Looking for a place to go glamping near Dakota? Glamping is not only a fun alternative to traditional tent camping, but also allows you to pack more or less gear as you see fit. The Dyrt makes it easy to find glamping near Dakota.
Schools of trout happily swim through the lazy Whitewater River and various spring fed creeks of Whitewater State Park. And while it’s known for its fantastic fishing opportunities, the park also boasts year-round interpretive programs, a modern Visitor Center, and an especially appreciated lack of mosquitos, unique for the region.
Whitewater is well seasoned, with a number of historical attractions within and nearby. In fact, 2019 marks the 100th anniversary of the park. To commemorate the occasion, local conservationists and naturalists have teamed up to release a special Oral History Project from stories of campers and those native to the region.
Explorers and adventurers will love this park’s diverse selection of attractions and oddities. Home of the park office and interpretive services, the Whitewater Valley Visitor Center should be your first stop. The friendly Park staff are ready to help you plan your visit and load you up on information, and even loaner equipment such as GPS units, fishing kits, discovery kits for kids, and birding kits. Don’t skip the Discovery Room, which showcases nature displays, exhibits and a spotting area to observe the local bluebirds, cardinals, hawks and bald eagles flying about.
The vast expanse of outdoor wilderness is really what you’ll want to check out. If you only have time for a quick visit, check out the Chimney Rock Trail for an awesome view of the Whitewater River. Those searching for a more accessible hike can take the Meadow Trail, which drops off right into a grassy valley, surrounded by dramatic Minnesota bluffs. During the hot and humid summers, go unwind at the beach for a refreshing dip in the cold, spring-fed water. Those more interested in history lovers should visit the famous Elba Fire Tower. Built in 1933, this sturdy tower offers cozy 360 degree views of the entire wetland region below. You’ll be especially grateful for the chance to unwind, thanks to the arduous 500-step climb required to ascend to the top.
Finally, firmly planted atop the land sits Inspiration Point; a beautiful limestone rock outcrop that overlooks the entirety of the Whitewater valley. Known as the most popular attraction within Whitewater State Park, visitors can still discover solace from their troubles. In fact, this is the only overlook in the entire park where there are no signs of civilization anywhere in sight. With just a little imagination, standing atop Inspiration Point on a clear, calm day can make you feel as if you could step down into a deep forested paradise, unspoiled and far from the reach of society.
Whitewater campground here is plentiful, with every site having full electric hookups and full-through capabilities. The campground features a full range of amenities including regularly placed shower houses with laundry facilities, and a number of group camping areas as well. Furthermore, there are 5 cabins available with various sleeping capabilities.
Neshonoc Lakeside Camping Resort is one of the premier Wisconsin camping destinations! Stay with us for your family vacation, or maybe for just one or two nights to escape the stresses of everyday life. Neshonoc Lakeside offers activities for everyone, whether it's a relaxing day at the beach, fun in the sun by the pool, a spirited game of horseshoes, volleyball, boating or a relaxing day of fishing on the lake. So Stay a day, week, month or the entire season. Book your RV site, tent site or cabin today! Whether you're planning a retreat for the whole family, a group of friends or a getaway for two, there's no shortage of unique activities to explore at Neshonoc Lakeside Camping Resort. Plan activities upon arrival or visit this page before your departure to plan ahead. Looking for more? Our friendly staff can fill you in on all of the great ways to make your stay a memorable experience.
Located just three miles east of Lanesboro, Minnesota, Eagle Cliff Campground & Lodging offers something for everyone. Accommodations include riverfront tent sites, electric-only sites, water-electric sites and full hookup sites and a five-room motel on site. Eagle Cliff offers group camping, a picnic area, private canoe launch and wonderfully-clean central restrooms.
$30 - $46 / night
$30 - $40 / night
Pine View Campground on Fort McCoy is open to the public. Stay with us year round in a cabin. Discover the outdoors and scenic Fort McCoy. Campsites are available May - November. Pine View offers all the conveniences in a clean, pleasant campground.
ENJOY YOUR TIME HERE IN GOD'S COUNTRY MOSQUITO FREE
Full hook-ups, water & electric sites, tent sites, swimming area, playground, and a full bar and grill on site.
Free WiFi.
Esofea/Rentz Memorial Park is Vernon County’s oldest and most historic park. Situated on 148 acres in the Town of Jefferson, Esofea Park has 16 rustic sites, 2 electric and water sites, and 10 full hookup RV sites - advance reservations require a two night minimum. Esofea has more than 3 miles of hiking trail, a picnic shelter, a spring trout pond, large open areas for softball or kickball or volleyball, and an incredible section of the North Fork Bad Axe River running through the property. Esofea Park has something for everyone! Just down the road on the adjacent property is the Bad Axe River Country Club, featuring a nine-hole golf course, mini-golf, and disk golf.
$20 - $40 / night
Traveler
Nice little campground. Friendly owners. The campground is clean and quiet.
