Best Campgrounds near Ellison Bay, WI

A wonderful campground! My family visited at the end of September, and we had the campground to ourselves. The campsites are in a beautiful forest, the showers were clean, the playground and mini golf weren’t in great condition but my kids loved traipsing around in the woods better anyway. We found lots of wildlife but the best was cute little tree frogs! The island itself is lovely with lots to do and see. Restaurants and little grocery store that has everything you’d need. Taking the ferry was really fun and unique! Overall a wonderful place to stay and experience!

General/Site Quality: Small (35-site) campground on the west shore of the Bay of Green Bay; some have water and electricity, and some just have electricity. Sites 14-23 are on grass while the others have paved camper pads. All are level and very generous in size. While they don’t necessarily have a physical separation between them, sites are spaced a good distance apart from each other. Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. In the center of the loop, there are some nice mature trees. 

Bath/Shower: At one end of the loop, there is a two-stall, one-sink restroom for each gender plus two showers; at the other end of the loop there are two vault toilets. All were clean. 

Activities/Amenities: There is quite a bit to do here. Fishing, boating (separate fee for the boat launch), swimming, kayaking (but you need to bring your own – although the literature says there are boat rentals, I did not see this). There is a nice playground and a smaller swing set; both are in different locations behind campsites, making it a bit awkward to access. In the day-use area, there is a fish cleaning station, a basketball hoop, and a somewhat dated playground. There used to be a volleyball area, but the net was no longer there. Self-serve firewood is available. There is a dump station.

The fee of $20 per night was very reasonable and our stay was very quiet and peaceful for a campground that was about 2/3 full on a Monday after Father’s Day.

Washington Island is a fun family oriented island. There are beaches all around, a very unique limestone beach that only exists in a few parts of the world and several different activities geared towards families. Everything is on Island time, meaning, life seems to slow down. Chill, relax, lay in the sun on the beach, go for a swim, walk among the millions of lavender flowers, attend a church service on Sunday. Washington Island seems to have a little bit of everything, even some fossils!

The campground available to us was just ok. The showers seemed a long walk, there are pit toilets near the camping spots but if you want running water you have to go to the club-house. The "mini-golf" course was in disarray, the "playground" was old and falling apart, and a lot of the camp ground spots were right on top of the other so do your research before reserving a spot. We stayed in site 12 and it felt like it was a little more private and larger.

The weather was great at the end of Aug; not too hot and not chilly, very comfortable for tent camping. The Ferry ride over was an unforgettable experience that my 6 year old thoroughly enjoyed. I will say that we were able to pretty much do everything the Island has to offer in 3 days and I don't know if I can justify coming back here again, but we had fun slowing down and that's what matters.

General: 61 site campground; 11 are 20/30/50 amp pull-thru sites and the rest are back-in 20/30 amp. A surprise was seeing so many seagulls and they were, although annoying, also quite entertaining! 

Site Quality: All sites are dirt/grass and level. The sites are close together with very little to no privacy separating them. 

Bath/Shower: In addition to men’s and women’s restrooms, there are two all-gender shower rooms and two family restrooms with shower. Except for dead bugs, they were clean. The shower was very nice– spacious and had good hot water, although there was almost always a wait to use one. 

Activities/Amenities: We camped here to take a self-guided tour of the ghost town, which took about two hours. There are several short-distance interconnecting trails that are mostly well-marked. Be aware, however, that after about a half mile, the Overlook Trail was no longer maintained – the grass was very tall and there was only a narrow footpath; I ended up turning back after going a short distance and seeing that it was not going to improve. There is also a boat harbor. It was quite a juxtaposition between the historical buildings and the loud groups of people partying on their boats! 

Once we explored the ghost town (which was very interesting), one night was just enough time for us to spend here, and it looked like many others were doing the same. The campground was completely full on a Saturday in mid-June but by Sunday morning, it had emptied out.