Acadiana Park Campground — Hotel in Lafayette

We had some mixed and confused thoughts about this place. We chose it as being convenient to downtown Lafayette. There are some real advantages including price, nice sites which were on the hill so no standing water while the lower campground does flood. There are electric and water hookups only but they have an easily accessible and neat dump station. The park is a municipal park so it is what it is. There is a cool nature center with expensive looking extensive boardwalks which were fun and the center has interesting nature exhibits with nice staff who can recommend local haunts. It does have a locked gate so some level of security. Unfortunately, there were cons. The trash is just open unsecured lightweight barrels at each campsite that the racoons visit nightly and make a mess. Can't envision any reason a camp would have open plastic bins that are easily overturned by animals, just does not make sense. This is a municipal park and as with many, homeless can tent camp there if they can pay the fee. While I see nothing wrong with that, there was what appeared to be a homeless person/people tent camping with a large rambunctious pit bull who barked at passerbys, camped out right by the bathroom so we did not feel comfortable going there. We had an old small dog so had concerns if that big dog got loose. There was an old rusted harley davidson and old rusty pots/pans in one site with no one camping there, just using it as a place to park his nonfunctional(?) bike? While poverty does not indicate crime and we experienced no difficulties what so ever during our stay, there was an awareness that overshadowed our stay and after dark we had a knock on our door from someone, whom we had not seen camping during the day, wanting to borrow aluminum foil. We felt that as regular type campers, we did not belong. I would recommend 2 regular, albeit more expensive, RV parks on either side of Lafayette; South is Catfish Heaven or North is Bayou Wilderness, both of which we visited. We have stayed in some amazing municipal parks but this is not...

I stayed here about a month ago in a 30' toy hauler camper. It was a beautiful park and the water pressure was good, no funny smells. I have a filter but it's just a basic one on the hose. Electricity was good, no surges detected. The site I was in was pretty level, but the road getting to the sites has a steep downward slope, a tight turn to get to some spots for longer rigs and could use a little repaving/leveling. Also, the dump station is at the very entrance to the park so if you're using a portable tank for waste just keep in mind it's about a 1/4 mile with some hills and some rough patches of road. I also found that the upper park is very busy on the weekends, causing some people to use the dump station area as overflow parking - so plan your dump accordingly! The trails in the park were gorgeous! I really loved staying there with my dog, and I think that was one of his favorite stops so far! The spacing between sites was pretty good, and it wasn't busy when I was there so we were all spaced out. It was quiet and gated, I felt very safe staying there, though I would definitely still lock up any outdoor items, etc. Some reviews reported this being a bad neighborhood. There were some rough areas about a mile away, but this neighborhood seemed very safe to me. It was a little noisy on the weekend from the park above the campground, but that gets cleared out at sunset. I read some reviews about non-campers using the bathrooms. I used my own, so I'm not sure of the condition, but it seemed the bathhouse was accessible to both campers and park patrons. I have family in the Lafayette area and definitely plan...

Cons: there doesn't seem to be a disabled vet rate, but it's cheaper than a hotel at $28/night (up to 10 days), water/electric/wifi/dumpstation included. Firepits are broken if you want to grill on them. Other than that they serve the purpose. Moss covers the concrete slabs. This is a flood zone, its rained heavy overnight twice and never flooded, but we are below sea-level and very close to a creak that spills into the river.

Pros: it's cheaper than a hotel. For the most part, I love it. It's not pristine, so if you are boogie this might not be the place for you. This canopies help keep the place cool. As wet as it is, the bugs aren't as bad as I expected for Louisiana. Mr. Landry is always cool and accommodating. Feel free to see him at the front desk. Be sure to get the info for the wifi (the have hours of operation). Lots of amenities outside the park and right off of i10 exit. Moss St for local eateries (Italian and Mexican food as well), and they are all w/in a short drive of the park. Downtown is surprisingly active food, museums, and bars.. Just outside the rv park/camp/van life area, the park-park is great. Open play area, lighted tennis courts, soccer fields, basketball courts, backstop ball diamond, covered picnic area with grills, restrooms, water fountain, children’s playground with baby equipment, campground, 36-hole disc golf course, jogging trail, bike/mountain bike trails, nature trail, nature station, and historical or commemorative markers.

I'm leaving a star short because of the Military rate thing. I'm spoiled from free everywhere and boondocking, but I earned it,...