Grand Haven State Park — Attraction in Grand Haven

This is a warning to the wise - if your camper is larger than 30 feet long; you will likely have difficulty fitting on the campsite with a tow vehicle included. The dimensions of the camp sites are not on the website, so I called to find out what these are, to ensure a goodness of fit. I called 3 times before booking sites to get the measurement of the camp sites to ensure my unit and tow vehicle would fit "inside the lines" but could not obtain this information any of the three times. I was assured that the lots fit 45" campers and the tow vehicles without any issue. This is absolutely not true. Ironically, you pay for your tow vehicle to be at your site. When it does not fit, and that is the case for many campers this weekend, you are ordered to park in the channel lock parking. This is a parking lot with folks hanging out, but who are not necessarily campers. This is a very cold, rainy weekend, and there are many, many, many open camp sites, as a direct result. Logic tells you this is something useful, many more open spots than filled spots, means it makes sense one could park their paid for tow vehicle in one (just one) of these many, many , many empty camp spaces (evidenced by accompanying pictures). Upon arrival, the space that was supposed to fit our 40' RV did not so the person on duty was very responsive to move us to a larger spot and were assured once again our tow vehicle would fit. In real life it did not. We parked our paid for tow vehicle in one of the many, many, many open camp spaces (evidenced again through the accompanying pictures) as it was a very cold weekend filled with pouring rain. The next morning, we woke up to a written note on the tow vehicle to park in the public lot (anyone can park in without paying for their vehicle to be there). The rain continued, temperatures dropped and we once again parked in the many, many, many, open tent campsites as there were no tent campers here. We received a phone call that the vehicle had to be moved out of the empty spot we parked in, immediately. As I was trying to understand the reasoning which underlies not being able to park our paid for vehicle in one of the many, many, many open spaces, the person who answered the phone connected me to Erica, the lead ranger. I advised of my need to understand the reasoning behind the need to move our paid for vehicle to a different spot. This was an incredibly cruel confrontation and order to a customer with no logic or compassion noted from the staff and erica, the lead ranger. I was aggressively being yelled at simply because of my questioning. I was trying to clarify why they would ask an older adult to be overexposed to cold, rainy weather with an ongoing pandemic, to move their paid for vehicle right away with a darkened threat that it would be towed. Even though I paid to park my vehicle in the park I could not park at my campsite. We are lifetime residents in Michigan, whose state taxes pay for the park lands, the buildings, the maintenance, the parking lots, the camp sites, the electricity, the plumbing, the lighting, the picnic tables, the toilets, the sinks, the light switches, and the salaries of those who have no reasoning ability to accommodate the circumstances which mother nature sends, unpredictably. These employees certainly were able to park their vehicles on these parking lots but we were not, even though we paid for our tow vehicles. My nonresident family members were also harassed about parking. I had highly recommended this campground, regrettably. There is no reason, at all, to keep our vehicle away from our campsite which is surrounded by empty lots. Had we known the true dimensions when we called, we would have picked a different campground. The aerial view is misleading the lots are much smaller than what was depicted from afar. This has been a nightmare. The manner to which we were spoken was undeniably immature and...

My family, my husband, two daughters, ages 3.5 and nearly 6 camped in a tent at site letter K and the end of July. This was our first time ever camping, besides our own backyard in the city.

The Pros: You are at the beach! The sand is soft and sugary. The bottom of the lake is sandy too! Big, beautiful bathhouse (2019), with thoughtfully planned family shower stalls. Plenty of hooks and counter space. Humid and lighting so-so. They are cleaning regularly and thoroughly during Covid. Hot water and good water pressure in the showers. Signs for cleaning schedule are posted. The campsite is right on the boardwalk, walkable to town for adults and bigger kids. 20/30amp power hookup, which takes a standard household 110V plug. Drinking water is 10 feet away. Super family-friendly. There are food trucks and awesome playgrounds for the kids, both at the public beach and with the campground. Close to groceries and tons of good restaurants. I recommend The Toasted Pickle (sandwiches), and Scrib’s Pizza.

The Cons: The site is just 35’ wide and right on sand. Be aware there are no fire pits, but they allow you to bring your own enclosed pit. Quiet hours are from 10pm to 8am. Since the site are so closed together, our neighbors who decided to chat trivia were heard past midnight. No alcohol allowed. Not real hiking.

Lake Michigan is COOOLD, just 52 degrees at the end of July. We were just in South Haven two weeks prior, and the water at that beach, as well as Van Buren was heavenly warm in the 70s. I’m going to do some research to better understand the currents, because that temperature difference really surprised me!

Outside of the park, I highly recommend the Imagination Station (playground) for kids. It’s a great break from the beach.

I hope this helps. ...

My stay at Grand Haven State Park was a short overnight, as we arrived at 9:50 pm and checked out in the morning.

The park closes at 10:00, so we called in advance to make sure that we would be able to check in to our site, since there was a delay in the arrival time. The person said yes, that the gate was open and if we arrived after 10:00 we could just go in and find our spot. At 9:50, the gate was open but the check in booth had clearly been closed for a while. There were no campground maps to take, so we drove around for about 15 minutes to navigate the very crowded beach/parking/camping area to find our site.

The sites are wide blacktop parking, mostly for RVs, with sand behind for seating and tent camping. We set up our tent and found the bathrooms, which were very nice. There is a sign on the door stating that you must wear masks to enter, but I saw no one but our family wear one, sadly.

Night was quiet. No alcohol or bonfires are allowed, so this makes for a little less of the camping experience I’m used to, but also may contribute to the quietness of the park. In the morning, once we could see a little more of our surroundings, we noticed how close campers were packed in. If it weren’t so Covid-y, I wouldn’t mind, but it was a little tight for my comfort. However, one great thing was that I spotted a park ranger sanitizing playground equipment and high touch areas. That was impressive, and I give them good marks for their efforts.

Overall, I think the park is nice, and I would have liked to had time to enjoy the beach. The facilities are well maintained and sanitizing efforts were good. Downside is that it is very crowded and not easy access in and out. If I were parking a big camper, I would be really nervous in the...