Best Glamping near Calumet City, IL

December 2020, we toured this KOA Holiday in Kankakee, Illinois for a long-term stay.

We noticed a few trailers with a lot of junk piled all around their units. When we inquired about them, were were told that those people were being evicted and would be soon gone. Great, since our site was directly across the street from those.

Well, no one left, the junk remained.

There were other sites that had wooden cages, tables and other structures built on them. Clearly a violation of KOA written violations.

Anyway, we weren't buying the place, but an awful eyesore.

We couldn't find another site for a long way around. Without another good option, we checked in for an extended stay.

We became friends with a few of our neighbors. We began comparing our utility charges and found that we were all being charged different rates for electric and internet. When we asked for actual "electric bills" we were told there wasn't individual bills, charges were taken by the owners reading your meter, strange. "Some" of us were paying for internet. Our neighbors had the ability to move to another job site,, so they packed up and left.

Things aren't adding up.

We had nice site on the interior of a cul-de-sac, with a nice large open grassy space right behind us. It is one of the quietest and largest sites in an area, where most of us were staying long-term. After a few months, it became apparent that the owners had their favorite renters. The ones who had wooden structures, piles of junk and that were allowed to park their vehicles in areas that were designated "keep off the grass". Yep, that nice grassy area right behind our RV was where they parked their 2 vehicles, not utilizing their own parking spaces in front of their trailer. When we complained, we were told that we were welcome to park our second vehicle there also. However, when we parked our second vehicle in the same area, we were asked to leave.

As far as regular short-term camping, it's ok. It's older place with huge rotting trees, mostly dirt or gravel sites. The washers and dryers were nice in spring of 2021. The owners do a good job of "acting" nice and welcoming.

I would not recommend an extended monthly stay at this KOA HOLIDAY in Kankakee, Illinois.

Our trip to Camp Sullivan was mostly a test run to determine how our new dog handled camping. The campsites are pretty crowded, you can easily see and hear your neighbors the entire time you're there. The bathroom facilities were clean with an average level of amenities. We tent camped, but could see the cabin grounds which looked nice. However, important to note dogs are not allowed inside the cabins. Overall it was an okay spot to test our dog's temperament, but the closeness, expensive fire wood, and lack of extensive hiking trails means we probably will not return.

We decided to spend the weekend here because I had a client meeting at sunrise the first morning of our stay in downtown Chicago. It saved me making a 3 hour drive the morning of. When we got here, we realize the electric sites on the right side of the bathhouse were in full sun, but the staff member graciously allowed us to switch sites to a more shaded area. I will say I was at the main office for 20 minutes or more before my fiancé could track down a staff member to check us in. Their phones do not forward to a cell or anything so calling the office was pointless.

The campsites are TINY. We were in a modest pop up and still felt crowded. I supposed this would be a great camping area for anyone living in the city needing an escape, but as far as campgrounds go it was about 3x the price for less than half the space.

The bathhouses are newer and kept fairly clean. I don’t think they’re checked everyday though because the ladies stalls were out of toilet paper our second morning. The water pressure in the showers was so-so, but there was no hot water.

There is a dish washing station on the outside of the bathhouse, but don’t get excited because it isn’t turned on - rendering it useless.

The safety issues have me seriously concerned.

1.) The handicap shower drain is clogged, making the floor extremely slippery from soap scum of previous showers. Gross! The stall also doesn’t lock so it swings right open. I had to use my hair tie to keep it closed. The lock on the main door to the bathhouse doesn’t lock, so if you want to shower at night it’s a little sketchy.

2.) They lock the gates (both of them!) to the campground with a PADLOCK at night until 7 in the morning! I had to search for someone to let me out for my meeting. What if there was an emergency? An ambulance would have had to rush the gate.

Overall, I wouldn’t waste the money on this campground.

