Best Camping near Plainfield, IA

Searching for the best camping near Plainfield, IA? There are tons of hikes and other fun activities to partake in. Experience some of the most stunning views that Iowa camping has to offer. Discover great camping spots near Plainfield, reviewed by campers like you.

Best Camping Sites Near Plainfield, IA (125)

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Showing results 1-10 of 125 campgrounds

Recent Reviews in Plainfield

221 Reviews of 125 Plainfield Campgrounds


  • Lee D.The Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Clear Lake State Park Campground
    Oct. 8, 2024

    Clear Lake State Park Campground

    Surprisingly quiet campground on a summer weekend

    We tend to stay at campgrounds during the off or shoulder season for a quieter experience so it was with some apprehension that we reserved this campground for a summer weekend so that we could meet friends for Paddlefest. We were happy to discover that despite being a full campground, it was quiet at almost all hours of the day and night. It was, however, an entirely different story on the lake itself, where boats gathered all day to party!

    There is little separation between the sites but there are trees located throughout, some of which provide shade to the site. The camper pads were a mix of dirt and gravel and mostly level. We were lucky to snag Site 34 (reserved about three months in advance) – it was on the end, making it a much larger site than the interior sites (all end sites in our section were larger) and we had plenty of shade trees, a welcome relief on a very hot weekend. 

    The paved roads leading to the sites are very narrow and would appear to be one-way but are not designated as such, resulting in some confusion. The site numbers are only listed on one side, even though most of the sites appeared to be pull-through. 

    The restrooms and showers were clean and had soap and (dated) air dryers. 

    Overall, we had a very pleasant two-night stay even though we were prepared for a different experience.

  • RThe Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Cedar View Park
    Sep. 28, 2024

    Cedar View Park

    Beautiful park, gross bath house

    This is a lovely park. It is fairly quiet, you can hear some highway noise in the distance. The lake is lovely and clean. The spots are gravel, most sites will require some leveling but are not too bad. 

    Each site has a newer electric pedestal with 30 and 50 amp service, and each site has a water spigot, as well as a picnic table and fire ring.

    There are a few sites that back up directly to the lake. There is a swimming beach and a dock. There is a city park adjacent to the campground with a playground and picnic shelter.

    I had 3 bars on on T-mobile which got me 64 down and 18 up. On Verizon I had 3 bars which got me 65 down and 12 up.

    The shower house was pretty bad though. It was older, which doesn't bother me, but it was dirty. There are camp hosts on site but I guess their duties do not include ever cleaning the restroom. There was food trash in there all week, and if you look around you'll find feces, blood, and personal hygiene trash including used condoms.

    I would stay in this campground again because I have a self contained unit and do not need to use the on-site shower house.

  • MThe Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Inglebretson Park County
    Sep. 24, 2024

    Inglebretson Park County

    Great overnight location

    Very inexpensive, convenient, nice place to stay for a layover. It's a first come basis with I believe 22 RV sites. They have a dump, clean bathrooms with hot showers(which super clean), a playground for the kids and a couple of walking/hiking trails nearby. The very long Cerro Gordo County trail is close to 50 miles long. Believe the cost was only $15 on our summer early September rate and drops to $10 basically in October for a few months, which includes a small fire pi, tabke, and electric! I'll just say a gem of a simple place.

  • RThe Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Oelwein City Park
    Sep. 22, 2024

    Oelwein City Park

    This is a beautiful city park campground

    I enjoyed my 5 night stay at Oelwein City Park Campground. It's located on the south end of town, there is only one business within walking distance. It's a great restaurant (Oelwein Family Restaurant) and it's about a 15 minute walk.

    There is one shower house, and several vault toilets throughout the park. The shower house is old and a little run down but was very clean. I had no problems using it.

    The city park is adjacent to the campground and has picnic shelters, a playground, and a dog park.

    There are electric and water hookups at most sites, and there is a dump station. The park was pretty full on the weekend as you would expect, but very quiet during the week.

    I had great Verizon and T-mobile service here.

  • RThe Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Fontana County Park
    Sep. 15, 2024

    Fontana County Park

    New, clean, no trees

    There is a brand new campground here with full hookups. There are no trees so I decided to pass and not camp here. Evidently there is an "old" campground somewhere in this park also that I did not find. The signs will direct you to the new campground.

    I had good T-mobile and Verizon service here.

