Top Cabins near Empire, MN

Recent Cabin Reviews In Empire

278 Reviews of 28 Empire Campgrounds

• 

  Stina M.

  Scout

  

  Aug. 26, 2024

  Float-Rite Park

  This park is closed permanently

  This campground is closed permanently

• 

  Kim R.

  Scout

  

  Aug. 7, 2024

  River View Campground

  Great family campground

  Lots of activities for kids and teens. Teen social on Fridays to help them meet friends. Nice pool. The campground is on a hill if you have mobility issues. Many spots along the river.

• w

  wayne O.

  Traveler

  

  Aug. 5, 2024

  Minneapolis Southwest KOA

  Older koa

  We stayed at this koa because it was our only way to watch softball tournament. We stayed 5 days and it was fairly nice. People that were working were very helpful and nice. Lost power a couple hours twice because of branches falling g from trees.

• T

  Tim

  Guide

  

  Jul. 31, 2024

  William O'Brien State Park

  OK but not great

  The east part of the park was all closed for construction. Everything on the east side of the highway was closed so we could not hike a lot of the trails or use the beach which was a challenge with kids. Constructing is scheduled to the end of 2025.

  We stayed in a group site but there was no way 35 people could have camped in W3. Vaulted toilets need help and a good cleaning.

  The shower house needed a cleaning as well. There is no adjusting the shower temperature. Push the button and you get what you get.

  Wood was $8 bundle. This was steep in my opinion. They do not all any gathering of firewood.

  If your vehicle permit is not properly displayed, you will receive a notice on your windshield and have to talk with the office.

  The dumpster was overflowing the whole time we were there.

  Raccoons will visit your site at night. We had everything secured but they still tried and plenty of racket until we chased them away.

  Lastly we had a battle with mosquitoes. We went through a lot of bug spray and coils. Deer flies were thick around the water filling station.

  Although we did not stay in the main campground the sites are very close in there and were small.

• S

  Sharon

  Traveler

  

  Jul. 16, 2024

  Baker Park Reserve

  Favorite spot

  This is just the best campground that is close to Minneapolis! Peaceful, quiet, with spacious sites that are situated in a staggered way, so you never feel like you’re on top of each other. The lake was a bit reedy and silty but overall a fantastic and easy option.

• M

  Mia F.

  Guide

  

  Jul. 13, 2024

  Minneapolis Southwest KOA

  Unlevel sites, broken dump station

  About the only nice thing about this place is the lady who answered the phone, Valerie.

  She was extremely nice other than that it was gravel. Roads that were poorly maintained trucks were parked sticking out into the road making it difficult to get around. The site was very unlevel and the water Spicket didn’t really work very well.. we paid for two nights and bought a KOA review or rewards program to do it… We refused to stay the second night when we called to see if we could get our money back the gentleman who checked us in as a ground tender was rude and choppy he wasn’t very friendly when he brought us into the place.

  The place was packed like sardines… Very difficult to negotiate at night.

  Overall, the worst campground we’ve stayed in in the two RV trips we’ve taken from Florida to Minnesota. There are so many beautiful state parks don’t bother with this KOA not even for a one nighter.

  We were stuck on a back loop. There were a lot of mosquitoes bugs and mud… It just wasn’t a nice experience.

• R

  Ralph K.

  Scout

  

  Jun. 5, 2024

  Bunker Hills Regional Park

  Same day booking

  Went early in the season in the afternoon and had no problems getting a good spot with electric hookups. Better for someone with an RV, and more seemingly a weekend spot for the family.

• 

  Vanessa B.

  Scout

  

  May. 27, 2024

  Kamp Dels

  Camp Dels

  Camp Dels Review

  Worth the read!

  Charges:

  They charged us half of what my cousin next to us got charged and we got the same thing but mine should have been more because I had 3 more adults. And it was 500$ for 3 nights. We should have just went and rented out a house. 

  On the last day we went up to get our bills fixed and it took 40 min for them to figure out the issue, wrote down the totals and said we'll charge the cards at 11 am when the other guy comes in. At 11am we went back up for our receipts and it took them another 20 min to figure it out. He wanted to send us away saying. I'll figure it out and email it to you. I said no that doesn't work for me I'll take it now. He said what would you like me to do. So I had to spell it out for him and said "I want you to take the full amount your charging me, subtract the deposit, then subtract the payment I made when I came on Friday, and now tell me what I owe today, run that amount on my card right now and give me the receipt and do the same for the other site we had too. It's not hard. However you have to do it in your computer you figure it out, I just want to go home. I'll wait" he said your right it's not hard. I said start over completely if you want I don't care. I just want my receipts. (They couldn't even figure out math and how simple it was. What are they going to do if there computers ever fail totally) it was painfully funny to endure both times I sat through Watching with my bill!

