Best Tent Camping near Austin, MN

This is a rustic state park with limited amenities. There are no water or electric hook ups. However clean water is available in the park. The park does have flush toilets and showers. We found these to be in good condition and clean. The showers had warm water. The water stream is on a timer and so are the lights. The shower stalls are Individual stalls. The interior roads are dirt roads with a few potholes they are very narrow. The camping sites are nice sized and relatively private. There is a gravel pad on each site and some have a tent pad. Each site had a picnic table and a fire ring. There are plenty of walking and biking trails and there are walk-in tent camp sites. However, you cannot see the lake from the campground and there is no access to the lake from the campground. We were able to drive through the campground with our 40 foot fifth wheel. But just barely, be careful! 

All RV and ridiculously expensive for tent camping

Stayed here in a tent while on a bicycle camping trip and it was adequate. It is located in a city park within a couple minutes walk of the downtown area. The bike trail crosses the south end of downtown so close to that too. This would not be a good place to camp if you'd like to be out in nature

Biggest gripe is the slope of the tent sites. The majority of the tent sites are on an incline around a pond. There are also a lot of ducks that aren't very afraid of humans. None got into my gear though. There are fire rings at the tent sites. No picnic tables at the individual sites but there are some nearby in the park and there's also a covered picnic shelter. Hammocks would be difficult to impossible as the tent area is a strip of grass between pond and bluff, which has mostly brush or too whimpy of trees to hang from at the base. There are a couple huge oaks but none in pairs.

Quarter showers and clean restrooms are available. $20/night/tent which seemed a bit steep to me considering how slanted the sites were and quarter showers. It is cheaper than the other places within immediate biking distance which were $25/night.

A nice small park but nothing special. Sites are good sized and nicely spaced. Facilities are primitive. Nice walking trail around the property about 2.5 miles. The trail does cross some of the tent sites. Maybe once the lockdown is over things will be better there.

This is a great campground with lots of shade and spacious tent pads! The large oak trees throughout the campground made for beautiful scenery and nice spots to string a hammock up. My site was right next to the bathroom building which did have a light on all night, but I had an eye mask so that didn’t bother me. $25/night for a tent site

Nice distance from the twin cities for a weekend away with some nice hiking trails. The tent pads have been upgraded to pea gravel by the friends association (which seems to be quite active based on signage around park improvements). Showers and bathrooms were clean. Wi-Fi near the park entrance and spotty T-Mobile service throughout. The outside of the loop is good for tent camping but could be a little noisy if the campground had been fully booked.

This is a convenient small campground next to a city park. The touristy shops and biking trails are within a few blocks of the campground. The RV campsites have water and electricity. We found the sites to be rather close together. The sites are first come first served (no reservations). There are also numerous tent sites, as this seems to be popular with the bicycling crowd. This really is a beautiful area of southeast MN.

We tent camped here and loved it. We were able to do a lot of trail exploring and had a great time on the “scenic” cave tour. The trails were well maintained but difficult to understand in some places as signage was lacking.

There is a primitive loop with pit toilets, a tent loop with no electricity but access to showers and flush toilets, and a trailer loop with all accommodations.

There are great cold water trout streams that are shallow enough to wade in and play in if the weather is warmer. Hiking trails of varying skill levels but all in mostly wooded areas. Forestville townsite is closed during the week but you can wander around the outside of the buildings and site. No gates or posted restrictions.

We tent camped at Myre-Big Island State Park in Minnesota from September 30 to October 3, 2022. The weather was warmer than usual at this time of year, and the fall color development was a couple weeks behind normal. It was cool but beautiful during the daytime (light jacket/sweater weather). The temperature dropped at night but didn’t require anything more than our sleeping bags to keep us warm. The earlier sunset meant meal cooking and cleanup needed to be a bit earlier, but it also meant longer time for beautiful campfires in the evenings.

The trails were in great shape and beautiful with past-peak grasses and developing colors in the trees. Most of the wildflowers were done for the year, but some were still in bloom. Deer, squirrels, chipmunks, and lots of birds were active near the trails and campgrounds.

We have camped here previously, in early summer. Then the bugs were abundant and aggressive on the Big Island trails. During this fall trip, there were very few.

Walking distance to downtown and easy access to Root River Trail. RV sites were close to each other with little privacy. Many tent sites around the perimeter. Short walk to bathhouse. Showers are not free, 4 quarters for 5 minutes. No laundry available. Campground is first come/first serve and doesn’t take reservations or online payment. Payment is made at adjacent city office.
Sites are gravel, fairly level. Water and electric available at rv sites.
Nice park nearby with stocked fishing pond. There is some noise due to the park being tucked into the city. Garbage and dump station free for campers. They ask for a donation for dumping if not camped there. Tight access at dump station might make it difficult for larger rigs. Strong Verizon signal.

We spent four nights tent camping at the White Fox Campground of Myre-Big Island State Park in June 2022. This park is a combination woodland/prairie/wetland setting. The White Fox Campground is on the fringes of a woodland. Our campsite was grassy and open with trees and shrubs curving along the back of the site. The site had the usual fire ring with grill and a large picnic table.

