Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Traverse City, MI

We do a lot of camping all throughout Michigan. We are from Traverse city and this is our go-to campground. We camp on full moon nights and hit the river for night kayaking. We have our favorite site too!

This is a fantastic state park. Playgrounds are nice and entertaining, offers kayak launches and handicap accessible areas. Lots of fishing opportunities on both lakes and has a boat launch. The sites aren’t too terribly close to one another, but relatively close. There’s pavement for biking and trails for hiking. Interlochen is a nice little get away from Traverse City, but near enough to head into town for a day.

This rustic campground is setteled on a ridge overlooking Lake Ann. Camp offers outhouses and water hand pumps. Previous times I've been here we could beach our boat right on the shoreline down from camp. Across the the road from the campground is the Lake Ann Pathway which offers hiking through forested hills, along the Platte river, and along the shore of a small scenic lake. Located only a couple miles from the village of Lake Ann, you're only about 20 minutes from traverse city, and 30 minutes from the world famous sleeping bear dunes.

We loved camping here! We were so excited to explore the sleeping bear area and this is on the southern end and 40 minutes from Traverse City. You are near the Platte River which is perfect for kayaking and tubing! The campgrounds were clean and we were near a bath house that was nicely updated. There is a RR grade trail that leads to the beach but I recommend dribing up. Even after apply a ton of bug spray we felt like we were getting eaten alive on the trail.

Friendliest people. Amazing staff. Beautiful little campground. Honestly everyone is so friendly. Bathrooms are always clean as are the showers. There's wood and ice on the property. A great little cafet. A small general store. We have so much fun here. Tge owners are amazing. Honestly I hate writing such a great review simply because I don't want to loose my camping site. Lol people find a great place like this it'll always be booked. But honestly you can't go wrong here. The place is sandwiched between the betsie river and a paved bike path. Your 2 mile from a great beach and lake michigan. 20 min from the dunes. 35 or 40 min from Traverse city and it's gorgeous views and fun stuuf to do. Did I mention wine. Wineries are plentiful in this region too. Plus some micro brew. Just awesome. There's a small playground for the kids in this park. It's so safe the kids ride bikes and walk all over the campground with out much concern.

The location of this campground is great and it's best feature in my opinion! This park is just two miles to downtown Traverse City (one of Michigan’s most popular resort towns), a quarter mile from a pretty beach and the beautiful blue waters of Lake Michigan, and it sits along the TART Trail which is a 10.5-mile bicycle trail running through the city.

While the park is small at just 47 acres, it holds pretty many campsites – approximately 350 (and two cabins). Campsites are set among tall pine trees so there is a bit of shade but that also means that they are sandy with little grass. Roads are paved and narrow if you are trying to maneuver with a large (40+ RV) and you may have difficulty backing into your site with the numerous trees lining the road. All sites are back-in with electric. Sites and patios are sandy with varying degrees of levelness. There is a dump station and water spigots are scattered throughout the campground. Picnic tables and fire pits are at each site. Sites are $31/night ($49/night for the cabins) and reserveable online.

This park is right on US-31/M-72 which means there is easy access in and out but it can be noisy if your campsite is close to the road. Expect the campground to be very busy on weekends and in the summer and tightly packed.

Amenities include: picnic area, beach, fishing, hiking/bicycling trail, three bathhouses, playground area, camp store, pet walk (no off-leash dog park).

Outside of the park there is a lot to do in Traverse City. Early July is the ever-popular Cherry Festival which lasts for a week. But you better book your campsite early if you want to enjoy all the festivities (which happen to be close to the park). The summer farmers market is great and held every Wednesday and Saturday. Early in the season, asparagus is plentiful and locally-grown asparagus is the best you will ever have being super sweet, tender, and inexpensive. For beer drinkers, consider paddling the beer trail that takes you from Boardman Lake to Lake Michigan and past numerous breweries where you pull over for a pint. If it's ice cream you want, you have come to the right place. There are multiple creameries with Moomer's being our favorite and for some reason eating it right at the farm stand was the best.

Campground Review: This very popular campground is a few miles from downtown Traverse City, on the edge of Grand Traverse East Bay, Lake Michigan and fills up very quickly during the summer months. It is open year-round though and the fall is gorgeous in Michigan. As a city-based campground, it has many amenities and makes for a great alternative to paying much higher prices for the hotels, motels, and B&B’s in the area. This is a nicely wooded campground, and though the sites are spacious, they are rather close to each other, so not much privacy. But, given that this campground provides direct access to the TART Bike Trail (which can use to get to Traverse City, the Leelanau Wine Trail, or many other points north) and there is a safe, over-the-road walking bridge that takes you to the beach on the bay, we didn’t spend much time IN the campground itself. The various sites accommodate everything from small tents to large RV’s and all come with electricity. There are even two small camping cabins available for rent. The immaculately clean bathrooms and showers are free to campers. Firewood and ice are available onsite by the office. The only major drawbacks are that you can hear the road (which is pretty busy most days) and there are railroad tracks next to the campground (though we never heard a train and were told that it was infrequent).

