Looking for the best options for RV camping near Des Moines? Find the best information on RV campgrounds near Des Moines, including sites, reviews, and tips. Whether you're looking for a quiet location in the woods or a happening campground near the attractions, The Dyrt makes it easy to find the perfect place to park your RV.
142 Full Hookup Campsites
AMENITIES
Two (2) Storm Shelters
Laundry
Private Showers
Restrooms
Recreation Pond Fishing
Recreation Room/Area
Coin Games
Play Equipment
Exercise Equipment$35 - $90 / night
Just steps away from all the action of Lakeside Casino, all 47 sites of the RV Park are fully equipped with water, sewage and electrical hookups, as well as Wi-Fi. With breathtaking views you can’t beat, and the best amenities any RV park has to offer, Lakeside’s RV Park is the perfect place to stay during any getaway!
MINUTES FROM THE FUN, MILES FROM THE EVERYDAY
$35 - $45 / night
Welcome to River Oaks RV Park located on the Des Moines River in beautiful central Iowa. The park is full of fun things to do and is one of the premier campgrounds in Iowa. You can spend your day biking and hiking the miles of trails carved through the woods or enjoy the serene atmosphere throughout the park. You'll enjoy mature hardwood trees and large RV sites during your stay. Also, take advantage of our one-acre stocked fishing pond or cast a line out on the Des Moines River! Looking for RV storage near Des Moines? We offer RV storage during the winter months at an affordable rate. But wait, there's more! We also rent RVs! Come experience camping in one of our premium RV rentals. So, if you're looking at campgrounds in Iowa with full hookup RV sites, and primitive campsites nestled in central Iowa timber, come visit us at River Oaks RV Park!
$45 - $60 / night
Crow’s Nest RV Resort is a full-hookup RV park and campground located less than 30 minutes from downtown Des Moines. We have a passion for the outdoors and want to share the ability to enjoy nature with each and every one of our visitors. With rolling hills and a stream running through the center of our resort, Crow’s Nest has the look and feel of a countryside escape with all the amenities you need for a relaxing stay. Enjoy full-hookup sites with grilling, running water, electricity plugins and free wifi. Plus, we have a multitude of activities throughout the year for all our guests to participate in.
We are very excited to provide you and your family a memorable Iowa camping experience at the best rated Des Moines RV Park & Campground. If it's been years since you've camped at Des Moines West KOA, make it a point to stop back in to see all the new and exciting improvements, including 2 Dog Parks, Huge Jumping Pillow, Jump Shot (Trampoline Basketball), Water Wars, Paddle Boats, Organized Weekend Activities, Ladder Ball, Horseshoes, & Hunt Brother's Pizza & Wings. We promise you'll be pleasantly surprised. The park is nestled 1.5 miles north of I-80, off exit 106, amongst beautiful Iowa farm fields, in a peaceful rural setting, where the only thing you'll hear are the songbirds singing!
Shady Brook Camping and RV Adventures offers many opportunities for fun! We offer special events; from banquets, anniversaries, birthdays, group camp outings, corporate retreats, and hunting.
We offer the FIRST ascending Tree Tents in Iowa; a very new and unique option for sleeping in the trees!
We also offer campsites, cabins, and suspended tents for your enjoyment! Bring your own rig or tents to setup.
Come enjoy the beautiful Iowa landscape and year-round running Bear Creek.
We are here to make your special occasion complete and memorable--where abundant wildlife roam and picturesque views prevail.
Animals are welcome, they must be kept on a leash, please pick up waste and kindly dispose. The animals shots must be current.
All our campsites can accommodate 45 Foot Camper/Trailer/RV, except site #'s 13, 15, 24, & 26.
