Best Glamping near Mankato, MN

Sakatah Lake State Park campground is a lucious, green campground located near Sakatah Lake. There are quite a few sites. Most are private, but they are a bit crammed together in multiple loops so some sites are not so private.

The campground has friendly rangers with great recommendations and is located on a state trail that goes from Mankato to Fairbault. We had a great time from Friday-Sunday hanging out at the campsite, roasting marshmallows, riding bike on the state trail, and hiking around the lake!

Sakatah Lake is quite shallow so late season is at risk of algae bloom - the lake was pea soup green when we got there at the end of August, so go early in the season if you want to get on the water.

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.

We biked the Sakatah Singing Hills Trail from Faribault, MN to Mankato, MN (39 miles). The whole trail was paved, which was really nice and runs through hardwoods forest. We camped in Sakatah State Park and then explored the City of Mankato. Sakatah Lake is a relatively calm lake and seems like a great place to kayak.

They have 5 bike-in campsites near the trail. Other campsites include drive-in sites, electric sites, group sites, and camper cabins. The campsites are secluded just enough so that one feels like they are camping in the woods by themselves.  Unlike a lot of campgrounds, Sakatah State Park has its fire pits above ground. Very nice for keeping warm. Amenities at the campground include showers, flush toilets, vault toilets, dump stations.

Everything was beautiful. We camped for a week in southern Minnesota state parks, but this one is our favourite.

It's a great park in an area of Minnesota that is not well traveled. There's also a lot of history here with an interesting museum on the U.S.-Dakota Conflict of 1862.

Beautiful, small state park less than an hour south of Twin Cities. Sites are wooded and shady but some are close to neighboring sites. Not too many mosquitos or flies for August in Minnesota! Sakatah Singing Hills paved trail runs through the park.  It was pouring on Saturday so most of the other campers checked out and we had the campground mostly to ourselves. Super friendly and helpful staff, clean restrooms. Faribault is 15 minutes away so we went antique shopping at Keeper's Antiques downtown and had cocktails at 10,000 Drops Distillery for rainy day activities.

I admit the website where you reserve your campsite is wonky. Despite that, I give this campground 5 stars! Even before we arrived, the camp host called me to see if I wanted to pay my bill before we came so I didn't have to bother coming to the office.

When we arrived, someone had taken our campsite (site 10) by the lake. When we called the camp hos to find out what to do, they were willing to talk with the people who took the site so we could get our campsite we reserved, but since their were other sites available, we decided just move. It turns out that our new site, site 33, is awesome. It doesn't have the same amount of tree cover as the sites by the lake, but that also means fewer mosquitoes, and their are far fewer campers in the sites farther from the lake, so it is very peaceful. Furthermore, the pads in this part of the campground are nearly level, so we hardly had to level our pop-up camper. Lastly, the bathhouse near site 33 is super clean, with auto flush toilets and auto faucets.

Once we finally got settled in, the campground host, Katie, offered to bring us wood, and even took our 11 year old for a little ride around the park in the caboda.

We are looking forward to coming back again!

I was so amazed with all the sounds of birds in this park. I heard Everything from Eagles, Canadian Geese and Swans to Woodpeckers and multiple song birds. I wish I could distinguish between them. Also the frogs and toads were adding their voices too.

We had an awesome time roasting mallows and hotdogs over the fire and singing songs!

Great park if you’re not looking to drive too far to enjoy a bit of nature. Wonderful hiking paths and biking paths.

Our site was nice a secluded and right next to the trail heads.

Only downside, if you’re looking for complete quiet, this isn’t the park. It’s next to the highway and there are residents that live on the lake that can be noisy.

Otherwise, wonderful park especially for families.