Sadly, Sleeping Bear is too far north.

August 3, 2009 10:53 AM

Looking for recommendations for lodging on the SW Michigan lake coast (Saugatuck, South Haven) on a budget for a couple of days.

We're in Cleveland, meeting friends from Chicago. We're a small family on a tight budget; they're students on a tight budget. Rustic camping would be ideal, although an inexpensive hotel/motel would also be fine. Any recommendations? I've looked at michigan.org, saugatuck.com and so forth, but I'm having a hard time finding a non-RV campground, and would love Actual Lodging recommendations (cheap and safe is perfect.)

We're talking about the weekend of the 22nd.

posted by chesty_a_arthur to Travel & Transportation (3 answers total)

Is there a reason you're specifying rustic camping as opposed to modern? There are a number of state park campgrounds in the area (Van Buren, right down the street from the town of South Haven, being my personal favorite for its amazing beach) that, being "modern" campsites, allow RVs but are not exclusively RV. The website says $22/night - you'd have to call and find out the maximum number of tents and cars they allow per site, and would also have to pay for a state park vehicle permit ($29/year or $8/day per car).
posted by twoporedomain at 2:24 PM on August 3, 2009

Also, the Michigan DNR has an interactive map to help you find camp grounds (the state parks are almost always going to be cheaper than the private ones, and usually nicer)
posted by twoporedomain at 2:31 PM on August 3, 2009

Much further south than you were thinking....but Indiana Dunes has walk in campsites that are removed from the RV's.....not quite Michigan but close :) your friends from Chicago can even just take the South shore to get there!
posted by rvrlvr at 7:12 PM on August 3, 2009