  Night time:

  So at night get ready to be harassed every 30 minutes to a hour by workers trying to bully you to bed every night if you choose to stay up past 11pm. And they pick out the 1 drunk guy in your group to try and cope with when the sober one is saying "hey I'm sober. I don't drink. Can you please answer and talk to me" but they are rude to you and refuse. They pick at the drunk guy. But that was every night. All 3 nights. 1st time they come it is 1guy. 2nd time 2guys. 3rd time 3guys come. 4th time 4guys. 5th time 4guys come. They start at 11pm telling people to turn off all music (even on the phone turned way down. Even watching a video outside. Even if your humming/singing together, lol he said no/off, now). Of course we complied though.

  At 12am they say time for bed and then start tying to reason with you about coming back for a time when it's going to be all over at. At 12:30/1am they will come back a 3rd time and start bullying again. And say put it out now and throw a fit when you don't completely comply. So they say "I'll be back in 15 min and we are done, fire goes out and you are all going to bed". So at 1:15 perfectly on time their gang comes to harass you adults to go to bed. He screams I'm not leaving until your fires out and your all in bed. I tell him to shhhhhh! And now the drunk guy who paid 500$ to be here gets his wood doused with water and is livid. And some of us drop off every time they come because they are so rude and don't want to deal with it but I'm sober and an adult and No one is going to put me to bed. All the adults there are waisted all day and not watching their kids. And now I know why. We talk to all our neighbors plus we are there with about 10 other scattered around sites and every neighbor couldn't believe what they were doing saying we weren't even loud. We had no music and a small fire with a few people. I kept walking 5 away to go pee and I couldn't hear our group any of the nights. And we weren't even all at 1 fire either.

  * And throughout every interaction the non-drinker asks respectively (me) where in your rules or on the website does it say adults have a bed time by 1am and you guys go around harassing repeatedly trying to cause problems starting at 11pm and bully them them to bed???? Maybe you should be more transparent or be more humble and kind with your discretion. No one is being loud and belligerent. But I was ignored. Because if it had sad that on line or had I been warned about the worker's behavior after 11pm we wouldn't have came. We ourselves had 2 spots. The guy we knew who invited us had like 8 spots with him and needless to say none of us and anyone we know will ever come to 

  Camp Hels. 

  The workers/people:

  Some shouldn't work with the public. But they are all family! All related just about! And they let you know it! Some of them also let you know that they aren't saposed to be working but that they are there working anyways! So I put money in for the batting cages. Nothing happened so i swiped the playing card again. A guy and lady walk out. I said excuse me. Im not sure im doing it right but i think it took my money. She yelled at me that "we are having problems, dont I see that, give us some time". So i waited. It looked like they were going to leave so i told the guy what happened to my card and he said sure we'll refund it. The last ones not working. (But they didnt put a sign on it) and he told the lady to deal with my refund. And she came and yelled at me again. I tried to explain myself but there's no talking to her. Pretty sure she was drunk. She said stay right here. Ill be back. I waited for 30 min for a refund at the batting cages. Come to find out no one works up there. She went to the office to get a refund. But I had to call the front desk to see if someone was even coming back. And he asked her while holding the phone "do you got people waiting on you up there? We'll get going there still waiting." When she got back she yelled "so who's waiting on me!" Like she didn't ask me to stay put like a dog. And was rude again. But I got a new card and 20 new mosquito bites.

  There was other little things that were observed and overhead from other guests like at the pool, concert, petting zoo and other places too. We couldn't mention them all. We are very social and people loved all the stuff to do but hated the way they were all treated. We talked to a few seasonal owners and they say they get treated the same and hate it. 

  The sites/cleanliness/activities:

  Lifeguards were nice. Business and all activities inside the campground ran smoothly and weren't awful at all. The kids enjoyed themselves using the amenities and activities. The bathrooms were ok and pretty clean. Some trash cans had overflowing garbage and a lot all over after events. I never saw anyone picking it up. But you could always see someone riding a golf cart being bossy. It was nice to see they gave their zoo animals long breaks from feeding and petting. Some of the birds looked like they had Veterinarian feather/skin illnesses. They call it a petting zoo but there's really no petting. 

  Recommendations:

  Don't ever go. Or camp next door or close or get a house then just pay for a day pass if you can.

  If CAMP DELS is reading this you should be more transparent on your site and train your family/workers to be more kind and just walk by reminding people to stay quit at night. Insted of being on a power trip demanding adults have a bed time, pretending you don't have discretion and choices yourselves on who and where you are actually creating the problem, bullying and then playing victim. Because the only thing your accomplishing every night is pissing people off. There is a better way. Weather your there or not trying to throw your authority around, people will go to bed. Example PD dont go into bars after 12am harassing people saying "times a coming guys! I'm going to close you down". You should only be keeping people from getting out of hand. Not causing it. Another fantastic idea is have an adult camping section where quiet time is 11pm and adults can go to bed when they choose! Instead of trying to take away people's freedom, especially on Memorial weekend! God bless and hope I never see any of you at Camp Dels ever again.

