Best Tent Camping near St. Charles, MI

Just a quick overnight tent camp with my son. Tent sites are relatively well spaced out and clean. Fire rings and picnic tables at each site.

Modern bathrooms and shower rooms are available.

Many playgrounds, horseshoe pits, and a basketball court available.

Firewood and ice available at the front gate.

RV spaces are well spaced out and give a sense of privacy. Electrical hook ups.

Cabins available for rent as well.

It's always great to spend time at Holly. The only downfall is the public bathroom. Camp sites are pretty big. Tent camping is also A bad place to hang out as nothing is level for tents.

Spent 2 night in the Aspen Loop tent camping. Minus the silk/inch worms in the trees it was great. Fire pit was large and bathrooms were clean. We did a 6 mile hike and some fishing. Great easy quick weekend away.

A nice little campground. Great location if staying in the Lansing Area. Has full hook ups, and electric water, also tent sites with nnothing. Great pool area. Softball diamond that has tournaments on weekends a little early start for the full hook up sites. A couple ponds for fishing. People are very friendly.

A short trip from home, this was a great weekend getaway! The camp site was spacious but tucked back in a bit (we tent camped on an RV site). The campground was quiet as well.

We did a 7 mile loop hike and then went to Battle Alley Brewing in Holly (10 min away).

No grate on the firepit so be aware of that.

Would definitely come back - it’s like being up north but you’re under an hour from home.

Quite the establishment! Almost 150 sites including rustic, full hook up, cabins and even just over a handful of park model units to reserve for your family to come stay and enjoy all the amenities they offer. Amenities including but not limited to horse shoes, swimming ( man dug pond) hiking, basketball, volleyball and etc. No alcohol allowed as this is a Christian campground but for all the amenities it is extremely affordable! $30 a night 30/50 amp full hook up ... don’t need 30+ amp but want sewer as well only $25 a night 15 amp full hook up or as low as $20 for 15 amp water n electric only! Want the full camping ambiance $15 a night for rustic tent camping! Great place to take the family even several times a season on a budget!

This park and campgrounds are very manicured with tons of RV, trailer and tent sites. The lake has a small shallow swimming area and beach that gets very busy during the day but less traffic right before sunset. There are lots of family activities like mini golf, kids bike courses and playgrounds. It’s a very large open family camping area. The staff are very nice and very busy making sure the grounds are perfectly maintained. I camped in the area F on the outer perimeter just down way of the beach area. I had plenty of room for my tent, awning and to park my SUV. The was electrical and water (non potable) at the site. During the weekdays I only had a few neighbors further down in tents or travel trailers. On Thursday almost all sites filled up with travel trailers. A park employee told me they would be fully booked for the next two weeks. Very nice camping, quiet. Holly Oaks Offroad park is across the street and Holly Recreation area is adjacent. Lots of great towns nearby like Fenton.

Our site was averaged out to $82.71 a night with the weekly rate discount.

We were in Site# 306 (a deluxe plus RV site - be aware that some of these are back-ins and not clearly labeled on the site map - we had to change sites to a pull-thru). We had Full hook- up with a gravel 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 zero trees. We weren’t able to sit outside because of the direct sun until after 8:30pm.
This was a smaller lot with our neighbors fairly close.

The deluxe plus lot comes without a concrete patio but with a picnic table and fire ring. They do sell firewood and will deliver to your site.

There is free WiFi. They do not offer Cable TV but there are quite a few channel options.

There is not a community outdoor kitchen or community fire pit.

They do not provide garbage service at your site so you must walk to garbage dumpster.

You are allowed to ride personal golf carts. They also allow you to rent pedal bikes. They do not provide golf cart rentals.

They do have a heated indoor and heated outdoor Swimming pool and one hot tub.

There is a Playground. They also offer Gaga ball, basketball sport court, and volleyball courts. There is a Game room for kids. They have a Putt putt course and Jumping pad.

They have a great general store. There is a separate Activity Center for kids.
There are tons of scheduled activities for kids like wagon rides, arts & crafts, scavenger hunts, obstacle courses, etc. Activities are scheduled all day from 9am to 8pm.

There is a snack bar on site from 4pm-9:30pm where you can get hot dogs, brats, pretzels, nachos, ice cream, etc.

