The Dyrt is here to help plan your best camping near Paola. Aside from great camping spots, you'll find hiking and many more outdoor experiences. Thinking of traveling with kids? You're in luck—Paola is surrounded by family-friendly activities. You're sure to find the perfect spot for your Kansas camping adventure.
This recreation area is part of Clinton Lake
$10 - $65 / night
This recreation area is part of Pomona Lake
Eisenhower State Park has 1,785 acres. It features 1,000 acres of tallgrass prairie, 440 acres of woodland and a complete range of recreational facilities in addition to the 6,930 acres of Melvern Lake. Eisenhower State Park provides 163 utility campsites: 126 with water/electric, 25 with water/electric/sewer hookps and five shower houses. Non-utility sites are available for primitive camping in Five-Star, Sailboat Beach, and Omaha Swim Beach. Fifteen Equestrian Campsites with electric/water and individual corrals are available in the upper loop of Westpoint Campground. Cowboy campground is a primitive area for equestrian camping. The park offers 4 modern cabins and 2 primitive yurts for rent. Campers may stay at any one of the campgrounds for up to 14 consecutive days. FREE WIFI is available at the park office/parking lot. A Boat Dock with 16 slips located at the East Boat Ramp can be rented through the Ike Store. Ike's Shelterhouse is excellent for hosting family reunions within the Jones Family Activity Area. There is a playground, basketball court and horseshoe pits close by. Other recreational facilities include a swimming beach, sand volleyball court, picnic shelters, an 18-hole disc golf course, a 19 target walk through archery trail, kids fishing pond and a fly fishing pond. Visit Ike's General Store located at Doud Campground to pay your campground fees, purchase souvenirs, rent kayaks/canoes and check out games. Eisenhower State Parks' Friends Group offers items you might have forgot at to bring from home. Ice and firewood for sale at Doud campground. Laundry facilities are available at the Doud shower building Eisenhower is also home to a burgeoning trails system for horseback riding, biking, hiking and archery. Crooked Knee Horse Trail offers equestrians a 20-mile excursion through the undeveloped west side of the park. Biking and hiking is available on the horse trail. The bike trail and 19 target walk through archery trail head is located in the Five-Star campground. Wildlife include white-tailed deer, eastern wild turkey, bobwhite quail, squirrels, furbearers, and waterfowl. Anglers seek walleye, crappie, sauger, white bass, and channel catfish. Two nine-lane boat ramps offer excellent access to Melvern Lake.
Overall it was a good experience. We came on a weekend with good weather and were able to reserve easily a couple days in advance. There were a few campers near to us that we could see but no one that was right next to us and we couldn't hear them at all.
Pros:
Access to "modern" toilets that flushed. While the one closest to us was closed (see cons) there was one a bit further, maybe another 4 minutes walk away that was open. It had a few stalls and were in decent enough condition.
PLENTY of wildlife. Bunnies, Racoons (and babies), PLENTY of deer, a possum.
Bugs - While I've been here in early July and the bugs made me want to scream, in late July it seems they are better or at least being more in the open helped. A few flies and mosquitos. Nothing too bad.
Cons:
Nice park in a beautiful setting. Only downside was the bugs were horrible here. Swarms of gnats and mosquitoes. The bathrooms were pretty dated too.
Camped out at site 13 for a real peaceful Saturday. Half of our group took the trail and hiked to the campsite, the other half got there by kayak/paddleboard. The site was very secluded and had a very interesting layout. Lots of hammock tree setups too.
Only real issue we had was there wasn’t a lot of flat ground. The tents we pitched were pretty close to the fire, and the biggest patch of flat ground was down wind from the fire.
Pros Off-season was quiet Open bathrooms were nice and well kept. Easy access to trails Lots of wildlife, vultures, deer, etc. Well marked and plenty of them spots Marina was a quick bike ride away and had a lot to offer during the season. Primate loops had some good spacing and tree cover, along with views of the lake. Inner loops not so much Potable water available year round. Was drinkable.