I had my doubts about this place based on several bad reviews, but it is Memorial Day weekend and we didn't have many options so here we are. We're in an RV spot. These spots are not big rig friendly. We are 35' and barely fit. I believe ours is one of the bigger sites, so beware. As stated, there is electric hookup but no water at the site. However, staff was more than happy to meet us at the bathrooms to allow us to fill our tanks before we set up camp. There is no dump station and we're told the nearest one is about 20 minutes away. That's really the only downfall. The sites are small but easy enough to get into. There is a decent amount of privacy between sites. There are several bathrooms around and they are clean. Staff is friendly and welcoming. I spent the day exploring the miles of walking/road biking trails today, which can be directly accessed from the camp. Plenty of stores/restaurants in the area but the camp and trails make you feel like you're out in nature. All in all, it's a decent place with a good location. If it had a dump station I'd rate it higher.

Wooded electric paved sites with fairly new bathhouse facilities. Pretty clean. Only one indoor water faucet working but this may be a COVID casualty. The FOREST PRESERVES OF COOK COUNTY online camping reservation site is tricky but after several tries I figured it out. We stayed in April at Camp Reinberg and in June at Camp Sullivan, both for a few nights. There was confusion at Camp Sullivan; we arrived and someone was in our reserved site,,, but we were lenient and agreed to move in the next day. Our purpose for camping was visiting our adult children who live in Chicago but both have roommates. Camp Reinberg is a tad closer to downtown and north suburban shopping but has only 4 electric sites, 2 disabled accessible. Camp Sullivan has twice as many sites and more availability.

Tried to reserve a spot for my rv,and it took me three tries and got hung up on,and no reservation.

Very difficult to contact staff to book reservation. When we got there they told us they double booked us and requested we move after we got set up. We declined as there were other spots open and we were staying for under 24 hours. Concessions were scarce. No water or dumping hook up. Electric only. Would only stay here again in a pinch. The only upside is that it is very close to Chicago. The entrance was hard to find. It was near the intersection of Oak and 147th I believe. There’s a restaurant across from it. When you are checking in with trailer make sure you don’t turn left to the office. It will be hard to turn around. I recommend stopping when you get to the fork in the road as the RV sites are to the right. Wish I liked this place more.

The following review was done by my thirteen year old daughter. I agree with the shower problems and add that it was our final cold showers in disgusting conditions that lead us to write the review.

“If I could give negative stars❌ then trust me I would. Normally I consider myself a good sport and can sit through a lot of things✌🏼 but not the showers here😡, they look like they haven’t been cleaned or cared for in months🤮 and often have no toilet paper in the bathroom stalls. When I took a shower I found a small frog🐸 in it and I wish I was joking about that. There were dead mosquitoes on the walls💀, dead moths on the floors, piles of hair on the floors🤢, and dirt in every crack. But they have a nice Rockwall🧗🏽‍♂️.”

Other than the shower issues, the campsite🏕 was fine. It was easy to level, they give you free firewood with your stay, the staff is kind😇 at checkin and during rock wall activities. The location🗺 is the main draw, as we wanted to be close enough to visit Chicago and suburbs.🙂

This park is not great. Others have mentioned small, un-level sites. We did not have this issue in Spot 8 but I can see other spots have that issue (and there are only 10 RV spots)

It was the only option for us to visit Chicago for the weekend. Still, it’s an hour away from downtown. They do NOT have water available or a dump station despite advertising that they do. “Water” was a garden hose that an employee pulled out from the cleaning closet when we asked where the water was. The hose had holes in it, and barely trickled. So we had to fill up plastic jugs from the shower.

All garbage cans were full when we arrived. Showers and bathrooms were deplorable - had obviously not been cleaned in days. No toilet paper available for two days. They did finally clean and restock on Saturday - I guess they only do maintenance on the weekend. Hose went back into the supply closet then for all the good it did.

Employee questioned us for arriving at 1pm when check-in for the RV spots is 3pm. We had already parked in our spot since no one was there. He said that was fine. Check out is 12, no more than half the park was ever full, and no one is cleaning the sites (our fire pit was full of trash), so it makes no sense to wait until 3 to park.

