Best RV Parks & Resorts near Ellsworth, MI

Great layout, nice level sites, super peaceful. We stayed on the RV Park side not the RV Resort, the sites were quite large, well shaded and spaced a good amount apart. Wonderful location to the dunes. And Glen Haven beach is just up the road, the beach is large, parking can be a pain but the water is AMAZING! We spent a whole day on the beach and playing in the water. Staff was also very nice and helpful with any questions we had. Another bonus If you’re doing long trips is they have a coin operated laundry room, this was our second stop on a 9 day trip and it was nice to get all our laundry caught up before we got home.

This campground has two sides, the campground which accommodates tents, campers and RVs. Also they have small cabins. They offer full hookups as well as 30 & 50 amp service.  Nice shower and bathroom facilities, coin laundry, pool, and camp store. The other side is the “luxury RV Resort” with concrete pads, grass, ponds and lots of greenery. Very upscale.

We had a great experience at the RV resort. We stayed on both sites 44 and 4 and both were very nice stamped concrete pads with full hookups. Gorgeous landscaping. The lodge is very nice with a full kitchen, two full private bathrooms, lounge area and a covered outdoor patio complete with a full size gas grill.

Close to Empire and Glen Arbor! We would stay here again!

We camped in a 40’ motor coach for a week. Site is gravel and dirt. It is a pull through site that required us to do quite a bit of leveling. The hookups are rather far away so we needed extensions. Our site required us to pull through in such a way that the hookups were on the opposite side of our coach. They only have 15 full hookup sites and none were available for our time frame. They have several long term tenants. Roads are narrow but most sites are ample. They have a pump out service twice a week for $10 each time. Bathrooms, showers and laundry available and are clean and nice. Staff is kind, helpful and knowledgeable. Pool is heated. Wifi is through a third party and very inexpensive at $2 a day. Very family friendly with lots of children. Campground is clean and well maintained.

While it was pricey at $65 night, we had a very spacious full hookup site within easy walking distance of pool. Shower house was very nice and modern, with 4 shower stalls. Full coin laundry was helpful too! They had kids activities over the 4thof July weekend, and our kid loved it. The KOA is about a 5 min drive to Otsego Lake and the state park, where there's a nice beach and easy lake access. There's also a newly paved bike trail right by the lake for you to log some miles on. Nearby towns of Gaylord and Boyne provided us with plenty to do, and only a couple hours to get to Sleeping Bear sand dunes. We thought this place was worth the expense- big, flat, level sites with fire pit and full hook up. Nice pine trees and plenty of space for kids to play. Did not like the additional fee for kid to get wrist band for jump pillow and mini gold, but did it anyways.

My kids LOVED this place. Pool and endless loops of biking. We’re new to having a trailer, and we found the sites easy to back into. Some lanes are more wooded than others — the water/electric (NOT full hook-up) sites feel less exposed, as do those that back up to the horse field. Pricey, yes, but that’s the whole area.

Full hook up great beach and fishing!

This is a great location for a campground. Close to Sleeping Bear Dunes, hiking trails, biking trails, and canoeing/kayaking on the river. It’s back off the road a ways so it’s quite and it is well maintained and clean. There are 2 sides to this campground: one is your standard RV campground and the other is a luxury RV resort for class A motor homes and 5th wheels only. A couple of things that we really liked about the campground is they have daily trash pick up at your site and they have a food truck at the campground. The pool was very clean and well maintained. A couple of things we didn’t care for is outside of the pool and a small playground there wasn’t really much for kids to do. There were no planned activities or anything. I also found it odd that even though Covid restrictions have eased up they are still operating under a lockdown. There store was window service only. If you did want to go inside someone had to unlock the doors for you and you were required to wear a mask. Other than we had an enjoyable stay here.

Definitely a campground full of long term, retired RVers, but that being said everyone is very nice and the beach is right there! Downtown is also just a few minute walk away, but it's still quiet. We were only here to stay somewhere for one night real quick, and the bathrooms were clean, the wifi was great, and the guy in charge was lovely.

This is a beautiful campground right on the straits of Mackinaw. They’ve recently added several sites with full hook ups and some just for tents that feel like they’re rigt on the beach. The older areas are going to be updated over the next couple years so we’ll see what they come up with. There are several rustic cabins available to stay. Some for large groups, and others more isolated in the park for smaller groups. Before memorial day and after Labor day its quite easy to find a site. Durig the main season, you’ll defintely want to reserve a site as they fill up quickly.

