Best Cabin Camping near Brainerd, MN

Perfect little camper cabin and site. Fabulous park staff that even turned the heater on for us before we arrived. The cabin has electricity, heat, no plumbing. No cooking inside, wonderful fire ring for cooking, which we used at night.

We stayed in a camper cabin that was just perfect. Lots of hiking to be done and the fire towers are one of my favorite!

Stayed at Mille Lacs Kathio and visited the nearby Father Hennepin State Park in late winter, staying in a camper cabin. Great ski trails leaving very close to the campground, excellent views of Mille Lacs Lake, and the nearby forest.

Crow Wing State Park is a good choice if you are looking for something close to the Twin Cities metro area in Minnesota. with this park being just under two hours away from the Twin Cities metro area it’s an easy choice for a nice weekend getaway. If you’re looking to stay for a long extended time it’s also a good choice as it offers electric and water. The electric sites are pretty open and close together so if you like to be secluded and not see other campers from your campsite I wouldn’t use this park. The electric sites are really on top of each other and don't feel like you are camping to me. The non-electric sites are pretty nice and secluded from each other which would make this park a park I would bring my tent to instead of my travel trailer. There is also a group camp That is separate from the main camping area.

The park office offers ice and firewood for sale. Firewood is 6$ a bundle at the park office. The only firewood you can use is the approved firewood in the local area or scrap lumber. See the Minnesota Firewood law.  Canoe rentals are offered at the park office for $15 for a half-day and $25 for a full day. There is also a water fill station and a dump station for your travel trailer or RV. This is a good park for hiking and exploring. 

If you wanna stay close to the Twin Cities metro area this is a good park for you!

This resort and campground only has a few reservable campsites and a couple of cabins (at least one is more like a Park model). There are bathrooms and showers available, but only one of each for each gender. The sites are close together and a bit of a walk to the swimming beach. The staff is amazingly accommodating though and let us put 2 campers per site to accommodate our large group. I was also impressed that they had many beach toys that were able to be used by anyone and a decent playground that is right near the campsites. It rained 4 inches the first night we were there and many of the low lying areas were flooded, but it did not affect any of the campsites and the kids loved playing in the huge puddles.

I live close so I visit frequently to use the trails for running.

This park boasts an amphitheater, trails along the river, a group center, an historic site, decent bathroom facility, and spacious camp sites.

The electric site area isn’t super awesome, as it gets crowded and is more like a huge group camp. But the rest are way more private.

One thing missing is tent pad areas- still grassy and flat enough to truly be NBD, BUT, always nice to have a designated surface.

Great access for canoeing and kayaking the Mississippi water trail. If you start at Kiwanis Park in Brainerd- you can make it to crow wing in four hours leisurely, or three fairly easily.

Nice trails, good parking, good shower facilities, and pretty trails.

Nice campground. We were dry camping in the RV since there was no water. Still a nice place for a winter getaway. Will go back in the fall!

Nice wooded campground. Gravel sites, fairly level. Water fill and firewood available at the registration building. The water was high in iron. Canoe and kayak rentals available. Lots of trails for hiking and biking. Bring bug spray in the summer!
Historical sites along hiking path. Bathrooms and showers were decent. Dump station on site.

Right on the lake with private dock. Sites a close by. Most have water and electric. Full hookups are very limited. Only 4 site near the back. Off of a quiet road. No traffic noise. Lake is clean but dark with ore. Loons frequent. Turtle lake channels over to another lake. Makes a great boat or kayak trip. Boat kayak paddle board and paddle boat rentals available.

Located just south of Mille Lacs in central Minnesota, Mille Lacs Kathio State Park is large and welcoming.

In addition to a state park and campground, the park is also on the nation register of historical sites, owing to the large number of archeological digs, revealing human activity in the area that dates back thousands of years.

The sites are large and spaced decently from each other. We could have used a little more privacy between sites, but this can be written off as an effect of being nearly in the season.

With the exception of a large family reunion, the park was quiet and you can easily find yourself alone from the crowds.

Canoes are available for rental, which allow for fishing in the Rum River. There is also an observation platform- the climb can be intimidating, but the views are well worth it!

I wasn’t able to find a spot to find a spot to fish from shore at, but that could just be my failure.

The Interpretive Center gave you a really good glimpse into the wildlife and history of the area, as well as provided an assortment of activities.