  • RThe Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Klocks Island Park
    Sep. 15, 2024

    Klocks Island Park

    Crowded and quiet

    This seems like a quiet campground. It's just off the highway but there was almost zero traffic on this small highway. I drove through here on a Saturday in mid September. All spots were taken. I had barely usable Verizon service here and no T-mobile service. I was not able to camp here. The restroom building looked fairly new.

  • Jason K.The Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Eagle City County Park
    Aug. 26, 2024

    Eagle City County Park

    Good for an overnight stop

    First, there is no pit toilet. Second, you need to pay ($10) via a website. Scan the QR code by the entrance. I couldn't get it to work.

    Sites are fine. A couple of options for hammock camping. Nothing special.

    We stopped driving cross country.

  • JThe Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Clear Lake State Park Campground
    Aug. 15, 2024

    Clear Lake State Park Campground

    Nice but crowded campground

    Nice campground with grassy pull thru sites. But very close together. If full, you would have no privacy. Fortunately, it was 1/4 full, so no problem. Bathrooms clean, nice warm showers! Nice beach, lots to do. Would be a fun place if you don’t mind camping next to neighbors!

  • BThe Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Eagle City County Park
    Aug. 7, 2024

    Eagle City County Park

    Fee required now

    Note that they do now require a permit to stay here. Sites are first come first served with no reservations. Cost is $10 and you can pay up to 30 min after claiming your site. Great camping area, pit toilet, regularly mowed, great riverside view, level spots for tent and vehicle camping with fire rings.

  • Anna R.
    Camper-submitted photo from Lakeshore RV Resort and Campground
    Jul. 23, 2024

    Lakeshore RV Resort and Campground

    Rude Host

     Please do not ignore the negative reviews written by people on other sites regarding the owners. My husband and I drove almost 2 hours to check out the campground. We are looking for a permanent site for our RV next year. When we arrived we called the phone number listed on the closed gate. The owner, Joyce came out and said we would need an appointment to drive thru and she did not have time to show us around. The owner was very rude. We had been on their website and it did not state appointments were needed. Yes, I guess we could have called ahead, but as seasoned campers its never been a problem to check out a campground ahead of time.. Just beware owner unfriendly:( NO WE WONT BE RETURNING, WE WOULD NEVER STAY HERE

  • T
    Camper-submitted photo from Riverside Co Park
    Jul. 22, 2024

    Riverside Co Park

    Great little city/county park!

    Beautiful large sites along the river so you can fish as well as has a pond that you can swim in with three beach entry areas. Large bath house with restrooms and showers and a little free library inside. Very long parking pads- big rig friendly and very roomy sites. Nice walking trails on the east and south side of the park. Very creative natural play park for children to play on. Full hook up sites with a very reasonable nightly rate. It appeared that some of the campsites were seasonal but couldn’t confirm that.

  • Niki S.
    Camper-submitted photo from R Campground, Inc
    Jul. 15, 2024

    R Campground, Inc

    Very clean, friendly owners, great co-campers

    Randy was amazing and very attentive to my questions. Check in was super easy and the directions for check in were clearly spelled out. Everything was mapped out and the website was easy to use as well. The pond itself was pretty to look at and made for great photos, however it was loaded with geese which made it not user friendly. I would recommend this campground, and I will definitely go back to camp again!

  • TThe Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Lime Creek Park
    Jun. 13, 2024

    Lime Creek Park

    Nice campground with a Quirk

    The pros: $10 fee ($15 electric), campground seems well maintained (grass is mown, security light works, tables in good repair, gravel access road in good shape, etc); no one here but us, the sound of the running Creek is soothing, vault toilet is probably the cleanest I've seen; ATT cell service was 3bars 5G The unusual: no specific site, no specific place to pull into, no site numbers or designation except on the electric pedestals. It's all grass. Pull onto the grass near the table or electric pedestal you want. The cons: highway traffic noise is easily heard and doesn't seem to stop for more than a few seconds (though the crickets/bug sounds and the creek sound is sometimes louder so you hear that instead), dust from vehicles passing on nearby dirt road filters thru the trees (due to dry weather?), and, well, it is, after all, a vault toilet-not my fav,

  • Greg K.The Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Alden riverview campground
    May. 5, 2024

    Alden riverview campground

    15$! Alden Riverview Campground

    30/50/110 power. Drinking water and dump onsite but not on sites. Wifi! Hot showers, playground,boat launch,fire pits,grills,good camp host.town is right there 2 bars and restaurants. Gas station I think was 8 blocks up to the right. Been hard to find all this for 15 bucks a day!

