Best Tent Camping near Plainfield, IA

Recent Tent Reviews in Plainfield

193 Reviews of 23 Plainfield Campgrounds

• 

  Lee D.

  Legend

  

  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.

• R

  Ryan S.

  Guide

  

  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.

• R

  Ryan S.

  Guide

  

  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.

• R

  Ryan S.

  Guide

  

  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.

• R

  Ryan S.

  Guide

  

  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.

• J

  Janet K.

  Guide

  

  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!

• T

  Tracy B.

  Guide

  

  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.

  Scout

  

  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!

• T

  Tammy F.

  Guide

  

  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.

  Guide

  

  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

  corey

  Traveler

  

  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

  corey

  Traveler

  

  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.

  Guide

  

  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.

  Scout

  

  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.

  Scout

  

  Nov. 1, 2023

  Gilbertson Conservation Education Area

  Great place!

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• A

  Amy

  Scout

  

  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

  vickie

  Scout

  

  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.

  Scout

  

  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.

  Traveler

  

  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.

  Traveler

  

  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.

  Traveler

  

  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.

  Guide

  

  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.

• C

  CROSSFIRE 5.

  Scout

  

  Jun. 23, 2023

  MacNider Campground

  Pretty good

  Was a quick stop. Surprised when we pulled up it was only $19 a night for only electric & $28 for full hook ups. We came in the end of June & it is not too busy. Still plenty of parking. There is a community pool right beside the camp.

• R

  Richard &.

  Guide

  

  Jun. 22, 2023

  Waterloo - Lost Island Waterpark KOA

  Great place to stay

  We stayed at started at the Lost Island water park KOA for just one night while passing through the area. We were in our class C while slowly making our way across the country. We had no problems getting a spot here. Sites are gravel for the RV, reasonably level, and very well maintained. Most sites are pull through. Hookups are in very good condition. Each site had a grassy area with a picnic table. Staff was very friendly and helpful. There was a playground, beach and fenced dog area. Cost was very good for the amenities provided.

  The campground had a store, gas station and propane available.

  We had 4 bar LTE with Verizon. Our hotspot was usable and performed very well. We enjoyed our brief stay at this campground. We will stay again when traveling this way.

• 

  Nicolas N.

  Traveler

  

  Jun. 14, 2023

  Lime Creek Park

  Can’t go wrong for $15

  Electric, pit toilets, fire ring, picnic table, fishing stream, playground and NOBODY AROUND. This is a gem no more than 5 min off the highway. It might not have the views and whatnot but can’t beat that for convenience!

• V

  Victoria

  Scout

  

  Jun. 12, 2023

  Clear Lake State Park Campground

  Nice place

  Overall nice place to stay. We stay each year with family so there are about 4 of our campers all there together.distance between sites can be wide or narrow depending on which site you’re on.

  Pros: Clean/well maintained, easy short path through the trees to get to the beach, sturdy picnic tables all around, long “driveway” for campsite

  Cons: pads are gravel and not very level, pads are very narrow, beyond the trees on one side of the campground is a major road so you’ll hear cars passing by, not a lot of restroom/bathhouses

• 

  Becky M.

  Guide

  

  Jun. 10, 2023

  Clear Lake State Park Campground

  Very clean park!

  We spent 4 days here and the park is a busy place! Very clean!!!!! Dump station was easy access! We were right by the shower houses. Check in and out was simple. We made our reservations online. The park had paved roads, great for bike riding, playground was a hit! The sunset was gorgeous in the evenings at the beach! We will be back!