• 

  Jordan D.

  Traveler

  

  May. 11, 2024

  Afton State Park

  Sites with privacy and great trails near!

  Good pricing, great trails for all different skill levels and nice staff. Our site was mighty large and for the most part secluded from those near and on the path. $22 for the site, $8 for reservation. $8 for wood (all you can chop) and $7 for the overnight and next day parking pass for one car. Beautiful surroundings and clean bathrooms and grills one mile mostly uphill hike from parking lot but not to difficult and some paved parts. Definitely coming back.

• 

  Stuart O.

  Guide

  

  Nov. 3, 2023

  Baker Park Reserve

  Open Spacious RV Campsites

  Baker is our favorite campground when visiting family in the Twin Cities.  The grounds are absoutely gorgeous, with huge hardwoods that provide lots of shaded sites.  RV pads are gravel.  Shower facilities are very nice.  We enjoy walking the grounds down to the lake.

  Lake Independence has occasional bouts of bacteria that can result in beach closings.  So if swimming is an important part of your camping getaway, be sure to check whether the beach is open.  

  I can also say the site D03 is densely shaded, which is great for spreading out on hot summer days, but there is little grass near the pad which can result in muddy conditions after a deluge.

• 

  Brad J.

  Guide

  

  Oct. 6, 2023

  St. Croix Bluffs Regional Park

  Beautiful grounds and very friendly hosts

  Only tricky part is finding a level spot if you don't have leveling rams or jacks. Otherwise it's relatively well spaced apart sites with 20amp service. Clean modern facilities and beautiful grounds. Came in around $24 for our stay.

• 

  Michelle B.

  Traveler

  

  Oct. 5, 2023

  Baker Park Reserve

  Great park for a variety of campers

  The "loops" aren't straight so it gives a variety of sizes in the sites. Some loops are electric and some aren't. No water or sewer at any sites. Water and dump station located at the office. Office staff are very helpful. Beautiful park to walk around. Couldn't do anything at the lake due to bacteria in the lake.

• R

  Roger D.

  Scout

  

  Oct. 2, 2023

  Rice Creek Campgrounds

  Visited from Red Deer, Highly Impressed

  Being from Alberta my campground standards are high but I also prefer a neat and simple campsite. When Rice Creek Campground opens up again in April I'd highly recommend going there if all you want is a simple camping experience to get away from the city grind. I had my tent, fire and books to read and was the happiest camper in the world. I went there no joke because my driver from tow truck red deer recommended it and I stopped while in the area. So glad I did!

• 

  Daniel H.

  Guide

  

  Aug. 19, 2023

  Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Regional Park

  A very nice park. County Parks are very well managed in Minnesota

  We stayed here a week. I have been here before.  It's a great campground if you can get in. We came late in the season and got the one spot open for a week.   BTW Camping Worlds huge store is just north on 35E.  Kelly's Bar nearby has a great fish fry on Friday.  

  The campground is neat and well managed. Aside from that no issues except being so close to a large city (Urban campgrounds are not for wilderness campers) and county airport (noise) occasionally. Close to the Twin Cities it is.  Access to anywhere is easy. The Three rivers campgrounds triangulate the northern suburbs. Baker park, Bunker Hills Park, and Rice Creek are all close to the major parts of town.

• 

  Justin J.

  Traveler

  

  Aug. 15, 2023

  Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Regional Park

  Great spot right outside the twin cities

  Great campground with all the amenities one might need, including showers, nice bathrooms, a park, a beach, trails. Right next to lakes and a nature preserve. Close enough to town in case you forget some things like we did. A county parking pass is required, they don't like people parking on the grass, and they have staff making rounds to enforce the shortest list of rules I've seen in the last couple of years. My only complaint is that the location of the porta-potties didn't match what the maps showed, so my seemingly perfect plan to be somewhat far from them failed and I ended up right next to one; it was clean and didn't smell, but we heard the door close every time. They have the campsites spaced out better than most other places I've camped and have trees and brush between the sites whenever possible. We tent camped and plan to bring our travel trailer next year. Definitely plan to stay here at least once a season.

• 

  Mike R.

  Guide

  

  Aug. 13, 2023

  Sakatah Lake State Park

  Decent campground. Very wooded, and showing a bit of age.

  Good campground location for the bike trail and for going to places like Mankato, and Faribault. No swimming beach, but that's good because the lake is nasty in late summer.

• 

  Sergio Z.

