Best Tent Camping near Buffalo, MN

We tent camped here for a night while passing through. It’s a basic KOA with a few amenities. The lots were really big and we had no one near us, so it was nice and private. Most of the lots near the front were occupied but the back was almost empty, which is where the more wooded lots are. Only 1 bath house and it’s not close to most of the tent sites.

Staff was nice and helpful. It has a small pool and game room but not much else for kids. The bugs are aggressive here, especially near the tent sites which are located near a swampy area. Definitely more of a place to stay as you are passing through, not really a destination campground.

This is a well kept and well run campground tucked in between the Mississippi River and the outlet of the Platte River. The emphasis is on RV camping, and a large percentage of the sites are for full season May to October rentals. However there are nightly and weekly rates with both full and partial hookups, and some basic tent sites in a nice location right on the river. Daily and weekly campsite rentals are a bit expensive, however the campground offers many resort amenities that arent part of usual campgrounds such as a full service lodge, large beautiful pool as well as a beach on the river, mini golf, canoes and kayaks, and their specialty: river tubing. The pluses at this location include nice river setting, great amenties, secure family-friendly grounds, and a variety of on site services. The monthly RV site rental is about $800 a month for a bluff side site which might be a nice retreat for families or retirees. The minuses are primarily that the nightly rental is not cheap, especially if you want to tent camp, but fir some folks the amenities might be worthwhile. Summer is peak season if course, it is quieter and cheaper in the fall and spring.

Lebanon Hills is a great park and has a lot of trails for hiking and mountain biking. Our family selected this camp ground to test out some gear -- if we had problems or if we forgot something it was a short drive home. Turns out this is a wonderful camp ground and offers a lot of seclusion. 

Tent camp sites are far enough from each other that neighbors can't be seen, and we didn't hear them either. 

The bathroom facility near the ranger station was very well maintained and cleaned several times a day. 

The only criticisms we have are that you can hear road noise -- and depending on your site you'll hear the alarm of one of the access gates for the Minnesota Zoo.

We went here as an experiment, but will definitely be coming back throughout the year. Reserve early online, most weekends were already reserved by mid May.

A couple weeks ago we spent some time at the Northwest koa...that one had private tent sites surrounded on 3 sides by trees, quiet spaces etc. Looking at the Southwest koa website they advertise as the tent sites back into the woods. So imagine our surprise when we were shown our site. It did indeed back up into the woods however the woods were 20ish feet behind a rope and we were told all set up had to be done in front of the rope. Our tent was inches from the road and wide out in the open. Other then the tent site itself this koa is wonderful...the staff were very friendly, the pool was clean and heated, the grounds were kept clean etc