Best Glamping near Chicago, IL

We had to leave a horrible CG to the south. Booked this site on app the day before. Which was a huge plus. This KOA has very limited full hook up sites. As far as KOA standards, it is not great. It is about an hour and half from Chicago and Milwaukee We paid for the deluxe patio site, which had no sewer. Site was not level but it had a lot of shade which was nice. Had horrible WiFi, no cable and limited reception. One bathroom and shower was nice, the other had disgusting showers. Pool was ok, but tons of kids. CG was very kid friendly, with tons for them to do. The people running the place were still COVID crazy with restrictions for check in and everything else. But what do you expect in crazy Illinois. Makes you insane, when you come from the free parts of the US.

We followed the signs for Indiana Dunes National Park and found ourselves here. There is also a campground directly in the park but this one is just down the road. I think it’s still part of the same place but with a self-check-in there wasn’t anybody to ask. 

The camp host left a list of available campsites on the check-in kiosk. We found just two sites still open and took one of them. Our site was a large pull-through with a separate area for the picnic table and a tent. Right across the road was the large restroom complete with showers and flushing toilets. After setting up camp, I heard people in the woods right on the other side of the hill. I walked up the path and found that the neighboring campsite winds back there. We could sort of see them, and definitely hear them, but we still felt separate. The camper and car in the pull through spot provided a nice barrier so our dog didn’t get distracted by people walking by. 

The National Park entrance is a few miles down the road. The beach was packed but the trails were emptier. We enjoyed hiking to the summit of 2 dunes. We stopped at the picnic area to have lunch in the shade. There’s also a trail that leads out from camp. However dogs are not allowed on the entire trail so we skipped it. 

This is a nice National Park that’s only an hour from Chicago.