Michigan City Campground — Hotel in Michigan City

We just booked one of their small cabins for this past weekend, Fri-Mon. Coming in for a wedding. Our son ended up having a baseball game Fri night so we didn't come until Sat morning. We get there, check in and start unpacking the car into the cabin. We notice a portable air conditioner running in the cabin instead of the wall unit. With the cabin door opening and closing and the heat of the day kicking in, the small A/C unit could not keep up. I finally went to the office and told the people working that it was getting very warm in there. They informed me that the wall unit went out on Thursday and the part didn't arrive for it until Fri so they didn't have time to fix it. My husband called on Friday to let them know we'd either be coming in late on Fri or on Sat morning. Nothing was mentioned to him then. They gave me a big fan and said if we want to leave and be refunded we could. I said no we didn't have time to make other arrangements at this point since we were there for a wedding and just unpacked our entire car. It was 87 degrees inside when we got back to the cabin that night. The next day was cool thank goodness but that night the temps dropped into the 40s and we froze! It was crazy. From 80s one night to 40s the next night. It was so cold that I had to run to Walmart as soon as they opened that morning to get a space heater. Both nights were absolutely miserable. We left early Monday morning before the office opened just ready to get out of there. I called once we were home to ask about some kind of credit. And this is the whole reason for my review. Was our stay unpleasant, yes, should they have called to warn us or mention it to my husband when he called before we arrived so we could decide at that point if we wanted to make other arrangements not once we already had our stuff in the cabin, yes, but instead they failed to do any of that and the owners wife that I talked to on the phone was SO incredibly rude. She never once apologized. She said "they offered us a refund on Saturday and we decided to stay." She said "they couldn't control the weather." Well then after being so rude she mentioned that it looks like they didn't charge us for Fri night. Which we booked it, it wasn't their fault we couldn't make it and so we 100% expected to pay for that night. So had she just said that in a nice way, we would have been so greatful!! Not charging us for Fri was more than any kind of credit we were looking for. But the way she handled my complaint like we didn't matter to her at all was very unprofessional and shocking really. After reading other reviews on here if I would have seen them before coming we wouldn't have booked with them and I definitely wouldn't recommend booking a cabin with them ever or anything honestly. It was very nice of them to refund us for Fri, unexpected really, but the way they handled the whole situation and the way the lady talked to me when I called is the reason for my review. Also, like the reviews state, the bathrooms suck and the beds are small...

It's an okay campground. We stayed September 13th- 15th 2024. The initial entry was quick. Staff was direct and to the point. They make you sign and initial several disclosures and rules that make even a legally savvy a bit skeptical. Location is easy to get too... big rig friendly to get to the park and if you need to go to stores or restaurants they are all 5 minutes North. The camp sites, in the I'm assuming older part of the campground are tight. We were fortunate to have picked site 24 which is a larger comfortable site though it appears they got rid of site 23 at some point to achieve this. We had a cement patio, power connection was stable, water pressure was good, and they did wi-fi. Which again in the pamphlet they give you has rules about using and stated to not use for anything more than brief surfing, email, and checking in.... not designed for streaming. It was quiet with only a slight humming from highway 421 on occasion. It's evident that several people staying were around for business venture (construction workers, contract workers, etc). We saw several people stop just for the overnight, probably traveling to an ultimate destination, they were rolling in late and out early. There are seasonals but either it's late in the season for them or there are several stagnant sites. Reason I mention this is because if your looking for a fun family get away... it's not this... unfortunately the normal vibrant camp lifestyle didn't appear to exist. The people there were hardly out of their campers and the ones that were didn't leave there site... we walked around with our dogs multiple times to observe this by the way. I think ultimately the biggest disappointment was the pool being closed.. which I do not recall seeing any posting about this on FB or their website. Even the front sign on 421 states they have a "heated pool." I understand a lot of places make closing the pool conditional after Labor Day if the weather is cool. But the weekend after, with temps that during the day stayed well in the high 80s, this was disappointing. Infact it really blew our minds that there was a typed letter on the gate to the pool that said "pool closed for the season" but the water was still at operational level, no cover, and appeared clean.. sooo again, I ask whhhy... we watched several people walk from different areas of the campground with towels and swim attire to only turn back around and walk back once they read the sign on the gate.

So anyway, if your on business and this is in your budget for a long stay, then cool, if your traveling and need an overnight stop with hookups, then cool.. if you're looking for a relaxing couple of days vacation or whatnot... there's so much better, especially for 75 plus a night... it's not an inviting place. The extra rules and emphasis on them make it feel unwelcome. We really felt like the ownership didn't want random people staying there for...

Overall impression: Small private campground, clean, quiet and well maintained. Friendly and helpful office staff. Good amenities – playground, pool, camp store – all clean and well maintained. The swimming pool is very nice. It’s a mix of seasonal and transient sites, but the seasonal sites are not marked on the online site map.

The seasonal sites were mostly well maintained. If you’re looking for a camping location convenient to the Dunes parks, beaches, and Michigan City, with full hookups, it’s probably the best spot in the area. This is not a state or national park kind of feeling – you’re not camping in the woods here. If you want privacy and a woodsy vibe, and hookups aren’t required, look instead at the state and national park campgrounds if you can get in.

Site observations:

It’s a typical small private campground so most sites are close together and not private. Not much shade in the transient site areas. Seasonal sites around the perimeter are more wooded and shaded, but still tightly packed.

Pull through sites in the newer area nearest highway 421 (see map) are big and have nice cement area with picnic tables; parking pad is gravel. Some grass between sites, but very few shade trees in this area except for the perimeter seasonal sites 201 – 210. Site 238 is the best site in this section – more privacy, a large mature shade tree, and farther from the main drive and highway 421. These sites are all larger than the main campground, but there is road noise.

In the main campground, I would avoid all sites to the left of the main office and pool area if possible (sites 1 – 51). They are tightly packed, all gravel, no shade, and the smell from the dump station can permeate that whole area. What’s not shown on the map is that there are sheds and equipment between the creek and sites 14 – 20, and that entire area is gravel.

Sites to the right (south) of the main building and the pool are better. Most of the perimeter sites (85 – 93 and 72 – 74) are seasonal. Sites 55 – 59 are nice – gravel, no cement, but well-spaced and big shade trees. Pull through sites 76 – 83 have nice cement patio pads, but NOTE: all of them are buddy sites (see the arrows on the map) except site 83. If you don’t know what a buddy site is, google it before you reserve one! Some of sites 67 – 71 are short, and back up to a retaining wall, and would not work for anything larger than popups or small trailers.

Site 83 where we stayed is probably the best in the campground. It faces the back, has the most privacy, a large shade tree, nice breezes, with morning sun and afternoon shade on the patio. It’s very quiet in this section, yet still close to the pool. We would...