Iowa State Fairgrounds

This is a basic campground with hookups and showers. There are no additional amenities. We were here to visit Des Moines, so it was perfect for us. Enter the grounds on Lucas, off of Dean. GPS will mislead you. There is a host near the first building you come to as you enter. We booked ahead, but as long as it is not during the state fair there will be no problem getting a spot. The tree cover is available, but not plentiful. The spots are not level, and a few I don't even know how you park a camper. Overall a great campground, as long as you are not looking for many amenities. There showers and bathrooms were well maintained.

We called ahead to make sure there would be enough space. Ha! They have hundreds of full hookups so no problem unless it’s during the fair (August). They said GPS doesn’t always find them, but ours led us to the main gate on 30th street. We turned left at the end of the complex and that led us to the campground office entrance which was clearly marked. There are a lot of hills but we easily found a spot with a full hookup and lots of shade. Plenty of bathrooms and showers on-site as well.

It was a struggle to find the campground and we never did find the office until after the fact. Since we had prepaid for a 50 amp FHU site we tried to find one. But the place is huge so we gave up and just took the first mostly level site we could find which was 30 amp with water. Once settled the place was pleasant enough and it was fun exploring the fairgrounds. I would not recommend this park if you are looking for an easy overnight stay after a long day of driving.

Booking was easy on their website. Finding the campground was a bit of a challenge. The address will mislead you. Best results come from entering Iowa State Fairground Campground into Google. There is a host as you arrive that does most of the work upon entering including entering your plate numbers. The sites are almost all grass and variably level. We were given our choice of many sites as it was not very busy in early spring. There is nearly no tree cover and very little separation if it were busy. Full hookups for $32/night is a good deal. The amenities are minimal, including no fire rings or tables. There is a restroom/shower facility but it is fairgrounds quality. This site is best used as a launch point to visit Des Moines. We were here to use the bike trails and they are close (within a mile). The bike trails are numerous and very nice. Downtown Des Moines is only minutes away. When on the bike trails it feels like you are in the wilderness even though you are often in a residential area. Antenna reception is fair with 2 networks and numerous minor channels. AT&T has 4 bars of 5G. No camp WiFi.

It was tricky to find based on the information on the website. The directions there tell you how to get to the Fairgrounds in general, but not that you have to enter on Lucas to get to the campground.

Once we found it, it was easy to get a site; we had our choice in a couple areas.

The showers were terrific. Rave reviews.

The sites are grassy, not necessarily level. 15 minutes or less to downtown.

Campground hosts were nice and friendly. The campground is HUGE and we were not there for an event so it was pretty vacant. Sites are grass and not many are level. We didn't use the bathrooms but they looked to be clean and well maintained. You can hear the train, it's not terrible but it can be persistent at times. The location was VERY convenient to downtown Des Moines. We would stay here again.

The drive in takes you through a less than inviting area of the city but once in the park it was quite safe. The campground is under the flight path for the airport and you can hear the trains moving train cars at night. We saw the police drive thru every hour or 2. Convenient to sightseeing and downtown. The capital building was spectacular and tours were available.Check out High Life Bar and The Bait Shop for beers.

Heads up: this place is rolly. Rolling hills. Rolling grass in the breeze. You could physically roll down slopes to entertain yourself.

A plethora of FHU (30A or 50A depending on the site you choose) spread amongst several acres of grassy land. The very nice park hosts gave us the quick run down: "if you stay over here, you can have 50A but no city view. If you stay up front there, you can have 30A and a city view". They didn't not mention that if you stay up front there is little chance you will get yourself level - but pros and cons.

We chose to stay 'up front' (near the main campground entrance through the fair area) and we were happy with our choice - although setting our big butts into a level stance was not in the cars (we got most of our 'bubble' in the little circle..) The view of the city at night is very nice. If you have a bigger rig and use levelers, they will sink into the ground. If you use blocks, your levelers will likely push them into the ground too. Bring a shovel.

Good water pressure. Park staff who never stop mowing the grass. Plenty of room to 'spread out' if you choose to be away from other rigs. Bathrooms available, although we didn't explore them.

Not noisy, but not 'quiet' either. There is the consistent hum of traffic, and during the day: mowing.

We were told by campground hosts that the park is typically sparsely used save for the weeks of the Fair, and the 4th of July (they have fireworks). While most of the season the park is 1st come, First serve, the park hosts mentioned they will take reservations for those time periods. The campground hosts also popped by to warn us to lock up our bikes - they've had some issues in the past.

Getting into the park can be a bit tricky depending on if there is an event going on at the grounds. If you are at all concerned about driving the perimeter of the fairgrounds to find what gate is open, just call the hosts ahead of time. They'll let you know what is up.