Cons Signs marked closed bathrooms but not the closest open bathrooms. One per campsite was still open with heat and electric. Weirdly all vaults were closed Office and hosts were unavailable so we had to leave for Casey's for firewood. While before the season, someone told us it's typically impossible to get firewood because the office is usually closed. Signs to the entrance to park and n avigation were pretty small, impossible to read at night, not lit. Electric parking pass only issued one day pass at a time. Would do the paper pass across the parking lot next time. Spacing is definitely a bit crowded for tent camping privacy this time of year. Will be curious to see how it feels in the summer/fall.
Nice to spend the night. Friendly staff and clean bath/shower facilities. Close proximity to the interstate does come with some traffic noise. Many retail options within a short drive.
Had to call numerous times to acully get thru. Asked about 6 weeks of staying. Inquired about long term. Was told that it would cost me $3400.00 to stay a mo th here. That's insane
We offer a perspective on RV camping "off peak" (late fall and early spring). This KOA has a nice eastern exposure for morning sun, and lots of pull through sites. On the downside, if you're sensitive to nearby road noise, there's a lot of Jake Brakes on I-70 which, at least in the absence of tree foliage, is all over the park.
The park is very quiet 7/26/22. My wife is working, and I am setting and listening to the soothing sounds of nature, and trying not to fall asleep. Lol, absolutely beautiful
It was busy and noisy up until quiet hours, super family friendly, the camp sites are quite large and spread apart. The showers & bathrooms were nice! Many spots to choose from, we were lucky to grab one with tree cover making it feel like we were really out in nature. Lovely park and campground.
This campground would get 5 stars for being family friendly and the activities they have for kids. 3 stars for grumpy old people who don’t like kids noises past 8pm, lol. Staff were pleasant and sites were level. Close together typical of KOA. Did not use the facilities. Wifi is marginal. Right off the interstate, so the truck noises were there Clean, safe, would stay again if passing thru.
Great place to stay, only down side- train horn. But we have been here 3 weeks. What train horn?
Beautiful campgrounds with so many activities available! The general store is super helpful, as they sell firewood and ice, and have kayak and canoe rentals. There are a few swim beaches, and plenty of sand to sit in and relax. Our actual campsite was great and came equipped with a firepit and picnic table, and we could walk to the lakeshore. We will be back!
We stayed overnight. Arrived late and left early. Bathrooms were clean and it did the job for an overnight stay.
Good overnight stay, we wouldn’t stay longer than that, but definitely a good a d convenient place for overnight. Bathrooms were clean, easy to get to from interstate.
Beautiful and tons of fun for our family and friends.
Great campground (Sunflower) The host's are friendly and knowledgeable of the area. The trees in the sites are small saplings, give them a few more years, and they will be nice.
The campground here is covered in trees, Awesome. We're in a Montana high country 384br, 41' fifth wheel. Its a beautiful park ,right on Pomona lake.
We stayed a week at Clinton State Park’s campground at site 92 in the middle of July with our two dogs.
Pros: The park itself is very big so the sites were pretty big which is always a big plus. Sites come with a picnic table and a fairly large fire ring which we unfortunately never got to enjoy because we were here during a heat wave (100+ almost every day). The park is also at a lake so there’s a beach access area where you can go and swim or just sit by the very large lake. There’s also a marina and boat ramps for anyone who has a boat, which we sadly did not. Of course, it’s important to mention this was one of the most affordable places we’ve ever stayed, granted, it was with a non sewer site but still.
