Best Glamping near Columbia, IL

Stayed here most of the several weeks we needed to be in St. Louis for family matters. Definitely our favorite place in the area. The grounds are clean and pleasant, if a bit sparse with little shade. This will change over the subsequent years, however, as there are many relatively newly planted trees. The nicest spots are the ones by the lake, with only one neighbor and a better view of the lake. The staff are kind and helpful. Water and electric worked fine. Each site has a fire pit and picnic table. Trash and recycling receptacles are huge and convenient. My only complaint is the poorly thought out sink situation in the bathrooms which make it impossible to wash in a sanitary way as you must hold the tap to keep the water flowing and there are no paper towels to that with, only hand dryers. There is boating and archery on site, a dog run, and a small playground.

I wanted to escape the house and go camping while on the work from home order (Covid-19 happening at the time of this review), so I headed to a very local park and campground to pitch my tent. I've been to 370 Lakeside Park many times to walk around the huge lake and to hear concerts in the summer, but I had never camped there. Still haven't. I'll explain. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they were not so keen on having tent campers. But they were very nice and gave me the general lowdown on this "in the city" campground. Since they opened the campground, most of their campers have been RV owners, and so it is really designed for the RV camper. There is a small primitive section for group tent camping, but the majority of the sites are full hookups for RVs. Some sites are pull through and some are back in. All have picnic tables and fire pits. The park has planted some trees, but they are really just saplings, so there is no shade yet. There is a nice bathhouse with free showers for the campers and pay laundry. If you are lucky, you can get a site close to the water, but it means the walking trail is right next to your unit. Trade offs, I suppose. One couple I talked to was camping long term (I think they are permanent RV'ers) and they got a free membership to the St Peter's RecPlex recreation center with their long term spot (they said something about having to book a least a month out to get this perk). One of the downsides to this location is that it is prone to flooding. It was out of commission for most of the summer of 2019 as the entire area was flooded. But the City of St Peters did a great job getting this place back to usable with new sod, a new bathhouse, and some general sprucing up. The lake is great to walk around, about a 3 mile walk or bike on a paved trail. You can see all kinds of wildlife in and around the lake- deer, bald eagles, pelicans, ducks, snakes. In the summers they have live music in the large pavilion, and you can rent kayaks and other small boats to take out on the lake as well as bikes to ride around on. The office told me that they have 24 hour on site security also. If I really wanted to tent camp, I could rent a section of the group camping area, but $30 seemed pricey for just me, and it was very soggy to boot. Or I  could rent an RV spot, but $45 was silly when I don' t need hookups.

We stayed 2 weekend nights in April. It rained one night so the fire pits were full of water but overall the rain didn’t cause any issues. Paved streets but gravel campsites. Nice and level. All hookups were conveniently located. Shower house and restrooms were clean and well maintained/cleaned every day. Had a lakefront site but didn’t get to fish this time. Will be back for sure because it’s close to home. Very nice and large pavilion. Playground for kids. Sand volleyball courts. Nice biking/walking path around lake that’s about 5 miles. Check-in was fast and convenient.

We really enjoyed this campground. The staff was very friendly and helpful. Check-in was very easy and we were met at the gate. They drove us over to our spot and brought us over a firepit. The electrical box was setup correctly and everything worked as expected. Water hookup was very close as well and water pressure was strong. As an FYI, we did have to use a regulator to reduce the water pressure. 

We were able to stay right along the river. We had arrived a little too early in the camping season and we happened to pick days where Missouri had a cold front (previous weekend was warm). Even with the cold weather, we were able to really enjoy the trip and get our RV ready for the upcoming season. 

The camping spots are basically just spots in a big parking lot layout. It is fully paved, but during busy season, you would be very close to other rigs. The park is beautiful and a very short walk over to the cave and ziplines. There is easy access to the river and you are able to easily put in your kayak or small boat. Restroom, showers and trash were a short walk as well.

We will return to this site.