  Traveler

  

  Aug. 13, 2023

  Rice Creek Campgrounds

  Peaceful and beautiful

  I went camping alone on this campground, I brought my smaller 20ft trailer and had the most peaceful experience

• 

  Greg S.

  Scout

  

  Aug. 12, 2023

  William O'Brien State Park

  Fun Campground near St Croix!

  We had a fun time staying at the state park. Easy walking trails surround the park which is nice and convenient. Close proximity to Stillwater which made for a nice day trip. Camp sites were very clean and easy to access. Didn't feel like you were camping right next to others despite a lot of spots surrounding us.

• 

  Chris H.

  Legend

  

  Aug. 7, 2023

  Minneapolis Southwest KOA

  It’s right on the edge of a holiday and a journey

  We stayed a couple nights here on our last major stop, and it was ok. I’ll start with the positives. The people are very nice, and work hard. It’s close to downtown Minneapolis. They have events planned for kids. It has a pool that stays open late, and it’s got some playgrounds. Now, the cons….it’s off the road behind a construction company. It’s clientele was pretty rough on our trip. One of the playgrounds was closed. Small sites and it’s packed in here.

• 

  Ames

  Scout

  

  Aug. 7, 2023

  Nugget Lake County Park

  Gem!

  This park had lots of old tree coverage. The site we had was secluded enough from others. But they had sites available that were open to each other good for groups. They say on the description which are linked together. Nice clean facilities. Saw they had an outdoor theater which we didn’t see in action because we weren’t there tell almost 10pm and someone was still in the office. Nice grass trails. Looked like a decent playground.

• 

  Bruce M.

  Scout

  

  Aug. 6, 2023

  Rice Creek Campgrounds

  Great campsites, bad firewood

  Many campsites are fantastic with good spacing and shade. Access to lake is great. Firewood at $7 a bundle doesn't burn, it just smokes. I asked for a refund. Buy firewood elsewhere.

• 

  Ezzra V.

  Scout

  

  Jul. 28, 2023

  Ham Lake Resort

  Old mill Inn and resort

  Best place and management in this world. Simply beautiful

• C

  Cody

  Traveler

  

  Jun. 18, 2023

  Bray County Park

  Not terrible

  Not a terrible campground, fairly quiet, and woodsy.

  Biggest problem with the campground is gates in and out lock every night at 10pm and don't open again until 8am. So our first night we got locked out and had to sleep in the vehicle.

  Also, you're packed I like sardines, hope you have good neighbors.

• T

  Tom

  Ranger

  

  May. 15, 2023

  Oxbow County Park

  Beautiful Campground & Park & Zoo!

  The campground Host Sherry and John are great!

  The campground is well maintained and right by the river. Nice RV spots and nice tent spots along the river. #10 is nice tent spot we like. #20 is good RV spot we use. There is Firewood in a shed for sale.

  No cell service but able to text.

  Nice clean bathrooms! Great shower heads in men’s bathroom.

  Trails are super nice and well maintained, many different levels of hikes going along the River to hikes up on the prairie tops. Some nice overlooks.

  Zoo and nature center are great. Animals are all rescued and given a home. Bison herd and elk and deer too.

  We will be camping there again!

• 

  Scott M.

  Legend

  

  Dec. 22, 2022

  Whitetail Woods Camper Cabins

  Great Cold Weather Option

  Super simple camping cabins. They each have 4 spots and have contactless entry as you get sent a code to use. There is no cooking inside the cabin so you have to use the fire ring outside. Shower facilities are really nice and match the cabins. Plan ahead as these are hard to come by.

• D

  Deanna J.

  Guide

  

  Nov. 23, 2022

  William O'Brien State Park

  Camper Cabin

  We camped at William O’Brien State Park November 1-4, 2022. We were taking advantage of some unseasonably warm days, and we are so glad we did. This park is beautiful! The trails are well kept and cover woodlands, grasslands, and wetlands. There is a huge beaver lodge that can be seen from one of the trails, and we saw a smaller one from a different trail. We saw an abundance birds while we were there.

  We stayed in a camper cabin (‘Vasa’) and enjoyed it. The cabins are one room plus an enclosed porch. Furnishings are bunk beds and a table with benches. The cabin was heated and had electricity. You cannot cook indoors. There is a fire pit and picnic table outside. There are three cabins on a little cul de sac by the Savanna campground. There are two vault toilets near the cabins. The water source was off for the season, but water was available at the park office.

• 

  Lindsay T.

  Guide

  

  Nov. 22, 2022

  Sakatah Lake State Park

  Great campground close to the Twin Cities

  This is a great campground within an hour's drive of the Twin Cities.  Nice hiking and sites well spaced out.  Beautiful in the fall!  Only negative to our site was a fairly steep incline to back our trailer up.  Made for more difficult but not impossible leveling, perfect site otherwise.