Dunewood Campground — Indiana Dunes National Park

We stayed 2 nights and the campground was thickly wooded and beautiful. We had good cell service but obviously the trees prevented Starlink. Our site was huge and the bathrooms were clean with individual locking showers and a dish sink. Short drive to the beaches.

The sites are decently private with good tent pads. Shower house was clean with good hot water. Acamper sink for dishwashing was a nice bonus. The hosts were friendly. Definitely heard railroad and road noise but that's the trade off for being close to town with good cell service.

The campground was nice because it’s close to the beach areas and had showers and flushing toilets. But the train station is near by and you will hear it in your tent the whole night. If you have ear plugs it’s okay ish but be warned.

Used this as a very pleasant stop over on my way west.

Plenty of available sites to book the same day on a Monday night. Nice size sites with a picnic table and fire ring.

Hike-to is a must. You walk down steps or a ramp to your area, tent pad with a picnic table and firepit. So beautiful when the sun comes up. Showers and toilets regularly cleaned and modern. Close to shops where you can get food/beer/firewood etc. venture into portage or Michigan city for some food. Great taste of Lake Michigan for the lower midwesterners! I will be returning.

Hike-to camping at dunewood is a must. You walk down steps or a ramp to your area, tent pad with a picnic table and firepit. So beautiful when the sun comes up. Showers and toilets regularly cleaned and modern. Close to shops where you can get food/beer/firewood etc. venture into portage or Michigan city for some food. Great taste of Lake Michigan for the lower midwesterners! I will be returning.

First time at this campground. Our site was very clean and close to the bathroom witch were also kept clean. Nicer than most campground restrooms. We had to drive to the beach but that was not a problem. We didn’t do our research and we’re surprised when they told us we had do go to the visitor center to get a pass to be in the national park. Other than that, we had a great time.

Zero trails or trail access. However still 10x better than the State Dune Campground. Quiet and plenty of woods in between sites.

The campsite and the bathrooms are clean. The downfall is that you have to pay $1.50 to shower (the showers are technically outside of the campground). There’s not much privacy between campsites. You can only burn firewood that’s bought at the campsite and it’s like a condensed sawdust basically, (or wood that you find on the ground at the campground).

Loved the proximity of this campground to Lake Michigan! The closest beach within the national park is Kimmel Beach which is beautiful. There are some biting horseflies at the beach, but not at the campground. The campground was fully booked, but not everyone showed, meaning that it didn’t really feel crowded there. We stayed in site #3, which had some good hammock trees. Restrooms and showers are nice, but not as clean as state park and other camping restrooms in the area. Would come back in the future!

Can hear the highway pretty loudly. Breaks the immersion.

Also a train very close by.

Site 67 is not as secluded as you’d think, site 66 is right next to it. You can hear and see them and vice versa.

A shout out to Dune Wood campground in Indiana Dunes National Park. Big, clean sites. They are sand/dirt pads and they rake them clean between each guest. We were impressed!

There is a small paved parking area at each site big enough for 2 cars or epic sidewalk chalk for the little ones.🙂. Plus clean restrooms. No hook ups means it’s perfect for tents and small campers.

The nearby state park campground is a sea of packed RVs. I’m so glad we’re here!

There are several beaches within 5-10 minutes.

The only downside- Mosquitoes! Bring the bug spray.

The campground is well maintained with showers and a dump station. The hosts were very friendly.

I prefer this campground a lot more compared to the state park one, especially if tent camping. They have a section of walk in sites that are nicely spread apart, while still only being a few minutes walk to parking and the shower house.

General: Dunewood campground is located within Indiana Dunes National Park, established in 2019 (The national seashore was established in the 1960s). The Park is spread out for many miles along the coast of northern Indiana and depending on the direction you approach the campground from, it can be confusing. We approached from the east and the visitor center is nowhere near the campground and since we arrived after 6 pm, we had no maps or other information. Fortunately, there was cell service, and we went to the NPS app for some information. The campground is divided into two loops plus a walk-in section for a total of 66 sites; all require advance reservations. Don’t confuse it with the nearby state park called Indiana Dunes State Park. 

Site Quality/Facilities: The sites are very wooded with sufficient privacy between them. Unfortunately, our site (31) was quite possibly the worst one for a campervan(would not be suitable for an RV at all) but would have made a fantastic tent site(wood stakes separated the“driveway” from the rest of the site). 13 of the 34 sites in the Mather loop were empty both at 7 pm and 7 am the next morning yet since they were all reserved, we were not able to move. The pads were all paved and most of the sites were generous in size. None of the sites have any hookups. We did hear occasional trains passing nearby. 

