Best Campgrounds near Valley, NE

Our confirmation email included precise directions from I-29, with an interstate sign confirming the turn for Lake Manawa State Park, and provided the gate code for access. We proceeded to back-in site 28 with full hookups; the back-in was easy, and the site was level, with utilities located toward the rear and a slight uphill grade to the sewer connection. The campground (CG) features well-spaced, spacious sites with no trees nearby great for satellite access. We had a bit of a water view through the trees, and connectivity was decent with 2 bars on Verizon and 3 on T-Mobile; water pressure was around 40 psi. We arrived on a Thursday for a four-night stay, and the CG filled up over the weekend. About 150 yards from our site was the popular Dreamland playground, which draws families with young kids to that side of the CG next time, we'd choose a site farther from the playground for more quiet.

Essentially a parking lot with electric and water hookups, but only 9 minutes from downtown Omaha. Check-in at security window at Horseshoe. $40 weekday rate and $50 weekend rate. There’s a building that has bathrooms, showers and laundry.

Place is well maintained with plenty of hookups, a nice view to the park, picnic tables and a dump station. Price is now 25 dll per night. Besides the traffic noise because it's close to the hwy, the train passed at night like 4 or 5 times, so have that in mind if you light sleep.

Day <1>Lots of spots to pick from, and I could guess why… middle of nowhere, the bathrooms are dirty as all heck and heard from a local that management can be a bit "Tight" will continue to update, ……     

Day <2> Late last night, I mean Late…. we had some company someone else decided to camp at this camp of solitude… granted it is the middle of the week, but we had seen the news article about the campground opening for the season i would imagine that there would be others, like most though we are glad there isn't.  

Day <3> Friday is here and with it comes the visitors, this park comes alive Friday afternoon and seems to be about 25% of capacity, everyone is grilling or fishing or even flying their drones... the bathrooms however are still as dirty as ever and no sign of an old grouchy park manager... definitely a nice secluded stay during the week with a lot more activity starting Friday evening. I would also just say no "useable" public restrooms.

I arrived February 28 to visit the casino and friends in town. I couldn’t figure out where to check in so I called the number on the website. Turns out the RV parking is closed for the winter. Oops. But the gentleman on the phone was very nice and said I could park overnight in the North Lot. It’s just a giant parking lot but it is level. I would definitely stay here again but I feel bad. There is truly nowhere near Omaha to camp in the winter.

I have stayed several times. Quiet. Nice. Close to town, stores, food. $15. Night in 2025. Fair. Good place for quiet, inexpensive nights. Quite a good deal.👍

We stayed here for a mountain bike race weekend. Nighttime is great for stargazing and they have pretty stellar sunrises. We enjoyed the archery range and took plenty of walks. The shower facilities need a lot of updating and the RV spots are pretty dated with narrow roads. We were glad it wasn’t a weekend with a full campground and we think it would be pretty hectic during their peak season.

It’s been a few years since we stayed at Lake Wanahoo, but we decided to stay there over our anniversary weekend. The place is still great, and this time of year it was very quiet and peaceful.

I was able to fish at the lake, we used the trails for walking and biking. Being close to town allowed us to have a great anniversary dinner at a steakhouse!

We are definitely going to be using it more!

If you don’t mind lugging your stuff to your tent spot, it’s primitive, no frills camping at its finest! We chose the closest spot to the vault toilets. There are only 4. It’s a bit off the beaten path but we got to enjoy the beautiful horses. Bonus!

I planned an event at this military installation because of pricing and being a gated community.  The prices are good and the overall area is clean but the reason for the rating given is below:

Due to this being a military site with a managed gate, ID or authorization roster is required...I submitted and got my roster approved within the allotted time only to find out that it was not shared with the gate guards so no one was being let in.  The keys for each facility had issues like broken locks or no pin code given for the key system to even get the keys.  The cabins are nice but not very well cleaned and the emergency phone number that is provided is a great feature although no one answered it. 

If you find yourself looking for a venue for your event, pass on this one.  Too much hassle for the money saved.  I wish the state of Nebraska could figure out how to hire competent people to manage their facilities.

We are avid campers, we are no strangers to all the things that come with camping including bugs. That said, the amount of mosquitoes here made any amount of time outside unbearable.

There was a lot of traffic through the campsite, not even people stopping to camp but literally just driving through, music blaring at 11pm.

And the GPS coordinates were wrong. They are closer to 40.63093° N, 96.57335° W

This campsite seems nice, but with blaring Omaha heat and no trees, the heat here is absolutely brutal. It was mid July and still 96 degrees at 7:00pm, so I ended up leaving knowing it would be too hot for a comfortable night sleep. Beautiful view of the lake and short walk to the swimming beach.

Great spot! Easy on/off. Was $45 for overnight with amenities.

We opted for the free stay which was great. Nice, flat parking lot with other rv’s and tractor trailers off to the side.

Slept great. Used the casino bathrooms and really liked it for a free overnight. Casino is fun too!

Would def stay here again. Felt very safe and well lit. Noise was minimal and only came from the tractor trailers. If I had parked at the other end I wouldn’t have even heard it.

Got take out from Modern Love to bring back. Molo is amazing - all vegan and most GF too. Never pass through Omaha without a visit there. Great way to end the night.