Best Tent Camping near Festus, MO

A great spot for a quick get away from St Louis. Beautiful park with lots to do not far from the campground. If you are tent camping you don't have to worry about generators from the RVs as there are two separate camping areas that share a really nice shower house, but have their own bathrooms as well. Be careful to not get a tent site in the middle, in the low area, as rain runoff will run down to the middle area. No tent pads, but plenty of grassy areas to pitch your tent. Activities in the park include swimming in the pool or the Big River, canoeing (rent at the Thunderbird Lodge), hiking, and petroglyphs.

Did a 2 night tent camp with my family and it was awesome. We had a great time on the trails and near the Mighty Missouri River.

Peaceful tent camping on Walkers Island at $8 per day.

The campground is located in a gym of a park located along the Missouri River. Reservations are required and the sites are in high demand. Tent camping only. There is water available in the park.

This Campground places you in the heart of Missouri Wine Country and there's a perfect base for visiting the wineries and restaurants along highway 94.

Doesn't allow pets for tent sites

Robertsville is a nice little park on the Meramec River with about 25 campsites split fairly evenly between tent and electric hook up in a long loop. The hook up sites are on the inside of the loop and the tent sites are on the outside of the loop. You need to look carefully for a level tent site as some are fairly slopped. However, most of the tent sites have nice trees for hammocking and all sites looked clean. The shower house is newer and well taken care of. Seems that lots of people come here for the boat access to the river, but there are some really nice hiking trails you shouldn’t miss. On the weekends in the high season be prepared to reserve two nights in a row, which can make it more difficult to get a spot. But if you go during the week you can have the place pretty much to yourself. And the racoons. Just saying

Nice state park close to St Louis. Good, if short, trails. The campground is used a lot by RV and campers, not so much by tenters. Lots of campsites had electric. All had the standard pininic tables and fire rings, and the campground has a decent and clean shower house. You might end up pitching your tent on a parking pad as many tent sites don't have level grassy spots for your tent. Sites are not very private, and some are right on top of the next. I like sites 65 and 58 for their privacy or grassy tent spots.

Stayed here for one night we toured the cave which was great. The park is very well kept and nice clean facilities. We tent camped and every spot had a good place to set up a tent.

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.

Plenty of tent camping sites. There are primitive also. Great Lake to fish and plenty of trails to hike. Looks like the rv site can get booked up on weekends.

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!

this ground is very well kept and is oerfect for tent camping. the only downfall is the amount trees. although the sites are very large, flat, and easy, you can see everyones business because there is maybe 1 tree in between each site. but there is a creek, trails, walk in sites, and lots of history to check out.

I like this camp site because you are within the trees the whole time. It is tent camping only. Where we camped, the ground was covered in moss. That made for very soft sleeping, except for the few large rocks spread over the area. We had room for two portable canopies and about 35 cub scouts and family members.

Typical Jellystone, lots for kids to do. Really small sites. Tent sites seem fairly flat. I’m in a site for small campers. The site is bowed front to back and not level side to side. You can hear highway traffic all night and the kids hit the playground, right outside my window, at 7:00.

We stayed here last minute for Labor Day Weekend and the staff were great with finding us a good tent site available. This is not a rugged style campground as there are many amenities such as a pool, putt putt golf, volleyball, and more. They also host daily kids activities and crafts. A very family friendly campground and would highly recommend if camping with kids!

Wonderful state park with paved roads and level concrete pads. We were nestled up against a beautiful creek. Could barely keep the dogs out of it. Nice,clean bathrooms. Nice play area for kids. We hiked one of the many hiking trail available. Tours are offered throughout the day in the two onsite caves. They were amazing. Natalie was our Gide and really knew her stuff! Park also offer kayaking, swimming, rafting and just a whole bunch of fun. There was a large camp of boys scouts and several other tent camping. Would recommend this park everyone. 10 out of 10!

Lots to do for all ages, including swimming and hikes of any difficulty/length. Famous for petroglyphs and other history too. Green rolling hills that would be ideal to visit in the fall. The electrics sites are closer to the river, the tent sites are more private in trees in a separate area.

Yay: Rent a canoe/kayak/tube to enjoy the river (on site!).

Nay: Make sure to get away from the developed part of the campground to enjoy this nature. Surprise: Petroglyphs are the icing on the cake here!

Very simple campground lets you feel close to the lovely nature here. The trail options are either a short loop or a loooong out and back along the famous Ozark Trail. Not much else to do (no water activites) so if you’re not planning to hike a lot or just hang out/grill, you might want to plan some time off site.

Yay: Trails through all kinds of forests, waterways and waterfalls. Educational displays.

Nay: TENT CAMPING ONLY!!! My friend had been turned away on a previous trip! (There are some other parks nearby if you are in an RV.) Fills up fast.

Surprise: Hike the tallest mountain in MO, not a long hike. Endless green rolling vistas! Also had deer at our tent.

I took my daughter and a friend on their first camping trip here. We stayed the last weekend of the season (10/29-31). It was quiet with only two RVs on one end. We picked a tent site at the other end, right on the river. The girls ran all over the camp ground. The ranger was super friendly and shared information about the area. Since it was the end of the season, the coyotes were coming back closer to the area and serenaded us all night. We can't wait to go again next year

Most people who are camping and visiting this part of the Ozark's are here to enjoy the river, but don't forget to checkout the caves. I spoke to the campground host and his wife and they told me that the Onondaga caves are the third most visited in North America. The staff at the visitors center was also friendly.

The campground was very clean and well maintained. There isn't a lot of tent camping, most people are visiting with RV's and camper trailers. There are a lot of folks with canoes and inner-tubes in the campground.

Checkout my one minute video with Mike, the campground host, talking about Onondaga Cave State Park.