Allison Y.
Yelp
There is no review for this park yet? This is weird. Established in 1893, Algonquin Provincial Park is the oldest provincial park in Canada. It is also the largest public park in Ontario.
It is not the most beautiful park within the Ontario Provincial Park system, in my opinion (Killarney takes that crown), but it is the most versatile thanks to its bountiful size. It can satisfy your need for car camping, inland camping (both extremely beautiful), hiking (many short to long trails with stunning views; Lake of Two Rivers Trail is easy, and Centennial Trail is my personal favourite), biking (nice biking trails among campgrounds plus great to bike along the paved roads), canoeing/kayaking (Lake of Two Rivers, need I say more?), motor boating (Rock Lake), fishing (go for it; remember to bring your fishing license), beaching (at least 1 beach per campground), wildlife watching (I recommend Mizzy Lake Trail), star gazing, children education program, backpacking, etc.. In fact, you don't even need to bring equipment to camp here: there are many outfitter stores nearby that will rent you to whole nine yard required. As well, Huntsville is just 30 minutes away where you can buy your food and beverage.
To some, Algonquin seems to be too civilized, as you can have 3 meals a day in a restaurant inside the park. As far as I concern, this is the easiest park for rookies to lose their camping virginities. It just has a big commercial support system to make your camping experience easy. To seasoned campers, we just bring everything we need and know there is an ice cream store if we feel like one.
Oh, in case you wonder, there are comfort centres in each major campground, providing hot showers and flush toilets. The staff clean them 3 times a day. The level of cleanliness depends on the quantity of visitors, meaning it is marginally acceptable during summer long weekends, okay clean during regular summer weekends, really clean during summer weekdays, and squeaky clean in slower seasons that are May and September. The outhouses smell bad, so I avoid having a site near one. There are many electric sites that are great for RV and trailers. Your Bell and Rogers cellphones will work. I would, however, encourage you to leave civilization behind, put your feet up on a rock and take a nap.
P.S.
In case you are a camping rookie, Ontario Parks runs a "Learn to Camp" program that teaches you about car camping in a 2-day-1-night real life camping workshop. The cost is $74+HST (2013 prices) for a group upto 6 people. Extremely affordable. Just google it.