Best Glamping near Badlands National Park

This was our second time staying at the Badlands/White River KOA. It’s a nice campground but our timing was bad for heat, biting flies and mosquitos. The campground fogged for bugs at night. Still, electricity, clean bathrooms, and an excellent location for getting to the Badlands National Park quickly.

This campground is busy because of its location to the Badlands National Park...so expect people. They offer a lot here...Full hookups with water and cable tv. They do have wifi but with so many people you probably should not count on it. They have cooks who will make you food and it is good. The people who checked us in were great and very helpful with everything!

This tree-filled campground is very near the entrance to the Badlands National Park. Trees large enough to provide shade - what a luxury in the Badlands area! The campground had all the amenities, although the wifi was a little glitchy. The Badlands did not disappoint! We thoroughly enjoyed the park and visited in the morning, during the day and in the evening to catch the sunset. We also transported our bikes to the park to ride on the Sage Creek Road through the national park. It was a great 23-mile ride, although the advertised"rolling hills" were steeper than I would have guessed. We saw mountain goats with babies, lots of bison, and tons of prairie dogs!

We spent a few nights at the Badlands/ White River KOA as our home base while we explored Badlands National Park area. The KOA had all the standard KOA amenities, but they were a little worn and could use some TLC. We stayed in a cabin which backed up to the White River, and there were game trails behind the cabin. We collected a rainbow of rocks and small agates from the driveway gravel and spent a great morning watching the nesting cliff swallows under the bridge scoop mud for nests and feed their young. The sites were well shaded, which is great in such a hot, open area. The nearby National Park campgrounds I drove through were not so nice.

Enjoy exploring the Badlands! Wounded Knee, Minute Men National Historic site, Buffalo National Grasslands (agate hunting for you rockhounds), and a cool sod Homestead are all nearby.

Pull through RV spots, tent spots, cabins, and a yurt. High quality facilities with a shower house and bathroom. Mini golf, camp store, dog park, and pool available. 10 min drive from the park!

Campsite Review:

I was definitely out of my zone here. I am used to backcountry camping, no amenities, and sleeping with no one to be seen. This was almost the opposite of what I usually do.

Amenities: General store, water, electric (30/20 amps), showers, flush toilets, laundry mat, basketball court, swimming pool, mini golf.

See what I mean. There wasn't anything I could think of that would make my camping here more comfortable, but it did mean that it was packed and with some RV's that I have no doubt cost more than my net worth (but i secretly loved seeing those)

This was my first time at a KOA and it was a nice to be able to relax and kind of "glamp" for a couple of nights.

One thing that was pretty cool was an area called the "wagon wheel". It was an area for tents that is walled off and has a kitchenette area available.

For a video review of this site CLICK HERE

Product Review:

During our road trip around the US, I was able to try out the GO camper from SylvanSport. We were blown away with this camper. It is easy to see why so many people call this the Coolest. Camper. Ever.

I could spend all day talking about what we loved about this camper, but I'll try to limit it to just a couple of the highlights. Let's say.....two things we loved about the GO and one thing we think could be improved on.

The first positive was just the amount of room you had when you had to GO completely set up. When we had it in "sleep" mode we easily had our queen sized air mattress in there and still had about another twin sized area to put our stuff. I had no trouble standing up in the tent (I'm about 6') and slept pretty great during the trip. It could easily sleep 4 adults and probably even up to a family of 6.

Second positive, light weight. At roughly 800 lbs, this thing could be pulled by anything. The light weight also lets you pack it down with gear and still be able to pull it through the mountains without stressing your vehicle. We would frequently get the camper close to where we wanted it, and then unhooked it to move it by hand into final position. Easy Peasy.

For the negative there really wasn't anything huge, but more nit-picky. The thing that kept coming up was how you stored the privacy screen and water proof screen when you had them unzipped on the windows. There is a small mesh flap with elastic that really wasn't strong enough to keep the screens inside it when you unzipped, as a result the screens often got caught underneath things and you had to keep moving them out of the way.

At the end of the day, we loved our two weeks in the GO!

Click to see video reviews on TOWING, SET-UP, LOOK INSIDE, and AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT for the GO.

We stayed two nights here. Many of their sites offered little shade, which was a big downfall given the heat out there. The pool was very refreshing and helped to cool off. The bathrooms were okay. They frequently were backed up. The store had a little bit of everything which was nice. The playground and mini golf was very outdated. We found it odd that our directions sent us through the national park to get to the campsite.

Great facilities, sites are a little close together but staff is so awesome

This is a great location for agate hunters to stay. It's near some descent agate beds and right next to the Badlands for a day trip. The staff is pleasant and always maintaining the campground. A very clean and quiet stay. Would recommend.

We traveled straight from Michigan to the Badlands with plans to camp in the park, however, the National Park was full. Within minutes this KOA had a site reserved for us at a cheaper rate, with better amenities and shade. We were traveling with Ironman/Triathlon bikes. An employee saw this and offered up his motorcycle cover for us to put over our bikes at night to protect from possible rain. This place had such an impact on us that we became KOA members!

I am very pleased with this Campground . As I drove through the Badlands today and saw people setting up their tents in the totally exposed Park campgrounds I was sad for them . The KOA has great shade at every tent site . The sites are spacious and there were was no overcrowding . I opted to rent one of the small Rustic cabins with AC ( no bathroom or kitchen ) in order to give my elderly dog a respite from the scorching afternoon heat . The little camping cabin is clean and comfortable, there is a small front porch with a swing . Outside there is a picnic table and fire ring . We walked through the campground this evening and there was a cool gentle breeze . Most of the tent sites were unoccupied while I believe absolutely every RV site was occupied . Definitely worth checking out this campsite and hands down better choice than the exposed unshaded sites with in the Badlands .