Best Glamping near Lena, IL

Glamping Reviews near Lena, IL

143 Reviews of 16 Lena Campgrounds

• 

  Hannah T.

  Traveler

  Oct. 1, 2018

  White Pines Forest State Park Campground

  Lots of things to do!

  Well kept camping sites. Easy drive up style. Picnic tables and fire pits on site. Bathrooms and dumpster close by. River that is walk and drive through!

• 

  Stacie H.

  Guide

  May. 29, 2022

  White Pines Forest State Park Campground

  Lovely natural scenery; campground leaves something to be desired

  Let's start with the good stuff:

  • The park is beautiful. Lovely trees, lots of shade, the hiking trails are nice, well marked, and they even have an accessible trail for those with disabilities!
  • There is a restaurant and gift shop on site. Gift shop sells wood if you run low or forget.
  • The bathrooms and shower house are relatively clean and well kept.

  Now for the not so great stuff:

  • Many of the campsites are sloped and some are sloped A LOT. This isn't obvious from the booking page.

  • The campground is absolutely jammed with camp sites- it's ridiculous. I've never been to a campground where the sites were so on top of one another.

  • We stayed in the Sunny Crest loop and the drinking water well was broken so we had to travel to other parts of the campground for water. When carrying a 10 gallon jug full of water back, that really sucked.

  • The sites that are marked as "hike in" aren't secluded and away from other sites at all, as one might expect. They are jammed in with all the others but there just isn't any parking nearby.

  • It had rained the day before was went and so the road to the campgrounds was blocked off (presumably because the creek was running too high), but there was NO SIGNAGE telling us how to get there another way. There was no one in the park office or in the camping registration station to ask. We finally figured out that we had to take an emergency road/auxiliary road to get to the campground, but that was after about 30 minutes of confusion.

  • The breakfast buffet at the restaurant is mid but very pricey- $50 for 2 of us.

  • The quiet hours and no alcohol policy are not enforced at all. While we were there, there was a very loud group playing beer pong into the wee hours of the morning.

  • About half of the fire rings don't have grill grates so bring your own or bring a camp stove (See pic). Also, when you book your site, there is no way to know if your fire ring will have a grill grate or note.

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• S

  Sebastian G.

  Traveler

  Apr. 2, 2017

  Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Recreation Area

  Smile...

  First, once you are here and settled, the rolling hills and man-made lake are truly peaceful. I have camped here for over 30 years, and seen many changes. Unfortunately, this State Park is the hardest hit by the budget crisis. The roads are a pot-hole obstacle course, and the bait shop/boat rental, and restaurant is closed. There are always three campers taking advantage of the Campground Host position, but nine times out of ten, you have to wait until well in to the evening for the one, overworked, ranger to check you in. Surprisingly, the bath house is always clean. Do not plan on mountain biking...the trails are open to everything, and the road apples are impossible to avoid...not a pretty site as mountain bikes do not have fenders. The absolute most annoying thing about this park is that there are "gawkers" that constantly flow from Lena, and zig-zag the entire campgrounds. All Saturday evening, after church on Sunday, and anytime you are outside of your camper, you can expect gawkers driving by at 3mph, staring like the village idiot. The only humor is to stand there and make like you are filming them, or taking their picture...although some seem to like even that...WIERD!!! (None of them have car passes or trailer hitches...or, a life.)

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• 

  Stacie H.

  Guide

  Aug. 19, 2023

  Morrison-Rockwood State Park

  A lovely campground with the CLEANEST bathrooms and showerhouse!

  This campground is a lovely gem! Most of the camp sites are fairly secluded from one another by distance and from surrounding foliage (see pic). The exceptions would be sites 55-64 that loop around the playground. We, unfortunately, didn't know this and so had site 61. It was nice little spot with plenty of shade but I was a bit jealous of those with more secluded spots, especially since we are tent campers and all of the others on the loop were big RVs.

  The pros:

  - The campground hosts were lovely. Friendly but not overbearing, as some can be.

  - The on site restaurant/bait shop/ boat rental was very convenient! Husband forgot to pack something and the little bait shop had what we needed. Plus, we were able to buy firewood there, too.

  - Lovely scenery! The hiking trails were well maintained and there were lots of beautiful flowers, bird, and butterflies. We even saw a raccoon!

  - The (and I cannot emphasize this enough) CLEANEST campground bathrooms I've ever seen! I'm not squeamish and have been camping for years so my expectations for campground bathroom cleanliness is well calibrated but these bathrooms (even the vault toilets!) were amazingly clean! There weren't even spiderwebs on the ceiling of the shower house. Just *chef's kiss*

  - The water from the pump was very clean.

  The cons:

  -  Lack of privacy/seclusion for the 55-64 sites along the loop.

  - For that same loop, since it circles the playground, if kids playing noises bother you, might want to choose a different site.