Scout
The park is very easy to get to right off the highway. We were greeted by a beautiful meadow with a very well maintained gravel road, stopped by the info station and bought wood and a parking pass (pass is required and is 7$ for one day, easy online purchase). The sites are a bit of a ways into the park but with that maintained road it was very easy. The facilities are great. Very clean bathroom with nice showers (cold water then warmed up). The campground was quiet but there were still a good amount of people staying as well. We stayed just one night and were very happy with this area! Really pretty
TravelerBeautiful area with very nice trails. 20-30 mins to Winona, 20 mins to La Crosse. Not a huge site selection, but very nice sites. My wife and I try to go there as much as we can!
Traveler
We were coming back from a koa in Minnesota and decided to stop for the night, nice clean campground and a beautiful heated pool. Definitely would go back again
Traveler
Very cool secluded walk in sites, pet friendly, awesome trails.
Scout
Lots of activities. Near-by La Crosse has baseball and softball teams from the Northwoods collegiate summer league.
Scout
If you want to experience very rude and unfair treatment where you will be mistreated and ripped off by the staff and ow era you must come to Eagle Cliff campground. Was double charged for the room without any options and negotiations and knees delivered to us after we already left the campground. Staff is very rude and unwilling to be reasonable, professional and understanding. Campground looks good but rules are ridiculous and staff and owners are very shady and make non sense decisions. Stay away if you want nice peaceful stay and don’t want to be ripped off.
ScoutIf you want to experience very rude and unfair treatment where you will be mistreated and ripped off by the staff and ow era you must come to Eagle Cliff campground. Was double charged for the room without any options and negotiations and knees delivered to us after we already left the campground. Staff is very rude and unwilling to be reasonable, professional and understanding. Campground looks good but rules are ridiculous and staff and owners are very shady and make non sense decisions. Stay away if you want nice peaceful stay and don’t want to be ripped off.
TravelerThe cart in sites all have a fire pit with a grill, picnic table, and are a short walk from the primitive toilets. There is a water spigot in the parking area. They have 4-5 wheelbarrows to use as carts to get your stuff to the site. Each site could comfortably hold 3 to 4 tents. They are on a path for an out and back hike so expect some passers by. Cart in 1 and 2 are fairly close to the parking area and are less secluded from each other. 3 and 4 are more secluded. Site 3 offers more shade and 4 looks to have recently had some trees cut down and is fairly open air. Overall the trails are well maintained and accessible from the cart in area. They provide some nice views of the river and you can easily hike the area in a day. It’s by no means a secluded area if you’re looking to get away from road noise or other people. All in all it makes for a nice weekend getaway.
Legend
Stayed here for a couple nights on a mini state park road trip. Nice place, like most of the MN state parks. Spotty cell service. Hiked a trail with lots of steps. Fire ring and picnic table are provided at each site. Restroom with showers also available in campground. Site was large and easy to back into and offered some tree cover for shade during certain times of the day. Was unable to hang hammock in specific site we stayed at, but some of the sites looked like they would be suitable.
LegendStayed here in the fall. Had a site right next to the bathroom big enough for 2 tents and 2 vehicles. Hikes here offer great views of the river and bluffs and the fall colors are gorgeous!!! site came with a fire pit with grate and a picnic table. I did not use the grate for cooking as I camp with a blackstone as grates tend to be dirty. When I do use the fire for cooking, I always use a cast iron pan rather than cooking directly on the grate. pictures are from before my friend arrived with their vehicle and tent. They parked directly in front of my car and put their tent near the parking barricade close to the bathroom. My dog enjoyed all the room he had at this site!
Scout
Free firewood, free wifi, water and electric at each campsite. Found a nice shady site for tent camping.
Scout
Dre, the campground manager, is a stellar guy to talk to. Excellent customer service! Gorgeous bluffs and river to camp right next to! Can’t wait to go back!
TravelerStayed here one night on way to YNP. Very nice and quite. Clean flush toilets. There are no hook ups.
The road in is long gravel road, but smooth. The sites are short and tree branches low. We have 10 foot high 19 foot travel trailer and it was fine for us. I think for any unit more than 30 feet will have trouble.
We liked it as overnight stop.
Ranger
We loved it here! What a gem! The views go on and on!
Huge open sites. Not a lot of trees for privacy but the sites are huge so it’s all good! Hot water and flush toilets and hot showers (need quarters). $40 for a yearly membership (covers your camping fee and then any time you return in the year the camping is only $20).
Feel like you can write your long overdue novel here. Perfect setting and very relaxing. We would stay again for sure. Lots of bugs at night to be expected being that close to the driftless. We awoke to such views - hard to beat!
GuideThis is a smaller campground but makes up for it with all the access around it. Ice Cave trail was a neat, quick walk. The trails around have gorgeous views of the driftless area and Kickapoo river. I stayed at site 1. While it is right next to the campground road and a trail, trees block the views from people looking in and there was not that much traffic. It is a tent only site and can fit one tent. Was a good site for just me and would stay at this site again as most of the other sites are very explored.
Traveler
Nice grassy sites next to a cool creek. Electric but no water hook up. There is an RV fill up and a dump. Stayed in site #34 which has shade all afternoon. Also very level. Showers are not great but they work. Nice 2 mile trail around the lake. Close to the cute town of Viroqua and 20 min. Drive to the Mississippi River. Beautiful country.
