Best Glamping near Higgins Lake, MI

Higgins lake is beautiful

we love Higgins lake, it’s clear, shallow and great for a family with small children. the campground was crowded, loud, and so dirty.

Higgins Lake is home for me! Now that I have moved away, my high school friends and I reconnect at this campground. We are all from the area and had the pleasure of growing up right next to this beautiful lake! It is Crystal clear and walk out for a long ways before it drops off. The campground is beautiful, but you don't need to camp to enjoy the lake. I would recommend this place to anyone!

Ive been wanting to paddle Higgins lake for a long time but never did because I know I am not a huge fan of state parks.... especially the large, crowded ones like this. You know what though? This place wasn’t all that bad! It was busy, there was a TON of sites, and not much space between neighbors... but, the sites were heavily wooded, the boat launch/lake was beautiful, and our neighbors were very friendly. So honestly, it could have been much worse. I could see how this place would be ideal for large families and small children. Lots to do and plenty of other kids to play with. Also a great spot for people who use trailers, campers, and pop ups, rather than traditional tents.

This is one of our families favorite places to camp. Higgins lake is beautiful. The water is less than waist deep for about 100 yards out and then drops off to about 90' deep. The water color is amazing when the sun is out. There is a massive boat launch in a protected lagoon. The campground has about 400 sites. There are a few sites with full hook-ups. some of the sites are difficult to get into once you get up into the trees away from the water front.  Getting a site here during the summer can be very difficult. You will want one of the sites closer to the lake.  If you want one of these sites, you will need to be ready to book the site 6 months in advance. There is also a camp store that sells ice cream and homemade pizza.

Stayed here before the 4th of July for the weekend and was really impressed with the facilities and size of spaces at the campground. For being such a busy campground (since there is a boat launch) the sites are still quite large! We were able to fit 2 large tents, a small tent, 2 cars, 1 boat trailer and a sun shade for our gear with plenty of room to spare.

The restrooms (which I am told were recently renovated) were very clean.

The beaches were well maintained and plenty of space to moor boats overnight.

In addition to the boat launch there is also a camp store down the road with tons of snacks, camping gear/utensils, and Higgins lake souvenirs.

I will definitely return again! Be sure to catch a sunset from the campground beaches, you won’t regret it!

If you aren't familiar with this lake it is extremely clear (see video) and very large, there are 2 sandbar areas which are very popular providing 3-4 feet water to hangout in.

We had a chilly Memorial Day weekend but were very impressed with the campground. Great mix of activities for the kids. Big park but felt small, no problems with traffic and golf carts like we have experienced at other “resort” style campgrounds. All sites are full hookup and there are just enough cabins, cottages, and yurts for our non-camping family to tag along! Staff was very friendly.

This is a very busy and large campground that is typically full in the summertime. It’s great for elementary and middle grade kids, with a ton of activities available. They have a pool, small lake/beach, jumping pillow, bike trails, dodgeball, etc. it’s right next to a dirt bike/atv trail. They have tc and tent fires along with yurts and all kinds of cabins. There is a nice mix of about 1/3 seasonal, rest short term. Definitely not a natural/rustic experience, but fun for active families. Also, it’s a good base fir exploring the traverse city area.

If you are looking for a camping getaway, this may not be the place for you. It is always bustling with action, but can be lots of fun! I would definitely say this is geared more towards children and families than an escape into nature. 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. This is also a pet friendly campground, so there are many dogs. Probably one of my favorite parts was dodgeball... and the multiple bike trails that connect to the VASA trail system.

This is a very large campground that is usually full during the summer. There is no shortage of activities here: a small pond/beach, pool, jumping pillow, dodgeball, bike trails, ATV trails, crafts, parades, etc.  It's great for the active family, particularly those with elementary & middle school age kids.  It can be rather loud at times.  There are some seasonal sites, a small "village" of tiny houses, yurts, and a lot of RV/tent sites.  The location is good, as it can be a good jumping off point to explore Traverse City and the surrounding area.  This definitely isn't a campground for people who like quiet and solitude, but if this is your style of camping, it's a great place.

One of my favorite parks in Michigan. Beautiful beaches and always a fun week during Harvest Fest!

Nice large sites. Some full hookups, unusual for Michigan state parks that I’ve seen.

Quiet, large sites, like new bath house, 7th nite free, rate$35, good location for northwestern Michigan sites Water on all outside sites. interior sites share water hookups

This here is one of my favorite campgrounds in Michigan. The facilities are clean and kept up. All access to trails, lakes and the river are close and easy to get to. Great location to bring family and pets.

This campground is in some lower ground, with a beautiful river running though it. It's fairly wide open, with trees around, but this was great as it made stargazing easy. We were here for a night as we were traveling on the Michigan Shore to Shore Trail, the overall experience was excellent!