  • c
    Camper-submitted photo from Camp At The Woods
    May. 3, 2024

    Camp At The Woods

    Open year round

    Very accommodating super nice people helped us back in and set up in middle of winter after dark after we had drove 2 days from the east coast. Our spot was on an incline but the water worked when temp was below freezing the camp was nice with new park for kids new basketball court new pavilion wish we could have been there in the summertime I’m sure the pool is nice when uncovered. I saw laundry and bathrooms by the river.

  • c
    Camper-submitted photo from Twins Campground
    May. 3, 2024

    Twins Campground

    Serene

    Serenity, nature at its best, birdsong all day long wildlife at every turn our campsite was level the owners and manager were great hosts. We stayed several weeks the price was very reasonable, honey wagon service was included ; riding/ hiking trails from campsite.

  • Greg K.The Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Twins Campground
    Apr. 13, 2024

    Twins Campground

    Twins campground- cresco,Iowa.

    Very friendly and helpful owner. He even drove to town so we could follow him in. Has playground community area fire pit and a structure built to cover picnic tables. atv trails. Turkey river right there was 20 feet from my site. Porta potty and shower water is hot. 30/50 amp power with water on each site. Water fill station and dump station. Garbage .

  • Lisa T.
    Camper-submitted photo from George Wyth State Park Campground
    Nov. 10, 2023

    George Wyth State Park Campground

    Good local camping

    Easy in and out late fall camping.  I got a great tent spot next to the river.  This is a fine campground that I much prefer during the off season (it gets too busy during the warm season for my liking).  The connection to hiking trails throughout the park is fantastic.

  • Terry F.
    Camper-submitted photo from Gilbertson Conservation Education Area
    Nov. 1, 2023

    Gilbertson Conservation Education Area

    Great place!

  • AThe Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Cedar Bend Park
    Sep. 7, 2023

    Cedar Bend Park

    Peaceful place

    It was so clean and peaceful. Not overly crowded. The camp host was so friendly and helpful.

  • v
    Camper-submitted photo from Cedar View Park
    Sep. 3, 2023

    Cedar View Park

    Wonderful Find!

    Great find! We thought we would be dry camping because it was Labor Day weekend. We found this Park on the app and thought we would check it out. It’s first come first serve. I really never thought there would be any hookups because of what I had read, but they had electric and water! We found a spot right on the Lake! Very busy but wonderful view, location and was only $20.00!

  • Rose L.
    Camper-submitted photo from Bluffton Resort
    Aug. 26, 2023

    Bluffton Resort

    LOVE THE BLUFFS & UPPER IOWA RIVER CAMPING!

    Dre, the campground manager, is a stellar guy to talk to. Excellent customer service! Gorgeous bluffs and river to camp right next to! Can’t wait to go back!

  • Matthew S.
    Camper-submitted photo from Waterloo - Lost Island Waterpark KOA
    Aug. 17, 2023

    Waterloo - Lost Island Waterpark KOA

    Nice Park/Clean Bathrooms

    This is a quiet and nice park. Lots of pull through lots. I am missing a swimming pool but they do have a beach by a pond if that interests you. Bathrooms are cleaned daily but at times are quite nasty. Not their fault people are just nasty.

  • Jason H.
    Camper-submitted photo from Interstate Co Park
    Aug. 10, 2023

    Interstate Co Park

    Empty but lovely.

    Here on a Wednesday (which is the only night the nearby restaurant is closed). It was empty. It's on a lovely river with swimming. Mostly people here for day use putting boats in.

    Showers have hot water.

    They don't take reservations. Would definitely stay here again if I'm in the area.

  • Kellen W.The Dyrt PRO User
    Camper-submitted photo from Lidtke Park & Campground
    Aug. 5, 2023

    Lidtke Park & Campground

    Quiet on the right wknd

    Nice campground, well maintained. Has water and power. Shower house available but no firewood. Buy firewood at the Casey's gas station. No dump station on site and that is also that the Casey's. $25 a night.

