Illinois Beach State Park — Attraction in Zion

Stayed at the campground for a long weekend in June (Thurs - Mon). Shower houses were not cleaned at all while we were there and got very dirty. Stalls ran completely out of toilet paper. Completely unacceptable considering there are only two bathrooms/shower houses to service the entire campground. Neither were cleaned or restocked in 4 days despite having a full campground on Saturday and Sunday. The campsites themselves are nicely spread out and shaded. The beach area could also be nice if not for people just leaving their trash all over the place. There seem to be virtually no workers in this entire park to maintain or clean up. Dirty diapers left on the beach, Trash everywhere, etc. Such a shame. I can see the potential for this to be a really awesome park and campground if the parks department made a little bit of effort. Sadly, they seem to have left the whole place to just fall into ruin. There apparently used to be a really nice bike path that ran the length of the campground along the lake. But whole sections of it have disintegrated and been covered by sand. So you have to keep getting off your bike and walking it through these sections. Both ends of this path also have decaying ruins of beach shower, houses and restroom facilities that are now boarded up and covered in graffiti. We are from Ohio and drove seven hours to be here. The location is great. The lake is beautiful. The natural beauty of the area is great. The price is very affordable for a park that is right on Lake Michigan and only about an hour from Chicago. But sadly, I would never venture to this park again until they make some improvements to how it’s maintained. I suppose if the sites were full hook up, the shower houses wouldn’t matter so much. But these sites are electric only, and there’s no way to depend entirely on our camper’s shower/restroom forfor a four-day trip. I felt really bad for all the tent campers who had no other choice but to use those...

This review is about the campground staff. If I was only reviewing the actual park itself it would be 5-stars as it was beautiful, clean and accommodating. Unfortunately, the front gate staff started off our weekend very poorly. The two men in the office were rude, inefficient and unprofessional. I was told to come inside as I was apparently not allowed to have booked two campsites which ok that’s fine but when I came inside it was like I was in a twilight zone. The man I originally spoke with (30 seconds prior) told me my campsites were not available and he didn’t have my name or tags which clearly wasn’t true as he already told me I had 2 sites. He continued to tell me I was wrong for a good 5 mins until he realized he had set my tags on the other side of the desk. No apology, only rudeness like I did something wrong. The next guy was just as rude and scolded me for having 2 sites even after giving him the other occupants information. All in all, the arguments and mistakes went off for a good 20 mins before I was finally allowed to leave and find my camp site. They didn’t have the decency to even give me a map or tell us even remotely how to get to our campsite. Honestly, as someone that camps almost every weekend each summer, this check in process was by far the most painful experience I’ve ever had. As I said, the park was fantastic itself but I’m not sure it was worth the rudeness and headaches we experienced from the staff so we probably will not be back. Words of wisdom to anyone that books here… just have each member of your group book their own site separately, hopefully that will save you some ridiculousness and rudeness from the power...

The section of the campground I reserved was clean very relaxing and spacious. The beach was a short walk path from my site. The beach was nice and the lake was ice cold. I will camp here again! The bathrooms needs updating I didn't look in the toilet area just looked where the showers were. I didn't use the facilities and the bathroom didn't smell. Wear flip-flops or water shoes to shower . A bad storm hit while camping and we drove around the next day. There were so many big down trees and lots of branches down in campsites. We seen a big tree that fell on a tent. Look like they just left to get to safety and left some of their things behind. We pray everyone was okay that site took a big hit. Big trees on the road lots of tent campers were at this campground and in my opinion this campground is a safety hazzard. But I can say when we woke up tree removal crew were on site. They need to close half this park and Remove all dead or damage trees before someone lose their life. There are two abandoned buildings on the walk path and it doesn't look like they will be opening them back up and it's okay but my suggestion is just give it a nice outside paint job so the area doesn't look so creepy. The public parking lot to the beach is large and the back section has over grown grass through the parking lot. The parking lot to the beach near the hotel has trash thrown around and dirty diapers. This campground needs a new manager on site there should be a clean up crew and landscape workers on site everyday to maintain this state park especially during the...