Cincinnati is a river-border city, and that changes how a van trip starts here. The Ohio River is the state line, so the best weekend terrain is south in Kentucky or east in Appalachian Ohio rather than north of town.
Pickup, and the bridge you meet first
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is not in Ohio. It sits in Boone County, Kentucky, near Hebron, off I-275 at exit 4, so a van collected at the airport starts its trip in another state. Getting downtown from there means the Brent Spence Bridge, which carries I-71 and I-75 across the river on a double deck. Its emergency shoulders were removed in 1985 so a fourth lane could be added in each direction, and a structure designed for about 85,000 vehicles a day was carrying roughly 150,000 by 2006. In a tall, wide vehicle that is not where you want to be at rush hour with nowhere to pull over. The I-275 beltway is the patient way around.
Red River Gorge, and the rule that catches van renters
The standout trip is south: I-75 past Lexington, I-64 east toward Winchester, then the Mountain Parkway, no longer tolled, to exit 33 at Slade. Roughly 130 miles, about 80 of them the I-75 run from the river to Lexington. If you would rather start the gorge trip closer, picking up in Lexington cuts that leg entirely. The gorge covers some 29,000 acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest, has been a National Natural Landmark since 1975, holds more than 100 natural sandstone arches, and draws climbers to overhanging pocketed sandstone, mostly single-pitch routes on cliffs under 200 feet.
Two things matter specifically because you are sleeping in the vehicle.
- Nada Tunnel, the KY 77 way in, is 900 feet long, 12 feet wide and 13 feet high, and takes one vehicle at a time. Know your van's height, or come in on KY 15 through Slade instead.
- Any vehicle left overnight on KY 15 or in the gorge and Indian Creek area north of it must display a Daniel Boone National Forest recreation pass between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Dispersed camping is free, but the Forest Service's camping rules put your site at least 300 feet from developed roads and trails, Tunnel Ridge Road included, and 100 feet from cliff bases and rock shelters, with a 14-day limit in any 30. That is a backpacking arrangement, not a van one. To sleep in the van, use Koomer Ridge Campground off KY 15: 54 sites, 19 of them able to take RVs, no hookups and no dump station, open year-round, partly reservable on Recreation.gov and partly first-come.
The Ohio side
Hocking Hills, near Logan in southeastern Ohio, books through ReserveOhio rather than Recreation.gov, up to six months out. Its campground has around 200 sites, including full-hookup and electric sites with 20, 30 and 50 amp service. It is also busy: more than two million people visited in 2017, and parking pressure grew severe enough that a shuttle from downtown Logan was introduced, which is worth planning around in a vehicle you cannot tuck into a half-space.
Closer in, East Fork State Park is twenty miles southeast of central Cincinnati, with camping, swimming, boating and the 33-mile Steve Newman World-Walker perimeter trail. Caesar Creek State Park, five miles east of Waynesville, has 43 miles of hiking trail around a 2,830-acre lake and allows fossil collecting in a designated zone under strict terms: no tools, nothing bigger than your palm, nothing commercial. For a first or last night without leaving Hamilton County, Great Parks of Hamilton County runs Winton Woods Campground, with 32 full-hookup back-in RV sites plus 12 pull-throughs, and Miami Whitewater Forest, with 46 back-in sites on 30 amp electric. Heading east, Ohio 32, the James A. Rhodes Appalachian Highway, leaves eastern Cincinnati at Columbia Parkway and runs four-lane divided the whole way once you clear I-275.
Mammoth Cave as a two-night trip
I-71 south to Louisville, then I-65. Campervans out of Louisville start closer to the cave, but from Cincinnati the Park Service puts Mammoth Cave 89 miles beyond Louisville, using I-65 exit 53 at Cave City from the north. Cave tours are booked separately from camping, through Recreation.gov, and sell out weeks ahead, with the park often not publishing the full schedule until one to three months before. The park's own directions page also warns that GPS units give inaccurate directions in the area and that visitors arrive too late for their tour. Mammoth Cave Campground operates March 1 to November 30 and has a dump station, some RV hookups and a 38-foot vehicle limit. Houchin Ferry stays open year-round but takes no RVs or trailers, so a winter visit here is a day trip rather than a van base.
Weather worth planning around
December through May are the wettest months in Cincinnati. The Ohio River's official flood stage in the city is 52 feet, measured from the Roebling Suspension Bridge, and the 1937 flood crested near 80 feet in late January, so low riverside roads and ramps are the first thing to check in late winter and spring. Summer is hot and humid, which is the practical case for an electric site. Winter is real but moderate: January averages a high of 40.6°F and a low of 23.6°F, with about 23 inches of snow across a season, and the more useful constraint is that several campgrounds within range, Mammoth Cave's included, simply close for it.