Best Tent Camping near Alto, MI

We had a wonderful time at Holland State Park. We stayed for 5 nights. You must book early for the summer because sites fill up fast! We tent camped and stayed along Lake Macatawa. I would not recommend tent camping at Lake Michigan due to it is very sandy and not many trees. The bathrooms and showers were clean. The park also does very nice nature programs with the kids. We learned about the sand and did sand art. The campground is very nice for biking and is very close to Lake Michigan with little shops along the way.

The area is very nice in the summer due to the low humidity and nice beaches to go swimming or boating. We will stay here again!

no overnight stays or tent sites. 7 night minimum stay.

Went tent camped with electricity for 2 nights. Bathrooms and showers are nice. The park is safe enough for kids to bike around. The beach is clean and fun. We will definitely plan another visit!

A nice little campground. Great location if staying in the Lansing Area. Has full hook ups, and electric water, also tent sites with nnothing. Great pool area. Softball diamond that has tournaments on weekends a little early start for the full hook up sites. A couple ponds for fishing. People are very friendly.

Nice rustic campground with a beautiful lake view. Nice big fire rings. Vault toilet and water pump nearby. Some what level site but in the small side. Perfect for tent camping or a teardrop. Definitely nothing over 15'. Was able to park across from my site to maximize space.

Gorgeous little lake town just 8 miles away has a full grocery store and restaurants.

Campsites border the Deep Lake trail.

Hidden Ridge is a modern RV resort within 8 minutes of Gun Lake and sandwiched between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. There is no tent camping available at this location.

All sites include a concrete pad, fire ring and full hook-up. 120/150 amp

Lots of activities for the whole family. There is a pool, hot tub, bounce pillow, splash pad. Children’s activities are planned throughout the week and adult activities, as well.

Gun Lake is crystal clear meaning you can see the sand/pebble bottom. There is fun to be had on this nice-sized Lake.

Not far from Hidden Ridge is a race track that is busy each weekend with all manner of race cars.

This is a modern campground with full hook-ups and cement parking areas. It is a newer campground, so there is not an old-growth canopy shading the sites. Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. Some sites are pull-throughs. Tent camping is allowed, but most campers have RVs.

There is a bath house with good showers.

The park also has a lake with a beach, although I have never been in it.

This campground has a great location for people who want to visit Kalamazoo. One downside is that there are train tracks that run near the campground and sometimes the engines idle for extended periods at night.

My husband and I have been going to Newaygo State Park for over 20 years. We started out tent camping and now have a pop camper. The thing we love most about this campground is the spacious site and that it is truly rustic with vault toilets and hand pumped water. Our kids also love this campground. They get to explore by themselves and there is plenty for them to do and keep busy. There is a playground, hiking trails, swimming area, geocaching, fishing, kayaking but the best part is the disc golf course. We spend a lot of time playing on the disc golf course. Have fun and just enjoy the outdoors.

If you want seclusion away from the parking lot atmosphere down the road at Yankee Springs this is your place. There is much more space at each campsite and lots of old growth trees. The sites over looking Deep Lake are wonderful if you can snag one. This is a rustic campground and they have NO electricity or water and many are smaller tent sites. But the peace and quiet is great. You are just a short drive away from Yankee Springs and Gun Lake with the huge beach, plus you are basically right on the NCT and have access to miles of hiking and biking trails. This is a great campground if you don’t mind “roughing it”.

This is a  membership campground.  It is a few miles from Kalamazoo MI and it a beautiful area.  Really does need to be updated.  Not all campsites are full hook ups.  If you are looking for a great tent area around the lake this is it.  You can fish, play and just enjoy yourself.  They have areas for the kids to play and for adults to relax.  

The Facilities need to be updated, no laundry and no internet.  The campsites are a good size but those we found are not very level.  I love the option of walking around the campground as there are up and down and one really big huge hill.  They need to fix there entry parking lot or you will get lost in the huge pot hole.  I would go back as it is a Coast to Coast and it is OK for $10 a night. 

The area the campsite is located is a great country area and is very wooded.  

If you have a family and like to fish it is a great place for you.  If you like tent camping go for it.  If you like amenties like laundry and level sites find another one.

The Allendale KOA is a perfect spot for GR residents looking to have a nice camping getaway without having to drive out too far. The owner and his family are wonderful, and they’ve got a decent shop set up for anything you need while there.

Office hours have a split between open times so the family can have dinner together, but we had no issue checking in late while they were temporarily closed(I’d just recommend calling ahead so they’re aware).

We do not have kids, but we noticed a ton of activities for them so parents will love this place!

Tent sites are perfectly spacious and it’s a nice wooded area to just sit and look at the stars at night. Firewood is available for purchase at a reasonable price.

My singular complaint (and it isn’t even a huge gripe) is the bathrooms. The women’s stalls have no locks on them (not a huge deal as they aren’t typically busy), and the toilet paper is so thin it tears as soon as you grab a piece. I assume this is likely to keep it septic friendly, but I definitely recommend bringing some wipes and a trash bag instead for your own comfort.

Overall we love it here and plan on being frequent visitors!

I stayed in a friend's camper with my son for several nights in late September. The campground is very nice! The sites were large enough that it could hold a large camper and two vehicles easily.  Some of the sites are a little uneven (the camper needed wood blocks underneath it so that the wheels weren't off the ground after leveling.

