Best Tent Camping near Cottage Grove, MN

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.

This was a great spot for our first time camping with our kids! We camped in a tent so booked a site on the river side (no hookups) but it was very spacious and was perfect for our group! Bathrooms seemed fairly decent. They weren’t too far away. I would definitely stay here again!

We experienced wonderful customer service, tent camping, nature center and waterfalls.

Definitely check this place out great campsites for tent camping right next door to the MN Zoo campsites nicely wooded spread out nicer than some state park campgrounds. Definitely going to check it out again.

Some nice hiking and beautiful landscapes of wildflowers, grasses, and the river Typical state campground set up, not a ton of privacy but enough. Stayed 3 nights, tent camping. Biy certified firewood outside the park if you plan on using a lot. A nice weekend getaway close to the metro!

Be sure to check out Franconia sculpture garden if you're staying here and have the time! It's such a fun and quirky place. Some of us stayed at an RV site and some of us stayed at a tent site this trip 😁

In demand park close in to cities. RV portion has full hook ups. No hook up sites for up to 24ft RVs also available. Non hook up sites are wooded and well spaced. RV sites similar to private campgrounds. Must reserve months in advance as usually full. Have secluded tent sites too.

Three campgrounds, first come first serve. $10/day entry $40/daily for electric hook up (non-resident); no full hook-ups, no water, only 1 vault toilet open per campground. Year round availability, however- tough to find! Very hard to get a cellular connection (T-mobile). Beautiful views of the river, right along the edge if you tent camp. Multiple playgrounds, hiking trails and loads of nature, large beach and waterfalls.

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.

I camped here in April and got a camping spot on the edge of the River Campground facing the woods. I loved this spot and it was plenty big for parking two cars, tent, hammock, chairs, you name it! It appears that most tent camping is on the outer edges and RV camping is in the middle. No one was noisy, wasn't a "party" campground which was great for peace and quiet. It was great being so close to the river trail. Great views and fresh air!

This is one of the few places that you can camp in twin cities metro. Both car and RV camping is allowed. Some of the tent sites do have power as well. Bathrooms and Showers are centrally located. Firewood is available for purchase. The camp grounds are located near the Lebanon Hills mountain biking area and miles of day hiking trails. Camping is only permitted in this area and it's not open in the winter.

This is one of my favorite campgrounds in Southern Minnesota! It is only 1 1/2 hours away from the TwinCities which makes it an ideal getaway. The campsites are wooded and have enough distance between them that noise is minimal. I especially love the view of Lake Pepin and the nice little swimming beach. On our last stay, we were able to watch eagles from our campsite, which was amazing. They have recently added 3 small cabins to rent which would be a nice alternative to tent camping. If you do plan a camping trip to Hok-Si-La and you're driving in from the Twin Cities, be sure to take Wisconsin Highway 35 through Maiden Rock, Stockholm, Pepin, and other small towns. You can loop back into Minnesota through Wabasha. This adds about an extra half hour to your drive but it is definitely worth it!

Tent sites line the exterior of this campground while electric, RV sites are close by. While I was at a riverside spot, the amount of RVs across the road can really detract from the experience. People in RVs (this is a generalization made after many'a'night in campgrounds) tend to not recognize their voices penetrate tent walls with incredible ease -- many lack the personal experience that their voices are disruptive at midnight and should speak in hushed voices while their neighbors try to sleep. Not to mention, what's with the bright lights they shine on their exterior? Camp Hosts (who slept in an RV as well) were useless to manage quiet hour expectations. Bathrooms have a shower and while I did not use, seemed in good condition.

I love this park and use it frequently for our "test runs". We have a new puppy and a new teardrop, so this was the perfect place for us to have our maiden voyage within 20min of our home. But besides just being close, it's also a really nice campground. It's very wooded and feels private. The RV section has sites that are a bit close together and open, but the tent sites (where we stayed) are much more secluded. The facilities are clean and well-kept.

The park itself is also really nice. There are lots of hiking trails, mountain biking, lake access for kayaking/paddle boarding... In the winter we love coming here for day trips to take advantage of the cross country skiing and snow shoe rentals.