I don’t remember what the nightly rate is because they never sent me any confirmation email when I booked months ago. But I can guarantee it’s too high. As it was our only option near Chicago for an RV, we made the best of it. Only reason it doesn’t get 1-star is because, as others have mentioned, there is a lot of greenery to enjoy as well as solitude.

Nice Staff, Good hiking. They are working with their space so the sites aren’t that big but lots of shade on the tent side. Clean bathrooms You will hear cars as it is near roadways but you will also hear lots of natural sounds.

It’s probably the closest camping to downtown Chicago. About 5 years in existence. Clean facilities with a few trails. Camp Sullivan is used a lot by scouting groups. There are lots of trees and it is somewhat woodsy. The best thing to me is Jack Gibbons’s, a restaurant directly across the street.

This is a great place

This was a fun campground. We were there the week before peak season opened so none of the pools or splash pads were open, but they were very accommodating so that we could still play mini golf and ride around on the pedal cars.

If your idea of camping is to be surrounded by nature, quiet, and the ability to social distance then DO NOT CAMP HERE.

Likes hire camp resort is like choosing to camp in the middle of a neighborhood whose population density is higher than chicago, except instead of apartments, it’s trailers. The train is so loud that it’s bound to wake you up numerous times in the middle of the night. There are so many flood lights that it is never dark.

Like a neighborhood, we were so far from a public bathroom that we had to drive and the first two bathrooms we went to on the first night were locked. When we finally found the bathrooms the next day they were mostly clean.

Positive insights-hook ups work and the Pool and lake were both swimmable. The playground was nice for kids.

This campsite was a once in a lifetime experience, as in, this is the only time we will ever camp here and we will not be back.

This campground hosts many permanent or monthly campers, as evidenced by semi permanent structures, fences etc. There is a small lake that offers swimming and fishing, but we did not use this area. It is a huge area, with 4 shower and bathroom facilities, but they were old and needed maintenance and updating. One of us was brave enough to shower there, the other one preferred to take a sponge bath in the van. Each site that we saw had electric and waste water and potable water, so this was convenient. There is a loud highway nearby. The camp is a ten minute drive from West Beach area of Indiana Dunes National Park. As we ate breakfast on the supplied picnic table, the neighbor next to us had a loud argument with another resident involving a presumed theft, and police visited.

Easy enough to find. Checkin was a breeze. The pool is the size of a backyard pool. There's a beach to the lake, but there's some garbage on the shore. I would not swim in it, although we did fish in it can caught a bunch!

The camp store is large an stocked pretty well.

My biggest complaint is the size of the sites. We are on top of each other. I have a 26 foot class c and the pad for the adjacent site is at my tailgate.

This is a very nice campground. A lot of locals go there to get away for the weekend. :)

It offers all the amenities you could want for a weekend get away. A lake with water rentals, floating water slide, playgrounds and sport courts, general store with the stardust’s “convenience mark-ups”,and water/ electric at all sites. However, if you’re looking for a true camping experience or to visit the Indiana Dunes, you’ll make little use of the amenities and find the sites small and area as well the sites and bath houses overcrowded. It really offers anything a family would want for a weekend trip so depending on the goal for your trip, this could have everything you would need or leave you feeling less than fully satisfied.

I couldn’t believe they pass this off for a campground. People live there full time. And it’s red neck.

A group of us go camping at least 1 time a month and we were excited to find a campground with so many amenities very close to home. As soon as I pulled up the lady registering me couldn’t care less that I was there. It was like I was bothering her. She was more concerned what was going on on her phone. Then heading back to the site the park was entirely too crowded. They packed these spots in like sardines. The “security” was a joke. Our kids got yelled at 3 times for riding bikes. But they didn’t do anything with the drunks behind us making noise until 3am. Extremely disappointing and we will not be going back. We will warn everyone we know about this campground.

Not my favorite place, but it did the job. Staff was great. Everything was run down. Bathroom was ok.