Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Iowa City, IA

LuLu and I stayed for 10 days while visiting family in Iowa City. The campground hosted mainly locals but it’s only a couple of miles off the I80. The park is electric with a convenient dump and water station as you enter the park. It’s located on a lake with boat-ramp, kids play area, hiking trails near by, and close to quaint Iowa City home of the Hawkeyes.

My dad and I tent cramped here in mid August. It is the perfect camping destination between Amana colonies and Iowa City.

I suggest this site only if you need to get off the road for an overnight stay. Very few amenities, all but a few spots appear to be full-time RV living onsite, has nice playground, gazebo, dog park (small), lake is small but appears well kept, electric/water/septic onsite.

Our family enjoys tent camping at Kent Park because the sites are grassy and open, but more private than many Midwest campgrounds because they are lined with tall prairie grasses and trees. We stayed during an Iowa Football weekend, attended the game in nearby Iowa City, and then enjoyed the rest of our weekend exploring the ponds and trails in the park. Prairie life makes for good photo ops and bird-watching. Restrooms and campsites were clean and well maintained. We will definitely be back!

Very nice COE campground north of Iowa City in the Lake Coralville area. Beautiful setting, lots of options for sites. A recent wind storm had the area shut down for two weeks but they did a great job cleaning up downed trees and broken limbs. It was very quiet, lots of wildlife and amenities like a boat ramp, beach, playground, walking trails, recycling (!) and an amphitheater (!). Daughter lives close by so we will definitely return.

We spent a night on this property June 28-29, 2023. We were on a road trip from Colorado to Michigan and Iowa City is a good distance from our destination. The drive from I-80 is not too far and pretty. 

The locale is beautiful, just on the lake. All of the internal roads are paved and the spaces are nicely paved or graveled. The sites are spacious and angled for ease of backing into. Some sites are a bit far from the bathhouses, but that's the only ding. 

We'll keep this one on our list.

A great campground if you want to mountain bike, kayak, boat, hike, fish, play disc golf or just enjoy the view of the lake. Lots of sites to choose from with varying amounts of privacy. All have electric hookup, a few have full and there are some neat hike in tent spots. You really can’t go wrong with this campground. Many activities, very well kept campground, located by Iowa City, Solon, North Liberty so many places to get a bite and see the locals or just get groceries. Here’s a picture from our site 26 stay.

Was looking forward to camping there until I found out they do not allow pets at tent sites. Apparently they don’t feel responsible pet owners use tents. Not happy will never stay there

This CG is a full service CG for RVs with community buildings, gravel road lanes, pet friendly, and lake access for fishing, paddling and swimming.