The Dyrt is here to help plan your best camping near Central Lake. Aside from great camping spots, you'll find hiking and many more outdoor experiences. Thinking of traveling with kids? You're in luck—Central Lake is surrounded by family-friendly activities. At The Dyrt, campers like you share their favorite spots, plus tips and photos. No matter where you're headed in Central Lake, you'll find the best spot for you and your camping crew.
$20 / night
"Close to town Fire pits No hook up at the tent sites"
"Our campsite was feet away from Lake Michigan- practically on the shoreline! Going to bed and waking up to the lapping of the waves is something you can’t miss here."
"Very friendly staff and clean park. Family friendly and pet friendly, beach was close by and clean. Reservations were very easy to make online and allows you to pick your site."
"The facilities were clean and the grounds themselves were a pleasure to walk around. The camp store was the best stocked one I’ve seen yet."
"This is a cute little campground located in Central Lake. Many of the water sites are very close together, but it offers you access to the lake for fishing, paddling and more."
"Located on Intermediate lake within walking distance of a grocery store and a ice cream parlor that servers Moomers ice cream."
$45 - $60 / night
"Great sites with electric and water. Dump on site, very clean bathrooms and helpful staff. The campground has great Elk Lake access and some sites have views of the lake."
"The park itself is positioned on a hillside next to a lake. We had a site at the top of the hill which I recommend."
$60 - $260 / night
"There is a camp store, turbo bikes, a variety of family activities, a pool, playground, bike park, equipment and rentals, laundry facility, cabins, cottages, and yurts for rent."
"Staff was all Great. Had a well stocked camp store."
"The park is run by the City of Petoskey and sits on 21 acres in downtown Petoskey overlooking Lake Michigan. "
"It is a municipal campground so we didn't expect much but the access to the Little Traverse Wheelway and views of Lake Michigan were awesome - and full hook ups for the price was great. "
"All sites have picnic tables but not all have fire pits (if you have your own you are allowed to use it). "
"Each RV site comes with water and electrical hook-ups and many with sewer hook-ups as well."
"They did a great job with the trick or treating by shutting down all vehicle traffic and by having a site decorating contest. And we got second place so they gave us a nice goodie bag."
"The staff was the friendliest we have ever come across. Within 10 minutes of someone leaving they were on the site cleaning up, making sure it was ready for the next camper."
"We sat at the gate for a min trying to find a place to go to when a staff member showed up on his scooter."
"Nice staff. Close to Petoskey"
GuideThis is a cute little campground located in Central Lake. Many of the water sites are very close together, but it offers you access to the lake for fishing, paddling and more. There is a little creek that runs through and the playground for kids is actually next to the campground. There is a boat launch conveniently located next to the campground. Bathrooms are decent. Walking distance from a cute little northern Michigan town. Look at the campground map online because there are more sites up on the hill. It’s a very quiet campground.
LegendOne nite stay in cabin. Cabin had electricity, mini fridge, electricity and bunk beds. Only complaint was cabin was close to fairly busy road.
TravelerI've been there several times. This campground has been around a long time and is well known by motorcyclists in Michigan. It's located behind their motorcycle repair shop. It's not a fancy campground, but it is a bargain at $10. The northern loop has electric outlets. The southern loop is rustic camping (groups usually camp there). Restrooms, showers and a pavilion. Pay the $10 at their shop. If the shop is closed either someone will come around or you can settle up in the morning. Firewood available on site. Village is 1.5 miles away to get supplies.
LegendThis park has some strong positives that outweigh the negatives so depending on what really annoys you about a campground determines whether you may or may not like this place. The park is run by the City of Petoskey and sits on 21 acres in downtown Petoskey overlooking Lake Michigan. Petoskey has a really cool downtown with great restaurants (we liked Beard’s Brewery, Palette Bistro, and Grand Traverse Pie Company), shopping, a free art center (Crooked Tree), parks, and a pretty marina with a scenic breakwater lighthouse. If you have never been to this part of Michigan, you should definitely come for a visit.
The campground is very popular because of the price and location with about 1/3 of the park occupied by seasonal or monthly rentals of people that have been coming for many years. There are 71 sites which can be used for RVs or tents. Roads are paved and sites are grass/sand. There are fire pits and picnic tables at each site and a nice large grassy area in the front of the park near Lake Michigan with multiple picnic tables in a common space.
There are many positive attributes of this park. The location of this park could not be better and the price of $30/night (water, sewer, 30 amp electric; $28 for electric and water only) is a great deal. (Especially because other private campgrounds in the area are easily $60+/night in the summer season.) They have free wifi that worked well and we were able to get over-the-air antenna television channels. You are really in a prime location with Lake Michigan in front of you. Many of the sites in this park have a great view of the lake (especially sites 1-16). Running through the park is the Little Traverse Wheelway which is a paved bike path spanning from the cute towns of Charlevoix to Harbor Springs. (If you don’t have a bike with you there are plenty of rental places nearby.)
