Looking for the best campgrounds near Brainerd, MN? Aside from great camping spots, you'll find hiking and many more outdoor experiences. Thinking of traveling with kids? You're in luck—Brainerd is surrounded by family-friendly activities. Search nearby campsites and find top-rated spots from other campers.
$21 / night
Family memories to be made just 2 hours from the Twin Cities! It is located just 10 miles south of Brainerd/Baxter, and 20 miles north of Little Falls on Highway 371.
Crow Wing Lake Campground lies on 30 wooded acres of mature trees, on the shores of 400 acre - Crow Wing Lake. We have 80 full hook up sites (some seasonal) and 20 electric/water sites. Each site comes with its own picnic table and fire ring. Our full hook up and electrical sites also have a 7’ X 20’ cement patio for a more enjoyable camping adventure. Most of our sites offer shade for those hot summer days.
The campground also offers full service restrooms, laundry facilities, fish cleaning house, boat launch, docks, slips and an on-site store.
Our camp store has a variety of things that you might need, or forgot to pack! We have groceries and bait, a variety of beverages, snacks, pizzas, souvenirs, camping equipment and a whole slew of other things! You can also rent pontoons, canoes, funyaks, paddleboat, and paddleboards here.
In Central Minnesotas popular lakes area, the Crosslake Recreation Area has tremendous appeal for families and friends, with an array of facilities perfect for a day outdoors. Natural Features: Surrounded by tall pines on the eastern banks of Cross Lake, Crosslake Day-Use provides an ideal location to explore and enjoy the near 13 natural lakes, boasting 13,660 acres of water and 119 miles of scenic shoreline. Recreation: Swim, hike, sunbathe, picnic or get out on the lake with the help of the on-site boat ramp for launching canoes to powerboats. Facilities: The area offers two picnic pavilions with electricity, adjoining parking, a playground, extended picnic area and swimming beach. Both pavilions fit 50 guests. Nearby Attractions: Crosslake is just 10 minutes from shopping and a paved bike trail. Its also near the Crow Wing State Park where visitors can view the Mississippi River atop the historic Chippewa Lookout.
$52 / night
Amenities
Water, electricity and sewer full hookups for seasonal rentals
Water and electricity for summer rentals, along with a dump site for sewer
On site bathroom along with a standing shower
On site compost bin
Firewood available on site for purchase
WiFi Internet (ask for details)
Near Public Lake Access on south side of lake
ADA compliant campground
$20 - $35 / night
As this was our second time here at Minnesota National, we had no problem finding the course or RV park. The RV navigation in our new Ford 450 was also spot on. When you turn in at the golf course, drive all the way to the club house/lodge parking lot and there’s a road to the right that takes you into the campground (CG). As you check-in online prior to arrival, you simply proceed to your camp site. As you turn down the short road to the CG, there’s a sign to help you identify your site location. We proceeded to back-in site 25 with full hook ups. The utilities are in the back of pad in this CG, so you may need 20+ feet of electric, sewer, or water cord/hose depending on your rig’s configuration. The sewer grade is a bit up hill. We got 3 bars LTE on Verizon and no CG WiFi. There is only a vault toilet/out house in the CG. We came here to golf for two weeks. The 18 hole course is quite challenging where the 9 hole Savannah is shorter and a little bit easier. The golf course restaurant has decent food and a good deal on draft beer during their Sunday to Thursday Happy Hours.There is not much more to do here except golf. McGregor is about 15 minutes away and is where we did laundry and got our groceries.
We got to the site and we had low branches asked them to cut them. They said they were at there standards so we had hold it up. Them the site next to us had to have rock concrete us and 4 others called several times nothing
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.
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
This is a more rustic State Park. There's lots of history here most of it is just a plaque not actually something to see. The river was really high and there was a fair amount of mosquitoes outside but a lot of trails and a lot of signs and a lot of history in the park.
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.
We stayed in a cabin for a week of biking. Excellent location with all the trails. It has a great swimming area, though it did get deep fast for little kids. We brought our paddleboard and had a great time on the quiet lake. We did hike up to the top of the camp area and were glad we stayed in the cabins. The shower/bathroom house was nice. Overall, we would stay here again.
Our RV GPs took us to the golf course, but we called the info phone number, which was the golf course clubhouse, to find out exactly how to get to the campground(CG) area. We were told to take the main road into the clubhouse, and right at the clubhouse, there’s a road to the right with a sign that shows the CG and where the sites are situated. We went in that way, where our other travel partner went past the golf course entrance(on the left side of the road) and took the unmarked RV park entrance less than a 1/4 mile past on the left. Either way works fine. We had registered online so we could go straight to the CG and to site 25 with FHUs. We had no issues backing our 40’ Brinkley TH into the site and still had room to put our patio down and park our F-450. The only problem with site 25 is that the entrance to site 24 comes in at a weird angle right next to the entrance of site 25. If our truck was centered on site 25, someone coming into site 24 might clip our truck. The utilities are in the far back of the site. I needed about 20’ of sewer, electric, and water hose to reach my rig. We got our Starlink maneuvered around the trees to get a good north shot of the sky. The loop we were in had quite a few trees along with the first loop as you come into the CG from the clubhouse area. The 44-50 loop more towards the golf course had fewer trees to block satellite. We got 3 bars LTE on Verizon, and there was no CG WiFi. The water pressure is very good at 60+ psi, so suggest a reducer. The sites were gravel with a picnic table and a nice fire pit. There were three 5th wheels in our group, and we parked in adjacent sites and did not need to use levelers; all the sites here are FHUs, and the CG does not have a dump station. There was one outhouse in the CG, along with a dumpster. The clubhouse has a locker room and shower, but there is no CG information or rules we saw at the clubhouse about the CG or whether you can use the showers, and we did not ask. The workers at the pro shop could answer simple questions about the CG. There is no playground or lake to fish, just golf. We had no issues, so did not need any more info or help. Occasionally, a worker drove a golf cart around checking campsites, and when we stayed, there was no CG host. The registration email stated that they charge 10 dollars a day for each dog. During our 7-night stay, along with the four seasonal campers, only one other camper came in for 2 days. The 27-hole golf course was in good shape and fun to play. McGregor is about 15 minutes away and has grocery, gas, hardware store, and restaurants. We plan to come back to this CG sometime in the future.
