Lakeshore RV Park & Marina

We spent a lovely fall weekend here. The park is right at the edge of Lake Chelan, next to town. Because we don’t bring a car, proximity to town is a big bonus. We took advantage of the Red Apple Market across the street, the Frozen Yogurt place a few blocks away, the library, and even the hardware store. We never made it to the Starbucks, but perhaps we save that for a later trip. There look to be some nice shops downtown for those who like shopping too.

The park itself is very nice. Generally well-spaced sites, with wide-open loops, green grass, and mature trees. Spacing between sites is a little odd, though. Some sites are right next to each other, while some have tons of space. Check the map when making a reservation!
In the summer, there looks to be even more to do here. There are boat rentals, a putting green, and a go-kart track. These were all closed, as apparently October is “the dead of Winter” in Chelan. The advantage to coming now is that the park was only half-full, and the sites are half-price from summer highs.

We appreciated the long sandy beach, the playground area, and just the generally large park. Autumn meant trees turning colors and falling acorns. The trees made it look nice for the parents, and the acorns gave the kids something to do. They discovered the ducks were roaming around the park looking for cracked-open acorns. So they spent hours cracking acorns for the ducks, and feeding the herds of them. Endless fun!

For those with wheels and a taste for wine, this is the place. I saw well over twenty wine tasting rooms on a 20-mile loop I rode. Speaking of bike riding, the Chelan Century is based at this park. The ride consists of three loops, each 30-40 miles long, starting and ending at the park. These provide nice ready-made routes for us visitors to ride.

It took us just over three hours to get here from near Seattle, which puts it right at the very edge of reasonable driving distance after work. We usually leave around 5, so we would have pulled in at 8-ish. Sadly, we got caught by the roadwork closures east of Snoqualmie pass, spending an hour waiting on the freeway. That’s not too bad, because we could stop for dinner and relax a bit. It sure beats being stuck there for an hour in the car!

A good location if you want to explore the touristy town of Chelan. Cryptic and less-than helpful check-in process which seems to be the status quo throughout Washington parks.

For a campground on the shore of the third deepest lake in North America, we were disappointed to have to also pay for a shower. And chocolate brown was the color of the water that came out of the spigot at our spot. Glad we didn't need to fill up our potable water tanks or wash with it.

May is still the off-season, but there was a lot of road noise. Hard to imagine the noise level during the busy summer months!

We've been through Chelan but never stayed so decided to stop and explore the town for a few days and this City-owned and operated park is perfectly located. It's a big, grassed park, with older pavement roads and pads, but right on the lake shore. The park is located beside a road that feeds suburbs north of town, but we were never bothered by traffic noise, and traffic virtually disappeared at night. A laundromat is across the road from the entrance, food store just around the corner and a great little take-out diner a block away.

We visited during the winter season so not only enjoyed the lower fee, but also backed into a spot where we had a beautiful, unobstructed view of the lake and far shore from our rear picture window. The entrance kiosk was closed for the winter, but the Parks office is right beside the driveway, so there was no problem registering. However, we came in on a workday during work hours, so we don't know what system they have for weekend or after-hours arrivals - best to check with them before if that's your arrival.

The asphalt pads are just wide enough for the RV plus 4 feet for the entry stairs, so you're pretty well forced to use the grass for outdoor living. The picnic table was old weathered wood and we were concerned about getting slivers or splinters in uncomfortable places on our bodies, so didn't use it. However, other sites had new metal tables, so the City is obviously trying to upgrade.

There are only a few sites with 50 amp power, but all sites have power, water and cable. The sewer connections on unusually tall, so it could be difficult to get a good flow when dumping tanks on some RVs.

Because we were there in the low season, only two camping areas (of seven) were available, and we expect the maintenance was not up to summer standards, as the leaves had not been raked and there was broken glass on the asphalt pad. The washrooms are clean, but dated, and while we didn't use them, the showers are pay (50 cents for 4 minutes), but the taps delivered clear water (both hot and cold).

