Best Tent Camping near Norton Shores, MI

We had a wonderful time at Holland State Park. We stayed for 5 nights. You must book early for the summer because sites fill up fast! We tent camped and stayed along Lake Macatawa. I would not recommend tent camping at Lake Michigan due to it is very sandy and not many trees. The bathrooms and showers were clean. The park also does very nice nature programs with the kids. We learned about the sand and did sand art. The campground is very nice for biking and is very close to Lake Michigan with little shops along the way.

The area is very nice in the summer due to the low humidity and nice beaches to go swimming or boating. We will stay here again!

We went in March so the weather was cold but doable. 20 degrees at night but with electricity hookups we put a space heater in our tent. Campsites are nice no running water at that time of year & only primitive outhouses. Great beaches the sand was so soft & the dunes are perfect.

Campsite is located 2 miles from downtown Pentwater, adorable small town on the water. Mears state park is 2 miles from the campground as well, Lake Michigan beaches. The playground on the beach is perfect for younger kids. There is a pavilion that serves hot food and ice cream ( hot food ends at 5pm/ ice cream till sunset.) Our kids loved walking in town and heading to the beach.

With that said, there is plenty to do at the campground . Outdoor pool, AJs (putt- putt golf, arcade, playground, go-karts) extra fee for AJs but reasonable priced, basketball court, volleyball court, small baseball diamond, tennis table, general store, shower house by pool ( very clean), private bonfire pits ( most campsites).

Seasonal’s were very friendly and helpful with local things to do. RV camp, Tent camp, or tent cabin.

Dump station available, firewood for sale, ice for sale, general store has several camping items, 15 minutes away is meijer in ludington. 2 minutes away gas station 2 minutes to Lake Michigan beaches 2 minutes to Pentwater downtown shopping

A United Methodist Campground now open to the public instead of just for church camp, this is a nice location for families to enjoy some downtime, with access to Lake Michigan and plenty of activities available to pass the the time.

The sites vary in size but several can accommodate very large rigs. The whole place feels tucked away into the woods but you're only about a 10-minute drive from downtown Pentwater.

Short hike over the dunes (via stairway) takes you to Lake Michigan. (They have a great viewing platform for sunsets!)

Campground is getting regular updates each year, including a new 2-spot dump station (2 years ago), and new water and electric (50 amp) hookups at the sites continually being added.

They offer everything from RV and tent sites to platform tents and cabins. They have a great staff that cares about visitors enjoying their time there.

Cellular signals can vary greatly within the camp, but we found signals for Verizon and Google Fi (T-Mobile/Sprint) with decent service.

My husband and I have been going to Newaygo State Park for over 20 years. We started out tent camping and now have a pop camper. The thing we love most about this campground is the spacious site and that it is truly rustic with vault toilets and hand pumped water. Our kids also love this campground. They get to explore by themselves and there is plenty for them to do and keep busy. There is a playground, hiking trails, swimming area, geocaching, fishing, kayaking but the best part is the disc golf course. We spend a lot of time playing on the disc golf course. Have fun and just enjoy the outdoors.

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.

This campground is peaceful. Nice sites, even a place for rustic camping. Rustic camping you hike up the road, no cars are allowed to sites. Perfect!!! Full hook ups, 3 50 amp sites. Others are 30 amp.
Tent camping has platforms, so your tent is off the ground. Cabins are available for rent.
There is a playground, for the young ones. Rental of bikes, tubing, row boats and canoes are right at the campground. Beach access across street.
The campground is the older type, but the quiet, and professional care you get is awesome!!! This place is a must visit campground. Family feeling here. Vet friendly. Bathroom house is cleaned perfectly every day. Always clean. Day excursions, to see are, sand dunes, ludington, etc. then after the fun, come back to a peaceful evening, beside the fire. Each site has a fire ring.
Peaceful!!!
Just FYI. No drinking of alcohol is allowed. Perfect for my family, but just FYI.
Camp peacefully!!!