Adventureland Campground is a full service campground with complete facilities including: electric hookups, modern showers and restrooms, RV facilities, tent camping, a swimming pool and recreational areas. Adventureland Amusement Park and Adventure Bay Waterpark contain over 100 rides, shows, and attractions including some of the country's most exciting roller coasters and thrill rides that can challenge the most avid amusement park enthusiasts. There are also plenty of rides for less adventurous guests including great water rides as well as a full compliment of children's rides spread throughout the park. But the entertainment doesn't stop with rides - Adventureland presents a full array of shows in the park - from thrilling circus acts and magic shows to live music and juggling - there's always something to suit everyone's taste. Simply the most fun you will have all year!
Bob Shetler Recreation Area is located in the tailwater area below the 26,000-acre Saylorville Lake Project, which stretches more than 50 miles up the Des Moines River Valley. The lake provides a wide variety of recreational activities, including boating, swimming, fishing, hiking and hunting.
Visitors enjoy Saylorville Lake for its excellent boating, sailing, water skiing, windsurfing and swimming opportunities. Anglers will find walleye, wiper, largemouth bass, catfish, crappie and northern pike. The paved Neal Smith Trail winds 24 miles from Des Moines to Big Creek State Park and connects the campgrounds on the east side of the lake. It is designated as a National Recreation Trail and is used for biking, hiking, jogging, walking and in-line skating.
Large shade trees dot the open grassy areas of the campground, which offers excellent views of the Des Moines River. Most campsites are within easy walking distance of the shore. Wildlife is abundant throughout the project. White-tailed deer, turkeys, waterfowl and other small game animals roam the lands around the lake.
$24 / night
Guide
Very quite and nice campground, we camped on top of the hill in tents it was awesome view and potable drinking water next to camp, bathrooms and shower facilities was clean and nice
Guide
I stayed here one night while I was traveling. It was a Saturday so the campground was kind of busy. People shouting and loud music. Lots of trucks with noisy exhausts coming and going all day. I'm sure it's more quiet during the week.
Some of the sites are well shaded, and you can access the water. It looked like people had been finding clams (they left the shells all over the picnic table). People were fishing here.
The power pedestals are far back from the parking pad for some reason. If you back all the way into your spot or if you have a long cord you should be fine. There was only a 50A outlet so I needed to use an adapter for my 30A camper.
There is one water spigot, and no dump station.
There are bathrooms, but no showers.
I had great T-mobile signal here (5G, 160 down and 20 up). And a somewhat decent 4G Verizon signal (70 down, 12 up).
The Guthrie County Historical Village& Museum is a 5 minute walk away. It's not open evenings or weekends but there is interesting stuff to walk around and see even when closed. The railroad cars are very cool.
Scout
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Scout
Drove 6 hours to find out the campground is closed (apparently for all of fall and winter) without any awareness of that being the case online. Now I have to figure out somewhere to go at dinner time with my over-tired toddler and two dogs. Frustrated.
Guide
Large level gravel pad driveways surrounded by beautiful prairie grass. Fantastically clean & well maintained facilities. Nice beach down the road and some Greenway trails. One of the NICEST public campgrounds I've stayed at. Reserve online at rec.gov. America the Beautiful National Parks Pass pays your day use fees at the beach.
Ranger
Nice city park campground close to lots of covered bridges and other things to see. The sites are pretty well spaced with lots of grass and some trees in between. It was a good value for full hookup sites. The bathroom was decent, and phone service was adequate. We just spent one night here on our way home from Colorado, but will be returning in the fall to explore more and see some colors.
Legend
East not west as satellite view in Dyrt is old and doesn’t show East campground. I did add a screenshot of current satellite view. FHU. Easy in and around campground. A lot of space between sites. Sites are fairly level with hard pack gravel.
Traveler
Nice and well maintained ! We parked at a site by the playground and bathhouse , and could sit at our camper and watch our son play at a safe distance
ScoutWe lived our time there. It was quiet and we loved listening to the wildlife at night. My only complaint is that they left people in to camp after 10. Which kept me awake for a bit.
