Best Glamping near Gurnee, IL

Glamping Reviews near Gurnee, IL

201 Reviews of 16 Gurnee Campgrounds

• 

  Addison G.

  Guide

  Oct. 23, 2024

  Turner Lake South — Chain O' Lakes State Park

  Awesome choice for campers on a budget

  These campsites are as low as $12/night!! One of my favorite spots to test new gear. Family friendly. There’s some small trails around as well that are beginner. There was electricity, however those sites are $25/night. Bathrooms could’ve been cleaner but we were grateful for the facility which doubled as a storm shelter. There’s indoor showers and bathrooms. There are also cabins at this campsite, not sure on pricing tho

• 

  Kelly M.

  Guide

  Aug. 18, 2021

  Ottawa Lake Campground — Kettle Moraine State Forest-Southern Unit

  Enjoying Ottawa Lake Campground

  We've camped here before and like it. The sites are spacious and most seem to have shade for at least part of the day. Each site has a picnic table and fire pit. Ours had a grill the folded in and out, not sure if all have it. The beach is great, open and lots of room to set up for the day either on the grass or sand. There are flush toilets at the beach. There are rentable pavilions. We didn't see any garbage bins nearby so bring a trash bag to carry out. The showers are hot but that's the best thing about them. They're not very big and don't have a curtain to separate changing area and shower. With 2 kids, things tend to get a little wet. However, they get the job done. We love the location. Close to hiking: Scuppernong Trail on the Ice Age Trail and Scuppernong Spring Nature Trail and a few others. Close to shopping and restaurants, if needed. Only downside to our site was the highway (CR-ZZ) was on the other side of the trees and busy. All said, we'll most likely be back again.

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• 

  Brenton S.

  Traveler

  Jul. 1, 2020

  Elkhorn Campgrounds

  Affordable and friendly!

  Such a great little place to escape to or visit if you're just passing through. Nothing crazy fancy but hook-ups and fire pits available if needed. Within walking distance to downtown Elkhorn, EAHS, and the horse areana. You might even be able to catch a show or two on site at the fair grounds, depending on the time of year.

• M

  Melinda K.

  Guide

  Jul. 30, 2023

  Big Foot Beach State Park Campground

  Not a nature type campground

  Always full on weekends. Popular destination for locals and people from Illinois. 4 stars because it's not the camping in nature experience I am looking for. Lots of noise. Lots of kids. Lots of dogs. It's park area is very nice. Nice playground for kids. Volleyball nets. Lots of picnic tables and grills available. Dogs not welcome in most of the park. More of a party place. But the staff is very active. They clean sites quickly, clean the bathrooms regularly.

  We stayed on site 50. We were closer to our neighbors than I'd like, including the campsite behind us. The campsite behind us had a path thru it to get to the bathrooms. There was a thin layer of growth between sites but not much. Our site had a nicely placed tree providing just enough coverage but nothing stayed wet in the rain. We camped in a popup, if we had a tent I think we would have been soaked. Lots of pooling water on the backside. The campground just added new gravel to the sites and asked that all trailers and vehicles stay on the gravel but the gravel doesn't go back far enough for both car and camper to stay on.

  The inner ring of the campground are smaller(shorter) sites. The outer ring sites are better for RVs. Except for site 70. That should be tent only because there are 2 trees right in the middle behind the gravel. 50, 69, 74 seemed the best for both shade and sun combo. Site 79 is paved but not marked as handicap because it isn't being maintained as handicap and is not close to the new bathrooms. Not enough sites with electric, however we didn't need it for the weekend.

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• 

  Brian O.