This was my first time ever tent camping! Normally I am a car camping person, but I decided to give a good old tent a try. I loved it!! This campground was absolutely amazing for me and my 2 best friends. As 3 women sleeping in a tent in the woods, we felt very very safe. The staff does drive by checks on everyone throughout the day and this not only helped us develop a relationship with the staff but also made us feel very safe. The campground was very well taken care of and clean. My friends and I enjoyed renting kayaks from the campground and paddling along bass lake. The staff was really the best part. Everyone we met was so happy, helpful, and really made our stay amazing. They would even bring your firewood to your campsite for you! The campsite store was so helpful and had everything we needed! Thank you to to the staff for making our trip calm and safe. We will definitely be back soon! I also highly recommend checking out Pentwater!

The Allendale KOA is a perfect spot for GR residents looking to have a nice camping getaway without having to drive out too far. The owner and his family are wonderful, and they’ve got a decent shop set up for anything you need while there.

Office hours have a split between open times so the family can have dinner together, but we had no issue checking in late while they were temporarily closed(I’d just recommend calling ahead so they’re aware).

We do not have kids, but we noticed a ton of activities for them so parents will love this place!

Tent sites are perfectly spacious and it’s a nice wooded area to just sit and look at the stars at night. Firewood is available for purchase at a reasonable price.

My singular complaint (and it isn’t even a huge gripe) is the bathrooms. The women’s stalls have no locks on them (not a huge deal as they aren’t typically busy), and the toilet paper is so thin it tears as soon as you grab a piece. I assume this is likely to keep it septic friendly, but I definitely recommend bringing some wipes and a trash bag instead for your own comfort.

Overall we love it here and plan on being frequent visitors!

I stayed in a friend's camper with my son for several nights in late September. The campground is very nice! The sites were large enough that it could hold a large camper and two vehicles easily.  Some of the sites are a little uneven (the camper needed wood blocks underneath it so that the wheels weren't off the ground after leveling.

There are nice firepits and the firewood is cheap! 8 large pieces for $6, a wheelbarrow full of tinder for another $6. Bring a hatchet or axe because the wood pieces are huge!

There is a large beach with playground equipment, kayak and boat rentals (although those were closed due to COVID.

Modern bathrooms with showers, but honestly I never needed to use them (we had the trailer).

There are a few downsides:

1. Because it's so close to Grand Rapids and some other cities, it typically is full on the weekends. Booking a site can be troublesome. Our friends booked the site from Tuesday through Monday and it was totally full on Friday and Saturday night.

2. The lake is effectively a plate, so don't expect to do much fishing from shore. The water is incredibly shallow. (But that makes for a very nice beach!)

Overall, I wouldn't tent camp here simply because of the crowds on the weekend, but I'm glad I went. If you have a trailer and like the camping community, you would like this. If you're looking to get away from people for a while, keep looking. This isn't for you.

I cannot overstate how well maintained and setup this campground is. Amenities galore, very friendly staff, and sites are well thought out. You cannot reserve individual campsites which is a bummer as not all sites are the same. The east side of the campground has the river and lots of mature trees for shade. The west side is nearly wide open to the sun. Only saplings trees that where planted when the campground was build in 2015. Their website has all the information you need so a couple of notable things that you won’t find there.

The whole place is clean. Very clean. They even pick up your garage from your campsite every day. The camp store is surprisingly well stocked with everything you could forget at home. And it’s clean (did I mention that?). If you purchase ice, firewood, or propane from the store they will deliver it to your site for free! Very nice touch. Also they have a lot of activities scheduled for the kids on a daily basis. They post the weekly schedule everywhere and the events are well run. You will never get bored staying here. Lastly this campground is quiet. After it gets dark about 10pm the whole campground seems to go to bed. I stayed over the 4th holiday weekend and the place was completely full and all you here is crickets. This is a huge plus in my family camping book.

I did a through investigation of all the sites for when we come back and found these to be the best for various reasons. But since you can’t reserve specific site you can request them. Here they are in no particular order.

Best RV sites: 50, 39, 76, 32 Best tent sites: 152, 138, 142, 50, 39, 32

Listen to the individual videos for info and review of the amenities

We had a large family camp weekend at Stony Haven. We had 5 sites (21-25) pack to capacity with 32 people.  They owners allowed use to squeeze in a few extra bodies more than their policies specify.

They offer so much at the campground!! We rented bikes and tubes, but they also rent canoes & kayaks (including launch & pickup), pedal cars, yard games and wifi hotspots.  They have a nice playground with swings, a sandbox, slide and climbers.  Adjacent to the playground is a large pavilion with charcoal grills and a volleyball quart.

