The Dyrt is here to help plan your best camping near Harlan. Harlan is an adventure-filled destination for those who love the outdoorsy camper lifestyle. But it's also great for those who prefer to spend time near the city, exploring and sightseeing. At The Dyrt, campers like you share their favorite spots, plus tips and photos. No matter where you're headed in Harlan, you'll find the best spot for you and your camping crew.
Stay overnight in one of two camping cabins or at the East and West campgrounds at Prairie Rose. Each cabin is equipped with heating and air conditioning, a microwave, a small refrigerator, table and chairs, two twin-over-full-sized bunk beds, a picnic table, grill and fire ring. The East Campground contains electric and full hook-up sites with a modern shower and restroom. The West Campground contains electric and non-electric sites. One-fourth of the campsites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis and advance cabin and campsite reservations can be made through the online reservation system for Prairie Rose State Park.
$11 - $14 / night
$10 - $50 / night
Botna Bend Park is a favorite for campers who enjoy a small town atmosphere. Park visitors will love this quiet, beautiful park that is located next to the Nishnabotna River. While at Botna Bend, anglers commonly catch flathead catfish and carp. Another huge draw to Botna Bend is the bison and elk herd that resides in the park's pasture areas.
The Elkhorn Creek Recreation Area is a multiple use area, and is the ideal setting for a family on an outing, or for a person looking for solitude. With it's groomed trails and unique wildlife, the adventures are never ending. The upper picnic area contains what is believed to be the original site of the pioneer village of Elk Horn. Many building foundation blocks remain to mark the site. Petersen Preserve is roughly 32 acres and also part of the park - it has many grass walking trails. No firearms are allowed in either area but archery hunting is allowed. Onsite features include: -7 electrical sites with full electrical hookup, grass pads. -several tent camping sites available as well. -Picnic sites with grills, rural water and sanitary facilities, (pit and flush toilets). The sanitary facilities in the camping area are ADA accessible. -One picnic shelter. -Hiking trails. -Two areas with playground equipment Camping rates: -$16.00 for electric sites -$14.00 for non-electric/tent sites
$14 - $16 / night
$6 - $15 / night
Stay overnight in one of two camping cabins or at the East and West campgrounds at Prairie Rose. Each cabin is equipped with heating and air conditioning, a microwave, a small refrigerator, table and chairs, two twin-over-full-sized bunk beds, a picnic table, grill and fire ring. The East Campground contains electric and full hook-up sites with a modern shower and restroom. The West Campground contains electric and non-electric sites. One-fourth of the campsites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis and advance cabin and campsite reservations can be made through the online reservation system for Prairie Rose State Park.
$11 - $14 / night
$10 - $50 / night
Botna Bend Park is a favorite for campers who enjoy a small town atmosphere. Park visitors will love this quiet, beautiful park that is located next to the Nishnabotna River. While at Botna Bend, anglers commonly catch flathead catfish and carp. Another huge draw to Botna Bend is the bison and elk herd that resides in the park's pasture areas.
Traveler
Cute little campground, electrical only. Picnic table and grill at each site. No fires. Shower house available until it's gets down to freezing weather. Dump station and water fill.
Guide
Ok, so I stayed 3 nights, the second week of November. It was myself and two other campers who were there together. We had the entire campground to ourselves. Water was on and the bathrooms were open and clean! I happened upon a site with full hookups and it was $20.00 a night. I’m guessing in the regular season these would either be taken or they might charge more. Anyway, great relaxing stay! ****No cellular service available ***. I was able to get nominal service with an external antenna and booster…
Traveler
Very quiet and peaceful place I have been there few times and I never see anyone else around. There is no bathroom or drinking water so make sure you are ready for that. October is a very colorful time of the year very peaceful the pond for what I heard isn’t a good place for fishing but just a mile away there is a hunting park highly recommend it
Scout
No frills spot for an easy stop off I-80. Only 2 other campers the night we stayed. Great Mexican restaurant 2 blocks away.
Guide
I pulled in late at night easy to navigate stayed the next day and did some trails apparently the land formations are 1 of only 2 in the world how about that Iowa.
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.
Traveler
We didn’t get to see the camp area as it was closed for hunting season.
