Camping options:  Dunbar Group Site and General Camping

Dunbar Group: The Dunbar Group Site holds up to 30 people and is located less than 500 feet from the beach. The site overlooks the Great Marsh and Lake Michigan. Parking and restrooms are located in the Dunbar Beach parking lot, 400 feet from the site.


Indiana Dunes consists of 2,182 acres of primitive, beautiful, historic, and unique Hoosier landscape. It lies at the north end of State Road 49 in Porter County and includes more than three miles of beautiful beach along Lake Michigan’s southern shore. In the early 1900s scientists, recreationists, and nature enthusiasts, recognizing the value and potential of the Indiana dunes area, fought to have the region preserved. As a result, in 1925, the state park was established.

Large sand dunes, located beyond the entire shoreline, have taken thousands of years to form, and tower nearly 200 feet above Lake Michigan. A wide range of habitats and plant species are found in the park, with vegetation stabilizing some of the sand. These habitats provide homes for many types of plants and animals. The lake also provides a habitat for many aquatic species, as well as a constantly changing fishery.

Indiana Dunes State Park Campground

The state park is located within the boundaries of the Indiana Dunes National Park (formerly National Lakeshore), so don't get confused by this. There also is a national park campground, but it's closed in the winter.)

  

This state park has a nice layout because the sites seem to be staggered so that they don't back up to each other. Also, there is a good buffer space behind the sites and decent space between each site. 

  

All sites have 20- 30- and 50-amp service available, plus almost all are a combination of a concrete pad and asphalt apron. Note that just because they're paved doesn't mean all of them are level. Each site has a fire pit and it appeared they all have grill grates on them.

  

One nice touch is that some sites have wider asphalt aprons so if you have a longer rig, you can put your towing vehicle or your towed vehicle off to the side once your rig is in place. Also, the ADA sites are nicely laid out with larger concrete pads so that even the fire pits are in the concrete section for ease of access. 

  

**Note that after Nov. 1**, the water is shut off and bathrooms are shut down until spring, although there are vault toilets available. 

  

You will hear a pretty regular stream of train whistles at this campground, but they aren't so loud as to be disruptive. 

  

You can hike to the 1929 Dunes Pavilion and a large beach on Lake Michigan. The best hiking activity, however, and also easily accessible by walking from the campground, is the series of dune trails. The Nature Center, which sits between the campground and the trails, has some good visitor's information about the dunes, the flora and fauna, and the history of the area. 

  

Once you finish seeing what you want in the state park, there's still the entire national park to see. Plus, there's a multi-use trail that runs for 9 miles along the state park and into the national park. 

  

Cell service for Verizon was two bars but speeds seem to be good. Less signal and speed for Google Fi, but not terrible.

Nice layout and a ton of nature activities

This is a state park which has an entrance fee and camping you can reserve. The area is beautiful. Big dunes, lovely water. On clear evenings you can see the skyline of Chicago across the lake. The state park has many well maintained hiking trails and cross country skiing trails in the winter. Be careful in the lake, because rip current often take young visitors out too far and into dangerous waters. 

Lovely Lake Michigan

This campground was very nice and clean and for a packed park was very quiet and we did not feel too close to the sites next to us.  We spent 2 nights here and went mountain biking at Imagination Glen Park in Portage just a few miles down the road which was awesome.  We stopped for a beer at Chesterton and Hunter's Breweries.  The sunset on Lake Michigan from the dunes was awesome.  We walked between the state and national parks.  This was originally a convenience stop along our route but I was impressed with the parks and everything there was to do, very glad we crossed this National Park off the list!

  

PROS: was very clean, well spread out, had a bathhouse, firewood and basics for sale.  Nice hike to the dunes and Lake Michigan with several trails to choose from.  There is also the Dunes-Kankakee bike trail that leads from the park and ties to the Calumet trail that also connects to several other trails offering miles of bike trail options.  Two dump stations made wait minimal.

  

CONS: not a whole lot, as is with most IN state parks there is no water hookup so you need to fill you tank up but it was set up really nice.

  

Did not really scout out an "ideal" site since they all seemed nice and pretty spread out for a state park.  I liked our end of the park that was close to walking path to dunes and beach.

