Best Tent Camping near Dowagiac, MI

After camping in Maryland it was nice to have a large more inviting spot. Perfect for tent camping. Camp store has all you need. The dunes are epic and swimming in Lake Michigan was great. Have returned many times and is our go to park.

Tent sites are all in one cleared area that is a short walk from the parking spots. I had the place to myself as it was Labor Day Monday night. Showers and bathrooms were clean. Pool looked nice. Best part is that it’s a 3 minute drive to a public beach with great swimming and a beautiful sunset. Owners and staff are kind and I think there’s a little store and bar on site. $20 per tent site.

I prefer this campground a lot more compared to the state park one, especially if tent camping. They have a section of walk in sites that are nicely spread apart, while still only being a few minutes walk to parking and the shower house.

took my son on a father son camping trip! normaly i would bring my 32 foot camper but we roughed it for the weekend and tent camped. sites were smooth and level and well taken care of. lots of nice walking and biking trails and a big electric motor only fishing lake and nice beach.

Stayed sept 2022, $30 tent site (no electric). Its $40 with electric. Arrived after office hours, campground gated, but host was super friendly and helpful! The grounds are immaculate. Bet it's very popular in summer. Beautiful place, wish I could have stayed a lot longer.

RV Sites are stacked on each other. We chose 306 and it was ok by the pond. No misquitos. Our friends had 310 and there was barely room to put their awning out. Lots of kids, pool full on the weekends. Good thing it's close to Bonnieville Park. The tent sites looked nice. Wifi is very slow. Verizon 2 bars

You gotta love Indiana dunes national lakeshore! A quick drive from chicago this campsite is a real good place to get away from the city and enjoy the outdoors. It’s one of my favorite places to go within an hour’s drive. The campsite has everything you need. Modern bathrooms and showers, running water. Good for tent camping. It’s clean and a quick drive to a quiet beach at Beverly Shores. I highly recommend!

Stayed here 2 nights in the group tent camping area. Plenty of space to spread out and good firepits. Love the secure entrance and key card access. Pool and bathrooms were clean, although the bathroom could use a slight update. The only complaint of the weekend of the garbage pickup at 11pm, very loud, and the fireworks being set off until after midnight (outside of the campground so out of campgrounds control). Will definitely be back if we are in the area!

...although you probably wouldn't want to camp in the Indiana winter. I grew up coming here mostly to sled on the hills! But, there is a lot more to do. It surrounds Worster Lake and there are cabins, RV sites, and tent sites along with horse trails and bike trails. In the winter, there's sledding hills and ice fishing. The campgrounds are pretty standard, nothing special. If you live in the area, it's a fine little getaway.

Although this campground has great amenities, a pool, clean showers, and good sites/cabins, it is hard to book. If you know you are going to come to this area and camp, you need to book it a while in advance. I have used a pop-up and there was good space between campers. When I tent camped, we had a great spot near the cafe, the showers are amazing over there, they are more secluded. Our tent spot had electric, water, picnic table and fire ring. We camped on the grass and there is gravel to park your car. This campground is a perfect place to stay when visiting surrounding towns and going to the beach.

Don’t forget to go to Sherman’s!!

There was a forecast or rain, don’t mind the tarp

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.

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.

I stopped here with my dog for the night. The semi-modern or tent sites have okay privacy. Some sites like 18 and 19 (where I stayed) share space so those sites would be great for groups. Could hear the traffic from the local highway but it wasn't too bad, I still slept well. The grounds were prettt empty but I was there on a Tuesday night before Labor Day.

The dunes and dog beach were perfect for Clutch to expel energy after a long drive.

These grounds would be perfect for a night or two or if you have a larger group.

FYI: Vault toilets

We brought a large group of friends to tent camp in this camp ground and it was great! We loved the safety of the park, the community around us, and the facilities offered were exactly what we needed. The bath and shower house was a little dirty most of the weekend but given that the campground was full the whole weekend, I am sure the bathrooms got a lot of traffic. There isn’t many trees on the sites so if you are hammock camping, I would suggest not camping here for risk that there aren’t two trees a good distance together. The staff was very friendly and the camp store had just enough supplies. Not too many things, just the necessary stuff.

This was a nice campground right on the Kal Haven Trail - about 4 miles from South Haven. The RV camping is in a circle in the center of the campground near the bathhouse with cabins and tent camping on the perimeter. There were some very nice woods with paths leading to the Kal Haven and around the campground. 

It was so convenient to be able to bike ride, hike, or run on the trail that I hesitate to offer any critique - but I will. The sites and the roads in the campground are all dirt so while we were there it was exceptionally dusty. I could imagine that when they have a lot of rain, it is exceptionally muddy. 

Check out the blue stairs beach at Lake Michigan (accessible in South Haven), Barden's Market for fresh baked goods and vegetables, the Depot for sandwiches, wine and beer, and 3 Blonds Brewery - good food and beer.  In addition to the Kal Haven, you can access the Van Buren State Park Trail in South Haven. It is a 4-mile paved trail running from South Haven to the Van Buren State Park.