Best Glamping near Lake Benton, MN

Love the hiking and lack of bugs compared to most Minnesota parks. Great prairie views and it's always great to see Bison. Didn't love the lack of potable water. Would be nice to see more investment here- real gem of a park.

Amazing remnant of Minnesota prairie set among the farm country. With the prairie in Minnesota gone except for a handful of small conservation areas, Blue Mounds State Park is an oasis of prairie in a sea of corn and soybean. Bison roam a small area of a few hundred acres where prairie smoke and other native plants make a last stand in a landscape of Sioux quartzite rock outcroppings, cliffs, streams, rivers and waterfalls. Hike the park or drive over to touch the Sky prairie, there’s plenty to do. The campsites are high and dry with some set overlooking mound creek or nestled amongst the shade trees. In cooler months the park has a stone shelter with a wood burning stove to escape the rain or chill. There are three spacious tipis for rent. $30-35 a night that can sleep 4-6 people. Those sites are set to the side and offer some privacy.

We had a cart-in site. One of the few state parks in Minnesota that had sites open the weekend we went. It was a long drive for my sons and I but we enjoyed it. Our site was closer to the bathrooms than I’d prefer (pit toilets in a nice building) but it wasn’t too bothersome. There were plenty of trees in our sites and though we could see some of the other cart-in sites it was pretty quiet and relaxing.

A bit of good hiking in the park. But most is shade-less prairie hiking, so on summer days it can be quite hot. The bison are neat to see. There is a dammed up part of the creek, but it didn’t look like water you’d want to wade or swim in. We drove into Luverne to “The Lake” to swim and cool off.

We stayed here for one night on the way to the Black Hills in South Dakota. The campground is in the far south western corner of Minnesota about 30 minutes for Sioux Falls South Dakota. The site is in the middle of grasslands and cornfields. They have very organized park staff that have an efficient check in process. The campground has some nice ponds and bike routes. It’s located next to a bison range and tours are available. Unfortunately the camp sites are packed in on top of each other with no privacy. You have a lot of local large RV users using loud generators and playing music until after midnight. They have good facilities with showers and dump stations. During our stay, the water in the camp tested positive for bacteria and the camp was giving out free drinking water. Since you don’t have many options in the area, this may be a good choice. The overcrowding was our main issue.

Nice, secluded and wooded sites.

Pretty spacious seperated by lots trees, good place for camping with kida as well. has a swimming pond and beach. Clean restrooms.

We stayed in the lower campground. It is very opened. The campsites are medium size and close together. The bathroom was well taken care of. There are train tracks really close to the campground. The trains didn't seem long nor did they blow the horns. The swimming area looked nice, but it was too cold to use.

We rented kayaks and went up river, then floated to our camp site. Half way we ran out of beer - AND THEY BROUGHT US SOME!!! Love, love, love this place! Will be coming every chance I get!

Honestly, a severe storm and lealy tent ruined tje moght. But the grounds and park are beautiful! Hiking is excellent, challenging, and the views are AMAZING! From flooding a couple of years ago, they are having some water issues. They give you jugs of drinking water on check in, and for now. the showers are swim beach are off line.

This campground is still charging $17 for a camp site, $7 transaction fee and $7/day entrance fee despite the fact they have no running water. The toilets still flush. In the morning our car filled up with flies that bit us for hours before we were able to eliminate all of them. It is a 5 mile drive back to Luverne if you need supplies, and I was unable to locate a grocery store.

Two good things; they have a Free Little Library and at night the lawn was covered with fireflies

The campground was so miserable that the campground host had abandoned their trailer and was never present. We did have several locals drive through the campground to spy on us, presumably to see who was stupid enough to camp there. You are entirely responsible for knowing what site you reserved because there was no attempt to label reserves sites.

There is no privacy between sites. This is just a big lawn with driveways, picnic tables and fire pits. The landscaping is nicely done with blackberries popping out of some hedges and providing eye-level interest at the base of trees.

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Last August we headed to Blue Mounds to investigate out the SW corner of our state for the first time. We swung through New Ulm on the way there to check out the Schell's brewing company and we also stopped at Laura Ingalls Wilder's Plum Creek to break up the drive from the twin cities. The drive itself got pretty boring on the last half- lots of flat fields and cows. As you get closer to Luverne things start to become more interesting and the town of Luverne itself was an unexpected delight.

Yes, the water currently has e.coli in it. There is a huge alert on the park's page explaining how you can go about accessing water and showers nearby. The $17 rate is the discounted price to reflect the e. coli discount. The main campground is pretty open, some sites have shade, it is a prairie after all. The cart-in campsite offers much more privacy with the grove of trees there. The bathroom facility at the drive-in campground is much nicer than the one for the tipis and cart-in sites.

