Best Glamping near Rowlett, TX

We found Lake Ray Roberts as a nice swimming spot near Dallas to go cool down during the hot Texas summers and we LOVE it to go grill and hang out as a day long activity. So when my husband and I decide to start camping 🏕 we chose this park as our first trial, and we found it a bit inconvenient for Car camping since the spots are walk up and you gotta leave your car behind in a parking lot. Also, is very primitive style, so clean bathrooms and close-by water is not really part of the package. We loved the view from our spot and if you are up for a primitive experience within a park, then this is great. Just not for us and the type of camping we wanna do 😊

One of the more expensive Texas state parks. Standard electric at 25/night. Large bathrooms and lots of trash bins. Actual pay phones (who knew those still existed?) the trails are for DORBA (Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association) so maybe that explains the horrible lack of signage. Bicycle fix it station.

Great security. I was with my 3 year old after dark, maybe 8PM at the playground on the water. No lights so I used our lamplight. I noticed a truck in the parking lot with its lights on. We were there maybe 90 minutes and the truck kept moving. When we left, they left. I spotted it down the road and saw they were camp rangers. Bodes well that they were keeping tabs on the facilities even if it was just a mom and kid.

Very clean and moist spots are secluded. Lots of REALLY great primitive spots if that's your thing.

We spent an entire month, as we typically do, in Bluebonnet Ridge RV Park in Terrell, Texas. There is a lot to really like about this campground. We would definitely stay here again.

Pros:

• The park was clearly being maintained

• The basketball /tennis courts had just been resurfaced

• Anytime someone left, or a spot was empty, new gravel was being dumped and leveled

• Even though closed for Covid, the pool was cleaned daily.

• There's a small dog park area.

• Doggie bags were provided in multiple places, and ample trash cans in which to drop them.

• Sufficient WiFi repeaters throughout the CG

• The grass is kept mowed down, good to avoid those Texas stickers getting in your shoelaces.

• All but one staff member was really friendly.

• Package receiving was well handled and painless.

• Each visitor, even short term like us, gets a mailbox. You can go in 24/7 and check it.

• There's a "swap area" where people leave magazines, etc. (Near the mailboxes.)

• There's a nice little pond you can fish in, catch-and-release only, no license required.

• LOTS of room to walk the dog!

• There's ample overflow parking and trailer storage space so you don't have to crowd your campsite.

• Laundry facility on site, we didn't utilize it since we have a W/D in the rig.

• Bulletin board for posting things, we bought our W/D from another person at the campsite!

• Park was pretty quiet while we were there. No ruckus or loud people. Folks walked around, talked a bit.

• They have Good Sam and Passport American discounts available.

Cons:

• You're really close to I-20, you will hear the road noise. Only trucks are loud. (We did hear a blowout, scared me to death!)
• The WiFi, while available, is really slow. When you connect, they track usage by hardware MAC address. Use too much, you get blocked and have to ask to be allowed back on.* There are some boggy areas you have to watch for near the pond. (Don't step on the thousands of crawfish towers!)
• The road is in fairly bad shape, leading into the park. They could really use a road company out there to fix it.
• There are some rigs that appear more"permanent" with stairs, patio furniture, that sort of thing. But none were run-down looking.
• When it rains, some of the driveways do get muddy.  The gravel replacement helps.

Other:

• There are a LOT of Tiny Houses that have been put on the property. They all looks really new, well maintained.
• The staff appears to reserve some spots near the front for folks coming in for a day or two to a week.  It was NOT all permanents by any means.

Overnighted here returning home from a longer trip. It was okay for what I was doing, but I would never choose to camp here as a destination as a tent camper.

Activities: looking at the lake, bringing a boat to put in the lake, fishing. Seemingly nothing else to do.

Accommodations: clearly geared towards RVers. Each of those sites have water, electricity, and a sewer connection, with a covered cement pad with a grill, a table, and other relevant features. The few tent camp sites were shoved seemingly randomly between and around the RV sites. At my particular site, the concrete pad and picnic table were cracked and seriously damaged, and few grill was rusty enough to be almost unusable. The fire pit and ground of the rest of the site were littered in bits of trash ranging from things like food wrappers, pieces of plastic hangers, and my personal favorite - a construction nail.

The only bright light of this camp experience for me? The bathrooms. Each bathroom ( 2 per building) was a single occupant bathroom with a locking door. In the bathroom was a sink, a toilet, a hand dryer, and a shower with two nozzles at different heights (tall and short). The appliances were stainless steel, and the bathrooms were clearly excellently maintained. The bathrooms also had automatic lighting, an exhaust fan, and what appeared to be a tiny space heater for colder months. The showers had hot water, and the drains in the floor were sufficient at getting all the excess water out of there quickly.

In summary, if you have an RV and/or a boat and love to do things on the water, this is probably a fine campground. If you are taking a tent, I'd avoid this campground.

Very clean park, lots to offer. Right on the lake with a wonderful park for the kiddos, a pavilion, fishing, boating, a beach area to lounge and play in the water. Nice camp store, even had free donuts and coffee on the Saturday were there. And if you want to leave the park, it’s close to everything from shopping, golf, Dallas and Fort Worth. Sites are spaced out well. Just be sure to book way in advance as they stay pretty busy

I can't speak highly enough about The Vineyards.  It's spacious, lots of nature but a great location in the city near every amenity possible.  It's very professionally run  and well maintained.

We loveed this campground!!! Pros: Well maintained, great layout, great location, on the water. Cons: My only criticism is that our site positioned the sewer connection uphill from our trailer. A bit tough to use.