Marquette Tourist Park Campground

At first, I was worried about this campground as there isn’t much privacy. It’s in the middle of the city! It turned out to be just fine and was pretty quiet though within 10 minutes of downtown. There’s a beach and a place to buy wood and ice on site. We didn’t go to the beach bc the point was to be in Lake Superior but it was nice to be on site. The beach we liked, McCartys cove was only ten minutes away. The staff was really nice and recommended an excellent restaurant. The best part is the paved bike path nearby and how close it was to beaches. We had a great time and saved money.

This campground is in Marquette, near Northern Michigan University. But once you're camped there, you won't feel like you're in one of the largest cities in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The sites are generally spacious and they have a lot of options to choose from based on what rig you have and how you like to camp. They have tent sites that are non-electric, about 100 RV sites with just electric, and another 38 sites that have water and sewer hookups. They even have some sites that are pull-through.

They also offer a dump station and potable water for folks that don't have the full hookup sites. The campground is adjacent to a municipal park that has a beach. The campground also offers sites that overlook Dead River Basin. The sites aren't paved, so rainy days could lead to some mud to deal with, but the nice stand of trees and the basin view can make up for it. There also are some sites that are tucked into the trees quite a bit for additional privacy.

Because you're near a major UP city, you have access to plenty of shopping and services if you need them, plus there is great cellular service in the campground. The park wifi is a bit weak depending on where you are at in relation to the office, but we used our wifi booster and had smooth sailing for our jobs all day long.

The bathroom and shower facilities seem older but also appeared to be clean and functioned well. There weren't very many showers, so if you need to use one you may need to wait for it.

All-in-all a great campground that serves as a perfect oasis in an area where there aren't any state parks to choose from. We also liked that when they close the office at night, they print out a map with all the reserved sites, so if you show up without a reservation, you can quickly check the map to find an open site. Then you just get some rest and register at the office in the morning.

Stayed here one night at the end of September, and took advantage of the location to resupply. Park is crowded with little to no distance or privacy between sites. Several other campers had dogs running loose, including one that nipped at somebody riding a bike. The Marquette PD made at least two patrols through the park that I saw; don't know if that's a regular occurrence or if something special was going on.

The water here, and farther up the peninsula has a subtle but unmistakable taste to it that we don't care for and ended up buying some bottled water for our coffee. Water pressure was good, though, as was the electricity.

The big benefit to this place is its location: Meijer, Target, Menards, Best Buy, and Walmart are all just over five minutes away. The best thing, though, is Vango's Pizza is also only about five minutes away.

Great campground. We stayed near the playground with big, open spots. We loved that you could get to beaches, restaurants, coffee, hiking, etc in 8 min. Definitely a great campground to stay at with friends too, with bike paths easily accessible and nearby.

Only downside first: the sewer hook up is on the passenger side. Water and electric, on driver side, are very far apart. Our water hose & electric cable we’re pulled out to max to be able to reach the sewer with 2 sewer hoses linked together. Be prepared!
Our experience based one one night transit stay. We dropped out tow loaded with vehicle in a grassy field per helpful suggestion from reception staff, so we were able to unhook and back in to our site with ease. Our site was next to boathouse, very clean and well-maintained. Loved the campground, would stay again.

Location was great for downtown, hiking and mountain biking trails. Waterside campsite layouts were tight with zero privacy and awkward fire pit placements. Exception was site 13 which was very private. If we stayed again would choose outer loop sites furthest away from water. In addition, there were limited showers and poor timing by staff who cleaned during peak use hours 8-9 am. Would not stay again.

I love this place. I actually live in Marquette, and yet camp here anyway a few minutes from home. I have camped in Tourist Park (what a terrible name for a campground!) twice in a small tent during the Hiawatha Music Festivals, and once car camped to make sure sleeping in my SUV was going to work with my new set up. (Just in case I forgot something so I could quickly drive back home and get it before taking off on my trip). It is so close to everything! You can easily bike, or drive of course, to anywhere in and around Marquette. I like the sites away from the water best as many of them are larger and slightly more private.

In the winter when there is no camping this is a wonderful dog park:)

This is a great campground to stay in if you want to explore Marquette. Close to the bike path and Presque Isle. We stayed for 14 days and biked 180 miles. Campground is busy, but quiet with a great staff. Some of the sites are difficult to figure out where to pull in and hook up to amenities. This isn’t too big of a deal though.

Would definitely stay again.

The campground is really close to the NMU campus. That’s a positive. Also the sunset over the water was gorgeous.

But there was little privacy afforded at this campground. The bathrooms and shower stalls were dirty. And it appeared as though fellow campers were experiencing homelessness. We left after one night to go somewhere else.

The park was easy to find. There is pavement all the way. The interior roads are. Signage is adequate. Check in was efficient and friendly. The rules are fairly basic.

Our site, 58, was a back in that was just long enough for our Coach and Towed. Services (30 amp, water and sewer) were to the left side. Distancing is good for an urban park. Some sites had a vegetation privacy barrier but very few. Each site has a table and a fire pit. Our site was flat and even. Overall the park was neat and tidy.

The park included wifi worked well enough for e mail and browsing. The is no cable TV. We did find a few OTA TV. Satellite might be difficult because of the trees if you don’t have a portable dish. We did not use the washrooms or showers but we checked and found them clean.

There are trails from the park as well as a beach.

There are no restaurants or stores within easy walking distance but just a short drive away you can find food, shopping and convenience stores. We found this park to be a great overnighter. We paid $40.00 per night plus a $5.00 reservation fee and we feel we received good value. We will be back if in the area.