Best Glamping near Methow, WA

We have been to the Blue Lake Resort during June 2021. The location is awesome, quiet and peaceful for a relaxing vacation. The breeze is welcoming& gentle enough to get fresh air. Very friendly staff, good walking, can get out onto calm rides on water, get some fresh water swimming, catch good fish. Newly added Domes and Glamping sites are nice and they are more attrea We stayed in newly renovated cabin. Very clean with new management upgraded everything they can think of. Cabin has all the amenities including full kitchen. The location is awesome, quiet and peaceful for a relaxing vacation. New Management renovated the entire reort including RV, Camping spots, Cabins and especaially bathrooms. All the amenties water/electric, showers, kayak and motor boats rental are included in rental price. So no surprises at the end. It's a must visit stay place for camping/glamping and dome experience

The Winthrop KOA is similar and on par with most other KOA campgrounds, as far amenities go. The campground is right on the Methow River which is great, however, early in the camping season the current is so swift, you would not be able to swim in it. The campground itself has a western vibe, with old wagons that you can actually rent to sleep in, log cabins, and western-style artifacts throughout. The campground is right off of the highway, so there is a little car noise during the day. At night, we didn't really notice it. With the location of the campground in Methow Valley, it can get really windy. One of the nights we were there, we had to douse our campfire because embers were flying everywhere. We had site 18 which was at the end of one of the rows and it was very spacious with a big grass area and a few trees.

We liked the location because it was close to Winthrop and many of the outdoor activities available in the area such as hiking trails, off-road tracks, fishing, kayaking, etc. The area is beautiful and has much to offer in the scenery department, even for folks that are car-bound.

Typical state park for Washington. Clean and beautiful. A portion of the sights are walk in only, however they do provide wheel barrows to help pack in your gear. Walk is roughly a quarter mile on a paved trail. Great to ride your bikes to the cam ground. Group sites are also nice with large areas to congregate. Only draw back is the wind. It can sure make for a tough set up of camp. Sites do have a small wind break. See behind the tent in picture.

Washington Rolling down the road on the Cascade Loop I took in all the scenery and enjoyed every moment. But something I noticed along the way was that cell signal was minimal and with that it made it a bit harder to find locations to stop for the night. Typically I enjoy a more remote site or a good forest camp, however along the loop, though there are many forest service roads, most certainly with camping available, being so remote without cell signal and roads looking more questionable in some areas, I feared going to far off the beaten path into the unknown in my small car. 

This brought me to the Riverbend RV Park, a Good Sam park along the loop which actually allocates some of their spaces to tent campers. Privately owned the features were a bit more expansive than many of the sites I had visited along the way including running water and full hook ups for those in RVs. Additionally they had a propane refill station which was quite nice for a small charge without having to wander into town to find supplies. 

The layout of the location was nice as it formed a large loop easy to access even by the largest of rigs. The office welcomed you as your drove in and made it easy to stop, pay for your site and find out all the information you needed to know not only about the campsite but also the surrounding area. A few brochures inside noted area attractions and information about the loop itself. This office also housed a small general store which had a few items you might need while at camp and some general items which could be nice in way of snack and food. Nothing large, but certainly helpful for those who were weary from the road and all the traveling excitement. 

This park welcomes families but also their pets, with a large pet area for them to run free and enjoy stretching their legs. Otherwise throughout camp they do ask you keep your pets on a leash, which seemed more than fair considering the large space they were given to enjoy free of burden. 

The kiddos were also welcome with their own play area that was well maintained and away from the other campers just enough to not disrupt the silence of the camp. This area had its own water fountain to assure hours of safe and hydrated play. 

The sites themselves were typical of an RV park, a standard picnic table and enough room to move around a little but still somewhat closer to your neighbors than you would be at many forest campsites. I found that the camping area I checked out for myself had a little more distance between the sites which was nice but there was no tree coverage so it is a bit of a trade off for space or shade. 

On premise is an activity room and also a restroom area. Restrooms offer showers and warmth on the cold days and night and the activity room is a large room with plenty of space to enjoy a game night or some time watching television in a more social setting. There is also a laundry facility at this building which was super helpful for catching up along the loop after several weeks of travel. 

All in all though this was privately run and thus a bit more expensive, around $30 a night, the benefits of the stay at this location were vast. Though it wasn’t my style of camping for every night a stop here was a nice way to check out some of the many amenities which contrast some of the other camps along the way. Definitely worth a stop if you are in an RV or if you want to have a place with a lot of benefits.

TIPS: 

• If you are a larger unit this is a great place to stay for amenities and size of spaces you will easily be able to pull in and get comfortable with your slides at this location.

• Location of this campsite is key as it is close to town but also along the loop within driving distance of the North Cascades Park and also some of the Washington State Parks.   If you can detach and use this as a home base it will work well with your travels.

We camped here in early October so there was no fee. The vault toilet was clean but there is no maintenance until the late spring.

We camped in space 23 by one of the vault toilets. We had views of the surrounding craggy mountains. Ours was a drive through site and very spacious. We also could only see 2 other campers as there was some nice spacing between us. I just love their huge planked picnic tables made of 4”x12” fir.

There was some highway noise but it quieted down after dark as our campsite was close to the highway. As always, be bear aware and do not leave food out.

There are campground sections before where it’s ‘designated’ on the map - we picked one that seemed a little bit away from the main dusty road. Lots of sand and dust, and fire ban in effect (july 2021). Apparently there is one toilet somewhere but we didn’t find it. Ended up returning here for another night. Had 1 bar of Verizon if remember correctly.

I stayed for several days in Upper Antilon, section D. It was over Memorial Day, so a couple nights were a little noisy, but nothing too crazy. I had heard from the ranger that things could get wild, but it wasn’t too bad. The dirt road is long with curves, and can get bumpy at times. I chose a beautiful spot overlooking the lake and close to a vault toilet. It was clean and well stocked. There was also a dumpster. The upper lake is very overgrown…no swimming and no real place to safely put my kayak in. The lower lake was much better, although a VERY steep hill down to the water. Lots of lake moss, so fishing from the shore can be problematic. However, I caught 3 gorgeous brown trout from my kayak, which made 2 delicious meals. I literally had the entire lake to myself. Aside from a very windy/rainy day and night with 40 mph gusts, the weather was perfect and I loved falling asleep to the sound of the frogs and crickets.

I camped here in mid-May 2023. I camped in dispersed campground "A" and really enjoyed it. There is good shore access for bank fishing (I caught sun fish, crappie, and brown trout). 

The camping was pretty quiet. Some mosquitos, but I've seen worse. The brown trout I grilled was good, too!

No cell service for me out here (T-Mobile). The road was rough, but pretty much any car can handle it.

Wonderful check-in process. Super simple. Great customer service, friendly staff, you can receive packages here no charge. Lots of shade trees, level site, good spacing, places to access the river, etc.

Park like setting. Pull throughs are right on top of each other. Recommend back in. They water every night, you have to pull everything in, every night. Water came out brown each morning with out a filter.

I am surprised to find how often we camp in the snowy winter months, empty campgrounds are a plus this time of year! Come summer you won't be able to get a reservation in this park, but in January it was wide open! We have stayed here for many years to enjoy the Chelan WinterFest Festival in January. The park is within walking distance of town and is perfect for the festival weekend. You may notice the pictures are of different trucks and campers as we have visited this park throughout the years! We have only stayed in this park once in the summer months, and that was for a skydiving visit. Good basic RV park style camping.