Donner Memorial State Park offers the summer vacationer opportunities for Donner Lake camping, picnicking, boating, fishing, water-skiing, and hiking.  In winter, visitors can cross-country ski and snowshoe on trails and enjoy the season's beauty.  Visitors are welcome year-round at the Donner Memorial State Park Visitor Center and at the Pioneer Monument, built to commemorate those who emigrated to California from the east in the mid-1800's.  The Visitor Center features compelling new exhibits that tell the stories of the Emigrant Experience, the Donner Party, the Land of the Washoe, Chinese construction of the railroad, and early motoring adventures over Donner Pass.

Donner Memorial State Park Campground

Great family camping.  Lots to do within the park: swimming, biking, hiking, paddle board rentals, fishing and great campsites.  Most campsites are pretty big. Campground has flush toilets and showers.  Easy access right off highway 80, close to town but still feels like you’re in a remote campground under the trees.  Our favorite campsites are #116, 118 and 120.  When we get together for family reunions, the best group campsites are 104-106.

Quintessential Sierra Camping

great campsite relatively close to lake tahoe. i would definitely recommend this as an alternative if you are unable to get a campsite in tahoe as those book up quickly. fortunately or unfortunately you are very close to a small town, so you can drop in for food and drinks.

Donner Memorial - Lake Tahoe

We are traveling to Idaho and stopped here for the night. I am in a wheelchair so we had a handicap sight. All the sights were clean and had nice fire pits with a grill grate. Close to the 80 freeway but the noise wasn't bad. Definitely coming back to camp here and explore!

Great One Night Stop

Great place to camp. Close to Truckee so you can easily get supplies. Lots of trees give a private feel even though it is a busy campground. Good sized camp sites for the most part (I recall one loop has smaller ones) and bear boxes that will hold your cooler no problem. Showers, too. RV, tent, group, boat-in sites all available here.

Just a short walk to the lake and there are easy walking trails. There is a nice museum/visitor center and lots to do in the area.

One of the best in the state

Very nice campground that is very close to the lake. And when you've had enough lake, don't forget to drive up to Donner Ski Ranch, the drive is spectacular!

Excellent

This campground offered everything I needed and nothing I did not. My tent site was perfect. The lake was absolutely stunning. I rented a kayak and took a lovely paddle enjoying the serenity and beauty of the High Sierras. Around my campfire, I could here birds singing and wind blowing through the trees. The funny thing is that just down the road is the thriving tourism of Truckee, CA. When I wanted to be social, I went there and had an amazing time too.

Beauty and quiet just minutes from the hustle and bustle

Beautiful campground, big campsites, great trails for walking &amp; biking. I’m not sure if it’s everywhere in the campground but there is a constant sound of road noise from Highway 80￼. It’s a popular campground can be tough to get reservations last minute. ￼￼

Easy Access to Donner Lake

We stopped by here in May looking for a spot for the night but both the campground and the day use areas were closed. The visitor center is open though ($10 parking fee for visitor center parking lot).  

The campground is really beautiful though and looks like a great place to camp. It's close to Hwy 80 so there's road noise though. It's right next to the visitor center, which is neat. 

We did have cell reception here. 

Check website, may be closed Spring 2023

Nice state park right next to the Donner Memorial Site and Donner Lake. We were in site 133 which was not the easiest site to get in with a trailer. Rocks, trees and tree trunks make it a challenge but also part of the beauty of the park. We park our truck at an angle in front of the trailer to fit on the site. Sites are closer than what I prefer (I don’t like to see my camping neighbor) however each site is good size and would accommodate a few tents. A freight and passenger railroad track can be seen and heard on a hill high above the campground. Showers require tokens. 1 token for three minutes which can be purchased at the ranger station at the entrance. Although there is a leash rule for dogs not many people were following that rule. We were only a few sites away from a 1.4-mile trail that goes to Donner Lake, or you can drive your car down to the lake day area without any extra fees. There are boat rentals and rafting tours at the lake. The Donner Memorial cabin site and museum is next store and there is no fee, however there is a$10 parking lot fee. We stayed for a week and besides going down to the lake several times we went to Truckee, the Truckee Farmers Market on Tuesday, the Donner Museum, Donner Summit and Lake Tahoe. Would have loved to stay another week.