Travel Guides
Travel Guides
Campgrounds Hosting Fun Autumn Activities
Go on an RV trip to some of these campgrounds across the country with entertaining fall activities, or visit fall festivals with nearby campgrounds.
Overview
The cooler temperatures of fall set the stage for everything from apple harvests to hot air ballooning and Oktoberfest events.
Many of the nation’s campgrounds offer fall activities of their own, from food and wine events to carnivals with apple bobbing and pre-Halloween themed weekends where you might find a haunted trail or even a haunted house!
Below are examples of campgrounds across the country that are hosting entertaining fall activities, as well as major fall festivals with nearby campgrounds.
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Campgrounds Hosting Fall Activities
Colorado Springs KOA Holiday (Fountain, CO)
This campground will have a “Choco-Mess Madness Weekend” September 12-14 with choco-mess obstacle courses, chocolate piñata bashes, creative craft stations and science experiments.
A “Game Galore Extravaganza” is planned for the last weekend of September with giant outdoor board games, scavenger hunts, tug-of-war and relay races, family trivia challenge, a family bowling tournament, minute to win it challenges, and outdoor laser tag. Halloween-themed weekends are planned for every weekend in October with pumpkin decorating, a trick or treating trail and a haunted maze.
Great Escapes Chestnut Bay (Leesburg, AL)
This campground will have five Halloween-themed weekends beginning the first weekend of October. Activities include a magic pumpkin patch and a pumpkin carving contest.
There will also be a Halloween party with games of “Wrap the Mummy,” “Pumpkin Bingo,” “Feed the Monster,” and “Don’t Lose Your Eyeball!” The final Halloween-themed weekend will include a hilarious “Inflatable Costume Race.”
Hagerstown / Antietam Battlefield KOA Holiday (Williamsport, MD)
This park’s fall activities include fall crafts, ceramics and bobbing for apples on the weekend of September 19-21. There will also be a train ride, a magic show and a movie. Halloween-themed weekends begin the last weekend of September and run through the first weekend of November.
Activities include pumpkin carving, pumpkin painting and costume parade contests, campsite and cabin decorating contests, trick or treating and tours of Creekside Manor, the campground’s popular haunted house.
Jellystone Park Camp-Resort (Big Prairie, OH)
This park will have an “Apple Dumpling Festival Weekend” September 26-28 with hands-on workshops on how to make dumplings. There will also be cider pressing and apple decorating contests, hay rides, barrel rides, live music, craft vendors and Grandma Ruth’s famous apple dumplings.
On October 3-5 the park will have a “Harvest Hoedown Cider & Donuts Weekend” with cider tasting, fresh-made hot apple cider and fresh-baked, spiced donuts. There will also be a tractor-pulled hayride, a magic pumpkin ride, costume contests and trick or treating through the park.
The weekend of October 10-12 there will be a “Fall Flannel Festival” that includes a flannel fashion contest and lumberjack-inspired games as well as pine cone crafts, fall ceramics, a magic pumpkin ride, a costume contest and trick or treating. A “Fall Foliage Fiesta” is set for October 17-19 with scenic hikes, nature photography contests, pumpkin painting and a costume parade.
Lake Arrowhead Campground (Montello, WI)
This campground will host a state-sanctioned barbecue competition called the Puckaway Pigfest September 5-7 with proceeds benefitting the Care & Share Food Bank of Marquette County. There will also be a dessert competition in which anyone can compete or judge as well as a chili cookoff.
This campground will also have four Halloween-themed weekends beginning September 12-14. Activities include a magic pumpkin patch, a haunted walk, a costume dance and trick-or-treating. Halloween-themed weekends will also include a Candy Corn Carnival where guests can play games, win prizes, make a caramel apple, or tie dye a shirt.
Land-O-Pines Family Campground (Covington, LA)
This campground offers a variety of activities in fall, including a couples paint-n-sip party September 12-14 and a gumbo cookoff on the weekend of September 26-28 with a find the hidden “rougarou” contest (a Cajun Country werewolf) and a Bunco game on Saturday night.
A Coraline Halloween-themed weekend is set for October 10-12 with a best Coraline-themed campsite decorating contest, a Coraline-themed cake contest, a coloring contest and a “find the missing eyes contest.”
There will also be live music, dancing, and trick or treating. Pre-Halloween weekend activities will take place October 17-19 with a “find the hidden Great Pumpkin contest,” a best decorated pumpkin contest; costume, campsite and haunted house contests; as well as trick or treating and dancing to live music.
Nashville KOA Resort (Nashville, TN)
This campground will have an Oktoberfest celebration the weekend of October 3-5. Activities include Oktoberfest trivia, a yodeling contest, a stein holding contest and a costume contest. Guests will also be able to learn how to polka.
This park will also have four consecutive Halloween-themed weekends beginning October 10-12. Activities include a campsite decorating contest, a pet costume contest, pumpkin carving, Halloween crafts and trick or treating.
Pineland Camping Park (Big Flats, WI)
This campground will have two Halloween-themed weekends the last two weekends of September. Activities include a pumpkin carving contest, a pet costume parade, a glow parade and trick or treating. The weekend of October 3-5, this park will host its third annual Oktoberfest celebration with seasonal beers and a campground-wide beer crawl.
Guests will assemble in the pavilion for various Oktoberfest games, including Masskrugstemmen, Das boot and Hammerschlagen, as well as live music. The couple with the best Oktoberfest outfits will be named Mr. & Ms. Oktoberfest.
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Popular Fall Festivals Near Campgrounds
Additionally, here are three popular fall activities located near campgrounds.
Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (Albuquerque, NM)
Taking place from October 4-12, the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the largest gathering of hot air balloons and balloon pilots in the world. Highlights of this event include the pre-dawn balloon launches when the brightly colored balloons lift off into the still dark sky.
Nearby campgrounds include:
1) Albuquerque North / Bernalillo KOA Journey in Bernalillo
2) American RV Park in Albuquerque
3) Enchanted Trails RV Park & Trading Post in Albuquerque
Breckenridge Oktoberfest ( Breckenridge, CO)
Breckenridge Oktoberfest is taking place from September 12-14. This three-day event features live polka bands, a stein hoisting contest, a baby bjorn stein hosting contest, and a children’s costume contest.
Nearby campgrounds include:
1) Tiger Run Resort in Breckenridge
National Apple Harvest Festival (in Biglerville, PA)
The annual National Apple Harvest Festival is taking place from October 4-12 and 11-12. This family-friendly event is held in Pennsylvania’s apple country, features everything from apple pie to ax throwing and chainsaw carving.
Nearby campgrounds include:
2) Gettysburg Battlefield KOA Holiday
Final Thoughts
This fall, hit the road in your RV and enjoy fall-themed activities at a campground of your choosing, or park up at a campsite to enjoy a local festival. The perfect autumn adventure is waiting for you, just beyond your door.
