Looking for the best campgrounds near Waukegan, IL? Waukegan is a great camping destination for everyone. There are tons of nearby hikes, adventurous activities, and sights to see. Get the dirt on all the best camping near Waukegan. Browse campgrounds by amenities, site types, and more.
Fish Lake Beach is one of the largest, privately owned campgrounds in Illinois, with 580 seasonal sites occupying the majority of the 113-acre property along with 60 overnight campsites. Fish Lake Beach has been family owned and operated for over eight amazing decades. Our brief story in pictures and how we got started is just below. Fish Lake Beach has become a camping tradition or a home-away-from-home for generations of families. We take pleasure in providing a friendly and fun experience.
$43 - $73 / night
Enjoy a peaceful camping experience in a friendly and quiet country setting, with long, pull-through RV sites, shaded tent sites, rustic and deluxe camping cabins, and even fully equipped travel trailers for rent. Complimentary Wi-Fi is available throughout the park.
There is a lot to do for families! Check out the Gem Mining, Jump Pad, Gagaball, Minigolf, Frisbee Golf, Polipong and huge playground! Join us for hay-wagon rides, face painting, flashlight candy hunt and more on weekends.
Have fun at Onesti's Wild West Town next door, visit the Illinois Railway museum, Santa's Village Azoosment Park, Six Flags Great America and cool off at Magic Waters near Rockford or in our own crystal clear pool.
Take the "Metra" train from nearby Crystal Lake or Woodstock to visit Chicago for sightseeing, festivals, and tours. We are also a convenient distance to the Woodfield Mall, Prime Outlet Discount Mall, and the Grand Victoria Riverboat Casino. Various local restaurants are within minutes.
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2 Deluxe Studio Cabins with patios are set up next to each other in the RV park to facilitate families, that like to camp close to each other.
All of our rustic cabins are equipped with an A/C unit.
You will find us approximately 55 miles from downtown Chicago, 4.5 miles to I-90, in a rural setting of northwestern Illinois.
Open from mid-April through mid-October.
Gated campground 24hrs a day (after hour arrivals need a reservation)
Dogs are allowed, but breed restrictions apply.
Ottawa Lake’s campground is located in the southern unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest, situated within half an hour’s drive from Milwaukee. Wisconsin campers of all ages love these grounds thanks to lakefront sites, modern facilities, and access to trails for hikers of every experience level. South Kettle Moraine is also home to over 160 miles of trails, including 87 miles open to horse use. Connect to the Ice Age Scenic Trail and various others within the John Muir and Emma Carlin trail systems.
Don’t forget to bring your rods when camping at Ottawa Lake! You’ll want to take full advantage of the boat dock and fishing pier where you can catch panfish, walleye, muskie, trout, bass, and northern pike – then you can grill them up at your campsite. Keep in mind, motorboats are not permitted on this small lake, which allows for peaceful wading and quieter camping all around.
Though Ottawa Lake is open year-round, it is recommended to check the weather in Dousman and Whitewater before planning trips in the colder months, as freezing temperatures and snow are common. Cold-weather campers who are willing to brave the Wisconsin winter will enjoy snowmobile trails, ice fishing, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing. No matter when you visit, Ottawa Lake will leave you satisfied.
Thomas Woods Campground is in the Marengo Ridge Conservation Area and part of the McHenry County Conservation District. Spend a night in nature! We offer camping opportunities for groups and individuals. The District has five group campgrounds located throughout the county, one over night cyclist camping location, and one campground for individuals and families which accommodates both tents and RVs.
$15 - $35 / night
Camp just steps from the water in the heart of the vast, hilly Palos Preserves. Camp Bullfrog Lake offers year-round camping, group activities and water-based recreation such as canoe rentals and fishing. Just around the corner from Maple Lake’s boathouse and the Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center, it’s also a perfect launching pad for hiking, mountain biking and birdwatching adventures on Palos’ 50-plus miles of trails.
