We stayed one night in a teepee rental at Turner Falls Park, and while the place itself is beautiful, the check-in experience really ruined the start of our trip.
When we arrived, we were helped by Laura. We had reserved two teepees that were supposed to be next to each other, but somehow they were booked on separate campsites. When we asked her to fix it, she was rude and dismissive the entire time. She kept making snarky comments and acted like we were inconveniencing her by asking for help.
While she called her “boss,” she had us standing out in the sun at around 4 p.m. for over 15 minutes. When I asked if she could be a little more accommodating or at least nicer about it, she just pointed over her shoulder to the car check-in booth and basically told us if we were “getting too hot,” we could go stand there for shade.
While all this was happening, another car pulled up behind us. Instead of just managing the line normally, Laura stuck her head out and told them they’d have to go somewhere else because, and I quote, “these people aren’t moving until I satisfy them.” She even put her boss on speaker phone when we wouldn’t move aside until the issue was handled.
After more than 30 minutes, she finally sent us to the Headquarters office, where Olivia was polite and helpful and quickly fixed everything so we could actually start our stay.
As for the teepee itself, it was fine overall. Just a few things people should know:
Bathhouse: Each teepee has access to a private bathhouse with its own toilet and shower. The bathhouse was really nice—clean, new, and secured with a personal code. But there’s no sign anywhere saying it’s a bathroom. It looks exactly like all the other rental cabins, and nobody told us where it was at check-in. We only found out because someone else staying nearby mentioned it.
Seating: There is a metal picnic table at each teepee, which is fine for meals, but if you want to sit around the fire pit, you’ll need to bring your own chairs. The photos make it look like chairs and a table are included out front, but that wasn’t the case for us.
Firewood: You’ll need to bring firewood or buy some at the Trading Post if you plan on using the communal fire pit.
Overall, the actual accommodations were nice, especially the bathhouse, but the way we were treated at check-in was completely unprofessional. I wouldn’t expect that level of rudeness anywhere, much less at a place where you’re paying to stay.
If you plan to book here, I’d recommend double-checking your reservation ahead of time, asking clearly where everything is when you arrive, and bringing your own seating for the fire. The park is beautiful, but the service could definitely use...
Read morePros: The forestry is beautiful, the staff and police are nice, they provide free shuttle service from the main parking area to the falls, and they cleaned the porta-johns twice a day. Cons: Extremely crowded and expensive, which may or may not be your thing. For two people in one tent for two nights you'll have to pay 8 different charges plus sales tax totalling $106. To me that's ridiculous but obviously to MANY others it's worth it (or maybe like us many just learned of the "new charges" at the gate and weren't willing to say never mind after packing the car full of camping gear and driving 2 hours). And the camp sites where you set up your tents are right on top of each other so you can reasonably expect to hear some families' tejano, country or classic rock music blaring right next to you at 7am. Still to me would have been worth it for 30 bucks because that's just camping sometimes, but not...
Read moreGo to Arbuckles to camp!! Not Turner Falls. This is why I recommend Arbuckles I paid 25.00 for 2 nights to camp at Turner Falls. That’s all we wanted to do. But when we arrived to go to the camp grounds we were told we had to pay an additional $105.00 to enter Turner Falls!!! 3 people for 2 days!!! Absolutely ridiculous to have to pay 130.00 to camp for 2 days. We ended up going to Arbuckles to camp for 17.00. The most most beautiful & clean camping area right on the Lake. Yes, we lost our 25.00 but gained a wonder memory of camping at the Arbuckles. (Didn’t know you had to pay 16.500 per person Just to enter turner falls in addition to paying 12.50 to camp....
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