  

NOTE: This was our second IN State Park campground(first was Clifty Falls) as part of out trip from GA to MN via TN-KY-IN-MI-WI-northern MN before staying in MSP for a week, then return via MN-IA-MO-IL-KY-TN-Home.

Nice State Park Campground

We pulled in around 4:30 in the evening.  The sight was spacious with plenty of room in between sites.  Since the weather was cooler , it was pretty sparse with other campers.  We stayed 2 nights over the weekend.  You are within walking distance to the beach within the park.  The buildings have great architecture.  The sight had 50 amp electric hook ups but no water or sewer connections, and we knew that going in.  We had a back in sight #69.  There was plenty of space on all sides.  We have a 37’ motorhome and pulled a Jeep behind it.  There was plenty of room to maneuver around.  The sight also had a wood picnic table and fire ring for a wood fire pit.  We will definitely be back!  I wish I had taken more photos from the beach and beach pavilion.

Clean & Spacious

We arrived on a fall night, after the sun had set and we were thrilled to wake up to such an amazing display of Northern Indiana fall foliage. Campsites, facilities and trails were all super well maintained. 

Great Spot, Conveniently Located

The scenery is beautiful and participating in the 3 dunes challenge was exciting and got the blood pumping. The campgrounds were pleasant and had nice bathroom and showers. 





My 1st time camping!! Not bad at all  

Arrival was interesting. We followed the signs to the campground (CG) area and bypassed the park office for the gate, as there was no where to park towing a rig. At the gate we found out we should have just pulled over on the road and registered before getting to the gate. We did not see any signs to indicate this was the procedure. The gate attendant charged us a $12 non resident state park fee and directed us to park in the adjacent parking lot, and walk back to the park office to check-in. We pulled into the very large parking lot, but it turned out to be a tight turn for our 39’ 5th wheel to get out of the parking lot. We then headed on to the campground to our electric only (50/30) AMP back-in site 94. We got a very good variety of OTA channels and 2 bars on Verizon and AT&amp;T. This campground is electric only and sites are placed consistently nearby each other throughout the CG. Where you would think sites would be more private there is usually a trail entrance nearby or like site 94, a concrete sidewalk to the nature center right beside the site. Site 63 would be about the most private and would be an easy back in for a larger rig. Site 91 has a steep incline after the main pad down to the site entrance. I wouldn’t put anything larger than about 30 feet in there even though its a large pad overall. We included a picture of this site. There’s a great trail system throughout the park. However, there are steep sandy trails that will tax your abilities unless you are in better than average health. The dump station is dual and well maintained. We enjoyed our stay at this well maintained CG.

Interesting State Park

Lovely! Affordable, super convenient, gorgeous hiking trails and beach/ this was a dream! Loved every minute of it!


My favorite place ever to hike!

Great visit to Indiana Dunes. Our first time there. The campground was smaller than expected for such a popular place, and the campsites were a decent size. Very quiet campground and I suspect it being a “dry” campground may have something to do with that. The swimming beach was always busy, but we learned quickly to hike trail 7 to get to the quiet part of the beach. While the beach off of trail 7 is a no swimming beach, the kids enjoyed playing in the water. Enjoyed trail 2 and the walk on the boardwalk through the marsh. My only issue is the bathrooms and showers were crazy nasty, and you had to deal with the urine odor while showering.  Met a lot of friendly people from all over the country.  We camped with a small group of three families. All sites were well shaded for most of the day, with site 124 being full shade for the whole day. All sites were level and clean. 

Indiana Dunes State Park 6/8/21-6/12/21

The campground was full, but not overcrowded. Very friendly neighbors and camp staff. There is a nice nature trail to the beach. If you are able, do the 3 dune challenge. It wasn’t easy for this old body, but I was glad to have marked it off my list.  The nature center is right next to the campground.  The pavilion is being renovated, the ice cream shop was open, but they were still doing construction on the rest. I hear that it will be grand when finished.  I will definitely go back to this campground. I just won’t pick the tent site again. The sand is very dirty there.  

Beautiful Lake Michigan sunsets

Very busy place but no issues with neighbors or noise. The beach is the big draw obviously. We'd return for sure.

Great Location

Campground quiet and bathroom and showers very clean.  Our site was close to the trails leading to the dunes. Loved watching the waves on Lake Michigan and climbing the sand dunes.



Great state park

Clean park. Lots of things to do wish we were there for longer than an overnight. There are lots of trails to explore. 