Traveler
This campground is on the side of a lake. You hear beavers at night, see rabbits are on the sides of the lot. We came late around 8pm and the owner helped us fill the form and pick our spot. The only drawback are the restrooms which were ok but smelly.
Traveler
We've stayed here a number of times now in the past 2 years (not during fair weeks.) Campgrounds are located on the east side of the actual fairgrounds. There are hundreds of sites here. Some are flat, some are no where near flat, but there are so many, you can find one that will work for you! Almost all of the sites are full grass sites. The main shower house is the only one we've ever used and have no complaints. They are clean and bright and well kept.
The sites are $32/night.
Guide
Stayed a weekend here and was very enjoyable! This looks to be a relatively new campground as the trees are still very young and, therefore, not much shade. It was windy that weekend so plenty of air circulation made it nice. High didn’t hit 90 until Sunday afternoon so didn’t even need air conditioning.
ScoutLevel sites , we were in site B40. Easy to back in plenty of room. Clean shower house and restrooms. Would we go back that's a definitely yes.
Ranger
Large modern KOA with sites to accommodate all sizes of rigs and also tent campers. Gravel sites require some leveling. Not much privacy between sites nor shade. Bathhouses were clean and private. Laundry available. Off leash dog area available. Convenient to John Wayne’s birthplace and covered bridges of Madison County. Bulk propane tanks were on site for winter campers. Camper cabins available. Small store with Hunt Brothers pizza to order. Gathering room on site and pedal car racetrack. Verizon cell signal was good. Garbage dumpster and dump station on site.
Ranger
Well maintained campground with mature shade trees. Gravel sites, a little bit of leveling required. Poor Verizon cell signal, no internet signal. Not much natural privacy between sites, but sites were well spaced apart. Paved trail nice for biking and walking. Fishing nearby and the Dutch themed town of Pella is a short drive and a must see. Bathrooms and showers were nice, clean. Handicap camp site and bathhouse available. Firewood for sale at front gate. The potable water available at the dump station was clear and good for drinking. Dump station is easily accessible. Dumpsters were positioned around the campground. Staff was friendly. The night we stayed, there was a severe weather threat, and the staff, at the end of the night, had unlocked the storm shelters (utility area in the middle of the bathhouses) should the need arise. We ended up having to seek shelter because of a tornado warning.
Scout
went out here with family and had a amtime azing
Scoutwe love it here people are great price is Right Showers are hot every time it a WOnderfull place •to be .
Guide
Great little hideaway of a campground, very reasonably priced and clean , fresh drinking water with dump stations and hot water showers and modern toilet facilities,
Scout
This turned out to be a very easy overnight stopover on our way north to Minnesota. My niece lives in Desert Moines and it was a short drive for her to come for a visit and bring some local, delicious tacos for dinner. We will definitely consider this spot next time through!
Legend
Literally a single stone’s throw from I80, one of the busiest thoroughfares you’ll find yourself on here in the great ‘Hawkeye State,’ this is one campground that very much deserves your attention, despite being a KOA. In fact, this campground outpost is so close to the highway that you’ll be hard pressed not to see or hear it during your entire stay. While this KOA does sit down a bit from the hustle & bustle that comes with a major interstate highway, a good number of the available RV sites sit on a sloping hill that is the same elevation as the highway itself, so if you do have the choice, opt for the lower sites (more on that later).
Sitting just 30 minutes east of Des Moines, Newton KOA offers up about 100 sites for RVs and 5th wheelers offering up all the standard hook-ups (water, sewage and 30 / 50 amp- but be careful because some sites only offer 30 or 50, while some do offer both, so be sure to ask when making your reservation). For mi tent pitching bredren, there’s about a dozen or so sites to choose from and all are fairly intermingled with the RV sites, although each site does sit on a plush patch of grass, so this KOA does a nice job on that front of integration. Oh, and if you don’t have an RV, 5th wheeler or a tent, on worries, this KOA will rent you one of its three cabins.
