Best Glamping near Harbor Springs, MI

Packed like sardines. Stones get picked over early but still the best I’ve found. Sandy Beach just down the road. board walk great for biking and jogging. More of a Glamping Park, with little shade.

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.

We decided to splurge on a yurt for our first camping trip of the summer. Well worth it! We stayed in"Kai" one of the newest yurts. It's at the end of what we came to call"the yurt village". Complete with electricity, indoor and outdoor string lights, two deck chairs, a heater, a queen sized bed, and an electric kettle with pour over coffee supplies, it was truly a treat! The bathroom and shower building is about.1 miles each way according to my fitness tracker, but it's doable. Downside: the firepit is small(about the size of a small charcoal grill) and shallow, so it's not really suitable for cooking. Bring a propane stove or some no-cook foods, or go enjoy some of the area restaurants! The site is still a diamond in the rough with cut downed wood and sawdust scattered about, and the ground is uneven. With time, though, it will probably turn out beautifully! We were there for three weeknights and rarely even heard other campers. A quiet and peaceful retreat.

We visited Wild Cherry RV Resort on the recommendation of some friends and found the park to be nicely maintained, sites were well-spaced, and we LOVED the area. Our site was a pull-in that faced a large pond on a corner that overlooked a four-acre lake. We never had a neighbor on the site next to us during our stay and since we were on a large corner there was nobody on that side either so we never felt crowded. The park was very quiet and since our site was in the back of the park there was not much traffic.

The park is called a “resort” which is a little misleading because there are very few amenities. There is no swimming pool, no tennis courts, no shuffleboard, no fitness center, no playground, in fact there were not even bathrooms/showers (except for porta john and tent shower in the rustic camping section).  There was a small club house and a driving range but that was pretty much it. You do get a free newspaper delivered to your site daily. It turned out that we didn’t care about the lack of amenities since we were so busy exploring and we don’t often use all the amenities that private parks offer anyway.  The park is a mix of seasonal and transient people. Most of the seasonal people went to work during the day which made the park even quieter. And while they do have a lot of seasonal campers none of the sites were junked up. Sites are gravel with paved patios with the average lot being 45x70 (according to their brochure). There are nice grassy areas between sites that is very well-maintained. All sites have picnic tables but not all have fire pits (if you have your own you are allowed to use it). 

The roads are very wide and there are not too many trees so maneuvering big-rigs is not a problem. The water, sewer, and electric were all placed appropriately in the site so no extended hoses were needed. There was no cable but sites are very open allowing for good satellite reception and we were able to get over a dozen antenna channels. Sites are either pull-in (which we had) or back-in. There are no pull-thrus. Set back in a wooded area are a scattering of rustic tent sites, rental cabins and yurts with potable water, grills, fire pits, and picnic tables. These sites are so tucked in a wooded area that I never noticed them until the last day I was in the park.

There is a lot of activities within a short drive of this park and we wished we would have stayed longer. The park is in a perfect location to explore the towns of Leland (and Fishtown), Lake Leelanau, Northport, and Sutton’s Bay. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and the town of Glen Arbor are a 20 minute drive and Traverse City is about 45 minutes. All these towns are quaint coastal towns with shopping, galleries, good restaurants. The park is on the Leelanau Peninsula which is one of Michigan’s most well-known and revered wine region and there are three wineries within a couple of miles (one is just across the street from the entrance). That being said, there are nearly some 20 wineries within 15 – 20 minutes of the park. There are a few state parks and county preserves nearby that have hiking, scenic views of Lake Michigan and picturesque lighthouses.

All-in-all we really liked this park and would definitely come back. We took advantage of their “Big-Rig Special” which gave a 25% discount if you booked 4 nights. Otherwise, the price per night was $69 which we found to be expensive for what you get. The biggest dings we give this park are for the high nightly price and the lack of amenities that should come in a “resort” with that high a price. This area is one of our favorites in Michigan and we easily could have spent a couple of weeks here enjoying the area.

Clean and quiet, with numerous sites right on Lake Michigan, what's not to like?

Awesome campground with lots to do. Can check out the lighthouse. Close to Northport with cute shops. A great way to experience Lake Michigan.

beautiful park next to the lighthouse. no showerhouse or flushing bathrooms...portajohns only.water pumps to get water from...and beautiful views of Lake Michigan

The location makes this campground. Stayed 6 nights as it was so relaxing.

Pros:

• Right on Lake Michigan
• Only a 15 min walk from Petoskey downtown

Cons:

• The sites are quite close together
• The showers are pretty basic

Would stay here again.

Beautiful campground on Lake Michigan. Most of our time was spent on the sand beach. Beautiful sunsets and great swimming. Big sites and clean campground.

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. Such a beautiful and well kept state park!

I have visited Magnus Park several times, it's a beautiful little campground in downtown Petoskey MI. The park as a full array of sites, but mostly caters to RV's, I paid the same rate to pitch a tent as it would have costed to park a large RV. The campground has a perfect location, along the Lake Michigan Shore, and about 4 blocks from downtown Petoskey.

My hands down all time favorite campground! Although rustic (I personally LOVE) this campground is literally ON Lake Michigan. Sites on the shore or you can choose a site in the trees. You can fall asleep and wake up to the sound of Lake Michigan. Campground is small but that’s what keeps its charm. Beautiful summertime and fall is especially beautiful. Grand Traverse lighthouse right next door. Be sure to explore walking trails that dump you out on a beach so beautiful- you do have to drive or bicycle to these trails that are a bit south of the campground. Leelanau peninsula so quaint with small villages of Northport, Leland, Sutton’s Bay. No flush toilets. No dump station. I’ve tent, trailer, van camped and also rented cabins several times. I have camped here in summer, fall and winter. I love this campground so much I can’t decide which season I love best.

this rustic campground is small but very cute. my girlfriend and i stayed here and had a great time. we went to the lighthouse museum which was $2 fee for kids (up to 18 yrs old!) and hiked to the manitou overlook. very pretty scenery everywhere you go- but that is as expected in northern michigan! ❤️

Made a quick overnight stop while road tripping with beautiful wife. Very nice lakeside campsites. Little on the pricey side for me. Edging a little bit towards the style of the Michigan state parks, which isn't my scene. None the less, sites were nice and facilities were clean.