What a beautiful, peaceful sight in the woods next to the lake. Sit back and relaxing camping at it finest
Lots to do here, very fun, very friendly staff. If you are looking for a good vacation, come here you won’t be disappointed!
Postives- clean and well kept, seasonal campers were friendly, lady manager friendly
Negatives- Branches in way of taller campers and would be tough to back into nightly sites if not used to backing in trailers. Didn't even bother to use dump station on way out which was on an incline and in the way of a main intersection. Not worth the money with not having sewer at campsite. If you want to stay here because of the pool and hot tub and have kids, the kids can't even touch the deck around the hot tub without getting yelled at by a crabby, negative-vibe male manager. Can't enter or exit pool area without walking through lodge building invades privacy a bit. At midnight we heard people outside our camper talking and laughing, even though their quiet time started earlier. Feelings of being watched through the windows of lodge and on camera was creepy. Hard to idle and brake enough with a high powered vehicle to be slow enough to be under their speed limit. In which crazy male manager came biking after us to charge a$5 fine, and had no change to break a larger bill. No proof of speed on radar gun, computer or electric sign while driving in campground so not sure how he thinks he can enforce that. Saw plenty of vehicles on driveway going faster. Just a really bad, creepy atmosphere and negative vibe towards new guests and kids. Had we we planned on more nights we would have left early.
One of the best campgrounds I’ve ever been to. The only negative for us was the fact that we had to go to a laundromat in town.
Nice park on the Mississippi and Crow Wing Rivers. The park encompasses the 1850’s town of Crow Wing. Great hiking trails. A lot of mosquitoes. Bring spray.
Fun for the whole family. Amenities include: playground, pool, lake, dog park, and store. Each site has a table and fire pit. Keep an eye on your account. We noticed goggles charged to ours even though none of the 3 of us bought any. Somebody must've given them the wrong site number to charge to. Overall great campground, but a little spendy.
RV site had 30amp with FHU’s. Campground owner was helpful by leading us to our site and directing us into spot.
Tent site is an open area with tall trees. It also offered an open view of the night sky & enjoyed watching the full moon! Next to the shower house which makes it a convenient trip to the bathroom. Stayed one night but will stay longer when bringing the kayaks. Price for this spot made my trip super cheap!
Our quick stay was fine as we were passing through. This campground definitely caters to seasonal stays although was a convenient location off the highway.
Restrooms were nice and they had a compost area too.
RV Site with Sewer was $45/day (had all three water, electricity, sewage) thought this was a little pricey
Lovely park on cross lake. Sites are large although not alway easy for bigger rigs to get into due to trees. But trees are part of the beauty. Camp amenities in good shape. A bit strict on leasing your dogs (even when they are in you campsite and behaving!) Coffee shop and gas station across street. Firewood on site for$6 a bundle
Beautiful place. Non expensive. Not many tent sites but we had one down the hill and it was perfect. Very peaceful and owners are respectful and kind.
Really reasonable rates. Clean and detailed bathroom and showers. Laundry available. 30, 50 amp hookups. Back in trailer sites. Nice cabins, very reasonable rates. Everything REALLY CLEAN. beautiful swimming pool. Owners, Bill and Candy Ruttger are GREAT people, very helpful. This property offers great value! See their website.
This campground has to be one of the best privately owned hidden gems. This place is a family camping dream. I can’t wait to go back another time.
We introduced our youngest to camping at this campground. It’s a crazy story. In summary you couldn’t ask for a better first time family campground as far as my sons first camping experience lol well I’m surprised he doesn’t deeply hate camping. Everything that could of went wrong did including rain on a clear forecast and we didn’t equip the rain fly.
The campground is very quiet and clean . Biking on the Paul Bunyan Biketrail amazing
got here on a saturday and was too late to go home, there was one spot left, it gets really quiet around 10 pm. did a little shore fishing, they have some nice bluegill here.
It was a last minute booking over 4th of July. This was our first camping trip in our 30' camper, in a state park Campground. Not alot of room to maneuver 5th wheel around, spote are skinny, close together, not much shade. Showers are push button and lasted 5 seconds, NOT IMPRESSED!!
We stopped for one night on our way to a teardrop camper rally. Feels more like a city/county park. No foliage between the many, many sites. Lots of big RVs and boats crowded in a small space. And us ...
Camping near Brainerd, Minnesota, offers a mix of beautiful landscapes and fun activities for everyone. Whether you're looking for a peaceful retreat or an adventure-filled getaway, this area has something for you.
Camping near Brainerd, Minnesota, offers a great mix of nature and activities. Just remember to plan ahead and enjoy the beautiful surroundings!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Brainerd, MN?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Brainerd, MN is Crow Wing State Park Campground with a 3.9-star rating from 25 reviews.
What is the best site to find glamping camping near Brainerd, MN?
TheDyrt.com has all 16 glamping camping locations near Brainerd, MN, with real photos and reviews from campers.