  - The food at the restaurant was meh. It was fine- it was sustenance. Nothing to write home about.

  - LOTS of big RVs. It wasn't an issue for us on this trip, but on other camping trips sometimes being surrounded by big RVs just isn't a great vibe.

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• 

  Mountainman McBeachfront

  Scout

  Aug. 24, 2021

  White Pines Forest State Park Campground

  Nice park, with some downsides.

  This is the type of campground you go and check your spot out before you reserve it. Many of the tent campsites are literally on a hill. Some are very close. They really crammed them wherever they could. The amenities are excellent and the only reason I gave 3 stars, the shower/restroom was very nice and air conditioned. Potable water available. If I knew the campground was gonna be sideways I wouldn’t have reserved it, not gonna lie I was pissed when I saw it as I reserved it for 3-4 days. There’s lots of them that are on flat ground/tucked away and look excellent but it’s a gamble unless you go there beforehand to look. There’s a ford you have to cross to get to the campground but its not that bad people this isn’t Oregon Trail you won’t float away and lose an Ox and wagon wheel.

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• 

  Rx Q.

  Scout

  Jun. 19, 2022

  Cox Hollow Campground — Governor Dodge State Park

  Noisy

  This was my first and probably last time camping at Cox Hollow. Let’s start with positive: easy access to the campsite I was able to park my car right by the tent. Bathrooms and showers seemed clean enough, but I would recommend wearing some sort of footwear while you shower. Now the negatives: loud and obnoxious families with screaming bratty kids, people leave food scraps so raccoons are not scared and come right up to you sniffing for food, people have zero courtesy and slam bathroom door non stop, not to mention slamming down dumpster lids literally all day and late into the evening. Oh and did I mention screaming kids? Apparently “quiet hours” are from 11pm-8am, well the noise continued almost into midnight hours and as early as 6:30am. Thumping stereos with loud music, also can’t blame dogs for barking, but we had a howler and it kept going all the time. Forget about sleeping in or enjoying the sounds of nature. I’d like try different campsite at this park, but won’t be returning to Cox Hollow.

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• 

  Rose F.

  Guide

  Sep. 26, 2020

  Crazy Horse Campground

  A little something of everything

  Friendly staff and a nicely stocked store. Has a pool, petting zoo, kayaks, rocky beach, dog park, and a land pillow! The sites are spaced out well and there are more secluded sites so you have the feeling of privacy or big group sites for a big party.

• 

  Napunani

  Legend

  Dec. 1, 2023

  Prophetstown State Park Campground

  Pit (Vault) Toilet in Campground

  This fairly new State Park would of merited "5 stars", but the pit (aka vault) toilet smell was just tooooooo much and we weren't even close! 

  PROS 

  Park beautifully maintained and mowed throughout S

  Site 109 shady 

  Site 109 gravel parking pad level 

  Moveable wooden picnic table 

  Metal campfire ring with cooking grate 

  Roadways easy to maneuver without obstacles 

  Quite except for train whistle close by 

  Partial privacy from neighbors 

  Toilet/shower facility in next campground (Savanna) very clean and sufficiently stocked

   Very nice 12 ft wide asphalt bike trails 

  Night sky friendly as no street lights in campground 

  Firewood for sale at entrance gate 

  Frequent park ranger campground drive throughs 

  Double lane dump station 

  Double lane portable water fill stations 

  CONS 

  The aroma of the pit toilet between Spruce and Savanna Campgrounds could be smelled throughout both campgrounds. Disgusting!!! No hand wash station at pit toilet 

  Modern toilet/shower facility only in Savanna Campground 

  No security gate closure overnight 

  All trash dumpsters near campground entrance gatehouse 

  5pm checkin 

  No interpretive programs Monday thru Thursday

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• M

  Mary S.

  Traveler

  Aug. 12, 2019

  Blanding Landing

  Nice campground, near river, also near noisy train

  Overall nice campground. Hosts are friendly and I saw rangers driving through multiple times. Each site includes picnic table and fire pit. Most have electric. 

  The toilets in the back part by the electric campsites are pit toilets. Flush toilets, sink, and showers up by the check in area. There’s a playground for kids. 

  Sites by the river don’t have much shade. Sites by the tracks are the most “wooded” but also right near the trains. Trains are noisy—we slept through them but are also used to living by a train station. Your mileage may vary on that one. 

  We (tent campers) had site 24. It’s the last site in that part of the driveway and I recommend it because you have a lot of open space to one side plus not far from water or bathrooms. The most wooded sites are at the end farthest away from the entrance but tent campers should know there are a lot of RVs down there usually. 

  We used this as a stop over on a longer road trip. If you like boating or fishing this is probably a good fit. Galena and Dubuque are not far. Overall not a lot of hiking or activities in the immediate area though. Good option for an overnight.

  As a note, we have ATT and had decent cell service here.

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