Marquette Tourist Park Campground

General: A variety of different options ranging from rustic tent sites (10) to electric hookup only (57) to water and electric (4) to full hookup (39). 

Site Quality: Varies. Only the FHU sites on the perimeter have paved camper pads, all others are either dirt, grass, or a combo. The electric sites closest to the Dead River are, although wide and fairly deep, still in an open grassy area with very few trees so don’t count on shade (this is especially true for sites 1-3, 6, and 11). The FHU sites are mostly very close together with some trees but otherwise not much privacy/separation. IMO, the best sites are the electric sites opposite the FHU sites – they are very wooded, and this provides some amount of privacy between sites. 

Bath/Shower: Clean with soap and paper towels. Didn’t use the shower so cannot comment on it other than it looked clean. 

Activities/Amenities: There is a beach with what looked like a swimming area; although we understood there was a lifeguard on duty, we did not see one. We saw a boat go by, but I did not see a boat launch. There is somewhat dated playground. Free WiFi. 

We had originally planned to spend two nights here but ended up heading down the road the next day.

Came to town for Blues Fest. Basically, just slept there. Grounds were well maintained as was the restrooms and showers. Met the staff every morning finishing their daily cleaning. Showers had plenty of hot water. Has a family rest room and shower with changing table and handicap accessible shower in addition to men and women restroom/showers. Had lots of shady campsites. Sites have electric but no water hook-ups, picnic table and firepit. Has WIFI, and I had no problem using my Verizon service.

Park has a day beach on a small adjacent lake. Campground bit more populated than campgrounds where I normally stay, but quiet. Also has access to numerous biking opportunities. Well suited for family camping. Didn't encounter any insect problems.

I was there Labor Day weekend. My site cost $40. per night which was a bit more than I'm used to spending but I was surprised to even get reservation so close to a holiday weekend.  

Check-in is at 3:00, You can check-in early for an additional $10. fee, Checkout is at noon.

Bottom line is I think the Tourist Park is good enough for RVers, tent campers might not enjoy themselves. You’ll see why below.

The sites are very oddly sized and shaped; some are massive and some are teensy tiny, and it’s difficult to figure out the boundaries of your site when setting up. For example, I’m almost positive our neighbors ended up putting their tents on our site which was a bit awkward. Be mindful of this when booking.

The campground backs up to what I believe is the public works department for Marquette, so you will likely hear some heavy machinery noise. Again, something to keep in mind when picking your site. It didn’t really bother me in my RV, but it might bother tent campers.

Possibly the thing that bothered me most about the campground is it appears to be run primarily by teenagers and/or college kids. No campground host. We had a few noisy neighbors and the aforementioned neighbors camping on OUR site issue, and I didn’t bother to address them because I knew we’d have no one with any real sway to back us up. There was also no one enforcing arrival times, checkout times, quiet hours, etc. so it can stay loud late into the night and you’re largely relying on your neighbors to behave themselves.

What’s good about the campground is a lot of the sites have abundant shade (but not all! Again, choose carefully), there is a playground (it’s very old and possibly unsafe though), it has great access to trails, there’s a beach, and the bathrooms were impeccably clean.

It’s certainly not what I’d call a great campground, but it does the trick.

This campground is in Marquette, near Northern Michigan University. But once you're camped there, you won't feel like you're in one of the largest cities in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 

The sites are generally spacious and they have a lot of options to choose from based on what rig you have and how you like to camp. They have tent sites that are non-electric, about 100 RV sites with just electric, and another 38 sites that have water and sewer hookups. They even have some sites that are pull-through. They also offer a dump station and potable water for folks that don't have the full hookup sites. 

The campground is adjacent to a municipal park that has a beach. The campground also offers sites that overlook Dead River Basin. The sites aren't paved, so rainy days could lead to some mud to deal with, but the nice stand of trees and the basin view can make up for it. There also are some sites that are tucked into the trees quite a bit for additional privacy. Because you're near a major UP city, you have access to plenty of shopping and services if you need them, plus there is great (Verizon) cellular service in the campground. The park wifi is a bit weak depending on where you are at in relation to the office, but we used our wifi booster and had smooth sailing for our jobs all day long. 

The bathroom and shower facilities seem older but also appeared to be clean and functioned well. There weren't very many showers, so if you need to use one you may need to wait for it. 

All-in-all a decent campground that serves as a perfect oasis in an area where there aren't any state parks to choose from. We also liked that when they close the office at night, they print out a map with all the reserved sites, so if you show up without a reservation, you can quickly check the map to find an open site. Then you just get some rest and register at the office in the morning.

One great thing about this park is the location and how close it is to downtown Marquette and Lake Superior. The campground can tend to feel a bit crowded in the summer and on weekends but there are not many campgrounds in town so you may have to put up with crowds for convenience. We didn’t have reservations and could not get a spot for the weekend but sites did open up during the week. The park offers great water access for fishing, swimming and paddling plus there are many other amenities like a playground, ball fields, trails, picnic areas, etc. Another plus is the paved bike path that runs by the campground and leads downtown (about a 10-minute bike ride) and along the waterfront. 

There are a mix of sites from those fitting the largest of RVs to tent sites. Lots of tall trees provide shade but this can make for some crazy maneuvering with large rigs.  Be aware if you are a large RV with tow car that many sites are not long enough so be specific how long you are when you reserve a site. The park is dated and in need of some work so there are potholes in the roads and not all sites are level. Many sites in the RV hookup areas are sandy/dirt especially when campers put our patio mats and park vehicles wherever they want.  The hook-ups are not laid out conveniently on some sites which requires extra hoses and electric cords. There is WiFi in the campground but does not pick up well in all areas of the park – it just depends where you are but works well at the office. Our television antenna picked up a dozen or so channels including the major networks. Verizon 4G was strong and our hotspot worked great. 

There was a sign posted mentioning there were reported break-ins and people should lock up their belongings. We found this a little disturbing because you normally don’t see this in campgrounds. It also appeared that some campers were not well-versed on camping etiquette throwing trash in fire pits, walking through others campsites, and leaving garbage all over their sites.