LegendNice campground, quiet would come back! It was our first time to WI so the scenery to the park was just beautiful.
Our campsite was nice. Spaced out enough from neighbors that we were comfortable. Do not like the nickel and diming of WI state parks. Charge the site fee which is reasonable enough but then a $8 reservation fee that gets you to $40 and then another $11 to NR's for the vehicle pass. You can get an annual pass for $38 but when you are just passing through it's not worth it. Brought us to $51 for the stay and it was worth it since we needed a place to camp, but I've stayed in better places for less. This park was much better than Rocky Arbor.
Bathrooms were super clean for a campground. Good shower with directions on wall, which was a nice touch. The cement in shower is stained so it looks dirty but it's really pretty clean. Enjoyed my hot shower here.
Hiked the Old Settlers Trail. It was nice, some elevation changes that get you attention. It was muggy and hot as I hiked right after the rain, so temperature was miserable at times, but it is July! The entire trail was about 3 miles round trip from the campground. Definitely check out observation point! Beautiful view!!!
GuideGreat spot in the Root River Valley. They offer lots of extras including tube rental and transport, bike rentals, bingo and live music. Our site was right long the river where we saw turtles, bald eagles and lots of other wildlife. Facilities were clean and well-maintained. Not a lot of trees between sites but still far enough apart for privacy.
RangerThis huge campground had the best lush looking grass I ever saw. There is every kind of camping to be found here, including seasonal camping. Close to Lanesboro. If I needed bathroom or showers, I would have been disappointed at the port a pots and showers far away from my site.
GuideThe campground had quite a few geese when we went so lots of honking and goose poop which dont work out if you want peace and quiet and clean shoes. The camping sites also have large tall trees where a camper should be parked which causes you to park way to close to the fire pit. Luckily we were camping in a group and could hang out at another campsite with better placement. On the plus side, the view is beautiful and the bar is nice!
LegendThis was our second visit to this park. On both occasions we wanted to canoe the scenic Kickapoo river. Our first trip was five years ago and we got portage service for our canoe from Titanic Rentals in Ontario. We went from there (bridge 1) to bridge 12 Which took nearly all day, but we were able to have lunch at the park's Wildcat landing, the only real and equipped picnic site along the river. NOTE; Google maps makes it look like the campground and landing are near each other. They are not. It's three miles of very steep roads, so don't think you're going to fetch anything you left behind.
The campground is on top of the ridge, which means in the morning you will look out over a fog shrouded valley through the trees. The views from the overlooks, which are a short hike, are worth checking out. Campsite 15 is the only one with a clear view.
There are walk in sites and the paths are wide and clear. The park provides large carts for your stuff so you can really pack stuff in and get away from it all. But the family tent and RV sites generally well spaced, check the map as some are more private than others.
Our second trip was in August, 2023 and we canoed from bridge 12 to LaFarge (bridge 21). It was later in the season than our previous trip, and in the slightly less scenic stretch of the river. As a result, we didn't see any other boaters.
Campsites have basic fire ring, and there are pit toilets as well as one Full facility with running water and hot showers. Firewood is available at the Ranger station.
There's also Equestrian camping elsewhere in the park and lots of trails for both hikers and horses.
The town of Ontario has a good general store and a couple bars, but this is pretty much wilderness and small farms. Two unique places however are Wild Things Furrier near bridge twelve. Want a coonskin cap or some smoked trout? This is the place.
More unique than that if you want to treat yourselves, go 34 miles south to the St. Frances Hermitage restaurant. It's run by a small order of French Monks and Nuns who raise their own animals and grow the vegetables they serve. Their bakery is also delicious. This is not fast food, this is a gastronomic experience.
LegendGreat trails! Easy to access trails from the campground. Bathroom is decent and offers a couple of showers.
RangerStayed here a few years back with a one friends. Had a good time. Nice state campground.
Scout
The camp has a lot of long term sites on the waterfront so getting on one usually gets you into spring and camping. The waterfront has mostly electric only sites and run very close to size. We have a 28 5th wheel and we're snug. Site said 25 ft but the picture had a 5'er on it so we booked it. The back sites are ATV/UTV site. They have good access to the trails. They seem a bit bigger. I've seen a few toy haulers back there. There are a few full hookup in the center of the campground but not many. The shower and restrooms were clean. There are larger sites just not all waterfront. We like to travel too much to have a permanent site yet, so we try to come spring and fall here
TravelerThey have gravel on all there campsites with tents horrible on the tent put a hole inn the bottom of the tent with sharp gravel. I would bring a padded floor with next time.
Travelerthe view was amazing. The campsites were very small. And KEEP BARKING DOGS AT HOME PLEASE.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Dakota, MN?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Dakota, MN is Great River Bluffs State Park Campground with a 4-star rating from 25 reviews.
What is the best site to find glamping camping near Dakota, MN?
TheDyrt.com has all 31 glamping camping locations near Dakota, MN, with real photos and reviews from campers.
