This is a hidden gem located less than an hours drive from Sioux Falls. Lake Herman is located in…read moreMadison close to Lake Madison and Lake Brant. This is a spring fed glacial lake. The park is on the south east corner of the lake. This state park has hiking trails, beaches, canoe rental, boat launch and camping. The park itself is large and features mature shade trees and areas of natural prairie. With all the outdoor things to do and being so close to Sioux Falls, this place is a must visit.

A lovely state park campground! The lots were huge and level, with wide gravel parking pads. The…read moregrass around the sites was well groomed and a fire ring was included. The bathrooms were clean, with large separate shower rooms. The shower was best part, as it had a residential adjustable temperature controller instead of the push-button that many campgrounds do. The water flow was stronger than my house. Its also a dog-friendly park. Inside the campground, leashes are required, but in the rest of the park off-leash is permissible. Tie-outs on your site are also allowed. Canoes were available for rent for $15/3 hours or $30/day. There's also a boat ramp as its a large 1350 acre lake.

Great place for an overnight or even a weekend trip! Nice clean restroom and laundry. Wash is $2,…read moredry is $1. The shower is nice, they provide soap and a hair dryer!! Butterflies are abundant and flutter everywhere! As the beautiful Robins grace us with their presence! Great fire and friendly neighbors!!

Very nice people.Perfect for weary travelor close to highway.All sites were level and suitable for…read moreRV towing.Highly recommend.

Stayed in one of the cabins and it was fine. However, don't ask the woman at the register what…read morethere is to visit other than the corn palace. Sadly, she does not seem to appreciate the town where she lives and grew up. There is other stuff to see it's a nice town.

The owners are wonderful people and everything was very clean. We actually stayed twice on our trip…read moreone coming and one going. The pool was especially nice since it was in 90s when we were there.

Okay, so I have to say I was very unsure of this place before we got there. Because there is…read moreliterally nothing for miles, and then suddenly you're in a small town that doesn't seem like it would have a camping spot. But then you hang a corner and boom, adorable campground by a scenic river with lots of open space and a pretty nice shower house. We only stayed one night, and there are two solid reasons I'm not going for five stars: 1. The owner was not there when we arrived, everything was locked up, and for a moment we were at a loss. We decided to just pick a spot since there were only two other campers on site, and if we were wrong then we'd happily move. It turns out the owner was on vacation, and another one of the campers was there to manage while she was out. We found this out when one of their kids was wandering around saying hi and petting the pups and told us all about his cool week of camping. It wasn't a huge deal, but it wouldn't been comforting to get an email or a phone call, or even have it left on the voicemail (we tried to call several times and there was no voicemail set up). 2. The wild life around the area takes shifts, so there is constant noise going around the clock. From my memory while trying to catch some zz's, it begins with dogs barking until dark, then the owls take over, followed by coyotes (or some sort of group howling animal), then around 4am the cows take over for moo-fest, followed by the roosters at daybreak. This probably doesn't bother those sleeping in campers, but the tent walls are paper thin (see what I did there?). Would I stay here again? That's a solid maybe. It is quite out of the way, the nearest grocery store/gas station/sign of life is at least 10 miles/20 minutes away, so be sure to come completely prepared. It is as bad as I was fearing when we pulled up? Not at all. Color me pleasantly surprised.

It may just be the time of the summer that I visited, but overall I have to rate my stay as just…read moreokay. It seems to be a long term summer hang out spot for some locals and you can hear cussing and yelling from people drinking late into the night, like after two am. However, if you're looking for a place where you can have fun without strict rules, this would be the place. As a newcomer, some people were friendly and some were not, but I won't go further in explaining that. The river is pretty, although it's not anywhere near full right now because of drought, so the kayaking is somewhat limited. As I said though, it was a really pretty site to camp on. They have a couple of private shower rooms that are nice. For a one night stay it's okay, especially as a lot of other campsites that are in a less isolated area seem to fill up more quickly. The nearest grocery store is 11 miles away, so I would plan out food before you go into camp. Dell Rapids has a great coffee shop called Ladelle and Fourth Coffeehouse (if you need wifi or to get out) that is fifteen minutes away, which I was surprised to find.