Our site was $65.63 a night. (This was the average after receiving one night free for staying a week).

We were in Site# 4A (premium site). We had Full hook- up with a blacktop pull-through.
We travel towing a 14 foot trailer and were able to fit both in our pull through site along with my jeep.
The site was easy to level.

Our site was not shaded with limited trees. This was a smaller lot with our neighbors fairly close.

The lot comes with a concrete patio with picnic table. There was not a fire ring since only propane fires are allowed.

There is free WiFi. They do not offer Cable TV but there are many local channels.

There is an adult pub-style game room with poker tables, a large tv, a table shuffle board, air hockey game, foosball table, and board games. There is a community catering kitchen located in their activities center.

They do not provide garbage service at your site so you must walk to garbage dumpster. This can be a long distance for some.

You are allowed to ride personal golf carts. They also allow you to rent golf carts. It is beneficial to have a golf cart to get around since it is a large campground. We have our own e-bikes which helped.

They do have a large heated Swimming pool and an adults only hot tub. There is a fitness center.

They have quite a few ponds throughout the campground.

There is not a Playground. They offer pickleball courts.

There is not a general store nor snack bar/restaurant on site.

The streets are paved and good for riding bikes.

This is solely an RV park. They do not have any cabins to rent or any tent areas.

The showers are located in the activity center. These are typical stalls. There is a great area to hang clothes and store your toiletries in the shower stall. These are kept very clean.

There is a laundry facility. There are approximately 4 washers and 4 dryers. They allow you to use cash or an app. It is approximately $2.25 to wash and $2 to dry a load.

They do not have a fenced in dog park. There are areas to walk dogs though.

Bugs/gnats were a small issue and bug spray was needed.

There is supposedly a mowed trail to hike off of the campground (about 3 miles) but I was unable to locate it.

Some fun things to do outside of the campground are the shops (Front Street) & water activities in Traverse City, the local wineries/vineyards, and the DNR Outdoor Shooting range (5 miles away & free to the public). We ate at Yankee Boy where all of the locals hangout. Excellent food (no alcohol served).

This is a nice KOA with nice facilities and amenities. We camped there in the July and our first impression when we drove in was “wow, this place is busy!” It is a very family-friendly park and you feel like every other site is having a family reunion with so many people at each site.

We were assigned a pull-thru in a spot where most of the campers were transients. (There is another section that appears to be most of the seasonal campers.) Getting to the site in our RV was a little tricky because of all the trees and cars parked everywhere. The site was level, paved and had a paved patio and was full hook-up with cable and WiFi (which worked well at our site).

The park is a typical KOA with tons of amenities and things going on. We chose not to use the pool because it was overrun with kids and seemed way too small for the number of people in the park. There is an off-leash dog park but it was pretty small for our lab to get a good run in. The laundry was nice and clean but a bit expensive $2.25 per load. When we checked in the staff raved about the onsite KOA café’s pizza but we didn't try it. 

The park is very convenient to downtown Petoskey but the traffic on Hwy. 31 can be horrible at peak times. It is also close to Petoskey State Park and the Oden State Fish Hatchery (which has trails and a great place to visit). There are lots of breweries in the area, a great farmers market, and really good restaurants. We personally loved Beards Brewery, Palette Bistro, and the Crooked Tree Bakery. There is a great paved biking trail located nearby that runs from Charlevoix to Harbor Springs.

Situated just a few miles from the village of Lake Leelanau is this truly immaculately kept, family-owned and operated RV park. More than half the sites are occupied by very friendly permanent, seasonal residents who have been coming up every season for 15-20 years, but there are plenty of sites for those seeking to stay for a short time as well. Many of these “transient” sites are close to the lake shore -- most are paved sites, but there are a handful of all grass sites, and some are right on the lake front. All have electrical hook-ups.

The bathrooms are absolutely immaculate and each family bathroom includes a toilet, sink, and shower. There is a very nice laundry room with multiple washers and dryers. In addition, there are tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts, shuffle board, and horseshoe behind the office. You can also rent boats or park your own at their sizable marina.

