Best RV Parks & Resorts near Hawarden, IA

Cottonwood Cove Park was the fifth campsite we rolled into in this tri-state area looking for a spot that we actually liked, and boy did we score! This is a little municipal park with only 12 sites, water/electric/cable TV for $22/night. Be aware that there is no dump station here. There's a small bath house that's presently closed for COVID-19 precautions.

Driveways and the road through the campground are crushed white gravel, but there are small concrete pads at each site for the rig and patio area. Large cottonwood trees tower throughout the campground. There are tiny campers and large fifth-wheels here, both. There's a campground host occupying one site, and you pay the host. Spacing between sites is very, very generous -- kudos to Dakota City for not cramming people into this place just to double the revenue.

The campground buts up right against a pretty natural stretch of the west bank of the Missouri River, with a boat launch and interpretive platform discussing Lewis & Clark's expedition that passed through here. The campground itself is tucked right into the middle of a neat, tidy residential neighborhood, such that it almost feels like you're part of the neighborhood.

It's been amazingly quiet during our stay. We've barely seen our neighbors, much less heard them even though the campground is mostly occupied. There are several rigs here that are long-term, presumably they're working at the massive Tyson Foods plant just up the road.

Cell service on Verizon is an impressive 4 bars, 42ms ping/65.6 Mbps down/24.8 Mbps up/3ms jitter.

We'd stay here again in a heartbeat.

Scenic Park Campground is in South Sioux City along the Missouri River. Our campsite had a river view, picnic table, and fire ring. The campground is part of a large park and was full hookups with cable and wifi included. Our site was a pull through. The area was clean and had a nice appearance. There was also 4 unique modern looking cabins and a tent area.

The park also has tennis courts, soccer fields, and baseball fields. There is a swimming pool and playgrounds, along with trails. The trails I loved were along the river. The only con was that There was a major highway on the other side of the river and ambulances would pass by with sirens going. Otherwise a nice campground.

We stayed with our class A RV on our way to and from a further destination. First spot was one right along the river. All the spots are spacious...neighbors are not on top of you. This spot had a nice concrete pad with a picnic table (not so nice with peeling paint). Views of the river and city were nice. Full hook-ups with sewer, water, electric, cable, and wi-if. Second spot was not on the river but equally spacious. No concrete pad with this one. Bathhouses were a mixed bag. One was large with numerous stalls and showers and very clean. The other quite small (2 stalls and one shower) and not so clean. Had to step around empty shampoo and conditioner bottles on floor and a used razor on the soap dish.....there in the early evening and still there around 9 the next morning. Many of the sites seemed to be extended stay and not all trailers were well kept.....plastic covering windows, haphazard decks, etc. All-in-all though an Ok stopover in a longer trip.

CAMPING IS NOW ONLY ALLOWED BETWEEN MEMORIAL DAY THROUGH LABOR DAY. NO WINTER CAMPING IS ALLOWED ANY LONGER.

Gunderson Park is a nice little boondocking location just ½ mile from the downtown area of Centerville. They have 2 fire pit locations, but, after speaking with the official at city hall we found out you can camp pretty much anywhere in the park you would like.

It is free to camp here, you can stay virtually as long as you wish to according to that same official. There are no hook-ups. No bathroom facilities. No picnic tables. No playground for children. You may fish with a South Dakota license in the lazy rolling Vermillion River that skirts the park on 3 sides. They have a cement boat ramp. I will say when we stayed there the river was so low you would have had great difficulties getting a boat launched. On the west side of the park there are park benches at the beginning (or end of the walk depending on your start location) with a cemented walk way along the road to the park and the Vermillion River. It runs close to a quarter mile long with benches about half way through the walk. The city keeps this park mowed during the summer months. This is an old old park dating back to 1800's. The trees are massive and just as old providing beautiful shade. There are remnants of old stone items remaing in the park, grape vine thingy, a stone fireplace and pillars. Our stay favored us with Bald Eagle sightings. 2 hung around the trees on the other side of the river in full view, it was wonderful.

At the city park you can dump your tanks. We didn't need to so we didn't visit this location. At the four way stop sign located at the center of the town, turn west, travel one block and on the south side of the street you will find city hall. There they will tell you how to find the dump site.

This seems to be a favorite location for locals to drive through. Sometimes we found traffic through the park on the heavy side but most of the time very quiet. People are small town friendly. Population is around 900 people. Town has a grocery store, convenience store, bank, medical clinic, pharmacy, restaurant, bowling alley, auto parts store, bakery and other businesses. We noticed 4 churches in our drive around the town. At the city park they have a community swimming pool, Frisbee golf, 2 ball diamonds, tennis courts, playground equipment, volleyball courts, 2 picnic house areas and a location for 4 RV campsites with electrical plug ins [2 50 amp and 2 30 amp) for $10.00 a night with limited stay.

We stayed with our class A RV on our way to and from a further destination in early July. First spot was one right along the river. All the spots are spacious...neighbors are not on top of you. This spot had a nice concrete slab with a picnic table (not so nice with peeling paint). Views of the river and city were nice. Full hook-ups with sewer, water, electric and (spotty) WiFi. Second spot was not on the river but equally spacious. No concrete patio with this one. Bathhouse’s were a mixed bag. One was large with numerous stalls and showers and very clean. The other quite small (2 stalls and one shower) and not so clean. Had to step around empty shampoo and conditioner bottles on the floor and a used razor on the soap dish...there in the early evening and still around 9 the next morning. Many sites seemed to be extended stay and not all were well kept...plastic covering windows, haphazard decks, etc. All-in-all though an OK one night stopover spot if you’re traveling through.