We camped in the main campground. You may also camp on the river side where the marina is located. We selected the main side as the pool is located there. Pros: The proprietor is an accommodating, friendly, and welcoming person. Easy access to site. Seasonal occupants were friendly. The proprietor nicely loaned us a 50amp connector as the 30amp outlet on our shared power pole was being used by the neighbor. Saturday was taco night for $1. It's tasty and a cute idea. Cons: We faced a seasonal site that was thankfully unoccupied for the weekend. It was left in a state of disarray and was an eyesore. The fire rings had obviously been moved frequently and each burnt patch was littered with cigarette butts. Our picnic table was almost unusable as boards were loose and uneven. The sewer hookup was several inches above the ground necessitating more maneuvering and work to empty the tank when we left. Although clean, the shower rooms aren't inviting due to dated fixtures and shower heads that spray water almost painfully with cold water. The riverside campground is a world onto itself and not the environment we would seek for a relaxing camping weekend. We discussed for a few minutes the big equipment (bulldozer, etc..) left in an abandoned looking state near the river. We were itching with ideas on how to cleanup and improve the campground! Although some seasonal campers had nicely maintained sites, we were left with the perception of a disorderly, somewhat junky looking campground. Overall, the campground worked for our purpose but most likely won't return if needing to stay in the area again. At close to $50 a night we have certainly stayed in nicer campgrounds for even less that cost. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This campground is split by a 4 lane highway and unfortunately I didn't learn that until I had to go to the "lower/river" side, down a gravel road and across train tracks without warning gates. While it would have been great if I wanted to launch a boat into the Mississippi, I didn't know my kids would have a very small area to ride their bikes and no pool, restroom or convenience store on the river side. The train also came by every 60 to 90 minutes blaring it's horn and shaking the trailer. Great if you want to use the river -- but not if you want space and peace and quiet or even sleep. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
We didn't really enjoy the campground and really tried to be out in Winona as much as possible. The people running the campground were nice and friendly though, and the overall experience was positive with the people I interacted with. Main issue was just overall size of the campground and that everyone is piled in on top of each other. We were parked about 5 feet from a seasonal rig in the spot we wound up in. As stated before just about everyone that seemed to be there knew each other, and you kind of felt out of place while staying in the campground. I guess we would just prefer to stay in the state parks in the state but hadn't planned far enough ahead for this weekend to do that. We'll be sure to plan far ahead in the future. They did have an animal petting zoo thing come in this weekend which was nice and my kids did like that part of it very much. The playground equipment is pretty old, and I'd personally be worried about the liability issues if I were the owners of the campground. In fairness though my kids did play on some of the equipment and had fun though. You've got to like the old metal slides from when I was a kid. You can really get some speed on those slides. Overall experience with the people at the campground, and the area of Winona Wabasha was positive. Experience with the campground was negative, and I would not plan on ever staying here again. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This is an older park that is showing its age. We brought our Travel Trailer and used pull through site 45 on the main side of the campground. The site faces the site directly next to it and leaves little privacy. The campground feels more like a club because of all the seasonal rentals. The weekend we were there was spent listening to seasonal renters building decks (saws, compressors & somewhat loud music) as well as children and adults zipping around in golf carts. It was a holiday weekend too, so the campground was very busy since they were sold out. The playground equipment is not safe for small children and appears to be at least 30 years old with chipping paint and no safety bars on the slide. The owners are very nice people. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This is an older park that has not adjusted sites for the larger rigs yet. Our site was filled from front to back with our 36' 5th wheel without the truck. It is another park that has seasonals located on the best sites and the weekenders are tightly tucked in the remainder. I think it is good for a short weekend but with its location right on the highway there is no activities outside of the campground (biking, trails). The hosts were very nice and made sure we found our spot when we arrived late. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
The campground was very well kept. It has a small arcade and general store. One nice perk was the afternoon bingo and evening movie available on the weekends. Next time we would stay a couple sites away from the bridge, as many people cut through our site to go over the bridge and up the stairs to the bathrooms. We will stay here again in 2006. We camped here in a Tent Trailer.
Review Rating
[ 7 / 10 ]
May 2005
$27
Very clean bathrooms and showers. The campground is down in the ravene so you do have to go up the hill for the bathrooms and showers. The other issue is the trains, their not all that far away and they like their horns. We got rained on pretty hard and I was wondering if we were going to wake up in the Mississippi. The access for a 40 FT. MH would be a little tight. We camped here in a Motorhome.
A place to park if you can find a site. Most sites are taken by full time residents. Grass needs mowing and a general fixup. Young man in charge was very helpful and showed me a map with the sites to choose. Because of the price would stay here again. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This is a city owned/managed park. The interior roads are paved and the camp sites are all grass, fairly level with lots of shade trees. We did not use the restrooms but they looked to be primitive. Check-in was conducted by a young man who seemed to care less, gave us a list of 4 sites that might be open and to drive by and find one that we liked and to check back and let him know which one we selected. Overall we were not too impressed, but if we had to we would stay here again. We camped here in a Motorhome.
As has been mentioned in previous reviews, this campground has a strange setup for delivery of water to campsites. Hoses are laid on top of the ground with tees running to each site. I chose not to utilize this system as I had concerns about the safety of this supply. The campground is on the Mississippi River side of the levee, so it is prone to flooding. In addition, a major railroad line is located across the river and was quite noisy at all hours of the day and night during my stay in the fall (the leaves were off the trees). Although the manager was both friendly and helpful, I’ll skip this park on my next visit to the area. The rate shown was for a week’s stay. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Prairie Island Campground is a nice city run campground that is older but quite beautiful. Several of the sites along the Mississippi River were under 2 to 4 feet of water when we were there but we still managed to score a site above water and right on the river. The thing I thought was interesting was that the water they advertise is actually white camper hose, run from a spigot to behind all the campsites where they installed a bunch of splitters for us to hook up to. Not much for water pressure but it works and I guess that's what counts. The young man who checked us in could use a class on manners, like how to say "thank you" and "your welcome," but I guess that's how the younger generation is now days. One particular thing I liked is that the dump station concrete apron is angled so when you hook up your sewer hose the tanks drain quite quickly and completely. I like this small feature. This is a nice quiet campground that we could visit again if we were in the area. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Located on the Mississippi River. The manager is very friendly. No WiFi. The sites are very spacious and level. We rode our bikes into Winona, which is about 2 miles away. Nice park down the street. There is a boat ramp and wildlife refuge next to this campground. Has fire rings at all sites. No supplies to speak of at the office. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.