Lakeside Cabins Near Helen

Helen is river country. The Chattahoochee runs right through town, and it's a shallow, cold tubing river, not a lake. If waking up to open water is the point of your trip, you'll need to drive a little, and which direction you pick shapes the whole weekend.

Here's how the nearby lakes compare, with the closest option first. Drive times are from downtown Helen.

Sizes and operators come from Wikipedia. Drive times are routing estimates without traffic.

The Georgia state park cabins at Unicoi State Park are the closest lake stay to Helen. The lodge's Deluxe Cabins are listed as lake-view units with three bedrooms, two baths and fireplaces, and the park also has Barrel Cabins and Smith Creek Cabins. The lake has a beach and boat rentals, and the 2.5-mile Lake Trail circles it. It's small and quiet, which is the point.

Lake Burton is 2,775 acres of clear water in Rabun County, behind a dam finished in 1919, owned by Georgia Power and open to the public. LaPrade's Marina at 25 Shoreline Trail, Clarkesville, rents boats, sells ethanol-free fuel and runs a launch ramp, plus the Lake Burton Grill, Bowline Takeaway & Bar and Billy Goat Island Pizza Bar. The marina lists Thursday through Sunday hours, 9 AM to 5 PM, so call 706-947-0010 first. LaPrade's doesn't rent cabins; lakefront houses here come from separate rental companies, and Cabin Rentals of Helen says it covers the Helen and Lake Burton area.

Lake Chatuge is a TVA reservoir of about 7,000 acres that straddles the Georgia and North Carolina line, with Hiawassee on its shore. It's the roomiest of the group, so it handles swimmers and boaters at once. Lake Nottely is quieter: it's a TVA lake reaching toward Blairsville, and about 70 percent of its shoreline is undeveloped national forest. Neither is a quick trip from Helen, so most people pick one as the whole destination rather than a day add-on.

Plenty of cabins near Helen sit on creeks rather than lakes. Blue Creek Cabins lists more than 40 cabins near Helen, with hot tubs, fire pits and game rooms at select properties, and Georgia Mountain Rentals has its own long list. The Blue Creek site mentions trout streams in the area but doesn't say its cabins include a private pond, so ask before you book if that's what you want. Our cabin rentals guide covers the companies, and the family and romantic pages sort them by trip type.