We have stayed in this park last year and this year as well. I have not really seen much improvement in the past year. The entrance is an obstacle course, through the back of a car dealership and around the office and next to a stop sign in the middle of the drive. With a large rig, you really got to watch your rig. There are many trees with lots of low branches you need to keep an eye on as well. The manager is a grouch and hard to get along with. The owner is a very nice man, but watch out for his wife. The bathrooms and showers were sorta clean, but could really use some updating. The grounds around the maintenance building looks like a dump with trash laying around. The park is located next to a very busy highway with a railroad track directly behind. Walmart and Meijer stores are directly across the highway. Needless to say, it is not a quiet place to stay. The best thing about this park is it is 1 1/2 miles from Lake Michigan and it is the best park in the area. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Campers Paradise is the last name this camp ground should be called..it is far from paradise. The owners do not know how to handle a situation in a reasonable adult fashion. We felt very uncomfortable staying there, the owners and "regulars" sat and stared the whole time. We stayed one night and left without getting our reimbursement for a weeks stay. NEVER would we stay there again. We are very lay-back people, so hopefully when you read this review, you will understand and don't stay there. I can honestly say, the worst experience in the 20 years we have been camping. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Paradise for owners or for the campers? If you want to feel like you are camping at a rest area, go to Camper's Paradise, Inc (800 Robbins Road, Grand Haven, MI 49417 (616) 846-1460). The campground is situated oddly between US 31 and a set of railroad tracks. Needless to say it is definitely not peaceful or quiet. At night, we could hear a train pass by, an ambulance/police car, or just regular traffic. The best things about the place were the clean bathrooms and shower stalls. There is a fun playground for little kids. However if you have teenagers, the owner/managers discourage them from walking around the grounds because the "regulars" don't want to be bothered. This is a problem, since there isn't much to do for them. Within the first hour of our arrival we were told that all of us needed to stay on our site and not wander around. The owners told us, they were sorry, but the "regulars" take care of their property when they are away during the winter. Most parks allow up to 4 people per site regardless of how many tents you put up. For example, if you want 2 small tents for 2 adult couples on one site. This isn't allowed here. They strictly hold to the policy of one tent per site. This was a major problem for us since we had older kids who didn't want to be in the same tent as their parents. The owners/managers insisted that if we put up another small tent, we would be charged for a second site. Lastly, if you are not a "regular" at this campground, the owners place you towards the front entrance of the grounds (sandwiched between the main office and the owners/manager's house). There were eight of us and both of our sites were placed directly in front of the owner's/manager's house) where they would sit on the porch and watch us. Talk about feeling like you are in a fish bowl. Needless to say, this part of our vacation was a major disappointment but the first half of our vacation in Grand Haven was extremely enjoyable! Since its only 2 miles away, you should stay at the Grand Haven State Park. We stayed there for 2 days before we transferred to this place because the State Park was fully booked. At the Grand Haven State Park you will love being right next to Lake Michigan and watching the sunset on the pier just a few hundred yards away. We camped here in a Tent.
We have camped at this campground every year for Coast Guard Festival weekend for the last 5 years simply because it is the closest park to downtown Grand Haven. Since then the place has gone way down hill (at least in the front where tents and popups are allowed). In both the men's and the woman's bathhouse they are always truly filthy bordering on a poorlly maintained outhouse. Of the three shower stalls in the bathhouse, maybe 1 will work properly. Of the 4 toilet stalls maybe 2 will work properly (but one doesn't have a door). The sites are always a mess when you arrive, trash and debris. Last year (2002) the "new management" started to try to clean the place up. Instead, because of how they were approaching the situation and campers, they ended up alienating most campers every day with last minute on the spot "made up rules" to suit their request. I don't have a problem with rules, but if I am doing something you don't like, don't make up a rule, just tell me. Everyone at the campground I spoke with, good and bad, noisy and quiet, rowdy and calm, family and no family, had some complaint about the management and usually a lot more than one. Also, on one side of the campground is a busy highway, and on the other side is a train track, literally on the edge of the property, there is a train track, where a train comes by almost every night, very early, and very slow in the morning like 3-5am. For the price you pay per night (almost as much as a cheap hotel), and the things you get (bad showers and overbearing management) as a tent or popup camper this is a poor deal. Maybe for the yearly RV campers it's a better deal since all they need is hookups. We are going to avoid this campground for a couple of years. Hopefully in time they can learn to make things better and save some money to fix things. We camped here in a Tent.