There are nice firepits and the firewood is cheap! 8 large pieces for $6, a wheelbarrow full of tinder for another $6. Bring a hatchet or axe because the wood pieces are huge!

There is a large beach with playground equipment, kayak and boat rentals (although those were closed due to COVID.

Modern bathrooms with showers, but honestly I never needed to use them (we had the trailer).

There are a few downsides:

1. Because it's so close to Grand Rapids and some other cities, it typically is full on the weekends. Booking a site can be troublesome. Our friends booked the site from Tuesday through Monday and it was totally full on Friday and Saturday night.

2. The lake is effectively a plate, so don't expect to do much fishing from shore. The water is incredibly shallow. (But that makes for a very nice beach!)

Overall, I wouldn't tent camp here simply because of the crowds on the weekend, but I'm glad I went. If you have a trailer and like the camping community, you would like this. If you're looking to get away from people for a while, keep looking. This isn't for you.

I would not recommend camping here. While the campground was nice, with quite a few nice activities for kids, the area was clean and quiet while we stayed there and our location was nice in a wooded area. There were a few permanent campers or people living at the KOA which didn't take away from our experience. The bathrooms were nice but could use some small updates. 

I wouldn't recommend people stay here unless they can avoid one member of staff, who we were informed is the owner's mother. We had an easy check-in and set up, upon arriving back at the campsite late Friday evening we noticed we could not find our parking placard and decided to get a new one once the office opened in the morning. Unfortunately, when my partner took our car to use the bathroom facilities next to the main office before going into the main office. The owner's mother was next to our vehicle began berating and accusing him of "coming off the street to use their bathrooms". He apologized for the placard not being up and repeatedly explained to her that we were staying at the campground until Sunday and were coming in to get a replacement. This woman continued to accuse him of lying and followed him extremely close to the main office and then re-issued our placard. This location is rural and I find it surprising that anyone would go out of their way to use their bathrooms or that this would be such a contentious issue. 

We have never been treated so poorly or made to feel like criminals trespassing at a campground. It made the rest of our stay very uncomfortable especially every time this woman would drive by on her golf cart and her home was very close to the tent sites. If we were not leaving the next morning we would have left this campground immediately. After reading other Google reviews this seems to be a reoccurring issue with this individual and I would recommend reading those reviews as well before choosing to stay here. The other staff was kind and professional however this woman seems to be a continual issue.

Campground is located directly along the beach. Some would like this but I prefer some shade here and there. Sand doesn't provide the best place to hold a tent down in windy conditions. A decent offering in West Michigan.

We camped at Holland State Park for the 4th of July. This was our second time camping here. There are two campgrounds - Lake Macatawa & Beach. We were at the Lake Macatawa Campground. It's right across the street from Macatawa and about a 10 minute walk from a great Lake Michigan beach. Most sites were plenty big enough to fit two vehicles, two tents, and still have room to cook & play yard games. There are campsites along the main campground road that are wooded and have some privacy. The rest are pretty wide open, so you won't have anything separating you from your neighbors. I'm pretty sure all campsites had electrical hookup - Ours had 50A... not sure about the others.

The restrooms & showers were clean and functioning properly, and even though the campground was completely booked, we never had to wait for either. Ice & firewood is sold at the campground office for a reasonable price.

Alcohol is prohibited at the campground, but there's a great local restaurant & bar about 100 feet from the entrance with a good beer selection & GREAT lake perch. Right across the street is a little beach area on Lake Macatawa with parking & easy access to launch a canoe or kayak. The Lake Michigan beach is a short bike ride or walk away. This is where the park's Beach Campground is, and it is only about 100 yards from the beach.

There's a paved bike trail that goes all the way from the beach to downtown Holland. It's about 15 minutes in a car, so be prepared if you plan on biking it.

Overall a great campground for the summer months, and I know for sure we will be returning in the future.

This is a tough park to get into in the warm months. The back up to get in is crazy. The staff at the booths move things along, but the cars were still backed up a mile.

 There are 2 campgrounds. The Lake Macatawa campground is across the street from a small beach on the Macatawa Lake. This is a wooded campground. The sites are pretty tight as is usual for a Michigan State Park. This is where you check in to camp here & at the beach campground. Don't forget or you'll have to turn around & come back! 

The best thing about the beach campground is it's closer to Lake Michigan & the campground has beach access. No dogs or bikes on the beach. Sounds good if it was actually enforced. We saw no one getting yelled at, so go ahead & do what you want! 

 The campground is surrounded by sand dunes on both sides.

 This campground is entirely on asphalt. You're not allowed to put anything on the sand- including tents! Crazy.

 There's no fire rings at the beach sites. Bring a portable if you want a fire.

 The interior sites up to the shower house have full hook up. All others are electric only. There's one restroom/shower house for the whole campground. The showers are individual & we had no trouble getting one in the late afternoon. They look recently remodeled & were SUPER clean!

   The best campsite is 348. This site gives you a good view of the beach outside your rig. Other good campsites are 347 & 349, but your door faces away from the beach.

 There are trees by the following campsites: 305/309/319/321/323/331. They won't give you a lot of shade, but they look nice.

 I would recommend getting a site North of the bath house. You have a shorter walk to the beach. There's a double dump station& that's where you also fill up your water tanks. There's also dumpsters there.

Grest family run campground. Friendly staff, nice sites, tent and RV. Dog friendly, kid friendly, quite relaxing fun tim.. cant wait to go back