St. Francois State Park Campground

I stayed from 9/4/24-9/8/24. I stayed in the primitive campground. It was very quiet and peaceful. My site was close to the camp host and the shower house. Shower house was nice with 4 separate showers with locking doors. Water pressure was great and they were clean. There is a handicap shower unit as well that had a bench and hooks and a shelf to keep your things dry. The bathrooms were separate from the showers with 4 locking stalls. These too were kept clean and toilet paper was always full. Four sinks and mirrors and one outlet close to the sinks for hairdryer etc. The grounds were clean and grass was nicely cut. My campsite had a picnic table a campfire with grill grate and a light post to hang a lantern. The camp host were very friendly and drove around often on golf carts to make sure ppl were ok or needed anything. There was a place to fill your bottled water containers. The checkin office sold ice, campfire wood and a variety of ice creams, stickers and t shirts and sweatshirts. The park has trailheads to hike and an equestrian area. River access for swimming and fishing. There is a separate area with electrical sites and also handicap sites in the electrical and primitive campgrounds. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay and will be returning often.

Awesome place to camp. Bummed the sites didn’t have their own water hookups. Staff is super kind. Quiet time is at 10pm and fellow campers are certain to enforce that rule but that’s unfortunate for those of us who still want to listen to music and sit by the fire. Overall great camping spot!

Very clean and well kept!

The campsites were very clean and sewer the other facilities there are two great trails in the park and there was staff on site doing educational programs that my kids really loved

St. Francis is a beautiful Missouri state park, not to mention campground.  It features many access points to its anchor, the BIg River, picnic areas, multiple pavilions and some fantastic trails.  I grew up here, and I am biased toward it, but we camped many places, and it remains one of my favorites then, and now.  The campground has more of a communal vibe, for better or worse, depending on your perspective.  If privacy is your main concern, you may be better served looking elsewhere, but I have always enjoyed the friends I have made there, both young and old due to the proximity of the campsites and the many programs offered there by the Conservation Department.

Nice Hiking on trails. Close access to river for fishing and kayaking. Not setup for biking except on roads. Large open field for kids to play. Crank brakes up when you get off the highway prior to starting down the hill. Dump station backs up for up to an hour on Sundays.

Campsites were well-kept, grassy and even leveled. There are clean showers and coin laundry available. (AT&T) Cell reception was good too! A few trails, Mooners Hollow is one I’d suggest. They have ice and firewood at the check in station and staff is super friendly.

Came in on a Friday afternoon. Well maintained park. Very enjoyable.

The campground was nice and very clean. There were a lot of families with kids, which is no big deal, except for they were playing who can scream the loudest and longest, which was a little annoying. You could also hear cars and sirens from the highway. A couple times through the night we heard sirens. The campsites are a little close together. We stayed at site #86 and the sites around us seemed to be a little more spread out than others. There were some pretty hiking trails very close to the campground that we were able to take our dogs on and they were not very crowded at all. All in all a pretty good campground, but if you are wanting something quiet and more private, look elsewhere.

We went camping for a weekend to welcome in Spring 2021 (March 20) and it was CROWDED. The RV side of the park was completely full and there was only 2 or 3 open sites for the “primitive” sites, fortunately one of those empty sites was right next to us

Although our stay was nice, i feel like it would be better later in the year. The water was turned off so we had no available water (we had to carry in) and only had vault toilets. There was was also a wood barn near the main shower house, but that too was closed. The camp host didn’t show up until sunday afternoon when we were packing up to leave.

The two wings of the campground have a shower house in the center of them (I’d mention the quality, but it was still closed) and right behind the shower house was an amphitheater and trail head to a 3 mile trail. The hike was very nice, easy, but nice and well maintained. There was also several play sets for the kids throughout the park for kids.

As long as you don’t have obnoxious neighbors (unfortunately we had some music blasters) it will be a really nice visit. It’s def. not primitive, but it’s not an RV park either.

This campground offers no-services tent/RV and RV with electrical.  The electrical spots are all in cut grass areas, many with great shade trees.  The no-service sites are more wooded.  We did not visit the facilities (COVID) but the campground is well kept and nice.  The staff did not wear masks (hence the lower rating).

There are plenty of good walking trails along the river.  We are looking forward to coming back in the spring to walk these nice wooded trails.  We did not see any bike trails.

There is good cell service (ATT) at the campsites.  We did not detect any WiFi from our camping spot.

NOTE. The park is close to some motorsports arena which had loud events (drag racing?)  during the entire weekend we were there.  If you appreciate peaceful days and nights, check out the racing schedule first.

Nice camping area. It was not overly crowded. We went beginning of June during the covid crisis/RV buying crisis. It has decent camping sites and they are right next to the river and swimming holes. The hiking trails are a few of my favorites in MO. The park is big and has several picnic and swimming areas.