When I booked our reservation at Mitchell KOA Journey on May 3, I never imagined it would become…read morethe most disappointing stop on our family's cross-country relocation. We were moving our family from Washington State across the country with a 42-foot fifth wheel, an SUV towing a cargo trailer, two tween children, three cats, a dog, a hamster, a gecko, and my elderly in-laws traveling separately with their own dog. We weren't on vacation--we were relocating our lives. Unfortunately, almost nothing about the trip went according to plan. High winds, health concerns, and vehicle problems forced repeated route changes. At one point, our SUV broke down 110 miles east of Rapid City, resulting in a $700 tow bill and several unexpected days of repairs. Throughout these delays, I remained in close contact with Mitchell KOA, calling multiple times to cancel, reschedule, and provide updates. I was transparent about our situation, our extra vehicle and trailer, and the challenges we were facing. Through all of it, the KOA community was incredible. From Montana to Wyoming and throughout South Dakota, every KOA owner, volunteer, and staff member we encountered treated us with patience, kindness, and understanding. As newcomers to RV life, we made mistakes, asked questions, and occasionally arrived after hours. Every campground we visited approached us with a spirit of hospitality and a willingness to help. By the time we arrived in Mitchell, we expected more of the same. Instead, we experienced the opposite. We arrived after office hours following another long day on the road. Tired and stressed, we were simply trying to get parked and settled safely for the night. Because of the campground layout and the size of our rig, we initially entered from the wrong direction. Rather than attempting a difficult backup maneuver, we safely circled around to reposition ourselves. Once at our site, we began setting up. One of our leveling jacks lost its foot during the trip, requiring us to manually level the RV before extending the slides. While my husband handled setup, I temporarily parked our SUV and cargo trailer while unloading pets and essentials before moving the vehicle. ~30/45 minutes later, a woman approached us and informed us our vehicle was blocking another guest. The moment I understood there was an issue, I immediately apologized and moved the vehicle. Had the interaction ended there, this review would not exist. Instead, what followed left us feeling humiliated and unwelcome. My husband and I repeatedly apologized and explained our situation. What surprised us most was being told that management had been watching us. If that was the case, I don't understand why no one came out sooner to offer guidance. A simple conversation when we arrived could have prevented the entire situation. When I explained I had disclosed our extra vehicle and spoken with the campground multiple times during our travel delays, I was told I had not. I eventually pulled up my call history and emails showing communications, only to discover they had been with the very person insisting they never happened. By this point, I was in tears. Not because we had been asked to move a vehicle or because we had made mistakes, but because after weeks of setbacks, breakdowns, unexpected expenses, exhausted kids, anxious pets, and the stress of relocating our entire lives, we encountered the first person on our journey who seemed unwilling to extend even a small amount of grace. Eventually, her husband stepped in. To his credit, he immediately de-escalated the situation. He listened, calmly explained where the vehicle could be parked, and treated us like people rather than problems. Within minutes, the issue was resolved. Looking back, I fully acknowledge we made mistakes. We drove where we shouldn't have, parked where we shouldn't have, and inconvenienced another guest. For that, we sincerely apologize. But hospitality is often measured not by how people are treated when everything goes perfectly, but by how they are treated when things don't. Every other KOA we visited demonstrated patience, kindness, and a willingness to help a struggling family navigate unfamiliar circumstances. Mitchell KOA was the one exception. We are deeply grateful for the many wonderful KOA owners, volunteers, and staff members who helped us throughout our journey. Unfortunately, our experience at Mitchell KOA left us feeling embarrassed, unwelcome, and disappointed. We sincerely hope future travelers--especially families navigating difficult circumstances--are met with the same patience, understanding, and grace that we were fortunate enough to receive everywhere else.