$20 - $138 / night
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:)
So this place is much less dog friendly than is advertised. Dogs aren’t allowed in large swaths of the park nor on the (tiny tiny, bordered by loud highway) beach. Lake Geneva is very pretty, but the area is obviously very wealthy and obviously geared toward retirees without dogs or with tiny dogs they leave at the RV (to bark, constantly, at their next site neighbors. Until the owners get back.)
I somehow booked a different campground- website was confusing apparently. However the worker was so helpful and found me a spot anyway. Sites are kind of small so not a lot of space for big big campers. Cute lake and relatively quiet. Odd though that when I asked questions like where can we fill water and if they had a park map I got looked at like I had 3 heads.
Camped here on a whim. Amazing area. Super friendly hosts. The only thing I wish was a little more accessible is the website. I didn't know what kind of site I was getting, what it looked like, or if it was a hike in site or not. Turns out mine was, but it was not an issue for me on this trip. Site 30 for anyone interested.
Great backpack camp site. Decent walk and terrain to get to the site. There is an open shelter to put your tent if you prefer to outside. There is a fire pit, but we found our own wood around the site. (Bring a small axe). There is an outhouse, but I wouldn’t recommend using it. There is a picnic table and a bench. It’s very secluded for privacy :) we will definitely be back.
Site was spacious but very close to your neighbors. Lots to do in the area. Bathrooms and showers were clean. The beach was not clean and very hard to walk on, very rocky. Electricity on site and water near by. Great trails close by.
The campsites are kinda small but not on top of each other. Had some raccoons at night even after we locked up everything in the car. The lake was very nice. We were able to kayak but be careful getting the kayaks in. Stairs down to the pier and the bottom of the lake is very mushy. The water was very clear and you could see the fish swim by. This loop is best for tent camping. The other loops are basically all rvs. The boat launch to the fox river was nice too but it does get busy.
Campsites are kept up and quite clean. Some have a beautiful view of lake. Some water fountains did not work, however sinks were always working. So many little trails all throughout the campsite. Family friendly (parks, beach, pet friendly)
We stayed in Honeysuckle Hollow for a night. Not many people were there that night, as it thunder stormed. However site was well kept and concession stand available by the boat dock with everything you might need.
The campground is beautiful wish it was open more than the weekend's. The campground host needs to lighten up and shes out on the gator every 30 minutes, that gets annoying, also since we have also worked as campground hosts you don't run around with the gator giving people rides. It is a shame but we won't camp here again.
They should check up on the campground host and hire one with a pleasant personality
It’s a family friendly and decent campground. Sites are not too secluded, but they’re clean and well taken care of, the facilities weren’t clean, they have volunteer hosts on site for any needs, the lake is beautiful during the sunset, sandy area and playground for kids, car noise is noticeable but not too loud (in the inner camp sites). Few trails around for hiking. They charge an extra $11 for each car’s entry at the gate but you can use the car pass for visiting all the state park’s trails around the area (you need permit for parking at the trailheads). It’s good for family with kids or beginner campers, but not if you’re looking for a relaxing or adventurous time.
Clean, family friendly and basic ammenities available
We love private campsites, far enough away from other campers, yet close enough to amenities. We chose a walk in site #16 which was nice but I wish we chose one a bit further in. Bathrooms where very clean. Trails are great. Pet friendly - we brought our small, quiet dogs. Dog friendly restaurant right next to the camp site.
This campground is HUGE! well maintained & beautiful. Bathrooms are extremely clean
We use this as our base when we went to Chicago. The only problem is that it is anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half from downtown Chicago. The facilities were nice and maintained. We had a nice Prairie view spot.
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.
Excelent
Campsite 65- Rita, the mgr/owner, returned call to assist in selecting a site. The outer lanes had shade, while our site was in the middle open area. Easy access to electric and/or water. If unsure, contact office. Site, restrooms, and showers were clean. There are a lot of sites but still felt like there was ample space. Great location to visit Lake Geneva (~8mi.) or see a concert at Alpine Valley (~20 min). There’s a shuttle from the campground (outer sites near racetrack.). You pay for the shuttle through Lakeshore shuttle. This weekend had their annual Ribfest. Great food and music that you can walk to from your site (~2 min walk). Due to the fest, there was some late noise, but nothing obnoxious. Definitely recommend as a home base for area fun, music, shopping, and restaurants.