The streets are mostly paved and good for riding bikes.

This is an RV park with cabins to rent also. Tent camping is also allowed.

They have two shower houses. The shower house has the 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. It is a cash only facility, but they have a change machine in the arcade room. There are approximately 4washers and 4 dryers. It is approximately $2.75 to wash and $0.75 to dry a load.

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

Flies were an issue and bug spray was needed.

There were no trails to hike off of the campground.

Some fun things to do outside of the campground are Frankenmuth FunShips (chocolate & wine tasting), the Golden Ticket Trolley, the Bavarian Belle (popcorn & sodas) River Place Shops, wineries, and Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland store. This RV park is less than a mile to downtown/River Place Shops where there is tons of shopping.

Lovely tent and more

Met the new owners as we were driving by and they gave us a brief description of what they were doing to the grounds to make it more cozy but comfortable as before sites were pretty tight. Adding cabins to their already 8’ish to accommodate additional “glampers” as some of us enjoy a bit more than a tent and or camper OR don’t have a tent/camper. Lake looks big n clean along with activities laid out for the kids outside already can’t wait to see what they put in place next year/ season!

Not a great place to tent. Great place to stay with a small camper or RV if passing through Bay City or going to an event. Beach is not the most sanitary.

Great spot. Friend rented out two plots in the rustic campsites. The walk from the parking lot to the site was a bit of a hike but it was nice to be near the lake and not a bunch of cars. Great fire pit and place to place tents.

Rangers working the area are very friendly. Many options to choose from in terms of camping, from rustic, tent to fully functional cabin lodging. The park is very large, so it is always good to have a vehicle able to drive to the trails and beach. Campsites are decent sized, can fit probably 3 four person tents per site, which includes a concrete firepit and picnic table. In the north campsites there is a lot of tree covering, and there are a lot of walnut trees that were shedding a lot this time of the year. Bathrooms are well spaced between the campsites you, and have showers along with some vending machines outside of them. Spigots are scattered throughout and are very accessible. Be sure to bring at least 100 feet of extension chord if you want electricity, because the power ports are not as accessible from some areas. Overall very pleasant campground.

We go to sleepy hollow about every other year. Normally we go closer to the fall and it is a great park. This time, however, we could tell that the staff does not keep up on it as much. The firepit was surrounded by water, and our site (142) really only had dry space for one tent.

We love this campground. It’s quiet and well maintained. The owners are friendly and willing to help. Wood bundles are available for purchase and they deliver to your site. No tents allowed but pop-up are welcome. The bathrooms are key for me and are very clean. There shower are private and are quarter operated. This is our go-to when in the area.

First off, you'll need a membership to stay. Or at least sign up for a trial and stay up to 14 days free. I've been a never of Outside Adventures for 4 years now. Well worth the expense. This place has plenty of camping options from tents up to 50 foot Class A. Indoor pool and jacuzzi, outdoor pools, large lake for swimming, paddle boats, paddle boards, Beach volleyball, putt putt, shuffleboard, kids playground areas, basketball and more. Very friendly service and the parks are clean.

Black Creek State Forest Campground has huge sites with shade and sun; clean vault toilets with hand sanitizer; creek views and is very quiet despite a little road noise.  Definitely recommend for someone looking for a mid-Michigan get-away.  

The Chippewa Nature Center is about 10 miles away and has great trails; excellent visitor center and reconstructed 19th century homestead.

This was our last stop on a trip where we camped in 6 different Michigan State Parks. This may be an older camp or the DNR was trying to save money when it was built. Most electrical posts are designed to accommodate at least 2 adjoining lots, and as many as 4. This in itself is not a concern until you realize the posts are way too far away to reach without an extension. We tried several lots and couldn’t reach any of the outlets. We finally met a couple who saId they had extensions at the office. So, we finally got set up with an extension cord from the camp office and decided to walk to the beach. Our site was adjacent to the path leading to the beach so we figured we could use a little walk. The path led to another path that led to a parking lot for the beach. After crossing the parking lot we still had to cross a large yard/park that finally opened onto the beach on this small lake. It was all very scenic, but we weren’t expecting a major hike to get to the beach. Showers are nice. They also have a neat ice cream vending machine that I had to check out for scientific purposes only. For a Michigan state park we were quite disappointed.