Guide
This is a no-frills stop off on a road trip kind of place. The bathrooms were pretty gross and there are lights on all night so hopefully you have a blackout tent or good shades on your RV. It's nothing to write home about but it was quiet and I slept well. I would stay again
Scout
It’s a good place for camping not perfect. Has a descent size lake good for kayaking and fishing.
Traveler
We only stayed here for the night but everything was perfectly fine. A little off I80 but not too far. Nice lake and incredible harvest moon the night we were there
TravelerStopped overnight in late August. Did not want to drag our gear up/down a hill to the tent campsites in the lower loop. Paid more to stay in the upper RV loop where we listened to a neighbor's generator all night. Pretty buggy. Showers/toilets okay. Note there are at least 2 railroads running nearby in the wee hours of the morning. Also, this is on the flight path for jets leaving (I assume) the Omaha airport. Not a restful night--won't be back.
Guide$15 full power / $6 tents / $5 dump only. They have 110 power as well as regular hookups. Playground, tennis / pickleball courts, little zip line, and covered picnic area.
Scout
This campsite seems nice, but with blaring Omaha heat and no trees, the heat here is absolutely brutal. It was mid July and still 96 degrees at 7:00pm, so I ended up leaving knowing it would be too hot for a comfortable night sleep. Beautiful view of the lake and short walk to the swimming beach.
Ranger
Great spot! Easy on/off. Was $45 for overnight with amenities.
We opted for the free stay which was great. Nice, flat parking lot with other rv’s and tractor trailers off to the side.
Slept great. Used the casino bathrooms and really liked it for a free overnight. Casino is fun too!
Would def stay here again. Felt very safe and well lit. Noise was minimal and only came from the tractor trailers. If I had parked at the other end I wouldn’t have even heard it.
Got take out from Modern Love to bring back. Molo is amazing - all vegan and most GF too. Never pass through Omaha without a visit there. Great way to end the night.
Scout
Do not pay Dyrt to use this campground. They are not affiliated.
GuideWe camp all the time at different locations, and I 100% recommend this campground! The hosts are so polite and helpful and they keep the place immaculate. Even the pit toilets were spotless and didn’t smell. The hosts went around several times a day collecting trash and even mopping the pit bathrooms. Camping here also gives you access to the playground and nature trails into some beautiful countryside. The only downside is bring several bottles of bugspray, the mosquitos are terrible!
Scout
This was the perfect place for us — just passing through on our way out to Wyoming. This camp ground is awesome all around — especially for tent campers. Absolutely beautiful views of the lake and so many open camp sites even on the 4th of July. I wish we could have spent more time here.
Guide
Clean and mostly well-kept campground. Much nicer than I had expected. Has on-site host, but we didn't see much of her/him/them. Had good cell service (ATT).
The only serious complaint I can make is that the water, while potable (so we were told), has a very, very strong iron/metallic taste. To the point that, for us, it was undrinkable.
The campsite we chose was level, concrete, and cost $20 (the site we wanted by the water had electric). Very little shade though, which made it really hot (other sites had more shade).
Other observations:
The river current is quite fast here. I wouldn't plan on letting my kids or dogs get into the water, except to, maybe, wade at the boat ramp where it is protected from the current by small islands where the creek comes in.
They have a table near the boat ramp that, I assume, is for cleaning your caught fish. If it matters, it did not have running water.
The small dock from the boat access area felt unstable and one had to step across a couple of rocks to get to it from land, maybe because the river level was up(?).
Of the 4 bathroom/shower combination rooms in the bathhouse, only two were unlocked. That said, we were the only tent campers and the RV campers didn't seem to be using them. And they were clean and in good repair.
Our campsite was right next to the facility loading/unloading barges next to the campground. (They were unloading dried soybeans while we were there.) There are also security lights, but the light is mostly blocked by the trees at night. They start work at 7am and seem to stop at 4pm during the week.
I would call this location reasonably quiet. But not absolutely quiet. There is noise from various sources at various times: the loading/unloading from the barges, the farming going on across the road from the campground, boats going up or down the river, and, minimally, the sound from the traffic on the highway. So not absolutely quiet, but it wasn't loud enough or continual enough to detract from the stay.
Lastly, it probably doesn't need to be said, but I didn't think of it before our stay (duh), so just a reminder. You're camping by a river (i.e., water), so there are many, many flying insects. Be sure to have insect repellent, as they are merciless.
