Best RV Parks & Resorts near Smithton, IL

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.

This park has great hiking for Illinois. The campground has 88 sites total1-85 are either 30 amp or 50 amp electric sites. These are the class A sites $20 a night, they also have about 15 Class C sites for tents with no electric for $8 a night. The campground is doing some upgrades as of October 2017 and probably will be adding more 50 amp, water and sewer to some sites. There is also intel that says they are adding more sites plus more tent camping sites.

I camped in a motorhome and did not try to fight the crowd for the shower house. It is a busy campground, but I did visit in the summer busy season, so it may have less traffic in the fall. There are great hiking trails and the scenic drive to the park by the Mississippi and Illinois rivers is worth the trip alone.

I will return here for hiking for sure! I had some good luck fishing in the river near here too.

We had a great experience in the 4 nights we spent here. The grounds, pool, laundry, and bathrooms were all in excellent repair and clean. The park was quiet, but very family friendly. The spots are roomy enough, given that you’re situated less than 15 miles from downtown St. Louis. The picnic tables and fire rings are nice additions and the lots appear to be level (ours was.) We didn’t have any trouble backing our 38 ft travel trailer in either. Do NOT miss the BBQ place in the parking lot... fantastic food and a 10% discount for park customers.

Small campground ground ram by saint louis county parks. We were the only ones here. Heavy equestrian park, it’s not required (to have a horse) to stay here. A few piles of horses droppings but very well maintained. We stay about 30 feet to the right of the horse pin, and behind it where they dump the horse stuff really can’t smell anything. Only sites 20-29 have electric and 28 can’t be reserved. Pro -Most sites are great for trailers 26’ or less and 1 slide (sites 24-26 can fit a fifth wheel probably no bigger than 36-38 ft) -2-20 amp plugs and 1-30amp plug -Not to many trees hanging over your camper that would drop branches -site 29 where we stayed can fit a 40’ fifth wheel -a lot of room to back in -showers and restrooms year around -frost free water at both ends of the campground -usual fire pit, picnic table and grill -park campers on grass to be closer to one side or another of your site -sites are reservable

Cons -no water at sites -no 50 amps -no dump but KOA and RV dealer 5-7 mins away

-site 29 only have 2-20 amp plugs no 30 didn’t realized till we parked. Only this one doesn’t have 30 -horses traffic on Saturday eventually from what the ranger told me once Covid is better -most sites back up to main road(mostly light traffic and none at night)

Cahokia RV Parque is a nice RV park only 15 minutes from downtown St. Louis. We stayed two nights and really enjoyed the St. Louis area. I compared the park to two others near St. Louis on the Illinois side and found this one to be the most pleasant. Most of the sites are sunny, but some have shade. The park streets are asphalt, but the sites are gravel. The park is quiet. Gave it 4 stars for cleanliness due to the gravel sites. Otherwise, the park was clean. 

Stayed in campsite#34 which has plenty of shade. It was a gravel back-in site with enough parking for my TT and truck with plenty of grass on either side. The site included: picnic table on a concrete patio, fire ring, and small trees. Utilities were located closer to the front of the site: 20A/30A/50A electric water, sewer. Site was pretty level. Awning faced east so we didnt get the evening sun shining underneath, but a tree prevented me from opening the awning. It didnt matter because there was plenty of shade in the evening, but not much in the middle of the day. Nearest neighbor was close. 

AT&T had 2 bars of 5G and Verizon 3 bars of LTE service. AT&T Speedtest 49.7 Mbps down, 3.35 Mbps up. Could not access the WiFi even though the password was on the info sheet. 

Would stay here again.  We camped at Cahokia RV Parque in a Travel Trailer.

We absolutely love this park. It’s just under an hour from St. Louis, with river access, amazing hiking trails & great views. Very clean campsites with lots of shade for tent campers & nice level lots. There is even a swimming pool if the river isn’t your thing & a couple playgrounds too. There is a dollar general right outside the park entrance which is super convenient if you forget something or your lighter runs out of fluid like us lol. They have cabins to rents as well as Camper spots and basic lots. Pet friendly! Highly recommend this park. The whole family enjoyed staying here.