Cons: The check-in situation was not very good. We received our site number upon reservation but we didn’t receive any instructions on when and where to check-in or if anyone would even be there to check us in. We also weren’t aware we’d have to pay for a parking pass for both our RV and towed vehicle which is normally $5/day but since we were there 7 days they gave us the annual passes which came out to $50 total for both vehicles. This one obviously most likely just has to do with the time of year we were here and it’s out of the park’s control but there were SO MANY BUGS especially at night. We hung our outside string lights like normal and, as you’ll see in the photos, they were absolutely swarmed with bugs. We’ve never seen so many bugs in one place, not even close. We also, as mentioned above, stayed at a W/E only site in the Prairie Clover Campground and each campground only has one dump station (2 total for the whole park) and the one for ours was closed for construction, which we were not made aware of, so we had to drive a pretty good distance to take our honey pot to the only one that was open. The bathrooms/showers were extremely hot because of no ventilation, had a lot of bugs, and the showers only give you one temperature and one pressure level, neither of which were great, and the lights in both are on a sensor and they went off within about 5 minutes of being in there and no matter how much you motioned it wouldn’t come back on so you’re stuck showering in the dark. Lastly, our Verizon service wasn’t very good, only about 2 bars of LTE. We both work full time remotely so this was concerning but luckily with our jet pack connected to an antenna we were able to get around 3 bars of LTE which was enough for us to work off of.
Overall: This is a nice, affordable state park/campground overall, not exactly the prettiest but it’s big and offers big sites and a large lake you can enjoy. It would have been much more enjoyable to stay during a cooler time of the year when there wasn’t so many bugs and on a site that had sewer (a non sewer site was our choice to be fair) so you didn’t have to worry about the dump station situation. Also not having wi-fi or great phone service was inconvenient but we had enough to make it work. We don’t plan to spend a whole lot of time in Kansas but if we came back through anytime that’s not spring or summer we’d definitely consider staying here again.
I was there for a few days on business and didn't maximize fun time. It was clean. I didn't use the facilities. I'd stay here again and explore. I was up against the lake. The front check-in person was nice.
Cool weekend at a great lake right before things turned green. Closed last year to redo the electric, enjoyed Site 181 at Scott Creek, west side of Hillsdale Lake.
Still a little cool and gray, but nice 60 degree weekend.
We stayed in one of the campgrounds with undesignated primitive spots. Found a nice place to park right on the lake. It was super quiet, being winter. Not too many primitive campers out.
Spent the weekend here and glad we had reservations prior as it was full even though it was the end of October and the weather wasn't the best. Close to Melvern and the railroad tracks so if the sound of trains all night isn't your thing, then pick somewhere else. Excellent clean restrooms and showers. Great views of the lake from many spots. Also good cell service. Only 8 miles from Lyndon where there are restaurants, gas and a dollar store although no grocery store.
Camp ground was very clean and the staff is very helpful! Drive you right to the campsite so no need to have to look for it. Pizza delivery a d wood was a nice touch. Laundry room was nice and easy to use. Everything is very close in the campground. Close to downtown
Enjoyed a nice cool weekend of fall camping. Site a little off level, nothing a few blocks or boards couldn’t solve. 30 amps of clean 122 vac, water tucked in between two pine trees that blocked the view of the sites to the left snd right of us. Large grassy field with playgrounds. Trails to take walks by the lake. Reasonable price.
It is full yet it says open on the site
Campgrounds are laid out well, but it can get loud at night. The park rangers have their hands full and they do a good job with settling disputes and quieting the rowdy campers.
The first time I drove my RV, I entered the KOA camp. I felt very good. The staff was very service attitude and the camp environment was also good! The bathroom is very clean and tidy!
Camping near Paola, Kansas, offers a mix of beautiful landscapes and family-friendly activities. Whether you're looking for a peaceful retreat or a fun-filled adventure, there are several campgrounds to explore in the area.
Camping near Paola, Kansas, has something for everyone, from families to RV enthusiasts. With a little planning, you can enjoy a great outdoor experience!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Paola, KS?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Paola, KS is Russel Crites - Hillsdale State Park with a 4.1-star rating from 15 reviews.
What is the best site to find glamping camping near Paola, KS?
TheDyrt.com has all 13 glamping camping locations near Paola, KS, with real photos and reviews from campers.