This is a very clean and beautiful place to camp whether you spend just one night or a couple…read more There's a nice playground and putt putt golf. Unfortunately the only thing missing is a pool. You'll find pictures of a beautiful pool but unfortunately according to the office they did have it once and found some major cracks in it so they decided to just cover it up because of the expense. Even the store has just about everything and reasonably priced. Bathrooms and in immaculate shape. Tell Steve sent you!! Enjoy!!

This is a brand new campground that has only been open a month. Work is still going on so it isn't…read morefair to judge by the dirt areas and patchy grass. The sites are extremely small with barely 6' of grass between the parking pads. One section has the corners of the parking pads touching or within inches of each other. Bathrooms are large single rooms with sink, toilet, and shower. The shower is a small fiberglass stall and could be bigger but the room is large and very nice. Community Center (store, office, pizza) was also brand new and nice. Both nights, with a night spent elsewhere in between we had a reservation with a site number specified. The first day we were a little early and the other party hadn't left yet. They put us in another comparable spot. That was nice since we were there shortly before check-in - 15 to 20 minutes early. But the second stay, we didn't come in until evening and they had put someone else in the spot we had reserved. I found this odd and wasn't very happy about it. We had selected the spot for a reason. I'm aware campgrounds have the right to do that but with dozens of empty sites why would they? The hosts were very nice people but I don't love being led to my site and someone being there while I'm getting in place. They are work campers so I'm sure they are just doing their job. Seems odd to me. Again, they were very nice, pleasant people. This is also an expensive campground. Right $72 for one night with electricity and water. No sewer but there is a dump site. It's attached to Wild Water West water park. Way over priced and kinda icky. Check out the city parks department pools instead. $6 for adults instead of $28. And much, much nicer. I don't recommend. I see this getting worse, not better.

We arrived late for a two day stay with flamingo Falls campground. The desk person called the check…read moreon us to ensure that we were still arriving. We checked in to a very empty campground with great bathrooms and all of the amenities that we needed. The next day we went to the waterpark, which was great for the kids. We purchased our tickets at the campground. The only thing I would improve is actually opening the gate between the flamingo, Falls campground, and the waterpark so we didn't have to walk all the way around. Otherwise, it was a great day and the staff was very nice.

Super for overnight! Close to Rt 90 and very nice and shady. Nice pool. Think most people stay…read morethere for summer months.

We stopped in for a night after driving many hours. The…read morewoman who answered the phone and later checked us in was very nice. The place was affordable and had nice trees to shade the spots which unfortunately left you feeling like you were stacked up like cord wood. The place was in the middle of no where but had things for kids to do .There was a play ground, bikes and a pool .The bathrooms were kid friendly which we thought was great. The place is tired and a bit run down but it was clean, quiet and safe. The only thing we couldn't take were the house flies . We couldn't sit outside ( this was late Sept) the flies were so bad. Safe , clean and quiet & a alright place to sleep for a night and rest up.

The entire trip from the reservation to the actual stay was amazing. They treat you like family…read more Such a peaceful atmosphere. So many activities for kids!! Will come back many times.

Very nice camping place with cement pads and lots of green space at each site. We enjoyed riding…read moreour bikes, the fabulous playground, swimming and fishing.

If I didn't have somewhere to be tonight, I'd have spent the night here in Sexauer Park. This park…read moreallows camping with 18 paved pads for trailers and RVs, five of which are pull-through and the remainder are back-in. The pads are only $25 plus tax, which is a complete bargain. The campground is operated by the city of Brookings and is the only park in the city that allows camping. They have electrical hook-ups, picnic tables, a playground, restrooms with showers and even a dump station. Very awesome and I enjoyed having a nice walk around today. The only thing missing is a water or sewer hookup, but that's really a minor inconvenience for a self-contained camper van. [Review 17852 overall - 58 in South Dakota - 1373 of 2022.]