The facilities were a little time-worn, but clean, and the water in the showers heater fast.

My family and I had a wonderful time, and will be back!

I was looking to take a solo camping trip for the weekend and paddleboard on the Cuyuna Mine Lakes. I booked the trip pretty late because of a lot of different factors, but Crow Wing State park still had plenty of availability. The park is nothing spectacular, but it was nice, wooded, and the staff were great. It was my first time solo camping in awhile, so I opted to stay at a state park where there would be rangers. I noticed that the rangers stopped and talked to me night one, and remembered me- which made me feel very safe as a solo female camper. The campground was overall pretty quiet, and my site was wooded so that I normally could not see other campers from my site, which was great! It felt decently quiet . If you visit in the summertime, expect hellish mosquitoes and pack accordingly!

You can join the hiking club trail straight from the campground, which was nice- I went on a few beautiful sunset walks to watch the sunset over the river

The bathroom and shower were clean and easily accessible.

The park was a 20-30 minute drive from the Cuyuna Mines area, so I was able to easily drive over Saturday morning and spend the day paddleboarding.

This park is not one of the most spectacular in Minnesota, but I had a great stay and it was very relaxing. It was great for a weekend getaway for a solo female camper looking to do some paddle boarding in the area

We give this resort 5 stars because, despite it not being visitor friendly, they are up front in their policies about visitors and the place is great in all other respects. If you want to have visitors while staying here it is best to consider these policy before visiting as they are strictly enforced. We won’t stay here again because of those policies despite how great the amenities are.

OK, for the good stuff. Sites are huge, very dog friendly, quiet, ice and firewood on site, cute little lake with gorgeous sunsets, huge kiddy play area on water, free kayak and paddle board use, nice little onsite store. Be aware much of the place is seasonal rentals but these sites are kept very tidy. Whole place is immaculate. Also have 3 docs and a small boat landing.

Stayed in Petaga (drive in) spot #52. The spots were pretty private - the surrounding campsites were definitely visible through the trees, but there was plenty of distance so you weren't overhearing everyone's conversations or anything. The site was very roomy! It was a short walk to the bathrooms, water was nearby. The paths to the overlooks on the Rum River were close as well. The inner campsites are RV hookup sites, and the sound definitely carried when someone came later at night to set up their RV. We lucked out with great weather, and bugs were not bad (some mosquitoes but not overwhelming). Campsites have easy access to the trails that connect to the west interpretive center. Some things were closed due to COVID (including the fire tower), but bathrooms were open. No boat rentals right now either, but the river looked like a great, calm spot to kayak.

This is one campground in Minnesota that offers a handful of electric hookups for winter camping. The beauty of this campground, is that while the campsites available are in a row, there's plenty of space between sites and some of them are even pulled through. Making it easy for RVs to pull in and hook up.

The vault toilet is not easy to find from where the electric openings are in the winter. While these spaces are right next door to a shower house with toilets, this is closed in the winter. The vault toilet is several rows over and down, making it hard to find if you don't already know where it is. But it was clean, and it was available.

The campfire rings seemed clean, and each had a picnic table as well. We loved the pull-through site because then we were a little more protected from the road, although it's not busy this time of year at all. So it was very quiet except for our neighbors, and they didn't make much noise at all.

There are trails nearby that are easily accessible on foot from the campground, and you can make loops that come back to the campground as well.

There are two campgrounds at this park, but this is the one that has availability in the winter time. Ironically, they also have a couple of walk-in spots that are also open this time of year. If you're willing to brave the temps without an electric hookup. Not hard to find, not hard to access, but no electric hookups at these sites.

The campsite was pretty wooded on most sides. I visited in the late spring so there were quite a few mosquitos since the campground is near the river. Bathrooms/showers were cleanish, water was mid from the outdoor taps but not horrible

Nice trails along the Mississippi River, easy to walk, good signage on trails, and good information signs with history of each site along the trail.

Very Clean men’s bathroom. One shower needs a new shower head.

Sites 40 to 45 are very nice and secluded. Sites 58 and 59 are prime secluded sites.

Just kidding, our dogs hate camping but we definitely enjoyed Crow Wing. The park ranger was super helpful on our first visit to the park. The campgrounds were beautiful, hiking trails were fun and the fishing was a blast. We would definitely head back to Crow Wing for more camping adventures!