The scenery was simply gorgeous...The weather was great. We were on site 65. Right near the walkway that went between two streets. I loved the place, however, we had 3 campsites, 6 adults and 12 teenagers. That was our children, cousins and friends included. Lights out is at 11pm and, precisely at 11pm, it seemed like every single light in the campground went out. No fires lit, no one walking around nothing...It was dead there....Other than that, very nice place to camp. I would recommend for families with young children, and senior citizens (no beer or wine allowed at the park). We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We stayed here for only 2 days because the State Park was fully booked. At the Grand Haven State Park you will love being right next to Lake Michigan and watching the sunset on the pier just a few hundred yards away. The staff was very friendly and there is so much for kids and adults of all ages. Though next time, I would visit with a trailer rather than a tent since the sand seems to get into everything. But that is just the tradeoff of having a lake front view all day. We had a great time! We camped here in a Tent.
It is one big parking lot but with the pier on one side and the Lake MI in front and being able to see the light house, well it just makes the stay excellent. My only complaint is that it is really hard to get a reservation. They are snapped up immediately. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We did not camp here but drove through while staying at Hoffmaster SP in nearby Muskegon. Great place if you want to camp on the beach. Each site has both sand and pavement with only a few trees. Tight spaces - it appeared some RV's could not deploy both awning and slide outs simultaneously. Web site doesn't give an accurate picture of how crowded the sites are. This is one of the state's most popular campgounds so book early! We camped here in a Tent Trailer.
Like most state parks, they give you a lot f room between sites. My gripe with all of the Michigan state parks is the fee they charge for each motor vehicle. We have a motorhome so therefore we needed to pay for a pass for each vehicle which is stupid. All you do is drive the motorhome to your site and then again when you leave. People with a trailer or fifth wheel do not have to pay for their camper unit since it is not a motor vehicle. I'll never stay in a Michigan state park again. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We moved here after staying @ Camper's Paradise. Nice campground...a lot better than Camper's Paradise. More for kids to do, lay back atmosphere. Nice staff, enjoyable stay!! We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
We have camped at a Yogi Bear Jellystone park before and really loved it. So, we gave this campground a try. When we got there, we had just about the worst site in the whole campground. It was nothing but sand with only one small tree on it. The road was gravel and hard to ride your bike on. Kids were everywhere. The site next to us had trash scattered everywhere. That night it was very noisy. I had to tell the people behind us, to please keep their music down, as it was quiet time. The next day my daughter wanted to go to "practice your hula dancing"...it was Hawaiian Weekend. That consisted of maybe half a dozen of small girls doing some hula dancing in front of some young staff for 1 minute to receive a sticker. That was it. So we went to check on the train ride that you can take...we found out, that only happens at noon. No posting of that anywhere. Later on we went to the fun park area to go on the bumper boats....that stops at 5 pm. Again, nothing posted on that either. The shower area is clean, but you had to push a button to receive some semiwarm water the thickness of a ladies thumb for maybe one minute. Not too impressed with that. Needless to say, I took a shower in the trailer the following day. Kids are everywhere, mostly unsupervised. Even after dark. My daughter and I had to go to the ranger station just before 10 PM and almost got hit by a kid on a bike. Unsupervised dogs were left tied up at the campsite across from ours. First time I went to tell the office, nothing was done about it. My young daughter had to keep giving those poor animals water several times. The second time I went to complain (just before 10 PM)something was done about it. They tried to call the campers...no result. But a letter from management was left at the site. Next day these campers gave us dirty looks after my daughter asked if they were the owners of the dogs. There was some nicer areas with grass. Seasonals were nicely landscaped. We will probably not go back there. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Nice having planned activities for kids. We have been going the weekend after Labor Day for a few years now. This weekend is planned as a Halloween weekend with trick-or-treating on Saturday night. The facility has both a wading pool and swimming pool. The playground is also good for the kids. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Stayed there in 04 or 05. Park was very clean and well kept. Programs for the kids were very nice. Close to go-cart track and put-put golf. We tried to make reservations last summer but found staff to be less than friendly. Reservation policy (as explained on the phone) requires 2 week notice to cancel but since we were trying to reserve less than 10 days out, there was no chance to cancel. In addition they required 2 nights paid at time of reservation so our $180 for 2 sites/2 nights was gone no matter what the weather or other factors might impact our visit. Decided to just spend our money at another campground. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This is one of our favorite parks to camp at. They have everything from primitive campsites to full hook up sites with patios. Small percentage of sites are seasonal, but very well kept. CG is just south of Grand Haven, so you are close to GH and Holland areas. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.