Love this campground for a good weekend stay. Small campground but there’s some nice wooded sites and some more open sites. Looks like there’s some full hook ups. A few trails walking distance from the campground.

The old growth trail is beautiful and really well maintained. The trees are crazy TALL. There’s a ton of history on the logging industry of Michigan. Also there’s a wee church in the middle of the woods which is pretty cool.

Our site in particular had a nice hill behind it with a trail where you could get a cool view of the campsite. Also a foot trail to the dumpsters / dump station.

I like the location; very secluded in the State Forest but only a half hour from downtown Traverse City. This facility meets the recreation need of a diverse cross section of Michigan residents. It’s a great home base or overnight camp for canoeists and kayakers (my particular interest). The camp is also used by mountain bikers & gravel riders, ATV riders, anglers, and equestrians (separate camp area). Large wooded sites. Primitive means vault toilets, no power and hand pump water. No reservations — FCFS.

Negatives: can be noisy at times with the ATVs and also large camping groups. But for the most part I’ve found ppl to be respectful. A couple of the sites flooded after an unusually heavy rain today, so I would avoid any site that looks low if rain is expected.

Site 16 is good. High and dry after the rain.

This is one of the worst campgrounds I have ever been to. The bathrooms and showers close at 10pm, and the restrooms themselves are nasty, the showers cost $2 (in quarters) for 6 minutes of lukewarm water, the locals are hostile to unfamiliar faces, and to top it off, the rental ATVs and dirt track to ride them on is o ly separated from the campsites by a board fence, so expect to hear all kinds of small engines zipping by at all hours. The RV trailers for rental are all used trailers circa 1995 and "refurbished", which entails a quick coat of interior paint and laminate flooring screwed to the floors with drywall screws. Guests who have rented the RV trailers are instructed to not use the showers in their trailers. Absolutely not worth the money, would rate 0 stars if I could. If you are looking for a camping experience that puts you in the heart of upper Michigan redneck territory, this is the place for you. If you want a good experience, look elsewhere.

I was disappointed in the campground after having high expectations from previous reviews.  Sites were fine, good size and maybe could have been some planting between sites.  My concern was that there was only one bathroom, for the entire campground.  They were filthy, cleaned once daily which was considerably less than other campgrounds.  There was a sanitary pad discarded behind a toilet for over 24 hours. Possibly this is the norm, and guests were more disgusting than usual.  The scenic overlook deck was littered with toilet paper where someone had taken to using this area as their own restroom.  The grass and trails weren't mowed and the park attendant said they were changing mowing services, I understand that.  The water hose used to clean tanks had been cut off or fallen off, and when this was showed to a worker, they said they'd tell the manager.  What day, no one knows because he got in his car and left for the night.  The next day it was not fixed.

Which brings me to the point that while there were three people in the guard house, no one was really doing much.  No one drove around checking on things, no one walked a common path to see discarded trash, etc.  The on duty person left at 8PM.  This is all a management issue, not the campground itself. 

I have camped at local/municipally owned campgrounds in Michigan before and was very happy, and gladly went with this campground but was disappointed.

The beach was great, soft sand bottom, water was clear & cold! Sites can get messy since ground is a dirt/sand mix. Our site location was noisy at times since so close to a main road. Bathrooms could use an update but were still in good working order. I’m pretty sure we’ll be going back next summer!

Loved camping here! Beach was really nice!

It is in a nice location with lakeside swimming and picnic tables while having the camping site close by. Campers are respectful and it is nice and quiet at night. Terrific park!

We 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!

We stopped here in August 2020 to do a day of river tubing on the Au Sable. Stayed two nights with my family (2 adults, 4 kids) Nothing too amazing or too bad about the park. It's fairly hilly so be aware of that, and it's a bit of a walk down to the lake. However, the highlight for us was snagging a picnic site down at the lake and setting up our hammocks by the beach for the entire afternoon. The kids played in the shallow water and the adults sat in the hammocks and relaxed.

Facilities were fine, clean bathrooms and showers. Nothing fancy but it's a state park so that's the norm.

The lake is beautiful. Park is very well maintained.

We stayed at the end of August in 2020. It was our first visit. Most of the time it was fine although nothing stands out to me. On our last night, we had trouble with very bad neighbors, and seemingly no one but myself could point it out to them at 1 am. There were some campers who brought along their speed boats. The sister campground at South Higgins looked to be dominated by boaters and even has special parking for boat trailers inside the campground. Our site was adequate and we used the shore power provided. There are bathhouses, but only my husband used them so I can't directly comment on them. The highlight of our stay was kayaking the nearby Mason Tract and getting out at Smith Bridge. I certainly want to do that again, but will opt for a quieter campground. (Don't expect to make phone calls, the cell service (AT&T) was very spotty.)