Traverse City KOA

We stayed here in mid July and the weather was perfect. The pool was clean, they delivered wood and ice, and picked up trash each night. Cable was good with 48 channels. Plenty of things for kids. 15 miles to town. Stayed in a travel trailer.

This is one of the better maintained KOA's that we have stayed at. It was clean and the sites are level and ours was very shady.(not all are)

I wouldn't recommend our site since it was right next to the bathhouse and right across the street from both the office and pool so it was noisy at times but not as bad as some places.

Our cell signal was only 2 bars but we didn't have any problems working using our jetpack. Streaming movies could be slow at time.

We have stayed at quite a few KOA’s this summer and this one rates #2 in our KOA line up and one of the better campgrounds we have visited. Impressive amount of variety in campsites from beautiful and private tent sites, tree shaded back in sites, pull throughs and the deluxe patio sites with very nice seating for 4 , a slider swing and campfire ring with seats. Escort service to the site, wood delivery to site and trash pick up are just some of the extra services. Clean and reasonably priced laundry room. There are also lots of fun options for the littles from a very nice play area to a huge jump pad. If you are looking for relaxing or want to entertain the kids for a weekend getaway… this is the place!

We stayed here for 9 days.  Like most KOAs, the campground is a mix of RV sites, tent sites, and cabins.  Most of the sites are back-in, but there are a decent number of pull-throughs.  All of the roads are either asphalt or gravel, and (with the exception of the entrance road) are fairly narrow, but generally there was enough flat empty space on either side of the road to allow oncoming traffic to pass.   Most of the sites have gravel pads and grass lawns, but some also have grass pads.  Basic sites get a picnic table and fire ring; patio sites had tables and chairs.  There are some trees between sites on the longer rows that were otherwise open to the sky, while sites with heavy tree cover were located at the very front and very back of the campground.

We stayed in site 56, a pull-through with a long gravel pad in the back and a lot of grass in the front:  we could have easily lined up another vehicle or two with our 37-foot fifth wheel and 21-foot truck.  There is a large tree on the left side of the site that provided some shade in the late afternoon.  The hookups are in a reasonable place, although the slight forward slope of the site and our position led to our sewer line going slightly uphill.  We also put a board under our driver's side camper tires, but otherwise the site was fairly level.

There are a lot of amenities here geared towards vacationing families.  In addition to the usual pool area, playground, jump pad, and outdoor games (chess, horseshoes, volleyball, etc.), they also had a dirt racing track for radio-controlled cars, a gem-panning setup, and a small kid train on wheels that drove up and down the campground streets once in the morning and once at night.  The campground store has a few convenience store items (and a freezer of packaged ice cream) but mostly souvenirs or RV essentials.

The campground is about a 30-minute drive from downtown Traverse City and a 45-minute drive from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, so not particularly close to either  They do provide a list of various points of interest, as well as local grocery stores and medical facilities (including a veterinary hospital) along with your campground map when you arrive.  Cable TV is available at some sites (our had the cable hookup but we didn't bother to try it), and they will deliver firewood to your site upon request, charging it to the site.  Like most KOAs, they do provide propane refills.

Our site was right across the road form the enclosed dog run, which is on the smaller side, with a simple single gate.  Be aware that the dog run has no lighting, so bring your own if you use it at night.  The open grassy area next to the dog run (which is sometimes used for RV storage) is another good place to walk dogs.

In terms of cell service, the best speed I got on my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna was 141 Mbps down and 20 up, so we had no trouble streaming video.  The best speed test I ran on my 5G AT&T smartphone showed 81Mbps down and 5 up.  I did perform one speed test with the campground WiFi and got 15 Mbps down and 13 up, which is pretty good.

We would stay here again if we were in the area.

Stayed here end of July 2023.
Back-in 50 amp. FHU. Site #06 across from office and directly next to the bathrooms and laundry.

THE GOOD:
-Site: Very large site. Gravel pad with grass and firee pit.
-Convenient spot across from the pool, office, and next to showers/laundry.
-Clean campground
-Wi-fi was in the top tier of campgrounds we have stayed at.
-Amenities: Restrooms, laundry, and showers were clean.

THE BAD:
-This site backs up to other sites. So, with the proximity to the office, pool, and showers/restrooms, a number people were regularly walking literally within arm's length of my window. This occurred my entire stay with multiple different parties. It was exhausting to ask them not to do it. The KOA folks would just sit there and watch me ask people not to do it without any support. It was frustrating.

WORTH NOTING (NOT GOOD OR BAD)
-it is an hour from Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore
-Lots of children at this particular location so not necessarily a place for a quiet camping experience. Again, not a bad thing. Just worth noting.