As this is a KOA you can expect a ton of amenities and this place does not disappoint with: catch & release fishing pond w/ fish cleaning station (that is oddly placed about as far away from the fishing pond as you can get), disc golf course, K9 camp for the puppies, cable TV, WiFi, in-ground pool (available 5/25 until 9/3) with ADA pool lift, horseshoes, meeting rooms, firewood for sale, LP gas refueling station, pool table, shuffleboard, social lounge, two kids playground, laundr-O-mat, basketball court, restroom & shower facilities, mini-market with basic groceries, ping pong, jump pad, game room, gaga pit, designated dumpster and dump station and of course the scattered fire pits and picnic tables. Just to go above and beyond, this KOA serves up free breakfast of flapjacks on Saturdays. Yahoo!
Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) Whether you are pitching a tent or pulling up in your RV, the best sites IMHO are those in the lower valley, but located right in front of the main office, where there are 6 RV slots numbered #45 – 50 and 6 tent sites numbered T1 – T6; (2) Should you get hungry and might want to try some local fare, check out Taco John’s and La Cabaña Mexican Restaurant, which I guess stand for ‘local’ around here, although there is Newton Family Restaurant. If you are looking for something really different and amazing, I would suggest heading on over to Dan’s Sandwich Shop, which feels like real Americana from a bygone era, complete with a diner-esque vibe and matching elbow counter to warm up to over a nice piece of apple pie, scoop of ice cream washed down with a hot mug of coffee; (3) While this KOA has a mini-market, you will find a bigger selection with better prices just down the road at the local Walmart, where just due west of this, you’ll find a Hy-Vee Grocery store with a wine & spirits shop positioned there as well. Further down the road, you have excellent fresh cut meat from Fareway Grocery, but check out the local hotspot, Newton Market as well; and (4) While what you will discover from an outdoor standpoint at Newton KOA is interesting, if you want something more substantial, head to Newton Arboretum & Botanical Gardens for 6 acres of family-friendly landscape to explore with more displays and demonstrations that you can shake a stick at! Seriously, there’s a butterfly garden, peony border and nearly 200 individual species of trees here to check out.
Happy Camping!
LegendJake from the Dyrt here! We're excited to have this campground on the Dyrt and ready for you to book, check them out and make sure to leave a review!
Legend
I like this place, I really do. It certainly packs a punch with all of the amenities that Kellogg RV Park offers up, not least of which is partnering up with apparently the best burger joint in the whole of Iowa. Burgers and camping? Can it get any better? Well, while this location gets extra points for achieving EZ on- and off-again I80 highway access, that likely is also its downside, as you are so close to arguably the busiest of all thoroughfares here in the state of Iowa that it makes you wonder if you are really getting away from it all or just taking a quick pitstop.
As for the grounds themselves, they are very well organized and nearly everything on this property is either brand-spanking new or has a nice degree of ‘kitsch’ that just feels right where you are at in the middle of the Midwest. There’s a well-appointed separate laundry location on the NE corner of RV Park, with a community shower/ bathroom facility smack-dab in the middle of the place, making it central and convenient to get refreshed. There’s a simple little loop that will jog you around the place, where in all there’s some 38 spots perfectly carved out for RVs or 5th Wheelers. While the map for Kellogg RV Park indicates a playground behind the laundry, if it was there to begin with, it has been replaced by a chicken coop, which I have to admit is pretty dang awesome to be woken up by these fine-feathered friends each dawn. Plus, um, there’s fresh eggs for your brunch munching pleasure!
With amenities in mind, each pull-thru, gravel-strewn site (all 18’ wide with lengths ranging from 65’ to 85’) comes equipped with all of the typical hook-ups (20 / 30 / 50 amp electric, water and sewage) along with plenty of in-ground fire rings, stand-up BBQ grills and plenty of brand new picnic tables along with complimentary WiFi. There’s solar panels on the for southwest corner of the campground, which sadly eliminates the vibe that you are out in nature. If there was just one bit of advice I would give this place it’s this(and it’s quite simple): plant some trees! That’s the one thing I noticed that felt incredibly weird… there’s just a few trees in this whole place. Granted, it is somewhat surrounded by corn fields, but here’s a hint: After mid-September when all that corn is harvested, the place feels like a barren desert, so how you compensate for that is by planting trees, shrubs, bush or anything that would make this place feel like it was planted in nature versus carved out of a watershed.