We spent one night in the tipi (cool experience for $30-$35 a night) and two nights at a cart-in site w-09. Some of the paths to the cart-in sites are not flat and rather long, but ours wasn't bad at all. I would definitely consider staying at that campsite again. I don't think I would necessarily stay in a tipi again unless I could book it on short notice if I knew that the weather was going to be dry and cool. The day before we got there it had rained quit a bit and when we arrived it was HOT. This meant that we got to enjoy our tipi experience with the aroma of hot wet tipi. The tipi floor is a platform made out of manufactured deck boards that keep you off the ground. The tipi itself isn't nearly as critter-proof as a tent. We wound up packing up our belongings and putting them in our car between leaving the tipi and moving into our campsite since we wanted to go check out the local area before we could check into our next site and somehow a garter snake got transported out of the tipi in our belongings and into our car- awesome haha.

The park was flooded a few years back which washed out a quite a bit- the lake that used to be there is now gone and just overgrown with plants. Most of the park is dedicated to the bison, so hiking opportunities are kind of limited. There are a ton of bison, but you either get to see them or you don't unless you go on one of their bison tours. They were present by the fence twice while we were there. There is pretty much a large trail loop with another large loop that swings off of that. Bring a wide-brimmed hat and tons of sun screen, not much tree cover on the trails. The one visitor center located in the southern portion of the park appeared to be permanently closed.

Luverne was cool. There are tons of historic houses and next time I'm out there I'll spend some time driving through neighborhoods to check them out. There is a basic grocery store off of Main Street for anything that you may need to pick up. I kind of wish that we had gone out to eat in town more because of how great the food was. Sterling's was delicious and much more upscale than anything I expected to find out there, the local Buffalo Sweat beer was great enough that I tried to find it at the local liquor store before I left. Showers are available at the Luverne aquatic center for free.

Overall I really enjoyed my experience and I look forward to my next trip out there, whenever that may be. If you are coming from the Twin Cities make sure to hit up Schells and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Plum Creek homestead like I mentioned above. Nearby side trips are Pipestone, Touch the Sky prairie, and Jeffers Petroglyphs

This is a beautful state park campground. The sites are large and wooded without feeling closed in. There is biking and hiking. I believe you can also fish in the river, but we didn’t try it. The only downside is that their water is contaminated. They provide directions to a city site where you can fill your camper tank, and they give out a gallon of drinking/cooking eater when you check in. At Blue Mounds you can experience the prairie and what it must have been like for early settlers.

Bison. Wildflowers. An old quarry.

And that’s about it.

Beautiful park with nice trails... you can hike them all in an afternoon if you’d like.

Highly recommended for a night or two.

The place is beautiful. A lot of trails to go on. Lots of sun so bring your sunscreen.

This was a drive-by site for us and not a destination, so our review is based on only one night. We found the park to be very quiet and only had a few camping neighbors during our stay. It seems like it might be a destination for retired RVers, as everyone seemed to know each other well, which was fun. 

Highlights include nice, easy trails through the prairie, lots of wildflowers, and a herd of bison. We only saw the bison from a distance, but apparently, there are tours. We experienced lots of bugs in early July - biting flies and mosquitoes, and there was a constant humming noise from a nearby farm that really detracted from our experience. 

Otherwise, the campground was really peaceful and the bathhouse was clean. We arrived around 4:30 pm and the office was closed. We didn't see a single park employee or campground host during our visit. 

We checked out the tipis, which looked really fun, but with all the flies, we opted for setting up our tents to keep them out. We'd totally stay here again, but we probably wouldn't go out of the way to visit.

Stayed for 3 nights. Very shady, but does not have sewer or water hookup. 30 amp electric service. Grounds are well maintained and the restroom and shower facilities are very up to date but heavily used. Sites are closer than I like. Park has nice trails and bluffs. Bison are within the park but did not see. Rangers and staff very friendly. Would be great for overnighter. The most irritating thing about the park were the next door neighbors who let their five dogs use our campsite as an area for deification. People with pets need to be respectful of others. I have come to the conclusion that all pets should be banned from public lands.

I enjoyed my stay here--except for my neighbors. It was beautiful, filled with trees, along a river, great bathrooms and private showers. Very clean and well maintained. I just stayed one night in my van in an electric site, but they also have tent sites with no hookups. I would recommend this place.

Ggorgeous campground for looking across the grasslands or dunking in the stream. There are two main camping areas. We stayed in the more remote one, which meant further from the bathrooms, but worth it for the beauty and quiet. All the sites are very private. Nestled in trees on winding paths that lead down to a stream we absolutely took a dunk in as it was a very hot day. We didnt see the buffalo herd, but were only there for one night. Good birdwatching and I've never seen so many fireflies!

Beautiful rock for scenic views and for rock climbing

The campground is smaller but it is very well maintained. New bath house. They have done a lot to make this park accessible. Grassy sites, some better positioned than others. Very good shade. Some random placement for trash bins but I’d rather have too many than not enough.

There are lots of hiking trails with options for lots of distances. It was cool to see the Bison (from the west loop). The dam is pretty as well.

Beautiful park. Trails to hike are great with beautiful sweeping views.

Our campsite was not as great. We are a family of five and we are crammed in here. It’s also stuffy with no air flow and wafts of the pit toilet.

There are some other cart in sites that looked a little better. Overall I like the hiking but not the camping.