Best Campgrounds near Roselle, IL

This was the Memorial Day pick for 2025, first off when it hits curfew its super quiet, there are a lot of playground areas for the kids, the pool was working and it was heated, the price for 5 bundles of wood is reasonable and we used a lot because this was a cold windy weekend.

One complaint was the lady in registration didn't give me a window card which I didn't think about til the security person wouldn't let me get back to my campsite, this was after I got back from taking my wife out for breakfast. I had to go back into registration to get one.

The second complaint was they didn't cut the grass so there was a mix of tall grass and dandelion stems.

The third complaint was since there's no full hookup, they needed someone to control the traffic that comes from two different directions going to the dual dump stations. There's no honor system, especially on a holiday weekend, my assistant, my wife, reminded the driver that we were waiting before he got in the other line. I tried to be nice to them, which I am always in public, and told the drivers wife they needed a traffic controller, but I got the snob treatment anyway. The guard shack was right there too but they just stand there and bs while this is going on,

This campground is between two major cities and I won't go back because of that, too many stick your nose up, dirty look types around that park.

This is our favorite place to camp.  It feels like you are in the middle of nowhere, but it is close to everything.  It has the electrical hookups that we need and has a bath house that is close to where you camp (hundreds of feet versus getting into a car and driving to it).  It has lots of groomed and ungroomed walking trails.  It has a boat ramp and a small store and restaurant.  It allows dogs and the rangers keep the site relatively quiet, especially at night.  And within 5 miles of the campground, you have the amenities that you need in case you forgot something along the way.  We love going there.

OK, let’s put the most important thing here in perspective – you’re in north central Illinois and there should be absolutely no reason to find a beach anywhere in this state apart from a few select places bordering Lake Michigan – other than this, finding a proper beachhead is impossible. Yet, here at Hi-Tide Campground, the sandy beach is exactly what you’ll find and what a great time it is for the whole family, complete with all of the many on-water distractions and entertainment options this place offers from sand castle building, waterslide, ‘moonwalk,’ ice berg, which is a 15’ climbing wall in the center of the lake, water trampoline, log roll, rocket balls, floaties, innertubes as well as floating ‘lilly pads’ and shallow waters for the young kids. Let’s just say, in the heat and humidity of a Midwest summer, Hi-Tide offers a really great respite with this toy-packed lake refuge.

As for the campground, upon entry, you will have no other choice but to head straight to the main lodge where you will check-in. Here you’ll meet the crew that run this place as well as see the market that’s here offering up just about anything you could think of while you are camping (ice, propane, s’mores ice cream, chips, soda, water toys, firewood, fishing supplies, RV maintenance items and campground gear), along with an arcade complete with video games as well as air hockey, foosball and billiards. Behind the market, you’ll discover both pedal carts for rent as well as a pretty decent 9-hole mini-golf course that has recently been upgraded. There’s also a picnic area back here, lakeside deck, fishing dock, further afield as well as an in-ground community heated pool and playground just in front of the main office. The on-site restroom and shower facilities are first-rate offering sparkling clean and well-maintained showers, toilets and even baby changing stations. There’s even an on-site laundr-O-mat located right near the shower / restroom facilities with 4 sets of coin-operated washers and dryers. On-site, you’ll find a proper dump station as well as designated dumpsters throughout the entire property. A handful of reservable small (no electric, 60 people max) and large (electric, 80 people+) are offered for rent at $50/day and $100/day respectively as well as very small ½ mile hiking loop that follows the Little Indian Creek, which is kind of a joke, but hey, it’s a nice stroll. Like most entertainment-themed campgrounds like Hi-Tide, every week has a theme, there’s planned activities like bingo and hayrides and disco parties to keep both young and old alike busy and entertained.

In short, what’s the upside to being here at Hi-Tide? Well, if you have a young family and are looking for a lot of distractions and planned activities that allows you to enjoy a fairly mindless planning experience that you can either participate in with the kids or just let them run wild and do their thing, well then, Hi-Tide has you covered in spades. Nobody is going to get bored in this place! Downside? While it is true that you are out in the middle of nowhere, which has a semblance of feeling as though you are engaging in nature, with all of the entertainment and distractions that you will discover here, along with arguably the biggest downside – the place is completely overrun with management packing in RVs and 5th Wheelers as close to each other as possible – it will be actually pretty difficult to truly commune with nature. This is a campground campus that packs RVs in pretty snug, while feigning at offering tent campers some nice flat land to pitch a tent, and for those that don’t have either, you can still rent a cabin. But make no mistake about this place, you are in a little ‘camping city’ and everywhere you go, you’ll have endless options to distract you and keep you entertained, as well as being overwhelmed by the sheer sense of over-crowdedness. So, if you want peace and quiet and some really pristine moments with nature and wildlife, this really isn’t going to be the place you want to call home for a night or two under the stars.