ScoutPerfect place to get away for the weekend. Grounds are clean bathrooms are clean. Shout out to Dave the park ranger for being very generous. We drove from Davenport to stay here for Father’s Day weekend and we will definitely be back. You also can tent camp right next to the water as well. Love it!
Scout
There are no frills here just quiet and the essentials, elec, water and sewer for $25/night. Great communication. If you're traveling near it's an inexpensive place to get some rest.
Guide
Nice site for a tent camper passing through, beginner adventurers, glampers, or a family staycation. The entire park is well maintained, has a large lake stocked with fish, tent sites are close together, but tolerable. Occupancy depends on the time of year. I was there in September and it was not crowded at all. Tent sites are primitive. New roads leading into the park.
ScoutWe called the casino & they told us we could park in the lot for free. If you want electricity & ahowers, you can pay. We just needed a place to sleep as there are not a lot of campgrounds here. Highway was a bit noisy and a distant train was heard twice through the night. No one bothered us which was all we needed! Got a shower at a nearby truck stop. Big open lot with lots of space. Also had a dumpter I made use of (small bag of car trash).
ScoutOnly spent one night but would have stayed longer if we would have had time. Nice clean bathhouse and restrooms. Lots of hiking trails and even hiking sticks. We really enjoyed this short stay!
ScoutRaised prices by 12 dollars to 38 a night, there are better parks for that amount
ScoutWe have been coming to this campground every year. They have recently open during the winter which is great because not many campground are open during this time. Steve is such a great guy who is always looking out for you.
Scout
Tented camped in late October, the weekend before closing. I was only tent camper in the electric only sites. If there was a tent only location, I didn't see it. Those in campers that need water and electricity are regulated to gravel 'parking lot' sites.
Beautiful park with playgrounds, swim beach, fisbee golf, paved trail, many fishing bars, and more.
Electric only sites are small and spaced out well. Most have level drive perfect for sm camper or suv camping. Grass has slope, but I think you can find a good enough place for tent, I did. Bathroom clean enough, I didn't use showers. I enjoyed the privacy of lake-front site J.
Traveler
Iowa has many great county parks, and this one is no exception. There are three campgrounds in the park. The South campground, Middle campground, and North campground.
The South campground is closed for renovations. I read they are adding full hookups to this campground. The Verizon signal at this campground is usable for calls& text, but internet speeds are slow. Streaming will probably work but a video call will probably not.
The middle campground has nice level spots, and a nice shower house with warm water. There are 4 individual bathrooms, each with a shower. This campground had about the same Verizon signal as the South campground- good enough for calls and texting.
The North campground has grass sites with more space between them than at the other two campgrounds. This North campground does not have a shower house, but it has a two room bathroom with running water. The Verizon signal at this campground is a strong 5G signal with great speeds. I also tested T-mobile and AT&T at this campground, and they were plenty usable but no where near as fast as Verizon.
There is a meat shop and a sports bar restaurant within walking distance from the park. The walk within the park is a long walk. From the North campground to the registration box at the entrance is about 1 mile.
While at the park I saw deer, raccoons, turkeys, and a 4 inch caterpillar crossing the road. There are also bison and elk in a fenced in area.
Camping near Harlan, Iowa, offers a mix of beautiful landscapes and family-friendly activities. Whether you're looking to pitch a tent or park your RV, there are plenty of options to enjoy the great outdoors.
Camping near Harlan, Iowa, has something for everyone, from families to solo adventurers. With clean facilities, friendly staff, and plenty of activities, it's a great spot to unwind and enjoy nature.
Frequently Asked Questions
What camping is available near Harlan, IA?
According to TheDyrt.com, Harlan, IA offers a wide range of camping options, with 85 campgrounds and RV parks near Harlan, IA and 1 free dispersed camping spot.
Which is the most popular campground near Harlan, IA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular campground near Harlan, IA is Prairie Rose State Park Campground with a 4.2-star rating from 15 reviews.
Where can I find free dispersed camping near Harlan, IA?
According to TheDyrt.com, there is 1 free dispersed camping spot near Harlan, IA.
What parks are near Harlan, IA?
According to TheDyrt.com, there are 4 parks near Harlan, IA that allow camping, notably Saylorville Lake and Conestoga Lake.