The campground was full for the weekend but emptied out on Sunday. Conveniently located next to Lake Geneva with a tiny roadside beach area. I recommend camping sites on the west side of the camping loop to cut down on sun. Not enough electric sites for campers.
Very friendly staff and people. Great accommodations. Spots are ok size. Pretty level.
The campsite overall is beautiful and the land is well kept. The reason for the review is due to the bathrooms being horrible. Hot water for showers did not work and floors were nasty, need to be remodeled. There is no water near any of the sites. 2 of the 3 hosts I dealt with were very rude. The one on the late night shift was very nice and knowledgeable. The other guys who helped me on arrival act as if they didn't want to be there. The site overall is amazing. Just wouldn't ever camp here again due to the high price and the bathrooms being Terrible.
This is one of the most popular State Parks in Wisconsin because it's on Lake Geneva. In fact, it's the only state park within town's limits. This area has always been a summer getaway, so reservations are hard to get. We went in October, so it was much easier, but the weather was unpredictable.
The lake is famous for it's mansions, summer homes and the trail which goes around the entire perimeter and is open to the public, no matter how many property lines it crosses.
The park is on the lake, 2 miles south of downtown. So, a 40 min walk, 11 by bike, though there are hills on both routes. The park has a long strip of beach that almost seems like a shoulder to the main road. There's a fishing lagoon with a bait vending machine. The campsites and trails are further back, and out of the wind.
The sites are generally spacious, some are oddly shaped. The further back you go on the main loop though, actually brings you closer to town. You can hear events taking place at the High School even though it looks like you're in the woods.
The main restroom and shower facility is brand new and spotless.
Too many things to see and do in the area to list here but I'd point out the Boat House Bar & Grill is right next to the entrance. It has a big patio and is dog friendly. Easy walking distance from the campground. Good food at a good price.
Outside of town, Lake Geneva County Meats is a butcher shop and more with a terrific selection and variety of brats (among other things) and can supply all your cookout needs. Also, check out Royal Oaks farm & Orchard. In season, they have the greatest variety of apples we've ever seen. Better still, they are well labeled telling which types are best for what use. Of course, donuts and cider too.
Hidden in the woods by the lake and a very short trip from home. No complaints
This campground had a lot of seasonal campers. Fairly large sites, problem is getting into them. Our site was downhill so that presented quite the challenge to level out. Aside from the steady flow a golf carts, everything was decent. I feel sorry for the people who use the public showers and restrooms. I felt like I was in a spider exhibit with them being everywhere.
It’s a really nice site, but the running water bathrooms were not cleaned regularly and the pit toilets were almost overflowing on a Thursday. The site was also filled with garbage when we arrived.
A little hard to find at first. GPS will take you to a service road as the entrance, actual entrance is on the other side of the lake just before The Boat House Bar.
Came in really late without a reservation but they have a self check in. Small cards next to check in booth. I recommend snagging an RV site. The price is the same and it’s way better. Tent camping area was really muddy. I only brought a hammock but could easily fit six tents on my site alone. Roads and facilities are in great shape. Constant hot water.
Shady sites, decent facilities, friendly staff. Deducted a star because we really wanted an electric site and 4-5 of them remained unoccupied for the entire weekend when the T&Cs said they should have been forfeited at 3pm the day after they were meant to arrive.
Camping near Waukegan, Illinois, offers a variety of experiences for outdoor lovers. From scenic trails to family-friendly amenities, there’s something for everyone in this area.
Camping around Waukegan, Illinois, has its perks and quirks. Whether you're in an RV or tent, there's plenty to explore and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Waukegan, IL?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Waukegan, IL is Honeysuckle Hollow — Chain O' Lakes State Park with a 3.9-star rating from 14 reviews.
What is the best site to find glamping camping near Waukegan, IL?
TheDyrt.com has all 14 glamping camping locations near Waukegan, IL, with real photos and reviews from campers.