  • Becky M.
    Camper-submitted photo from Clear Lake State Park Campground
    Jul. 3, 2023

    Clear Lake State Park Campground

    Great State Park

    This is our second time camping at the Clear Lake State Park. The park is clean, the shower house is nice. It’s hard to control the temperature in the showers, too hot for little kids to stand directly in the water. The playground was fun for the kids, nice beach access! Limited full hook up sites. I wish there were more full hook ups that you could reserve. Paved roads are great for bike riding. Great shaded spots. DNR cruises the park daily which is nice to see.


Drive Time


Guide to Plainfield

Camping near Plainfield, Iowa, offers a mix of beautiful nature and fun activities for everyone. Whether you’re looking for a quiet spot to relax or a place to enjoy outdoor adventures, there are several campgrounds to check out.

What to do:

  • Hiking and Biking: Explore the trails at George Wyth State Park Campground. One visitor mentioned, "The connection to hiking trails throughout the park is fantastic." You can also enjoy biking on the Cedar Valley bike trail, which has over 100 miles of interconnecting paths.
  • Fishing and Water Activities: At Pine Lake State Park Campground, you can fish in the lake or take a paddle on the water. A camper shared, "Fishing is good here, as are the hiking trails."
  • Family Fun: The Waterloo - Lost Island Waterpark KOA has a beach area and playground for kids. One family said, "Kids had fun at the swimming pond," making it a great spot for families.

What campers like:

  • Clean Facilities: Campers appreciate the cleanliness of the bathrooms and shower houses. A visitor at Beeds Lake State Park noted, "The bathrooms were the cleanest I’ve seen at a state park."
  • Quiet Atmosphere: Many enjoy the peacefulness of campgrounds like Siggelkov County Park. One reviewer mentioned, "Sigglekow Campground...is quiet and secluded, if that's what you're looking for."
  • Friendly Staff: Campers often mention the helpfulness of the staff. At Camp At The Woods, a visitor said, "Ray was very accommodating to get us into a full hook site last minute."

What you should know:

  • Mosquitoes: Be prepared for bugs, especially during warmer months. One camper at George Wyth State Park Campground warned, "There were tremendous amounts of mosquitoes at the campground during our visit."
  • Site Proximity: Some campgrounds have sites that are close together. A visitor at Beeds Lake State Park mentioned, "Over half of the campsites are parallel parking," which can feel cramped.
  • Noise Levels: If you’re sensitive to noise, consider your campground choice. A camper at Pulpit Rock Campground noted, "A bit too close to traffic for a completely quiet night."

Tips for camping with families:

  • Choose Campgrounds with Amenities: Look for places like Waterloo - Lost Island Waterpark KOA, which has a playground and beach area. One parent said, "There was a playground, beach and fenced dog area."
  • Plan for Activities: Make sure to have a list of activities. A camper at Pine Lake State Park Campground suggested, "Things to do: Paddle on upper or lower Pine Lake, fishing, and hiking trails."
  • Pack for Comfort: Bring items that make camping easier for kids, like games or outdoor toys. A family at Clear Lake State Park Campground enjoyed the "nice beach access" for family fun.

Tips from RVers:

  • Check Site Conditions: Before booking, check the site conditions. A visitor at Waterloo - Lost Island Waterpark KOA mentioned, "Sites are gravel for the RV, reasonably level, and very well maintained."
  • Look for Full Hookups: If you need full hookups, make sure to confirm availability. A camper at Pine Lake State Park Campground noted, "Limited full hook up sites."
  • Be Mindful of Noise: Choose your site wisely if you want a quieter experience. A visitor at Beeds Lake State Park mentioned, "The noise from the highway was quite loud."

Camping around Plainfield, IA, has something for everyone, from families to solo adventurers. Just remember to plan ahead and enjoy the great outdoors!

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What camping is available near Plainfield, IA?

    According to TheDyrt.com, Plainfield, IA offers a wide range of camping options, with 125 campgrounds and RV parks near Plainfield, IA and 5 free dispersed camping spots.

  • Which is the most popular campground near Plainfield, IA?

    According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular campground near Plainfield, IA is George Wyth State Park Campground with a 4-star rating from 13 reviews.

  • Where can I find free dispersed camping near Plainfield, IA?

    According to TheDyrt.com, there are 5 free dispersed camping spots near Plainfield, IA.

  • What parks are near Plainfield, IA?

    According to TheDyrt.com, there are 6 parks near Plainfield, IA that allow camping, notably Coralville Lake and Saylorville Lake.