Best Glamping near Bloomington, MN

Afton is a gorgeous park. There's beautiful trails that take you through dense woods and prairie, and then you take a pretty decline to get to the St Croix River. It was foggy when we were there but still gorgeous. We also managed to get a yurt and it was so much fun. Comfy beds, room for 7 and it was clean and well built. This is a great park!

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

Beautiful, small state park less than an hour south of Twin Cities. Sites are wooded and shady but some are close to neighboring sites. Not too many mosquitos or flies for August in Minnesota! Sakatah Singing Hills paved trail runs through the park.  It was pouring on Saturday so most of the other campers checked out and we had the campground mostly to ourselves. Super friendly and helpful staff, clean restrooms. Faribault is 15 minutes away so we went antique shopping at Keeper's Antiques downtown and had cocktails at 10,000 Drops Distillery for rainy day activities.

My partner and I scheduled a 3 day / 2 night stay in a new Vintage Cruiser RV for $39.99, in exchange for attending a presentation on private membership.

We checked in Wednesday evening, and the nicest staff I've ever met helped us acclimate to RV living. We are new to this game. They patiently described how to utilize the grey and black water tanks, as well as encouraged us to check-out the canoes, row boats, bikes, horseshoes, ladder golf and many other entertainment items - for FREE!

The map provided was accurate which made locating the cruiser a breeze. There were further instructions inside as well. The RV was immaculate. Provided for our use were all linens (a public very clean bath and shower was just across the road), dish soap, dish towels, paper towels, flat wear, plates, bowls, mugs and pans.

The campground has a couple of ponds, as well as access to Ham Lake where the watercraft is launched. There is a petting arena with goats, ponies, and a llama who gave my partner the stink eye, but fell in love with me rubbing the fence and giving me all googly eyes!

The clubhouse sells bundled wood, ice, snacks, cold drinks, ice cream and provides 24-hour fresh coffee. There is also a small resupply area, and gift shop.

There are pull-through sites, back ups, 50 and 30 amp hook ups, and tent sites, covered pavilions, picnic tables and fire pits.

The campground itself seems remote, secluded and peaceful, however, you are conveniently located to two well-stocked convenience stores, as well as Wal-Mart about 15 minutes away. It's also only about 45 minutes from the Minnesota Twin Cities.

One note: We visited in August and needed gallons of bug spray.

We very much enjoyed our get away!

Each cabin has four sleeping spots: 2 bunk beds, and the 2 couches convert to beds. There's a heater inside, but no AC, which makes these the most suitable during the spring and fall.

There is a fire ring outside of each cabin, along with a table. No cooking is allowed inside the cabins, which can make things rough if the weather isn't cooperating. 

We enjoy hiking around the trails, but we primarily go to decompress, lounge around, and play games, read, etc. There's WiFi available, but depending on which cabin you reserve signal will be took weak for real usage. Same for mobile data -- don't plan on cell service here.

The bathroom facilities are nice. Outside water is shut off during some parts of the year, so bring your own drinking water if you are camping close to/during winter.

Cabins are accessible for those who need special assistance, which is nice. The only caveat is I don't recall there being an automatic door opener to the cabins.

While the cabins are close together, noise is not a factor once you're inside. 

It's difficult to get reservations, so I recommend trying to start booking 120 days in advance, which is the farthest out you can reserve. For example, as of this review (early June), all weekends are booked for all cabins.

They’re closing soon, but I caught this campground in their last 2 weeks open for the season! Feels lucky.

It’s right off the highway, and very easy to find. The camp is very well-maintained, the beach is gorgeous, and the staff was extremely nice over the phone when I set my reservation.

10/10

Lake Auburn Campground part of the Carver Park Reserve was an awesome primitive style campground. We stayed here in late September and into October. There are 57 sites with an unguarded beach, playground, volleyball court and tons of miles of trails to shred on foot or bike. All of the campsites are very clean along with all of the other facilities and amenities they offered. The playground is awesome for all ages as it accommodates something for all ages and size groups from a traditional playground set for the younger ones, volleyball net and concrete bag toss boards(which you would need to bring your own bags, but possibly could rent if the office was open). I think there are more things that you can rent when the office is open as well(only during prime season). We would highly recommend staying at this campground and look forward to checking it out in the summertime!

Check out our blog at www.unnamedadventures.com and follow our journey on Facebook and Instagram or on our YouTube Channel at Unnamed Adventures. 

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Super quiet& relaxed atmosphere!A cute lil beach for swimming! This campground even has 2 walking/hike-in campsites to give your avid campers a real out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere kind if feel, like you drove hundreds if miles to get away from the hustle and bussle if the city to be in an exclusively secluded camping adventure! Only this campground is just minutes from the major city (Minneapolis)! So it great because u feel like ur on a far away vacation when really if you forgot something, you could run back home if you absolutely needed to! :) this campground also has miles connected trails that lead through prairie lands and to a nature center where you and your kids can learn about the natural surrounding habitats. It really is one of my favorite campgrounds! No showers

Lake Auburn’s sites are all along a one way road that loops through the campground. While the park is nice and has mature trees, the sites are very open and offer little privacy between sites. The only separation is the driveway where you park your car. I stayed here during the week though, so there wasn’t another camper anywhere near us. I’m not sure how busy it gets on the weekends.

The playhroubd is nice, the vault toilets have automatic lights at night, which is pretty nice, and the beach has couple large shade umbrellas and a fishing dock. The facilities here are very nice, but I like my camp sites to be more private than what Auburn Lake has to offer.