Best Tent Camping near Empire, 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.

All RV and ridiculously expensive for tent camping

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.

A nice small park but nothing special. Sites are good sized and nicely spaced. Facilities are primitive. Nice walking trail around the property about 2.5 miles. The trail does cross some of the tent sites. Maybe once the lockdown is over things will be better there.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

We stayed here with two young kids tent camping. We stayed in site A20 due to the close proximity to the bathrooms. The grounds were very well kept and groomed. The sites were pretty close together with no trees in between, but only around 25% of sites were occupied when we were there so it wasn’t a problem. I would imagine it would be very cozy and not much privacy when full, which could be the only potential drawback. There were a fair amount of RVs- we were one of only a few tents I saw. There were some nice looking cabins on our loop as well. It was a very short walk down a path to the beautiful lake which was deserted when we were there. The bathrooms looked new and were very well kept. There was even one family restroom with a shower which was so awesome for trying yo get two small kids cleaned up. Loved that. Overall this was a great campsite when not full and we had a great time.

We went on a day trip to the eagle point section of the Lake Elmo park district. This is set in a lush rolling prairie with lots of hiking trails in addition to other attractions like an archery range and swimming pond. 

The modern campground is built for non-tent campers, which is kind of a bummer because it is so much nicer than the “rustic” tent campground. Could you set up a tent there? Sure, but most of the site is devoted to a gravel parking pad. 

The rustic campground is an offshoot of the horse trailer parking lot. The sites for the most part are not spacious or private. Only portapotties. I think the best camping opportunity I saw was the group campgrounds, which had more modern outhouses. This will continue to be a great day trip location for us.

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.

Lebanon Hills is a great campsite for families, first time campers, or anyone having a "staycation" while keeping hotel costs down. The East loop is perfect for tent camping with large, wooded, private sites close to the amazingly clean bathrooms and showers. (Seriously, the bathrooms were so clean.) There is a well kept playground and many walking trails all around the park. The RV section was not as shaded or private, but there are a few RV spots that could be private if they're open. What we like is that Lebanon and the area has so much to do. If you can hop in the car, there is a free beach 5 minutes away with rental costs for a SUP, canoe, or kayak, lots of paved trails, unpaved trails, a Visitor Center with free programs, and a really well maintained mountain bike park. The MN zoo, Apple Valley Aquatic Center, Cascade Bay, Outlet Mall, and MOA are a quick 5-10 minute drive away. Yes, I prefer to stay outdoors, but if you have a group or someone who "needs" something to do you will not run out of options.

Sites for camping: East 71, 82, 84 and North 61,65