There are some nice trails for hiking through woodlands and prairie and alongside wetlands. We saw a lot of wildlife: several deer, red squirrels, chipmunks, a raccoon, a woodchuck, lots of different birds, and several different types of butterflies. In the mornings the birdsong was pretty amazing, loud and long lasting.

There are two freeways and a rail line near the park, but the noise from them was only bothersome on one morning of our stay.

There is a second campground on the Big Island portion of the park. Big Island is wooded and has some beautiful trails that we enjoyed.

The winter was a long one last year and we were itching to take our new 30foot Jayco Eagle bunkhouse travel trailer out for its maiden voyage! We decided that my birthday weekend was the perfect opportunity to do just that. To be on the safe side, incase we had issues, we decided to stay close to home so we decided to hit up a new park, Nerstrand Big Woods State Park just outside Northfield, Minnesota. This park is only an hour from the twin cities and very convenient for a weekend getaway after work on friday.

We stayed In campsite 27 which was an electric campsite that was pretty open to all the other campsites. Most of the campsites there were really open and you could see and other peoples campsites so if that’s not your style of camping I wouldn’t go to Nerstrand big Woods. There is also water hook up at the park in that site and some of the other sites but that wasn’t listed when we booked the site.

The park office was just a short walk or a bike ride from the campsites and had a very nice gift shop and bathrooms there. There is also a really nice shower and bathroom building right next to the campground host site. Just off the campground was a really nice playground for the kids that utilized tree stumps and tree branches as the playground. There was a really large picnic area and picnic shelter also.

Along with electric sites there’s also just tent sites without electric if that’s your style camping.

Nerstrand Big Woods Is very well known for its beautiful waterfall that you can walk on and the trail leading to the waterfall was also a great hike.

All in all I think Nerstrand Big Woods was a good choice for a weekend getaway for a little family of four. And it gave us a lot to do because in The little city of Northfield there was a lot of little shops and cute little restaurants to eat at the shop at. Northfield is also home to the Malt-o-meal Museum and production. My husband and I are big craft brewery fans And we’re pretty stoked to find out that there were three breweries around the park. We visited Tanzenwald and Chapel brewery and tried flights at each one. Out of the two we thought Tanzenwald was the best for staff friendliness and prices. Each flight we got a 4 5ounce pours were only 4$. There was also a restaurant at that brewery with really good cheese curds.

We decided that Nerstrand Isn’t our favorite park but it’s a good option for us to be able to get away in short notice close to home with a lot of activities around for us to do.

We got a last second site and stayed for just one night. The sites were great for tents and relatively shady, but an RV had some trouble in our loop and had to move to another site. Where we set up our tent was pretty rocky and hurt the feet when you stood barefoot in the tent even with an extra tarp, so be careful where you set your tent.

There is no swimming beach, but the ranger gave us directions to another beach nearby. Next time we visit we'll be sure to check that out. Early June is good as the bugs there aren't bad at all.

The trails were nice, wish we had brought our bikes to hit the Sakatah/Singing Hills trail, looked lovely! The fishing dock was fun for the little kiddos to visit.

This is a great family park where the kids and grown-ups can have fun!

You can go fishing at the pond without having to purchase a Minnesota Fishing License!

Everything was beautiful. We camped for a week in southern Minnesota state parks, but this one is our favourite.

The campground Host Sherry and John are great!

The campground is well maintained and right by the river. Nice RV spots and nice tent spots along the river. #10 is nice tent spot we like. #20 is good RV spot we use. There is Firewood in a shed for sale.

No cell service but able to text.

Nice clean bathrooms! Great shower heads in men’s bathroom.

Trails are super nice and well maintained, many different levels of hikes going along the River to hikes up on the prairie tops. Some nice overlooks.

Zoo and nature center are great. Animals are all rescued and given a home. Bison herd and elk and deer too.

We will be camping there again!

This is a Nice campground middle of Minnesota. Surprising place in the middle of farm country. Very nice campground and lots of walking trails. Great for leaf peeping.

Not my favorite park but the trails were leisurely and relatively scenic. Campsite had a large tent pad but our site was not very large. Sites are close together and the use of large campers seemed to far outnumber those staying in tents. Office staff very friendly. Main trail to waterfall is conveniently located right next to the campground which was great for us as we were there for just one night and ended up being in the park for less than 14 hours total. Bathroom house was clean and relatively new. Not as quiet/secluded as we like, but overall we enjoyed our time here

Tent and rv camping, with a public pool close by, oldest covered bridge in the state, close to town, playground and miles of trails fir skiing, hiking and biking.

Facilities are top notch and private. The nicest showed and restroom you can imagine. Large tent pads and a quiet area. Not busy when we went. There is a small hiking trail as well. The lake isn’t anything spectacular, it’s quite dirty but we were only there for a night.

I loved the campground area which nestled in a small valley. On top of that it has this awesome living history 1800's village managed by the Minnesota Historical Society. There's also a very interesting cave with a museum and all the talactites, stalagmites, and underground pools you can imagine.