Best Tent Camping near Vandalia, MI

This is our "home base" campground. It's familiar. We've been coming here for decades. Comfortable, and quiet(for the most part).

Caveat: no electric, no running water, no sewer/septic, no dump, no fill... Can run your generator(inverter type is best). Solar is a negative due to tree cover.

Vault toilets only, and pitcher pumps for water. There is a dumpster available in the busier parts of the season but this campground is open year round.

No playground. Just the beach and the trails.

Sites range from small tent sites to fairly large, but the "roads" inside the campground are tight so think twice before bringing the longer 5th wheels.

In short, if you want a quiet getaway from your usual then this is a great place to go. If you're expecting a pool, arcade, and dining hall... Look elsewhere.

Although this campground has great amenities, a pool, clean showers, and good sites/cabins, it is hard to book. If you know you are going to come to this area and camp, you need to book it a while in advance. I have used a pop-up and there was good space between campers. When I tent camped, we had a great spot near the cafe, the showers are amazing over there, they are more secluded. Our tent spot had electric, water, picnic table and fire ring. We camped on the grass and there is gravel to park your car. This campground is a perfect place to stay when visiting surrounding towns and going to the beach.

Don’t forget to go to Sherman’s!!

There was a forecast or rain, don’t mind the tarp

The campsites are located past the playground and shelter. Just keep driving down the road that looks like an alley. There is a wonderful place set up for just a few campers. 

A couple sites are for tents only and the others are standard sites. There are a few trees by the sites but it’s mostly open area. Portable toilets are at the end of the camping area and in the playground area. The playground is a day use area for town so expect to meet some locals. 

Driving just down the street takes you to the police station. This is where you register for the site. Town is around you and ready to explore. There are a few train tracks and industrial businesses which provide a bit of noise along with traffic. For us, the noise just slid right into the background. 

This is a great place for a low price.

Great campground. Better cared for than a State Park and better accommodations, too. Newish shower house with 6 uni-sex showers (all with their own locking doors). Water mechanisms on several made hot water a little tricky… test before you undress haha. If 5+ showers are in use, don't count on much hot water.

Very friendly operators and employees. Genuinely interested in how you're doing. Above average camp store and they even deliver your firewood order to your site for you ($7 for a 15"x15"ish bundle).

Beach access is easy and the beach is nice. On the cooler week we were there, would only see one or two other people out if any, but when school gets out mid-June, sounds like it gets busier. Our Monday-Friday stay saw us as the only tent campers which was great. Our kids enjoyed the playground and we made use of the grills by the picnic shelter a few times.

All tent sites (except for T12) are walk in (but most are only 100-300 feet).

Tent Sites 1, 2, 3, 11 and 12 as well as the group site are on their own away from the main loops. They are served by a flush toilet with running (cold) water. Or you can make the slightly longer walk to the shower house.

Tent 1 is 100 foot walk, small site, easily visible from T-2 and 3 as well as the group site.

Tent 2 is medium sized, across from T-3 and visible from T-1 and T-3. 

Tent 3 is large. Slightly overlooks the group site and can see T-1 and T-2.

Tent 4 is large, but almost totally isolated. It's surrounded by hills (although T-5 is on one of those hills so could overlook it. Long walk to bathroom.

Tent 5 overlooks 4 a little and is a medium sized site. Also long walk to bathroom.

Tent 6 is elevated above everything so overlooks T-5, T-7 and the RV loop. It's a huge site with nothing but nature around and above you. Long walk to bathroom.

Tent 7 shortest walk to car parking, but surrounded by other sites. Access to other sites runs through site as well.

Tent 8 and 9 are basically one large site with two tables and fire rings. Requires a walk up several flights of stairs, but puts you on top of a bluff that, without trees, would give you a view of the lake. They charge a premium for these sites.

Tent 11 is probably the longest walk… you walk past T-1,2,3, then up 70 steps to the top of a ridge. You cannot see or be seen and the picnic table is covered with a shelter. Not a ton of space, but a great site for a lite packer.

Tent 12 is a drive in site right next to the bathroom and the main drive into the campground.

We were pleasantly surprised and, outside of a cold shower or two, never disappointed in our stay.

This is a nice, family friendly campground. Lots of very friendly other campers, a heated pool, playground for the kids, nice size lots with fire pits, picnic tables, electric& water (including at tent sites). Pool has an ADA lift chair. 2 shower/bath houses, camp store, a real bear cave you can tour in (free), a creek that meanders through it. The resort sits on the St. Joseph river & this park has a boat ramp & dock for fishing. There is a gate that campers need a code to get into so it keeps out unwanted’s. Nice staff. Yolanda is a great manager. Security, a ‘honey wagon’. Laundry center. Quiet hours are 10p-8a. It’s near Buchanan Michigan and the RED BUD Motor Cross track. Very friendly people, always stopping and talking.

Twin Mills is a really beautiful and quiet RV Campground, with tall trees in Northern Indiana. We frequent this location when getting RV Repairs and visiting Elkhart, the birth place of most RVs.

There are cabins and tent sites and a large lake access point with a beach area. The playgrounds seemed to be in good shape and the dumpsters were centrally located.

The park has a gate entrance for security.

There is a large pool area and basketball court.

There are several sections in the park, some more wooded and narrow sites, some are more spread out.

Cellular: T-Mobile had good signal strength and bandwidth, AT&T was not as good but still doable.

Most of the sites are full hook up, some have 30amp and some have 50amp.

Amenities: Pool Clubhouse Basketball Volleyball Picnic tables Fire rings Trash Playground Lake access Beach area Dock Cabins Tent sites

We wanted to stay at Warren Dunes State Park, but I think this discovery was a better choice. A clean and friendly municipal campground on the St. Joseph River. The grounds are mostly open with little shade, but we had a tent site by the river and trees. What impressed me most was that they have a building specifically for cleaning fish, with scales, cutting boards and sinks. Another nice feature is the outdoor sink at the shower & restroom building for campers to wash dishes. As tent campers I wish more places had a set up like that. There’s a large stack of firewood, so it’s easy to get a bundle that’s good and dry. We did go to Warren Dunes for an afternoon. It’s busy and crowded. If you go to the beach, be aware there’s very little shade. North of there is Grand Mere State Park, which is better for hiking. In Berrien Springs, check out Zick’s specialty meats across the river from the camp.

We stayed in the semi modern sites, which was tents and no RVs nearby, which was good. That was about it. The Interstate was directly behind the sites, so the highway traffic noise took away from the feeling you want when camping, that off the grid feeling.

The site was clean, picnic table and fire ring. There was a water spigot close by too. We did some short hiking to sand dunes which was really cool. Nice paths lead to beautiful sunset over dunes.

Upon returning from the hike, we set up camp. That's when we found the ticks. We found probably 10 on our dog, several on us. The couple next to our site was struggling with ticks also, and they hadn't hiked, so makes me think they were from the campground. (We stayed ON the trail carefully while hiking). We've camped a lot and never dealt with this many ticks.

We actually ended up bailing due to how many were on us all. Spent the next 24 hours picking them off everyone in our family at home. Not good. We know it's a fact of life, but this place was infested. Bummer of a trip.