Beautiful public park with trails, picnic shelter, and sandy beach. Open year round. Office with bathrooms and showers open May-October. Public access to Barrier Beach and Big Bay Lagoon. 61 Site campground, reservations recommended.

Big Bay Town Park

Note: this is for the rustic sites only. Better spaces and facilities if you are camping in the RV park. 

Ok so this campground is really lacking compared to the Big Bay state park campground. One thing that stuck out for me is how close many of the sites are to the big (and busy) parking lot that was always filled to capacity in the summer months. 

If you are looking for privacy, you will need to move further from the bathroom shower house. The campground is situated on the bog rather than the island coast. Heavier bugs, less views, smaller sites. 

Showers are pay showers. Camp wood available for sale near shower facility. Hope you get there early enough for parking!  

Noise levels are a bit much during the day depending on the proximity to the bathroom and parking. Vaults are the most disgusting I have ever experienced.

Small rustic sites not private enough

This fun little campground has about 25 sites. 
Reservations can be made ahead of time, and there are 5 plots on a first come, first served basis in case the main sites are full. 
There's a main office building with free WiFi (though its range and strength are very small). 
The same building also has the the showers and toilet, and a water fill station. 

Each campground has a fire pit and a picnic table, with parking space for vehicles or RVs, and ample space for two or maybe even 3 tents per plot/site. 

You are walking distance to a beach, accessed by stairs.
The approx 2.5 mile beach also has a boardwalk that continues to be extended parallel to the beach. 
There's also this great opportunity to rent canoes on the honor system with money through a mail box slot, so I took out a canoe and was able to paddle around this nice inlet. I was also lucky and managed to get really close to some loons fishing on the lake. 
You can also meet at this spot at various times during the day to get a boat tour on some canoes or kayaks. 

I would recommend coming here with a bike so that you can explore the island. Near the ferry terminal you can check out the Burn Down Bar and they have a convenience store to stock up on the food and things you forgot. 


Walking distance to the beach! 

Site was fairly small. No real privacy between some of the sites. It had rained recently so everything was kind of wet and soggy, and never really dried out. Views from the beach are BEAUTIFUL. There was no good place to put in my own kayak which was disappointing. Only place to put in was down a steep flight of stairs, which wasn't happening on my own. Showers were available but you have to pay, which is always a little annoying. Lots of mosquitoes. Fall asleep to the sound of loons and frogs. Hiking trail connects to the state park which is nice.

Summer 2017

All in all I was happy with this campground. It was close to the water, just a walk away from a beach and hiking trail. The campsites were fairly private as far as car camping sites go. There was adequate spacing between sites, and I never felt crowded, however I did visit during slow season. Because it was just a walk away from recreation, there were many people arriving and departing from the parking lot and camping area throughout the day, to make use of the beach and trails. I imagine that during busy season it is quite popular and quite a bit louder. There were canoes you could take out (rent) onto a lagoon between the lake and the campsites, and while I didn't end up trying one, it looked like it could be fun. The trail from the beach was nice, and went past some really interesting storm damage. They have signs up talking about the storm and how it changed the island. The trail is in the woods rather than right on the water for the most part, but close enough that you can get off at certain points and take a look. Because there was the lagoon area between the campsites and lake, the sites were pretty sheltered. Way less wind than near the lake. It wasn't too far from town, either.

Near lots of recreation

we really enjoyed this campsite. the bathrooms were really clean and easily accessible. the picnic table on our site was in good condition. the site was a decent size. there was a nice hiking trail and and beach nearby. one of the things I didn’t like was that you had to pay to use the showers but that was probably my one downfall. 

great amentities 

We stayed at campsite #14 and it was by far one of the better camp spots. We are planning on going again; it was so much fun to explore the lake shore and island. Highly recommended!

Clean and Scenic! 

Big Bay Town Park We enjoyed our stay on Madeline Island towards the end of June. We stayed in in a travel trailer with our dog on the“modern” side which has electric service and is on the other side of the road from the office. The campsites on the lake side are rustic only. The modern sites are secluded with a good buffer of woods between them. Nice privacy. 

  

There is no WiFi or cell service, however there is good WiFi at the office. 

  

There are 30/50 amp hookups, a picnic table and a pad for a tent. There are 2 bathroom facilities with water spigots. The bathrooms are new and well maintained. There is a pretty trail that connects the 2 bathroom buildings. Unfortunately, the shower house is across the road in the office building.$1.75/3 Minutes. 

  

The staff was very friendly and made sure we had all the information to enjoy our time on the island. Since the weather was pretty rainy, there weren’t a lot of people on the island, so it was very quiet. There were only 4 other campers in modern side, and a few tents on the other side. 

  

The only thing that was kind of a bummer is that we brought our own kayak, but there really wasn’t a good way to carry the kayak down the many steps to the beach. The park has kayaks for rent on the honor system at the beach. The park parking lot is on a bluff above the beach with steps leading down to the water. The beach was nice to walk on. Our dog loved it. We only ate in town once, but the food was fantastic.

Woodsy Get Away

After Labor Day ( sept 2019 ) Not many visitors - but some.   This place is just plain beautiful.   Super friendly.   No cell.   WiFi available at the office, but not at the RV sites ( not really a bad thing!) extremely roomy - our truck and trailer are 54 feet long - no problem fitting at site 35 - but we’ll bring an extension cord next time as our primary power cable didn’t quite reach the utility box. Very nice picnic table and fire ring.   Bathrooms on the RV side are pristinely clean - short walk to the beach.   Peaceful!   12 minutes to get to town.   ( secret - there’s an RV dump at the airport on county H north ) $5 donation - 

We will be back!   

Madeline Island Ferry charges by the foot.   54’ truck and trailer combo plus two adults was about $220 round trip but we stayed 5 nights and felt it worth every cent.    

Most room per trailer site I’ve seen in forever 

Super cool place to walk the boardwalk down the side of the lake. Or even walk in the water. There were people swimming in the bay, a little too cold for me. We saw turtles on our hike too! Highly recommend stopping if you have the chance! One note, little to none phone service. 