Hands-down, the most unique thing about this campground is the concert pipe organ installed in a private home on the property! The owner of the RV park is a pipe organ enthusiast and opens his home throughout the summer months for concerts. If you have never been to a pipe organ concert, you must go at least once in your life. Here’s a link to more info: https://lakeleelanaurvpark.com/pipe-organ-summer-concert-schedule/

Lake Leelanau is a large enough lake to spend the day exploring, but protected enough for swimming, kayaking, small sailboats, and paddle boarding. Lots of great fishing, cycling, and hiking in the area, too. The campground is located in the heart of wine country, with about 6 vineyards/wineries within 15-20 minutes (all with tasting rooms) and just a short drive to Leland’s historic fishing village. Dick’s Pour House (Lake Leelanau Village) makes some awesome pizza and the Cheese Shanty (in Leland’s historic fishing village) has unbelievable sandwiches. You could stay all season and not be able to do/see all there is on the Leelanau Peninsula!

Prices depend on the type of site (regular, premium, or lake front) and how long you are planning to stay.

This campground is huge with many sites to choose from. We traveled with two other families and chose to stay on the Lake View (Mackinaw Bridge not visible). For our families these were the best sites because they are on the water with beach sand. If you choose to stay on the side with the bridge view the shore line is rocky. We stayed in sites 176-178 and all three were spacious. Unfortunately, not full hook up but good for water and electric. Another perk of staying in these sites is you are a short walk away from the bath houses (private and clean), the playground, pool, and camp store. The camp store is one of the nicest I have been in. It is stocked with all of your camping wants & needs. If you choose to visit Mackinaw Island there is a shuttle van (free) that comes to the campground and will transport you and your bikes to the ferry. We had a wonderful stay at this campground and would definitely recommend the sites we stayed in and any on the beach front.

Visited in Fall. Camped in lake front site (419); the lake being right by the campsite was nice. However, very little privacy nor trees in this area. Wide open camping - more like RV park camping. Not at all what I had hoped. Fire pits do not have cooking rack so bring own. Beach for walking very nice with water level down. Drove to Piping Plover nesting area-that was beautiful. Seven very remote rustic cabins in beautiful areas. Some right on water. October 18th they close modern bathrooms and most water spigots, so have to get water at Camp office. 20 miles of hiking trails. Headlands Dark Sky Park well worth the short drive; a Beautiful area. Gave 3 stars due to “RV Park” like campground. Otherwise rest of park 4-5 stars. More trees in back campground (not near Lake MI).

General: Nestled in between Lake Michigan, a waste-water treatment plant and a hospital is Magnus Park, a public city park and campground. 77 sites, 36 with full hookups, and the remainder with electric hookups. There is also one cabin. 

Site Quality/Facilities: The campground is laid out in typical RV park fashion with zero privacy between sites. Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. Although some of the sites have somewhat of a gravel or dirt driveway, mostly it seems like areas where the grass has just worn away. IMO, if you are not able to get Sites 3-16 or Sites A-C which face Lake Michigan, then the best sites would be the ones that back up to the trees. When we reserved many months ago, we were lucky to get one of two available sites, and ours did back up to the trees. Be aware that sites 61-68 back up directly to the hospital. Other than it being imposing and detracting from the feeling of camping, the only thing I found objectionable was more frequent loud sirens of ambulances arriving. On the other end of the campground, there are nine lettered sites (A-I) that are larger but are on a grassy area with no driveways or defined separation. These sites (as well as 18,19, 20, 22) are close to the wastewater treatment plant. When I walked by, I did not notice any offending odor, but other reviewers have said they did. I did, however, hear a humming noise emanating from the plant. By luck of the draw, the site NEXT to ours (51) flooded significantly with heavy rains overnight. Ours did not puddle up too badly.

Bathhouse: Was generally clean considering it is part of a public-use city park. Rarely did I see anyone in there as most of the campers were in RVs and on our second day, it rained so no one was at the beach. The showers were warm with somewhat wimpy but adequate water pressure. They were on the small side, however, and are only available to campers with a code to access (although there was one shower in the restroom that could be used by all). 

Activities/Amenities: There is a centrally located playground. Easy access to the bike trail, however, it was closed just south of the campground due to erosion (north is not a problem and a short walk into the town of Petoskey). WiFi is available and you are given the access code upon check-in, although I did not use it so cannot comment on how reliable it was. 

Our first thought upon arrival was “yikes, why in the world did we decide to stay here?!” but the proximity to the town of Petoskey (less than a mile walk), and views of Lake Michigan outweigh some of the negatives.

Wilderness was great, not what you are looking for if you are tent camping more of an RV park. Beautiful views though