Best Glamping near Fairfield Bay, AR

PROS 

No reservation transaction fee 

Senior discount 

Quiet 

Moveable metal picnic table on a concrete pad, pedestal BBQ grill, fire ring with cooking grate, and one hook lantern pole 

Site 14 partially shady 

Good condition asphalt parking pad with gravel and grass surrounding 

Good view of lake from Site 14 

Sites well spaced 

Campground A toilet/shower building clean and sufficiently stocked. Heated but not air conditioned. 

Site 14 more than long enough for trailer and tow vehicle 

Dark sky friendly as there are no street lights in Campground A 

Very nice 6ft wide asphalt bike trail from Campground B to Mather Lodge

(approximately 1.75 miles) CCC Hike and Bike Trail 

New Visitor Center built 2021 

Beautiful CCC built Mather Lodge

(restaurant added in 2012) 

Grass throughout campground mowed 

Firewood sold in the yards of residences along State Road 154 

CONS 

Site 14 extremely unlevel side to side 

No privacy from other campsites 

No entrance security gate to the park or any campgrounds as State Road 154 cuts thru the park 

No park ranger drive thrus 

Mather Lodge Restaurant OK. Don't expect much from the menu or service but it has a full bar 

3 of our 4 day stay there was a religious group prophetlytizing at the Park Visitor Center WIFI only at Lodge and Visitors Center 

NO TMOBILE service

Average space between sites. Level paved sites with gravel picnic area including picnic table, fire ring, lantern hanger. Some sites had covered picnic area. Limited shade, most sites don’t have trees. Good access to sites. Clean and private bathrooms. Each room had its own lockable bathroom with toilet, sink and shower. Garbage cans were outside of bathrooms, as well as dumpsters near the registration building. Friendly staff upon check in. Campground was patrolled regularly. No laundry or recycling. Nearby road with little road noise. Verizon cell signal was excellent. There is a dump station and potable fill station. No store or food for purchase on site. No hiking in campground, but multiple trails nearby. Boat ramp at campground and lots of wading fly fishing in river. Fish hatchery across from campground.

This was our first time at Petit Jean and definitely won’t be the last! My 1st suggestion: RESERVE EARLY to get a spot in Loop A or Loop B. We stayed in Loop C and I felt a little too secluded. The sites in C & D appeared to be a little smaller. I noticed several sites in B & C were uneven from roots pushing the asphalt up. Beware! Loop A is full hookup while B-D have electricity & water only. We stayed on Site 64 in a pop up style camper. It was fairly level and there were a couple good places for tents. Everyone around us was tent camping. My main complaint was the bathroom. The showers are not very private other than a nasty mildewed shower curtain, but there is no where to dry off or dress that is private. The showers were nasty on the weekend that we went, but it was also a revolving door of a massive group of 30+ tent campers that was using the showers. They were a lot cleaner on Sunday thankfully. The park itself is absolutely breathtaking! We went to the Cedar Falls Overlook, Palisades Overlook and Stout Point Overlook. We also made the hike down to Cedar Falls. It was absolutely incredible, but you should be somewhat in decent shape for this hike as it was not easy! We also hiked Bear Cave. It was nice with lots of exploring around the cave. We ate dinner at Mather Lodge one night. I had the Catfish Platter and it was excellent. I’m already ready to plan another trip here during the summer so we can utilize the boat house and a few other amenities that are closed during the off season. Well worth a fall visit though!

We took our little camper out to Petit Jean for the first time and it was a blast. We were a little unprepared, so we stayed in the overflow area. This part is not paved and has no fire pit, so we couldn't have a fire. If you have a portable fire pit you can have a fire there. Also those spots do not have a grill, but we have a small one that we were able to use. The driveways to get to the overflow area are a bit rough (roots sticking up through the dirt) and it takes a bit to get level (sloped toward the lake). However, the dump station is very clean and convenient. We will definitely come back to Petit Jean in the future.

Our first time in Petit Jean State Park and hopefully not our last! The area is so beautiful and the park is clean. We stayed in one of the yurts. The kids enjoyed the geese right outside the door and at night, the deer came out only feet from the yurt. The yurt itself is was as expected. Only beds inside with one table, 4 chairs and a fan. It does have electricity inside but no water. Outside is a nice deck, propane stove, water faucet, fire ring, picnic table and bbq pit. It also has a canoe available for use with each yurt. The boathouse was not too far away and well maintained. There is a very nice pool on the grounds also. We really enjoyed the hiking trails.