  Legend

  Oct. 17, 2024

  Turner Lake South — Chain O' Lakes State Park

  Fine camping in Northern Illinois

  We stayed in the Turner lake south loop, which has nice and private sites. This is in contrast to Honeysuckle hollow which is open and row after row of RV sites. Fox den and Prairie view loops are nice as well with mostly primitive sites. Be aware that the map on www.ExloreMoreIL,com(where you make your reservations) doesn't show where the restrooms are. In the Turner loop, the pit toilets are next to the path to the fishing pier, while the showers and full restrooms are between Turner and Fox den, there is a short path between sites 60& 61. Facilities are clean and well lit. Fire pits are slightly raised steel troughs with a heavy adjustable grill. This is a BIG park, the campgrounds are two miles from the front gate, and it's a drive to the main boat launch at Maple Grove, where you have access to the Fox River and Grass lake. This location has a huge parking lot for boat trailers, a very well stocked general store with fishing supplies, a cafe, boat rentals and good firewood. To get away from the crowd if you're a canoeist or kayaker it's nicer to leave the park and go back in at Oak Point picnic area and boat launch at the northern border. This will put you on the Fox river with developments to the north(including a bar& grill) or to the south which is all nature. I think the distance by boat between the two launches is 4-5 miles, but I'm not sure, Halfway there you'll meet up with the Goldfinch trail which is the shortest loop and the most diverse in term of flora. There are horse/ snowmobile trails, but no equestrian campground. Chain o' Lakes is one of the busiest waterways in Illinois, with motorboats everywhere in the height of the summer season. We canoe, and both times we stayed there it was October, so I can't tell you how crowded, but the vast number of picnic areas must be there for a reason. An odd thing is that you can hear a Steam Train whistle quite often, this is from Richardson's Adventure Farm in Spring Grove. We don't have kids so we went to Stade's Farm& Orchard(which is also large and kid friendly) because they have an orchard and vegetable market. One last thing, the gates close at 10:PM and there are tire shredders, you can leave but you can't get back in… unless you want to walk 2+ miles in the dark:)

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• F

  Franklin R.

  Guide

  Aug. 1, 2016

  Chicago Northwest KOA

  Dirty

  When I visited this place it was such a disaster. The trash was overflowing, the bathrooms were a mess, and there was no TP, and the quiet hours was not enforced, so people were up partying all night. I will look for another place to stay next time

• 

  Kim L.

  Ranger

  Aug. 10, 2019

  Ottawa Lake Campground — Kettle Moraine State Forest-Southern Unit

  Large wooded sites- near loud road

  The campground is well kept with several bathrooms and showers. We have a 30ft travel trailer, and it was easy to maneuver around the campground. We did have to wait in line to fill the water tank, but the water pressure was good and it didn’t take too long. We stayed at site 327e, which was very easy to back in to and was mostly level. Easy access to electrical and plenty of space for slide outs. A nice big fire pit with large flat grate for cooking, one of the best set ups I’ve seen. Would be perfect, but there’s a loud highway WI-67 traffic about 20 ft from the campsite. Tons of loud motorcycles and trucks with constant traffic. If you want solitude I would avoid sites 305e-328e, all of the odd number sites back up to the road. Evens, except for 328e, are inside and are better. Video shows traffic and noise. I would come back, but pick a site inside the campground and away from highway.

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• 

  Meg

  Guide

  Jun. 12, 2022

  Honeysuckle Hollow — Chain O' Lakes State Park

  Good For families, a few downsides

  *** reviewing as a baby/toddler camp family on the go :-) we chose the loop 11 was on because it was close to the path to the playgrounds and lakes plus bathrooms… avoid the first 2 sites from either end as the ones closest to the main loop aren’t very deep. Closer to the center of this row is best.

  Pros- easy pull in sites and lots of walk-in availability. Sites are almost all flat thankfully, so no weird slopes to sleep on and easy for babies/toddlers to stay safe. Also seemed pretty respectful in the evenings with people toning down the noise.

  Lots of electric sites, deep enough for 2 tents, 2 cars (although close to neighbors and no trees between sites), picnic table and fire pit.

  Bathroom shower houses were decent (we usually just have toddler use her travel potty, but this one was fine).

  Multiple playgrounds, access to launch sites for kayaks, little store to buy ice cream or snacks.

  Cons - SO many ticks. With a baby crawling that needed to be set free, we were constantly doing checks. Luckily our screen house pop up on a tarp that was sprayed ahead for tick repellent plus a blanket on top of that did the trick, but they literally fall out of the trees into people! Plan for toddlers and babies to have a contained covered screen house and have them wear hats or a wagon shade on walks so nothing lands in their hair.

  Also - the raccoons at night here are no joke. The second it’s dusky, they come scavenging for absolutely anything food has touched. So basically, eat dinner and do s’mores early, then everything must be packed into cars for the night and all surfaces wiped down.

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• K

  Kitty

  Scout

  Jun. 26, 2021

  Turner Lake South — Chain O' Lakes State Park

  Good enough I guess

  Biggest drawback was the road noise. You can hear whatever highway is nearby pretty clearly and constantly.

  But if you’re not looking for something super remote then it’s fine! My site had room for 2 tents and was close to the road but still felt tucked away.

  The fire pit is actually more like a grill which was cool and great for cooking. You can move the grill to have just a fire. Plus the grocery store is only a quick 15 minute drive away if you forget anything!

  People were playing music loudly at night which was annoying.

  Would have been super peaceful if it weren’t for the roadnoise (which the campground can’t do anything about of course!) and the camper noise.

  Best suited for folks just looking to just play outdoors and not for anyone looking for a peaceful escape to nature.

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