Bathhouse: Large, clean restroom facility with showers, not the norm for national park campgrounds. 

Activities: hiking, beach walking. There were some trails that could be accessed from the campground, but we did not explore these. After going to the Visitor Center the next morning and reading the NPS app, we decided to try the Diana Dunes Dare. The story behind this is fascinating but alas, it was humid and buggy, and we could see more rain was on the way so we only did one of the three loops (If you do all three, you can get a sticker). While there is no fee to enter Indiana Dunes National Park, there is an “amenities” fee of $6 per car ($3 if you have the senior pass) from Memorial Day to Labor Day. 

We had originally planned to spend two nights here but between the weather and bugs, and our site not working for us, we only spent one night. I would have given this campground three stars based on our personal experience, however, overall, the campground and facilities were well maintained and nice.

Out of town. Quiet campground with that 'in the woods' feel. Bathrooms and showers available. Close to the main attractions in the National Park.

My partner and I stayed her to visit the national park trails. Quieter campsite with bathrooms and showers. Close to lots of trails, but we did have to drive to them. No electric hookups, but there are a couple water spouts. I would stay here again if I’m in the area.

I’ve had a great one night stay at this campground, everything was clean and the showers had nice hot water. The cell service is not the fastest I’ve ever had but it’s been sufficient for watching videos and loading basic web searches.

Site was difficult to back into and neighbor's site was not the 45' listed in reservation tab. Wooded area very near a small town. Haven't been to the beach yet, so will update.

Stayed in site 43 of the Douglas loop. Douglas loop is all non electric.

Our site was big enough for our tents, a picnic table and fire ring. The bathrooms/showers are really close by which is nice but you do get the lights from the bathroom facing site 43. Not a big deal but if you’re looking for more darkness then definitely choose one of the other sites around 43.

All parking sites are paved for camper vans/trailers but no water or power hookups. All sites have nice huge tent pads that are nice and level. Only noise we heard was the train every now and then.

The showers are individual rooms separate from the bathrooms. And there’s a gas station and liquor store near the entrance of the campground for fire wood and beer.

I didn’t get to stay in the walk in campsites but they are very nice and close-ish to the showers.

I would have given three stars, but the amenities are great.

Cons: -VERY loud. Trains going by at night and early into the morning easily disrupts sleep

Pros: -A lot of space for tent -Clean bathrooms, very warm water

We stayed for two nights and had a great experience.  Campsites had decent privacy and  even on a Friday night, quiet hours were respected.  We were on a wheelchair accessible site which was the only one available, so there was more pavement than the other sites.

There was a dishwashing sink which is always handy.  The bathrooms and showers were very clean, and the free showers were the best we've experienced in a campground with plenty of hot water, good water pressure, plenty of hooks and a bench. 

Some noise from the highway and the trains, but I like trains so it was fine.  We wouldn't hesitate to stay here again.

Very well maintained sites. Typical National Park standards. Gracious camp host. Beautiful National Park.

Compared to the other popular campground in the state park this is way less crowded. There’s tons of trails to do along the lakeshore and none are really far from one another. I grew up in NWI so I didn’t camp in Indiana often but I did here and loved it! There are a bunch of raccoons that can come steal food so beware of that! Overall nice though!

Very nice wooded campground. Not too crowded. My site was huge! Nice private showers too!

Very pleasant and enjoyed myself camp spaces are plenty of room and lots of stuff to do

Lake Michigan is gorgeous, next to casino an outlet malls, clean place.

My wife and I stayed at site #8 of the Mather loop in the Dunewood campground. In terms of the site itself, it was $25 per night, pretty typical of a national park. The site was clean when we got there. We definitely had neighbors but the spacing was fair enough. We were just across the street from a water pump which was nice. Each loop in the campground has a water pump, dumpsters, a public bathroom and FREE showers, along with a camp sink. No complaints at all about the site. We only explored the national park, not the state park. The beaches were clean and nice. We had a nice hike through quite a unique forest to the beach as well. I believe it was the Paul H. Douglas hike. Quite a bit of wildlife. The only unfortunate thing is the steel mills on either side of the national park blowing plumes of smoke. The surrounding areas were sort of depressing especially after being in nature. Overall, I would stay again, but the national park itself isn't super high on my list to revisit.

Tyler

We arrived late and were greeted by staff a member at our site. Very helpful and friendly. I’d totally stay here again.

Clean quiet 25 bucks