Nice location

    Many are still under the impression this state park turned into a National Park. Untrue! This has been a state park since 1925 &amp; it's beautiful. The most beautiful state park in Indiana IMO. We've camped here before, but not since they completely redid the campsites &amp; put in brand new bath houses sometime in the early 2000s. 

  

          There's 140 campsites. All with 50 amp. They are typical state park sites, which means yes, your neighbors will be close. The bath houses are nice. I recently walked through the campground on my way back from a hike &amp; I took pictures of what I think are the best sites. I would stay out of the interior sites. They are close to each other&amp; there's no vegetation to shield you. The outer sites are pretty good. Watch for pit toilet &amp; dumpsters though.

  The best site in the campground is site 63. The most private &amp; faces the woods &amp; ravine. Your neighbors aren't as close. 

  Sites 26 &amp; 62 if you have kids. You can watch them from your site in the playground. Site 8, 100 &amp; 113 are the best outer sites.

  The worst site is site 25. Right by the trail to the beach, which gets high foot traffic &amp; is right next to  a pit toilet.

  

         All of the trails, the beach &amp; the Nature Center can be accessed from the campground. Trail 4s trailhead is actually IN the campground. Of course some walking is involved. 

Enjoy the sunsets &amp; fabulous Lake Michigan! We visited Indiana Dunes State Park, no overnight stay

Best State Park in Indiana!

Great location right next to various hikes, close to the main road for work and to visit other cities. It was very quiet due to the winter conditions, but the people there were friendly and safe. Beautiful location!

Winter Wonderland 

We stayed two nights in mid-May, at site number 72. Area was gorgeous, well maintained, shady and quiet. Tons of hiking trails in very close proximity to the campground! There is electricity on site, but no water or sewage at each site. However there is a water fill station and a dump station. So just come prepared. Also, they have a very strict no alcohol policy. Not that that stopped people, but don't go walking around with a beer bottle! We would definitely return.

Great stay, come ready

This is a nice park with good infrastructure. The spacing was ok, but not a lot of privacy. The campground although nearly full was relatively calm and quiet. Unlike the craziness of other Indiana state parks I have visited. The bathrooms were good….a solid B+ on par with other Indiana state parks. There is a trail directly to the beach, but the beach was insanely crowded. I left within five minutes of arriving there. I opted instead to drive the national park and hike out to Mt. Baldy beach which was delightfully uncrowded. I took my first swim in one of the Great Lakes!

Walking Distance to the Beach

We reserved a spot in the outer circle. We like having woods on one side. Nice campground camping….parking pad, fire ring, picnic table. Good amount of space between spots. Nice bathrooms &amp; showers. We have a rooftop tent and we’re very happy. Loved the hike over “Mt. Tom” to the gorgeous beach and warmish lake for a swim. 
We choose the State Park vs. National Park so we could hike to the beach. 

Outer Circle 

Disappointing. Campsites are way too close to one another. If they shoved any more people in there they would have to call it a slum.

The walk to the beach was cool, but you can get that in the National park. 

They will charge you 2 fees for a reservation and another fee just for your car. $12 for a car for out of state. Doesn’t matter if you just paid it in another part of the state for a different park. I’m surprised they don’t charge a quarter for the water, a dollar for toilet use, and another fee to see the beach. Since when did parks get so greedy?

Not sure why this is rated so high. Terrible campground

Beautiful, huge, shady sites! Beautiful walkway to beach. Adequate bathrooms.

Spacious sites

We enjoyed riding ebikes on the trails. Lunch at the beach front (Lake Michigan) was good and great views. Clean br/shower houses. Would recommend 

First time here- in 40' RV

This is actually our second visit here. It’s only 20 minutes from our home, so we expect to come back many times. It’s a unique location about .5 miles from the actual beach and there’s a path/boardwalk that takes you right there. This is one of the few state parks that has a year-round heated bathroom with shower, so even with our popup camper we were able to take advantage of the decent weather for our first trip of the year. Sites are decent sized and have asphalt driveways with concrete pads. Sites are electric only, but there’s several water fills, even in winter. Very popular campground so you do have to book well in advance during regular season. Be aware that because it shares an entrance to the state park beach, entering on a summer Saturday or summer Sunday can take upwards of 45 minutes or more.