Green water clear enough to scuba in covers the ridgelines Lake Ouachita drowned, and from a shoreline site you can follow them down off the bank into the depth. Days there go to swimming off the point and paddling the coves, with the hot afternoons spent under the awning. Back toward Hot Springs, Gulpha Gorge Campground follows a creek under a ridge canopy inside the national park, with Bathhouse Row and its steaming springs just down the road.
That pairing, a lake week in the Ouachitas with Hot Springs down the road, is the Arkansas RV trip families come back to, and summer heat makes a site with power the whole plan. Farther north, the Ozarks hold the Buffalo River's two motorhome campgrounds and the long Corps lakes at Greers Ferry and Beaver. Petit Jean State Park sits between the two ranges, on bluffs above the Arkansas River valley.
Lake Ouachita's Corps parks and Gulpha Gorge at Hot Springs
The first night works best at Gulpha Gorge, where the sites have full hookups at 30 and 50 amp, with water and sewer. It's first-come with no reservations, so roll in early and the rig sleeps beside the creek with the air on all night. In the morning, US 270 runs west out of town toward the lake.
Lake Ouachita has more than a dozen Corps of Engineers campgrounds, and Denby Point is the one to reserve before you book the rig. It's about 26.5 miles west of Hot Springs on US 270, with electric and water at most sites and a dump station in the campground for the mid-week empty. Settle in there and the week turns into lake days and one afternoon back in town.
If Denby Point is full or you're running late, Crystal Springs has electric and water at its sites and its own dump station. Brady Mountain is electric only, so fill the fresh tank at the dump station by the entrance before you back in. Joplin puts power on every site, but its pads are small and unpaved, and many are uneven enough that a large motorhome may not fit.
A couple who'd rather have those small Joplin pads to themselves can size down on the Arkansas campervan page, which also covers the soak on Bathhouse Row and the drive west on US 270. For a resort-style week with a hotel-style lodge on the grounds, DeGray Lake Resort State Park books Class AAA sites with water, 50-amp and sewer alongside Class B sites with water and 30-amp.
The Buffalo River from Tyler Bend and Buffalo Point
Limestone bluffs stand over the Buffalo River, and the access roads that drop off Highway 7 toward the water turn to gravel fast. A motorhome sees this river from its campgrounds, and the order of the nights matters because only one of them has power.
Tyler Bend comes first, with drive-in sites that suit motorhomes and no hookups listed, so it's a couple of dry nights on a full fresh tank. Buffalo Point finishes the run, where 80 drive-in sites across the A through E loops have 30 and 50 amp electric and water but no sewer. Its dump station empties what the dry nights filled, and the air runs again.
Book both before the rig. Tyler Bend requires reservations from mid-March to mid-November, taken six months ahead, and Buffalo Point moves to required reservations on Recreation.gov from mid-March 2027. Float trips and the outfitters who run them are on the Arkansas campervan page.
Greers Ferry and Beaver Lake in the Ozarks
Greers Ferry Lake runs a long, wooded shoreline that Arkansas families treat as a weekend habit, and it holds a parked week as well as Ouachita does. The three big Corps parks, Dam Site, Heber Springs Park and Old Highway 25, have electric at most sites and a dump station in each. That makes the rhythm simple: power on the pad, and a dump run when the tanks call for it.
In the northwest corner, Beaver Lake's coves do the same job, and Hickory Creek Park has its dump station on site. It's also the place to sleep for Eureka Springs and Bentonville, both easy as a day out while the rig stays on the lake.
Petit Jean State Park above the Arkansas River valley
Bluff-edge overlooks at Petit Jean State Park look straight out over the Arkansas River valley, and a few nights on the mountain lets you catch that view in morning light and again at sunset. Lake Dardanelle, on the same stretch of river, is the valley's other weekend draw.
The campground books by class through Arkansas State Parks. Class AAA sites have water, 50-amp and sewer, and Class B sites have water and 30-amp. In summer the AAA sites go first, so lock one before you book the rig.