet records if traveling with a dog.