While the main office is up front where you would have seen that Iowa’s Best Burger Café sign, where there’s also an Amoco gas station along with a convenience market that has limited groceries and supplies. Bonus points to Kellogg RV Park for having an F5-rated tornado shelter located on-site, so while your RV might blow away, no worries, you and those you hold most precious will be protected in the event of a tornado, which is important because this state gets hit by them all the time. They’ll also sell you a bundle of firewood for$6 / bundle, which is fair, especially considering that they’ll deliver the bundles directly to your site.
Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) IMHO the best sites are those located as far east and north as possible (yes, right near the laundry facilities and chicken coop). Why? Well, because they will be furthest away from I80, so less noise, plus they are on the periphery, so this offers up better views of corn country, and additionally, more tranquility. Plus the shower / restroom facilities are centrally located, so not too far away; (2) If you are looking to get buzzed while out here at Kellogg RV Park, you are in luck as just nearby there’s Grinnell Craft Brewhouse, Buzzed Bee Meadery as well as Van Wijk Winery – all of which are absolutely worth the visit!; (3) Should your foodie vibes need to be tamed while here, head on over to nearby Maytag Blue Cheese for a slice or slab or head on over to Dayton Meat Products, which not only processes meat in case you are out and about with a bow & arrow, but will serve up some pretty outrageously awesome sausages, loins and particular cuts of meats that you just can’t find anywhere nearby. Oh, and if farmer’s markets are your thing, then check out nearby Grinnell Farmers Market or Jasper County Farmer’s Market – both just 10 minutes from here; and (4) Once you grow tired of pillaging your on-board mini-fridge or Cordova roto-molded cooler and are looking for some local fare, I will have to admit that Iowa’s Best Burger Café does live up to its boast – and while I didn’t have another burger while I was in the ‘Hawkeye State’ I do make it my business to check stuff out when I see ‘Best’ noted anywhere and there’s reasonable proof behind this claim here, so give the good folks here the better side of your discerning tastes and try them out. Oh, and there’s that little thing that there’s not too much competition in these parts, so unless you are up for a good drive, the only other joint is RJ’s Bar& Grill, which trust me, is much more Bar than Grill.
Happy Camping!
Guide
Very clean and well-kept, owners super nice 👍🏻 a quiet place in the countryside.
Ranger
RV park is relatively quiet and easy to get into. The concrete in our site was in poor condition, it had crumbled leaving a dip in the pad. The cable didn’t work, but electric and water had no issues. Easy on and off to the interstate. There is only one garbage dumpster near the entrance and we didn’t see a camp host on site or anybody to check in with. We stayed just one night on our way through the area and were comfortable.
Scout
We really enjoyed our stay at site 4 in the woods. It was absolutely beautiful with the fall colors and leaves falling all around us. We also enjoyed the trails around our site and a pretty view of a pond a short walk away. Anna was very responsive and gave thorough directions for us. We would stay again.
Guide
First, there is no dump station! All sites have water and electricity with 20, 30, and 60 amp plugs. The sites are 20 dollars. The campsites located near the entrance are pull-through but need maintenance. The campsites along the lake will support short to medium length RVs or trailers, and all are back in. As of this posting, all are not level and in poor condition. The city of Huneston, Iowa is a few minutes away and has several gas stations and a grocery store.
Traveler
Came in late, even though there were several empty spaces turns out they were reserved. Very nice camp host told us we could have a non-electric site, none of them were reserved. Bathroom/showers were clean.
Frequently Asked Questions
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