Best Glamping near St. Joseph, MN

Games Lake County Park, near New London, Minnesota, is a great spot for camping. With tent, RV, and cabin options, it suits all campers. The park offers electric hookups, clean facilities, and friendly staff. FR Legends recommends this park for its peaceful atmosphere and great amenities. Located near Games Lake, it’s perfect for fishing, boating, and family fun. A playground, beach, and boat launch make it a great getaway. Open May to September, it’s ideal for outdoor adventures!

Crow Wing State Park is a good choice if you are looking for something close to the Twin Cities metro area in Minnesota. with this park being just under two hours away from the Twin Cities metro area it’s an easy choice for a nice weekend getaway. If you’re looking to stay for a long extended time it’s also a good choice as it offers electric and water. The electric sites are pretty open and close together so if you like to be secluded and not see other campers from your campsite I wouldn’t use this park. The electric sites are really on top of each other and don't feel like you are camping to me. The non-electric sites are pretty nice and secluded from each other which would make this park a park I would bring my tent to instead of my travel trailer. There is also a group camp That is separate from the main camping area.

The park office offers ice and firewood for sale. Firewood is 6$ a bundle at the park office. The only firewood you can use is the approved firewood in the local area or scrap lumber. See the Minnesota Firewood law.  Canoe rentals are offered at the park office for $15 for a half-day and $25 for a full day. There is also a water fill station and a dump station for your travel trailer or RV. This is a good park for hiking and exploring. 

If you wanna stay close to the Twin Cities metro area this is a good park for you!

I was looking to take a solo camping trip for the weekend and paddleboard on the Cuyuna Mine Lakes. I booked the trip pretty late because of a lot of different factors, but Crow Wing State park still had plenty of availability. The park is nothing spectacular, but it was nice, wooded, and the staff were great. It was my first time solo camping in awhile, so I opted to stay at a state park where there would be rangers. I noticed that the rangers stopped and talked to me night one, and remembered me- which made me feel very safe as a solo female camper. The campground was overall pretty quiet, and my site was wooded so that I normally could not see other campers from my site, which was great! It felt decently quiet . If you visit in the summertime, expect hellish mosquitoes and pack accordingly!

You can join the hiking club trail straight from the campground, which was nice- I went on a few beautiful sunset walks to watch the sunset over the river

The bathroom and shower were clean and easily accessible.

The park was a 20-30 minute drive from the Cuyuna Mines area, so I was able to easily drive over Saturday morning and spend the day paddleboarding.

This park is not one of the most spectacular in Minnesota, but I had a great stay and it was very relaxing. It was great for a weekend getaway for a solo female camper looking to do some paddle boarding in the area

This place is wonderful!! Owners & staff are so friendly! Pool is clean, everything is so well marked, lots of shade/grass. LOVE IT, COMING BACK!!

To be fair I'd like to preface this review with a word of caution. We went in the middle of Summer. High bug season. Take a look at other reviews as they come in and see what time of year they visited. Maybe they'll have a similar experience, maybe not. The fun thing about this state park is that all the sites are hike in. No drive up camping. It has a couple camper cabins as well. But everyone is spread out along a few trails so it's a little quieter than your typical campground.

When we pulled up to the parking lot we knew we were in trouble. The black flies were dive bombing the car like a scene from Armageddon. We prepared the kiddos for a quick grab and run and jumped out of the car. Our campsite was about a mile from the car so we started at a quick walk onto the trail. First step onto the grassy trail exploded in a cloud of mosquitos. Walking along the kids all looked like Pig-Pen from Peanuts. Even though we'd sprayed everyone down the bugs must have felt safety in numbers because we were covered in welts in no time flat. That's when the jogging began. Soon we were running and also planning out how to set up camp the quickest. Little tent first, throw the kids in, big tent second and then everyone in there while dinner was being made. Luckily at our actual campsite the bugs weren't quite as horrendous so we were able to get out a bit after applying a few more layers of repellant. Our site was on a short private trail off the main loop and opened up to a decent space. We had a picnic table and fire pit and plenty of space for our two tents and an area to play. We were all entertained by the plethora of mushroom varieties that surrounded the camp. We spent a bit of time outside and then played in the tent the rest of the night. Unfortunately the bugs were bad enough that the next morning we just packed up and headed back to the car. I would like to come back to this park in late fall and try out a camper cabin. There are three of them all on lakes so if you can get past buggy season it has the potential to be a great experience. Have you ever been to Lake Maria? Stayed in one of their camper cabins? Let me know, I'd love to hear how it went!

Stayed here overnight being its so close to my hometown. Its a nice quiet park and so are the campgrounds!!! They also have little cabins to stay in that id like to try out!

First: my only complaint... The pump for the water was very slow.

Ok done... This lovely spot is a one mile hike from the parking lot, so be ready to walk if you need to make more than one trip.