It is what it is. A state park, no walk in or primitive camping. Small but decent

It is what it is. A state park. Tent spots were good, park clean shower house clean but the water was pretty mucky. Kid friendly play areas and plenty of picnic tables

Saint Francois is a tent and rv campground just 1 hour south of saint louis, MO in Bonne Terre. It also along a river which allows swimming at your own risk because there is no real entrance site. But plenty of gravel bars. I personally enjoy this park and its sites. The rvs and tents are separated which i love. And the tent sites have plenty of room for 2-3 tents plus games. They provide individual showers, out houses every 6 sites, flat areas for tents, ice, wood, and activities. Trails, parks, and lots of fields to play in.The only downfalls are (1) entering the park. You enter on a dangerous highway where you need plenty of room and stopping to enter but there is none. Getting out is the worst especially if you have a trailor and move slow. There is no lane for you to pull out. Cars are fine. (2) the river is monopolized by 1 company for rafting/kayaking/canoing. You have to make an appointment, they only accept cash, and the websites dont show correct equipment. But it gets the job done.

Fun swimming area

We have stayed here many times. It is busy and has a party atmosphere on the weekends but is nice and quiet during the week. There are some nice trails here that are around 3 miles and 1 long trail that equestrian friendly and also has a hike in camp site. I did score it down because the shower house is older and could use updating. The electric sites are nice. The basic area has some sites that are washed out and red clay is exposed so very messy in wet weather, There also seems to be a drag racing track nearby because you can sometimes hear the noise. Great place for wildflowers and butterflies.

The park itself is huge, but they unfortunately have plots right on top of one another. Its really nice to have space but here there's almost no space for a larger tent. Because its so busy and over packed all the time the crowds from group campers and rvs get so roudy and messy. Swimming is great at the river and my favorite tree is here, its just too cramped :/

The campgrounds have two loops, electric and basic. The electric loop sites are close together, and is mainly RV camping. The loop has great river access. Further from the river is the basic loop - these sites are nicely spaced, most back to the woods, and all were grassy.

All sites are within reasonable walking distance to the very nice shower house, bathrooms, it even had laundry. All facilities were well maintained and clean. Campground host sells wood and ice. Nice playground next to shower house.

Big River is great for many water activities - kayak, float, fish, etc. I gave a try at fishing and caught a couple small bluegills. If you'd rather get away from the people, there are a number of beautiful trails to hike, many providing bluff river views or are along creeks (I prefer hikes with water views!) I hiked the swimming deer trail, which is 3.15 miles and a combination of forested areas and bluff riverside terrain. The trailhead is at the campgrounds, which made it very easy to access.

While we were there, we encountered a lot of wildlife! We passed by a momma (we assumed) raccoon in a tree, a few snakes on the trail, a few turtles on the trail, an abundance of squirrels, and even had some deer spend time right behind our campsite. It was amazing!

very nice campground. large park with tons of room and several playgrounds for the kiddos. the shower houses were clean and well kept, the water feature was adequate for play. miles and miles and miles of trails. Tons of water access.

We have been to St Francois to RV camp 3 times in past year and I love the pleasant hostess and park rangers. Hiking is beautiful especially if you go the first few weeks in april and the wild flowers of the bluebells are in bloom. beautiful! Bathroom and showers are clean, as is entire park. Playground for grandkids and plenty of shaded campsites. Not a 5 star as had flooding and quite a bit of dried mud on our paved site and it rained while we were there and we were unable to remove all dried debri so it was pretty messy.

We spent a Saturday and Sunday there camping in the electric site. They do have tent sites but we wanted to be closer to the river which was a 2min walk.

Great place, awesome people and kid friendly. Definitely will be back!

Not a huge campground but, Its a really simple beautiful place to enjoy Missouri's rolling hills. It is located 1 hour from St. Louis and 30 ish min from Elephant Rock State park. If your in the area check out the other amazing Missouri state parks while staying here. The Missouri Mines state park is maybe a 5 min drive and a neat place to see. Tent sites, Bathroom and some hammock spots.

Nice stay with river access, friendly people. The site was very peaceful!

We had a beautiful campsite with soft grassy ground. We did have a mole or something burrowing around so you had to watch for loose dirt clods but that was NBD. The site had a picnic table and fire ring. There were pit toilets, no showers. Spigots throughout the area. Within walking distance of the river and trail access. Beautiful hiking on the bluffs above the river. The hosts were really friendly. There was also a very cute and very friendly kitty running around the area hunting grasshoppers. He hung out for some pets and cuddles then wandered off for some more adventure. I kind of want to be that cat. ^_^

This campground was packed, but it started off on the wrong foot. The entrance comes up quick and is right off a state highway with traffic moving between 65-80 mph so of course I passed the entrance and had to double back.

When I pulled into the park there was bunch of construction. There were a few trails but honestly it really seemed like an RV park with very few tents. The showers and bathrooms were clean but there were too many people, it was very crowded.

I should add as a positive that here were equestrian trails and a large parking lot to park your horse trailer.

St. Francois State Park is close to St. Louis so it is probably a popular destination, it just didn't feel like camping. I'm sure it will improve a little when the construction is completed, but I doubt it will be above three stars.