Traverse City State Park

This is a great campground close to everything you could want to do in traverse city. The tart trail is at the back of the campground and I can ride the whole city and more. The back of the campground is the place to be so u don’t hear much if any traffic. Only complaints are the terrible electric layout at most sites. BRING AN EXTENSION CORD! Campground host were terrible. No coffee like other campgrounds I have been at and they don’t even open the gate to the tart trail at 8am. seems like they host for free camping and neglect the simple things that most campground hosts provide. Third loop has best restrooms/showers.the campground host is the only reason they didn’t get the 5 star treatment. Overall I highly recommend.

I camped at Traverse City State Park for the first time this past weekend with a few friends. First of all, if you’re looking for rustic camping, this is definitely not it. I wasn’t expecting to be in the wilds of Northern Michigan, but this campground is basically in the city. Also, it’s right next to an airport. Some people might be bothered by hearing planes taking of and landing all day and into the evening. (I didn’t care, since I can sleep through pretty much anything.) It’s also right next to a banquet center where there was a wedding going on with loud music til pretty late on Saturday night. Again, I didn’t mind, but some people might be annoyed by that.
The campground itself is pretty big, with hookups for electricity, showers, bathrooms, RV washing stations, etc. Each site has a picnic table and a fire pit. They sell decently priced firewood and ice at the welcome cabin at the front, but it closes around 9pm, so bring your own if you’re coming in later. There is a grocery store right down the road.
The bathrooms were clean, but the toilets kept auto-​flushing multiple times whenever I tried to use them, which I find to be incredibly annoying! The sensors might need to be recalibrated or something.
There is plenty to do around this campground! The beach is literally across the (pretty busy) street (highway), there is a mini-​golf /​go-​kart place down the road, and of course Downtown is a short drive away. I don’t know that I would come here again, unless it’s for a wedding and I don’t want to pay $$$ to stay in a hotel! (2 campsites for 4 couples turned out to about $ 35 per person for 2 nights, not bad!)

This review is for the campground. We actually really like it here, aside from the fact that there is a lot of vehicle traffic and its densely populated. That can be expected though as this is a major tourist area, and I personally didn’t mind too much. Our neighbors were pretty courteous and quiet hours were actually quiet. Given the density of campers, I was actually quite impressed. Campsites were adequately sized, although the entire rear perimeter was laced with poison ivy. There is no camp store here and the nearest decent grocery area is about 20 minutes away. Fresh water is available everywhere nearby but I could find no place to dump grey water except for the bathrooms. The best part of the place was the fact that the beach was right across the road and easily accessible by catwalk.

It appears the budget or? keeps the grass from getting mowed or firepits cleaned out. Used to be more maintained unfortunately.

Decent state park, but don’t come here to enjoy «wilderness.» At the back of our lot is a major road. You have to take a walkway over the road to get to the beach too. Other than that I have enjoyed my time here.

We only stopped here to picnic, but the strip of beach on Grand Traverse Bay here is lovely and clean. Several families were taking advantage of the first beautiful Sunday of summer here.
There is a booth at the entrance, but it was unmanned, so I am not sure if they charge you to enter. We just bought a state park yearly pass to enter Tahquamenon Falls, so we were good if there was indeed a charge.
The strip of beach is only a quarter of a mile, but it is quiet and relaxing.

Decent campground across the street from the State Park Beach. Fantastic view. Fantastic water to swim in when its warm. Unfortunately the campgrounds are used so much that it is all dirt and no grass. Book in person or on the phone and ask questions about the site you want. We booked online for a site to fit a 30 foot trailer. When we arrived we found that we could not open our awning. Popular place. Super busy weekends and holidays.

Urban Camping. If you like camping out in woods with lots of green space, this is not the campground for you. It is a fun place to go, with tons to do in a urban setting for Michigan. Right on the TART bike trial system, close to the beach, good place to eat, go cart and mini golf and other activities. Not far from wineries, malls and other shopping. It is right off a 4 lane highway, an airport and a seldom used rail road (4 days, never heard a train.

We really enjoyed TCSP this summer. The lots are several different sizes. I was impressed with the clean bathrooms and showers. I can’t wait to return and start a summer tradition. The beach is across the street and we did not visit. I will go next time. It looked gorgeous!

Perfect little park to spend a sunny afternoon at. I didn’t go camping, just stayed beach side and it was fantastic. The water is clean and warm, they have a beautiful view of the bay, everyone is friendly (even the ducks will come over and say hello!), and did I mention it’s CLEAN? My family had a great time splashing in the water and building sand castles in the soft sand. It’s shallow pretty far out which is nice since that meant my 3.5 year old cousin could wade out for a while without it getting too scary. Although if you’re looking for deeper waters to go swimming or lounging in this might not be the place but for kids and families it’s great!
Behind the beach they have a playground for the kids, plenty of picnic tables, a little bathroom area with vending machines and such, and some nice greenery as well. Sure the view behind you is US-​31 but as long as you’re facing out towards the water it doesn’t matter. The parking lot is also close which makes this a good «let’s just take a quick trip to the beach» sort of place.
It’s affiliated with the Michigan State Parks so you’ll need a «passport» to visit but it’s only $ 10 for the year and it will get you into all the Michigan State Parks which is pretty nice. Worth it to support our lovely nature spaces. I would even pay more than $ 10 but it’s nice they keep it so cheap for families who may not have a lot of money. Not sure what it costs to overnight across the street in the campground but if you’re staying at a nearby hotel that doesn’t have a beach of it’s own it’s a great spot to hang out at. Not terribly crowded either!
The one thing that we found odd, however, was a lack of trashcans by the beach/​parking lot. We had some stuff to pitch and we couldn’t find one! Despite all the grills and picnic tables there was nary a trashcan to be found. Perhaps they had moved them to clean (does that happen??) and we just missed them during our visit but be prepared and bring a bag to store your trash just in case!

Great playground and we didn’t even use beach … But, alas, lovely view.

PROS:
Really helpful staff.
(Some) updated and (somewhat) clean restrooms and showers.
Pedestrian walkway (over the very busy US-​31) to an awesome public beach.
Really close to some cool stuff, and not too far from other cool stuff.
Nice firepits and picnic tables on every site.
CONS:
I’m nearly positive it’s impossible to get a secluded campsite, here. Even with 7 campsites between us and some other people, we could see their faces.
As soon as it’s dark, seemingly everyone goes to sleep; so if you’re looking for a campsite where you and your friends can stay up chatting in front of a campfire, this might not be the place.
Could hear awful DJ/​music from the hotel across the street.

We stayed here over the busy 4^th of July Holiday and enjoyed it immensely. We were situated in the back of the campground and never had a problem (other than a raccoon raid of our cooler on one night. HAHA). The park rangers were friendly and helpful, the beach across the street was pleasant, and the scenery was fabulous. We paid $ 27 per night for a tent site, which is an average price I’ve found. The park itself is three miles east of town (almost to Acme), but still within a reasonable distance to most everything on the Lakefront that you could possibly want to do. We never had a problem with noise or nosy neighbors or anything while we stayed at the park. Good times! I definitely recommend this park to others.