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) When you get tired of rustling up beans & franks for dinner and want to try out some local fare, you’ll have to drive a decent distance from here to get to anything, let alone of quality. The closest place you could consider is Somonauk, located on 34 just continuing due east where there’s just a few joints: Hot Diggity Dogs, Rambo’s Bar & Grill where Uncle Milty’s Pizza Palace is located right next door to, but the standout favorite in town is Country Kitchen for down-home Midwestern comfort food; (2) If you have any form of watercraft, you won’t really be able(or want) to use it here on the small lake that Hi-Tide has, especially with all the kids swimming, but nearby and just east is Lake Holiday which makes for a very great place to dip your kayak, canoe or outboard in; (3) For kicking back and enjoying some drinks, I highly recommend Tin Roof Tavern right on 34, where Teeks serves ‘em up strong, there’s a juke playing good tunes and even a mechanical bull riding, but was unfortunately not working when we were there; and (4) If you are looking for a real outdoors encounter with nature that may (or may not) include camping, give Shabbona Lake State Park a visit – it’s only 20– 25 minutes from Hi-Tide and has everything, whether that’s fishing, hunting, hiking, biking or kayaking – you’ll be amazed at what you have so nearby.

Happy Camping!

My first impression when I first arrived here was the overwhelming scent of a newly minted campground, what with the freshly laid gravel, the mint condition security gates, finely manicured and recently raked greenery (as it was October when we visited, it might be better described as brownery) surrounded by a fairly decent gated enclosure lined with perfectly pruned tall towering oaks. Upon arrival, you’ll find what looks to be a brand-spanking new log cabin office on the right after passing a seemingly freshly-minted activities center / community lodge complete with in-ground heated swimming pool and jacuzzi on the left.

Amenities? As you could guess, this pet-friendly 60-acre RV resort has all the attractions in spades from pickleball, playgrounds, volleyball, log pergola patio, full hook-ups (30 / 50 amp electric, water & sewage), picnic tables, fire pits, BBQ grills, wagon rides, river access, picnic areas, bathhouses w/ showers & restrooms, cable TV WiFi (pretty poor connection though), gaga ball, game room, community room, billiards table, playground, wet bar, tabletop shuffleboard, community living room with large screen TV, DVD player w/ DVD library, clubhouse, dog park, horseshoes, hot tub, covered pavilions with picnic tables, catch & release ponds, inflatable water toys, jumping pillow, laundr-O-mat, propane refueling station and dump station.

Insider’s tips? Here’s a handful: (1) This place isn’t EZ to find – for some reason, if you plug the campground into your GPS, you’ll literally be on the wrong side of the tracks, where you will arrive at a dead end with a sign that says you are in the wrong place and that you’ll need to double-back, cross the train tracks heading north and turn right just before arriving to High Road School of Belvidere (so if you see a school, you’ve gone too far); (2) You will want to take note that yes, you actually cross train tracks to get to this campground, so if you’re sharp, you’re going to want to ensure you haven’t booked a site right next to where trains will shoot through every few hours, this specifically means avoiding sites #E1-#E5 and #FS23-#FS36 as well as #FE1-#FE20; (3) If you’re a tent camper, you can certainly stay here, but you will want to note that this is very much an RV outpost; (4) The best sites IMHO are those on the northernmost perimeter, as far away from the train tracks as you can get and that also border the Kishwaukee River with sites #S9-#S20 being excellent, as well as #S25-#S81, which are equally amazing; (5) If you are planning on using that amazing pool that you saw as you came in, make sure you call management a good day or two before you come in to ensure that they turn on the heater – when we were there for 2 days, by the time we left, the pool was still too cold to go for a dip; and (6) When you grow weary of trying to conjure up a meal from the depths of your Cordova roto-molded cooler and want to venture out to try some local fare, just a short walk into the nearby town is Garden Prairie Café, which has a very simple menu offering no shortage of fried everything (fish, shrimp, chicken, etc.) and then there’s Pleasant Street Tavern, but that’s mostly cheap national beers and frozen pizza fare, so if you want something a bit more substantive, head west of here to Miles Bar N’ Grill that serves up typical Midwestern fare like cheese curds, pork tenderloin, Italian beef and a variety of fried fish like blue gill, cod and catfish.

Happy Camping!