Best Cabin Camping near Swansea, IL

This State Park is located outside Carlyle,Illinois. This park offers playground areas and more. Cabins, campsites with power or no power the choice is yours. This is one State Park i enjoy visiting. However there are times this park cannot be accessed because of flooding.

My family and I are new to the RV World. We are currently renting a Class A Motorhome(33ft; double slide) and traveling to the 48 contiguous states. Our trip originated in Columbus, OH(our home), and we made our way to St. Louis for our second-night stay. 

When we arrived, we checked-in at the office, and the customer service was amiable and accommodating. Our site was across from campground cabins where the occupants of the cabin street-parked their trucks. The campsites are so tight; we couldn't back-in and park. Fortunately, management was responsive to our needs and asked the cabin occupants to move. Sadly, our location was next door to smokers, which necessitated we keep our windows shut during our stay. 

Full hook-up was relatively clean and easy to use. The campsite is off a hectic road, but we didn't mind as we only stayed one night(if you are looking to sleep under the stars surrounded by trees and squirrels, this place is not for you). The proximity to the Gateway Arch was terrific. We parked our RV, summoned an Uber, and were at the top of the arch in an hour! 

Our favorite part of this park is the onsite Sawmill BBQ restaurant. While we prepare most of our meals, we were so tired; we decided to give the joint a try and, wow, are we glad we did! Delicious food for a reasonable price!

Great time of year to visit! Surrounded by trees changing colors the fall is beautiful here. The campground has several hiking trails and also river access to go canoeing. You can rent a cabin here as well. Very nice and quiet campsite!

We spent a weekend here because we wanted to be close to six flags. I swear this place was more fun!!! There's swimming, games, lots of activities and you can go from rustic rent a tent to a really nice cabin with lots amenities!! We will be back!!

Its a little to commercialized for my liking. I stayed in a wilderness site it was $25.oo bucks. Here you can rent sites, cabins & golf carts. Its is super close to Six Flags and right off HWY 44 Close are most fast food or grocery places. You can get a band allowing your kids to do games of mini-golf, free train rides on the Yogi Bear Express Train, two arcade tokens, and a discount on Pizza at the Snack Shack.

We stopped her for a few nights to check out St. Louis. It’s about a 30-40 min drive to the arch from campground

Sites were all gravel, fire pits were poorly placed and frequently it fell under someone else’s slide or trailer. We always bring our solo stove so we could have a fire in a better spot on our lot

Pool and bathrooms were clean, staff were very friendly

This campground has a ton of “cabins”

There is a very large hill to get in and some sites are VERY tight - we thankfully had a decent size site comparatively

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.

We stayed here with a new camper, to be near our RV dealer and hardware stores. The site was ok, tricky to level. There was a steep drop just past our steps, and not a lot of room to set up chairs, etc. Honestly, the site we were in felt like an afterthought, as we were just pulled off the lower loop road. But we were there primarily to op check the camper features, and this campground allowed us to do so.  

If you're visiting Six Flags this is an ideal location, with a great camp store and restaurant, and lots of things for kids to do. I found good hiking trails nearby at Rockwoods Range. There are a lot of cabins and tent sites here as well.  The camp staff were friendly and helpful. And the sunrise from our site was beautiful!

We did a little weekend getaway to do some geocaching near Utica, IL. Nice pool and great owners!

It is overcrowded all through the week in the RV area with no great views of the lake, sadly. 2. cabins.but overpriced due to no running water or nearby ttoilet but more private and great lake views Awesome fishing here and boat rentals

This campground is only 30 minutes from where I live but I love going here. It has nice spacious campsites. Clean bathrooms and shower. Nice big common areas. A nice big lake for fishing. It’s a real pretty place to just get away for a weekend or so.

If you live in the St. Louis area and are looking for a great park for a weekend getaway near the water then look no further. Tons of reservable and walk up sites for primitive and RV. Most sites have plenty of shade and room in between so you were not right on top of your neighbors The only thing that would be a complaint about the sites is that many of them have a metal culvert running under the entrance to each campsite so if you’re not careful backing your camper out you can run over those and possibly cut a tire Other than that it is a great campground that boasts the only swimming pool in an Illinois state park. There is also a small store that has all of the basics and even has a built-in laundry mat The only other small complaint is that there is only one fill station to fill your freshwater tanks. So during busier times there can sometimes be a line of people waiting to fill their freshwater tanks so if you can do that at home I highly advise it

This is a small quaint campground that allows you to get a feel for the state park. There are plenty of walking trails, rec areas and fishing available around the park which makes it for the perfect weekend getaway for the family.

Fires are allowed and you are able to drive to your campsite.

We utilized the special use area of the campground for our Cub Scout family camp, but visited the main loop during our trip.

Best campground hosts we ever encountered! Knowledgeable and friendly. The park has a pool, river access, canoe & kayak rentals and miles of great trails. Great program for kids on staying out of they get lost presented by hosts. This is a great park for organized groups, with lots to do!

Shower house was clean and convenient. Hands down one of Missouri’s best!

Tip- check out the petroglyph site.

Lots to do for all ages, including swimming and hikes of any difficulty/length. Famous for petroglyphs and other history too. Green rolling hills that would be ideal to visit in the fall. The electrics sites are closer to the river, the tent sites are more private in trees in a separate area.

Yay: Rent a canoe/kayak/tube to enjoy the river (on site!).

Nay: Make sure to get away from the developed part of the campground to enjoy this nature. Surprise: Petroglyphs are the icing on the cake here!

Really great campground. Good mix of tents and RVs. Bath house was very well kept and clean. Showers ran cold at first but after a few mins it gets warmer! There were plenty of pit toliets through out the campground and trash cans. My tent site was clean, good flat spot for tent, picnic table and fire pit with attached grill.

The Concession building in the park is closing. No boat rentals, selling everything he has on the shelf.

Caught a few bass and and good amount of hiking. Large trail around the whole lake, smaller trails lead to sites around the different campgrounds.

A great spot for a quick get away from St Louis. Beautiful park with lots to do not far from the campground. If you are tent camping you don't have to worry about generators from the RVs as there are two separate camping areas that share a really nice shower house, but have their own bathrooms as well. Be careful to not get a tent site in the middle, in the low area, as rain runoff will run down to the middle area. No tent pads, but plenty of grassy areas to pitch your tent. Activities in the park include swimming in the pool or the Big River, canoeing (rent at the Thunderbird Lodge), hiking, and petroglyphs.

I gave this campground a 4 star instead of 3 because I feel like if you’re camping here you should know not to expect “isolated camping” with sounds of running rivers and wildlife. This campground is geared for kids and family activities and accomplished same. It is pretty commercialized but did have a lot of trees. pros- activities for kids/fam nice pool tons of trees easy access from highway close amenities (Walmart, six flags, etc) close to StL (tons to do) we did grants farm and city museum one day.

Cons- can hear highway traffic....a lot small campsites, very close to neighbors fairly steep grade, especially right out our camper door was a big drop off our water hook up and electric hookup was significantly far apart. (1st world problems I know but handy info for those with campers) may be site specific.

if you camp here the golf cart rental is a must if you’re camping in the lower section. While we camped here some friends of ours camped at yogi outside Branson. After comparing experiences, although we had a good time, we would not return here. They did not say the same.

Not very well maintained by the State of Illinois. Restrooms are horrible! So many better places to camp in the Carlyle Lake area.

Has electric sites only. Water and dump at the entrance. Shower houses. Very nice pool and camp store. Hosts scattered and occasionally hard to find to pay for your spot. Wildlife galore. Next to largest lake in Illinois. Fishing good with a boat. Worth the trip.