Now for the negatives. The bathroom/shower houses are old and tired but were clean. The park sits between a hospital and water treatment plant, one of which can be smelly on warm days the other of which has a very loud HVAC system generating lots of noise. The park is located close to the busy road M-31 so there is a bit of road noise. The sites are very close together so there is not much privacy. The park is open to day-use and has a heavily used bike path running right through it so there are lots of people coming and going.
TravelerWe stayed for a quick overnight and wish we could have stayed longer. If we stayed again - we’d pick site 101. Little more privacy than the rest. We stayed at 137 which backed up to the woods which was lovely. This is a very bustling and full campground with lots of groups and families. Lot’s of kids on bikes. We were surprised to see a group with a full bar right out front on their site. We’re used to Texas parks where that would NOT fly😆 But everyone respected the quiet hours so we had no noise issues at night. Easy access to the water from everywhere thanks to groomed paths. Nice long but narrow sandy beach great for the kids to swim. Busy but very fun place to camp!
TravelerLove the park per my first review on lot 145.
Lot 188 area very tight with campfires and neighbors septic connection near your vehicles. The hookups and fire pit layouts don’t make sense….we didn’t have a fire thought it was too close to neighbors trailer.
GuideGreat sites with electric and water. Dump on site, very clean bathrooms and helpful staff. The campground has great Elk Lake access and some sites have views of the lake. Well kept, ice and firewood for sale on site.
GuideThis KOA is just south of Traverse City and very centrally located to all that makes this area so awesome! Wineries, Sleep Bear Dunes, golf courses, and of course downtown Traverse City. This campground is very well laid out and easy to maneuver any size rig. The front part of the campground is very well shaded, however, many sites are only a few feet away from M37, which can get noisy from the traffic. The back half of the campground is a little more open, but most sites are still partially shaded. The owners and staff are very friendly and accommodating. Fire wood and ice are available and they will deliver right to your site. As the caption says, great family campground. If you have kids, this is the place for you! With that being said, here is why I gave a four star rating.....we were asked promptly at 10pm to turn our music off, which wasn’t loud at all. Beyond our campsite it could not be heard at all. They have what they call a strict 10pm-8am quiet hours. At 7am there were at least 8-10 kids riding bikes and scooters all over the campground and nothing was said. I appreciate a them having policies and creating a place for families to make memories, but please enforce those policies for everyone. Oh, and one last thing....they are very pet friendly! I have never seen a campground with so many dogs! Ours had a blast!
RangerIt is a municipal campground so we didn't expect much but the access to the Little Traverse Wheelway and views of Lake Michigan were awesome - and full hook ups for the price was great. It has a small bathhouse and the sites are pull-though with back to back setup (so utilities are at the same post as one of your neighbors) but we scored that the 2 sites in front of us cancelled (it was wet, cold, windy and in general miserable weather but we lucked out day 2 and got a bike ride in to Petoskey State Park and a stop at Burnt Marshmallow Brewing before rain rolled back in) so we had a big open space for the kids to bike around on and allowed a view of the lake.
link on The Dyrt doesn't work - try this:
https://www.petoskey.us/departments/parks\_and\_recreation/campground.php
PROS: was really quiet, our neighbor is a regular and was extremely friendly and helpful. The bike path to Petoskey State Park is right in front of the campground and takes you by the harbor and can branch off into town too. Really close to downtown (which we did not explore but looks really nice). We originally planned on staying at the state park but the campsite was half closed due to construction (so it will probably be really nice next year) but this worked out great. Full hook ups on long pull thru sites for the price was great. Firewood was available at the check-in kiosk and there is a playground on site. Bathhouse with showers. Less than 1 hour from Mackinac Island. I read mentions of the hospital noise and while trucks unloading during the day was noticeable during the day, we didn't hear anything from there at night - the camp ground did have a transformer that was loud the first night but it was fixed by the next night.
CONS: it is no-frills and could be packed in during summer, but that should be acceptable for the price if you are looking for an easy base camp with access to everything in Petoskey. The bathhouse was clean but dated. The campsites look like they did not get a lot of cleanup - I filled a grocery bag full of trash from our site and the 3 open ones next to us.
Ideal site would probably be as close to the lake as possible - the road in front is not travelled much since it dead ends at the campground. There was a city facility at the end but it was not open on the weekend and we were told is pretty quiet when it is open.
NOTE: This was our first MI campground as part of out trip from GA to MN via TN-KY-IN-MI-WI-northern MN before staying in MSP for a week, then return via MN-IA-MO-IL-KY-TN-Home.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Central Lake, MI?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Central Lake, MI is Leelanau State Park Campground with a 4.7-star rating from 36 reviews.
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TheDyrt.com has all 37 glamping camping locations near Central Lake, MI, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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