Grand Haven State Park

Stayed at the campground for a night--that was great! Walking distance from the beach/lighthouse pier. Very nice shower facilities. It was surprising that the campground was not grass and dirt, but sand... which became kind of a pain with the wind blowing it into our tent all night long. Also, we were the only people camped in a tent that I saw--everyone else had RVs.

Nice state park, nice beach, but crowded, oh so crowded. If you like it quieter, head up the coast to PJ Hoffmaster.

If you camp here be aware that you WILL meet your neighbor because there's no way of avoiding them. The spots are so tight that we couldn't park our truck in the site. You also get to hear your neighbor's conversations no matter how quiet they talk.
The entrance is a bit hard to spot but if you pass it (like we did) the next driveway is easy to turn around in and is part of the state park so they don't mind. The roads are paved to get in as well as the pad you park on. It's hard to park due to how cramped everything is and being extremely close together. But the site was almost perfectly level and the electricity was reliable even though the campground was packed.
It's situated on a lovely beach where you can walk out for quite a way without the water going above your hips! The campground is right at the lighthouse and its a short walk to it (beautiful at sunset).
The town is close and there are lots of breweries and restaurants to keep you busy.

Full disclosure: we didn’t stay here overnight but came for the day and happen to check it out.

This is essentially parking lot camping with hookups. Everyone is jam packed and your site is just pavement.

The sites that are on the outside have direct access to the sand and views of Lake Michigan and the lighthouse- but if you are on the interior it’s not so great.

You are close enough to town that you could bike or even walk.

Cell service is fine, bathrooms are decent

If you are lucky enough to get a spot here enjoy it! This is one of the only places on Lake Michigan where you can camp with the beach literally outside your door. You can walk/ride your bike to multiple breweries and restaurants. You can walk down the pier. Watch the sailboats go by. All this and never drive your car. The sites are level, but if you have a rig longer than 20 feet you’ll be taking your time backing in because it’s tight. But once you are in your spot everyone is nice and the location is lovely. It reminds me of a more organized Lone Rock campground. I really don’t know how someone could rate this less than 5 stars. I’m a beach camping connoisseur. It’s always crowded. It’s always loud. It’s always electric energically. That’s what makes it fun! There are two types of people. Those who beach camp and everyone else. Enjoy! :)

Grand Haven has a fantastic, clean, and large beach. This campground is located directly off the beach with some sites backing right onto it. The campground is also located a quick bike ride, or walk into downtown (about 1.3 miles).

The campsites themselves are pretty tight. With our awning out, we were probably only a couple feet from the campsite lines. Fortunately we have a smaller camper (20') so it wasn't difficult for us to back in, however something larger I could see being tricky. No water hookup, but there was 30 amp service at the site we were at.

Though sites were close, the people were all very respectful, and it was quiet at night. No fire pits provided, but if you bring your own you must setup in the sand.

Cell coverage depends on where you are on the site (for AT&T). Towards the South side of the campground near the large parking lot, I was getting 0-1 bars of coverage. However the further North and closer to the channel I was getting solid 3 bars. This is not a large campground so this was interesting for me such a drastic difference.

We have never been fans of "parking lot" camping, but I have been wanting to go to Grand Haven to stay at the beach for a few years so we finally went. The first night we stayed on site #27 which was an inside site and then we moved to site #95 for the next four nights which was on the river channel. Site #27 was fine (and it was an end site) but moving to where you can see water, either channel or beach, is much better. We enjoyed watching/hearing the boats throughout the day. After staying on the channel and walking around the park, we decided we probably won't go back unless we can get a beach site (and I really do want to go back for that). As others have said, you are very close to your neighbors and there are people everywhere, in the summer at least, so going in you have to know it is not your typical rustic/primitive or even state park with a little space between you camping experience. It is a different mindset. Everyone we encountered was nice though and understood this type of camping. The one thing I had an issue with is there were quite a few people who parked their car by their camper and were waaaay outside the lines so pulling your camper through got a little too close at times (and there were some bigggg rigs there); but I'm sure if anyone had too much trouble and they asked, the cars would be moved for them. There were plenty of park workers all throughout the day that I think they could have monitored this more closely and made sure people didn't cause those issues for others. There is a parking lot to park your car adjacent to the camp ground. Our site was pretty close to the lot so it was very convenient. We enjoyed our nightly walks on the pier at sunset and got some great photos. We rode our bikes into town (Pronto Pups was about 0.8 miles and downtown shopping was about 1.7 miles). I'm so glad we went and look forward to going back when we can get a beach site!

This was our first beach camping we were not sure if we were going to like it. It was a fantastic site great beach great sunset other things to do with families. Department of Michigan natural resources does a great job keeping everything clean.

Grand Haven is essentially a big beach parking lot with electric hook ups. But it is well-run, clean and has good bathroom/shower facilities. There is a true summer beach vibe and is easily accessible to town with many shops and restaurants. We booked it with some doubts, but were pleasantly surprised.

Gorgeous place if you are lucky to have a beachfront site. Not everyone’s cup of tea as you are within spitting distance of your neighbors. But the beach access and views certainly make up for it. Clean bathrooms. Great boardwalk out to the pier and along the channel in to town. If you are there on a Wednesday go to the marina for the Farmer’s market. We also visited the USS Silversides submarine museum in nearby Muskegon, worth a visit.
Now for the negatives: very very tight road in campground makes it difficult to park your rig if people leave cars at campsite. There is an overflow lot next to the entrance where you can park larger SUVs and trucks. Since the sites are small there really isn’t a lot of room to park at your site. Also, while there are walkways from the beach to the campground many (adults, not kids) feel it’s perfectly OK to plow right through the middle of your site. Not cool.
But the views and lovely town of Grand Haven make up for these inconveniences.