The tent sites were very nice. Well maintained, each with their own fire ring, a picnic table,  water spickets and electric.  They also have full hookup sites for RVs, rustic sites and mini cabins.

There is a walking path around the back of the campground. It cuts through the woods and past a pond.  My kids (ages 1.5, 3, 5,& 6) spent hours at the pond catching frogs.

The bathrooms were clean and checked several times a day. There were public bathrooms with a few stalls and a shower, but there were also 2 private bathrooms with showers, one of which was handicap/family.  There were 2 additional private shower rooms.  They also have a laundry facility ON SITE!!!!  This came in very handy when I opened up my canvas hammock and found mold.

There is access to Stony Lake across the street and that connects to Lake Michigan.  There was an awesome county beach 5 min down the road on Lake Michigan.  It was right where the big lake meets the outlet for Stony Lake, Benona County Park. When they weren't at the pond my kids were playing in the sand and swimming at the beach.  I love little outlets like this because they are usually shallower and warmer than the big lake and are great for my littles.

They offer a short worship service on Sunday mornings for all that wish to participate. 

They owners were so sweet and easy going. We called several times to adjust our reservation right up to the day before and they gracefully tolerated our shuffling and were able to accommodate us. They even allowed us to leave our packed trailer at the site while we spent the afternoon at the beach after checkout.  We came back to the site ate, used the bathroom, hooked up the trailer and took off for home.

I would not recommend camping here. While the campground was nice, with quite a few nice activities for kids, the area was clean and quiet while we stayed there and our location was nice in a wooded area. There were a few permanent campers or people living at the KOA which didn't take away from our experience. The bathrooms were nice but could use some small updates. 

I wouldn't recommend people stay here unless they can avoid one member of staff, who we were informed is the owner's mother. We had an easy check-in and set up, upon arriving back at the campsite late Friday evening we noticed we could not find our parking placard and decided to get a new one once the office opened in the morning. Unfortunately, when my partner took our car to use the bathroom facilities next to the main office before going into the main office. The owner's mother was next to our vehicle began berating and accusing him of "coming off the street to use their bathrooms". He apologized for the placard not being up and repeatedly explained to her that we were staying at the campground until Sunday and were coming in to get a replacement. This woman continued to accuse him of lying and followed him extremely close to the main office and then re-issued our placard. This location is rural and I find it surprising that anyone would go out of their way to use their bathrooms or that this would be such a contentious issue. 

We have never been treated so poorly or made to feel like criminals trespassing at a campground. It made the rest of our stay very uncomfortable especially every time this woman would drive by on her golf cart and her home was very close to the tent sites. If we were not leaving the next morning we would have left this campground immediately. After reading other Google reviews this seems to be a reoccurring issue with this individual and I would recommend reading those reviews as well before choosing to stay here. The other staff was kind and professional however this woman seems to be a continual issue.

Campground is located directly along the beach. Some would like this but I prefer some shade here and there. Sand doesn't provide the best place to hold a tent down in windy conditions. A decent offering in West Michigan.

Located adjacent to Lake Michigan, this park has two loops. We stayed at the South loop because nothing else was available...

South loop is prettier with its rolling hills in the dunes: however, it has fewer flat areas for tents and some sites can be overwhelmed by water during heavy thunderstorms... we saw that one night... While we had no issues in site 94A, site 95 was flooded - all their bedding was wet!

North Loop is pretty flat- better for tents. Plus, BONUS: the local ice cream stand is adjacent to the property, meaning you can walk 10 feet from the campground to get ice cream!!!

Dog owners: (which means me!)... the campground allows dogs on leash on its beach. The other state park public areas don’t!

I loved how the beach access area has handicapped accessible overview areas (see my pictures). When I go back, I will definitely bring a chair down there in the morning to hang out, read a book, and embrace the magic of Lake Michigan!

A+ Campground! Free WiFi, larger sites, great staff, full hookups at the site and can accommodate anything from larger rvs (we have a 33ft. 5th wheel with slides) to tents, clean restroom facilities (if need them) and reasonable rates! This is a smaller campground so the sites tend to reserve quickly and there is an additional county park fee per day/night but it is well worth it! It's a short walk to Lake Michigan/beach and the campground is quiet and well kept.