The hike itself is rather hilly, and the site is about a quarter mile off of the main path. When I went, the black flies were vicious, so be careful.

You could see the occasional car from the site, which is surrounded by a small pond. You could hear voices, but not see anyone. In fact, I went the whole weekend without seeing a single person.

There are two trees perfectly spaced for a hammock.

Love this spot.

We had a great time camping here with the family!

I visit here often, great walking trails and wildlife.

My friend had been here before and picked out the most beautiful site for us overlooking a gorgeous, untouched prairie. There was a nice picnic table and fire ring available at our site. We hiked in and had a little trouble finding trees to hang our packs from due to a lot of new growth, but overall, this place is somewhere is go back to and recommend. It's one of the nicest and cleanest places I've camped within 2 hours of the metro.

The site won't let me add photos :(

This is a great place to adventure into backpacking. The sites are about a mile hike in. We went in late April and we able to hammock camp. It felt isolated even though other sites were nearby. I also appreciated the vault toilets. Bring your own tp.

The camper cabins were cozy and I loved reading the logs of past visitors!

After hiking Lake Maria SP many times, and camping 5 times, it's my go-to spot for a consistently great experience. I hosted a ladies weekend, taught my stepson how to overnight, and have solo camped. The trails are well marked, there are easily accessible sites, as well as more rugged. Water, privies, and wood are available.

The lake is beautiful!

Give her a go!

This is a beautiful park! There are plenty of driving/biking/walking paths. Very woodsy and there's lots of wild animals!

Really enjoyed the short hike to our campsite, BP7. There is a bathroom and water station before you head out which is awesome! The campsite was secluded and absolutely beautiful. Definitely will be going back again!

Campsite included: 2 tent pads, a few areas to hammock, fire ring w/large grill, small bench, picnic table, bear box and latrine.

I don’t think I would change a thing about the campsite.

This park is only about 50 minutes away from me, and for hiking/camping I only think it is worth a trip in the fall. I went a few weeks ago for the first time in the summer and I thought it was just kind of average as far as hiking goes. Campsites and cabins are walk-in only as far as I know and the site I visited had a private rustic pit toilet a stones throw away. The campsites ARE nice though and private, this just felt too close to home and too similar to parks that are closer. Last year the middle of October was prime color season- drive to the very end where Little Mary Lake is (the bigger lake) and behold- your new destination for your annual family portrait session. Seriously, the yellow leaves are VIVID.

Lake Maria State Park has great hiking trails for the whole family, the camper cabins are spread throughout and are hike in only. Each cabin is pretty secluded and on a body of water. The cabins themselves are very basic, but the setting is awesome.

I haven’t stayed in the backpack tent sites, but I bet they’re fantastic.

This is one of my favorite parks to spend a night in when I don’t have time for an extended trip farther from home, living in Maple Grove this is only a 40 minute drive but you feel like you have really gotten away! I’ve found it’s also easier to snag a campsite at the last minute unlike most of the other parks around this area of the state, and especially during the week when you will likely have the park to yourself.

The hikes to the campsites are easy, wide trails without much up and down and most are about a mile hike in. The spots that I have stayed at have good places to set up a hammock, and all sites have a fire ring, picnic table and food locker.

Walking in on the trails can be a little buggy in late summer but clears up around the campsite, just make sure to bring some bug spray. The variety of birds in the park are fun to observe, the owls were hooting loudly all through the evening and there were a few woodpeckers hanging around our site. These sites in specific also had an outhouse really close, just remember to bring your own toilet paper. Sites 1 and 3 are on a little lake, but the water is more swampy so don’t plan on swimming and it’s probably not ideal for cooking or being purified for drinking water. There is a water pump in the parking lot where you can restock. You also shouldn’t have any trouble finding downed wood for fire around either of these sites. It’s secluded and you don’t see any other campers here but easy enough to get to! The view of the water from site 1 is beautiful and the sunset over the lake in October with the fall colors is a must see.

For being so close to the twin cities, this park boasts some really great camp sites.

Ive camped here several times and enjoyed all the sites I’ve had. 1-4 are pretty objectively the best ones but there’s no bad sites IMO

If you’re lucky you’ll see a Blandings Turtle, wow! State turtle of MN dontchaknow

Lots of other great stuff to see too. Lots of bugs but like, deal with it, you’re in the wetlands of the big woods

We arrived hours before the office was supposed to close, but the firewood was locked up. After a long hike we got setup in the dark, nearly getting lost on the poorly marked trail. Went back to get some safe move certified firewood. (No good way to transport more than a few bundles on that terrain. Recommend fake logs for longer burning and easy transport.) By the time we got back and setup with a fire and food, we were exhausted. During the day though, it was pretty and tranquil. Didn't hear much from the neighboring sites. If we knew what to expect, it would've been a better start to the trip. We would possibly go again.