We had a great time taking walks on the beach and shore, and walked into downtown several times as there are some very good restaurants (the Tin Lily is best!), galleries and shops to browse.

We'd definitely return!

We thought we would try something new and stay right in the heart of Chelan.
Being close to the lake was great and having a play ground close to the park was great for our 18month son. Also having a grocery store close by and lots of fast food was amazing seeing as when we got in it was late so we didn’t feel like cooking so we had west side pizza delivered to our site. So convenient!

But, the camp hosts were not friendly at all. I’m pretty sure we got the worst site in the park also. It was on a corner with lots of mud so we couldn’t be sitting outside and let our kid play as there was too much road traffic, and our spot had a big tree behind it so we didn’t realize but when we set up our truck couldn’t find completely on our site without being on the grass a little so the host made us park in a parking lot that was a 5min walk away and with an 18month old let me tell you it was not very convenient and very much a hassle.
We booked over a month in advance and booked for 4 nights but didn’t want to stay somewhere that we were not enjoying our stay so we packed up and went to BeeBee bridge and got a river spot for only $25 that we could completely relax at.
When checking out we wanted to explain to our host our spot wasn’t working for us and she didn’t really care at all and wouldn’t work with us on giving us a refund or anything. Pretty pathetic!
All up it was a great location just not my favorite site we have been at.

This place is huge, but apparently they don't often get 42ft large rigs. We were told at the front desk that they have never seen a rig that big. And some kids followed us around on their bikes yelling "big home, big home!" Like we kinda felt like we were being teased for having a big rig. Haha.

We stayed in site 81. It required us moving the rear cement blocks on the site a little bit to get in and our rear end hung out over the grass. But it fit, and that's all that matters.

We paid $58 a night for a couple nights. That's pretty steep for us when we typically average less than $30, but it has great access to the lake and it was mid September so it was cooled off but still nice enough to play on the beach and in the water.

Full hookups (50amp, water, sewer). They're very strict about no parking on the grass so we had to park really tight at an angle with our rig. Again, read above about not having space for 40+ foot rigs.

It's the loudest RV park we've ever stayed at. Parties and laughing and yelling well past 1am both nights we stayed there.

I am surprised to find how often we camp in the snowy winter months, empty campgrounds are a plus this time of year! Come summer you won't be able to get a reservation in this park, but in January it was wide open! We have stayed here for many years to enjoy the Chelan WinterFest Festival in January. The park is within walking distance of town and is perfect for the festival weekend. You may notice the pictures are of different trucks and campers as we have visited this park throughout the years! We have only stayed in this park once in the summer months, and that was for a skydiving visit. Good basic RV park style camping.

Don't get site #76 lol. We enjoyed our stay but this site was wonky. The pavement was uneven and had a big dip in it. The upside was that it was very close to the lake entrance. Plenty of power, water, and sewer hookups. Sites where very close together.

The location of this city park campground is close to access all the area has to offer. Sites were all in a loop design and a bit short. Lots of grass and common area. Bathrooms were sparkling clean. A bit pricey.

We came here in June and couldn’t have been more pleased. The campground was beautifully kept and the staff was great! We’ll be back again.

We arrived needing shower, laundry facilities and to fill our water tank after a week free camping. We thought a bit of luxury by the lake would be great.

I need to correct the listing on Campendium as the park doesn't have laundry facilities. A laundromat is across the road, convenient if you only have a small amount to wash but it is busy if you need multiple machines

Site 1 is at the front gate and very exposed to foot and vehicle traffic. We have a small van, so we spend most of our time outside, it felt a bit like being in a fish bowl.

Men's wash rooms had blocked toilets both days we were there. Otherwise, clean facilities.

The watering of the beautiful green lawns and gardens is serious. Take note. We pushed our chairs against our small van on the pad and still had wet seats in the morning!

Lakeside is lovely, but not quite what we had hoped for at this price point.