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loWrZLOItQc

Product Review: As a Ranger for the Dyrt, I get gear to review from time to time. On this excursion, we took the Saris Freedom SuperClamp 2-Bike Rack for a test spin while camping and wine tasting via the Leelanau Bike Path, which is accessible from Traverse City State Park in Traverse City, MI. We were in the market for another bike rack and had researched various racks just before this one arrived. We think this is a pretty good option for the price point.

What I like about this rack:

1. It secures to the vehicle trailer hitch via a threaded bolt rather than a pin; this holds the rack securely and minimizes swaying of the bikes as we go down the road. A locking attachment to this bolt discourages theft of the entire rack.

1. The bikes are held securely by clamping to the wheels and don’t contact the frame. Our previous bike rack was a hanging rack which did some damage to the paint job on our frames --NOT an issue with this rack.
2. The rack is very easy to use, simple to set up, and holds the bikes securely.
3. It comes with a lifetime warranty. When our first rack arrived, one of the plastic wheel cups was cracked, but one quick call to the company and we had a whole new rack within a few days. Nice!

Room for improvement:

1. The integrated locking cables stow away within the frame of the rack, which is cool; but they aren’t long enough to thread through the high-clearance frame of my husband’s mountain bike – so we can only lock down his back wheel not the frame. The cable will accommodate most traditional bike frames, but they aren’t thick enough to really secure the bikes for anything longer than a run into the grocery store anyway, so we’re adding another lock when necessary.
2. The straps which secure the wheels are a little awkward to use, both securing and releasing. You have to use two hands to do this, and reaching the straps for the bike closest to the vehicle is a bit tricky.
3. When the bikes are off the rack and it is folded into its storage configuration, we have no problem opening the tailgate of our truck; but, with both bikes on the rack, getting into the back of the truck is difficult. If you have a hatchback, make sure the bikes are the last thing you load up!

Product Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpgajt1V1Yc

Product Link: https://www.saris.com/product/superclamp-2

Electric only sites. There is a fill and dump station on site. Pets are allowed in the campground. The sites are a little tight, but if you are looking to hang out in Traverse City, this is a convenient location. Bathhouse was always well maintained.

This campground is huge! 300+ sites, pet friendly, sites for all shapes and sizes. Open year round, with heated cabins. It's a great location, just across from Traverse Bay with just across the road. With that being said, one downside is that road, a VERY busy main drag through Traverse City. Very loud. There is s bridge walk over said busy road to beach access. The campground was very busy and bustling with families. Only 30 minutes from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Well wooded campground with Interlochen. Not super close to Michigan cities, but can drive back and forth to Traverse City.

Not one of our favorites.  This is an "urban" campground, in that it's on a VERY busy and noisy road close to Traverse City and all the tourist attractions.  The sites are packed in tightly and have no solitude.  It's also under the flight pattern of the airport, so often has airplane traffic too.  It's a good campground if you want a cheap home base for exploring Traverse City and northern Michigan.  It's well situated to drive to many natural and tourist locations.  They have a very fun Halloween celebration each fall, which is worth the less desirable points of the park.

The park is beginning to look its age. Stayed 4 nights while visiting the Traverse City area. Crowded with families making use of the last couple weeks before schools return. Rained well one night and our grass less site turned nasty. Good Verizon signal and has water available at several stations around each camping loop. Great location, however, to visit Traverse City and Sleeping Bear Dunes.

Located on busy US-31, but with pedestrian bridge over 4 lanes to beach. TART (Traverse Area Recreation Trail) access from campground. Easy biking to Traverse City or Acme. Difficult campground exit due to traffic. Get a site in the interior or back, away from US-31, to avoid traffic noise. I had electric-only site... I believe all sites are electric only. Some bathhouse are new and modern, others are older. I enjoyed biking trail and close proximity to Traverse City.

Nice quiet township park between Traverse City and Charlevoix. Clean restrooms and spacious lake view sites,

Pretty average state park with very little to do. It is closeish to Traverse City. Sites were small, bathrooms were clean. Near the Interlocken Center for the arts.

We were camping in mid-October. It was chilly out and raining, but the bathrooms there were still nice! It has a good location in Traverse City, but unfortunately the park isn’t connected to the bay. There is a walk over bridge, so you don’t have to cross the road! But the park is right next to a busy road and near an airport, so it was a little noisy. Inside the camper it wasn’t too noisy from cars though. If a person is looking to be in Traverse City to camp just be near the city then this would be a great place to be, but if you’re looking for quiet, nature, and easy access to swimming then it’s not my #1 choice.