East Harbor State Park

We took our 10 month old puppy to the designated dog beach here so he could see big water for the first time and do a little hike. The trail to the dog beach wasn’t far, and was easy enough, although it could be signed a bit better. Our dog loved all the new sights and smells! The beach is natural and has sticks/seaweed as one would expect, but it appears everyone has done a good job packing out their dog’s waste and any trash. I was pleasantly surprised to find that. There were two little huts on the beach to check out and the length of beach is decent. We didn’t walk the entire length of it. While our pup didn’t swim and only walked in the water, there is plenty of room if your dog wants to swim. I’m not sure about the currents here, so keep an eye on that if yours does. We were here in the evening around sunset or just before so it was pretty peaceful and we barely saw anyone else. Any other dogs we did see were leashed and respectful. The views and scenery were about as good as you can get in this part of Ohio. We will definitely make the hour long trip back for more adventures with our dog. The water was MUCH cleaner than what you find around Maumee Bay too, there was an algae bloom issue reported there at this same time, which is why we came here instead. The water tests here were reported clean and looked normal during our visit.

Clean, quiet, and great location. It’s only a short trip to catch a ferry to put-in-bay or Kelly’s island. The showers had awesome water pressure and were clean. I will definitely return for another stay!

Quiet stay when we were here in late Sept before their annual Halloween event and after the summer crowds. We enjoyed our time here. It’s a great camping point to see the area attractions. We called to be sure we could arrive late then we reserved online and arrived late. We went to the store the next morning to check in

Very nice park, I will be back, we tent camped no electricity. Large sites and people did their own thing, quiet time was observed even with lots of littles around. So good to see families enjoying the outdoors and each other Very relaxing!

I was looking for a place to swim in Lake Erie and I’m happy to say East Harbor State Park was a great place to swim, and relax on the beach. They have restrooms, place to change, and an area to wash the sand off your feet, etc. In August, the water temperature was perfect and so refreshing. My family and I enjoyed it!

We had a really nice time there with the family. It's a great place to spend a weekend.☺️ Breakfast time birds eat with you ☺️👌😍 I couldn't sleep at night I was just enjoying every minute of being in this amazing place☺️ There is a raccoon that comes out at night and searches for food.🦝There is a stork😍 It was raining too.😍 But I love the rain

Wonderful. I stayed only one night but was very impressed. Check in was easy. Many conveniences here and lots to do in the surrounding area. The only negative was the restrooms. I was only in one and there are more in each section. They are a little small and not quite what I would call clean. I don't blame the park for that. There are other options. I can't wait to camp here again.

The beach was clear and shallow out to about 100 yards the slowly gets deeper to about 6’ at the buoys. White sand beach and the bottom is all white sand. It was beautiful and a walk out to the pier was wonderful.

We camped here 4th of July weekend and had a great time. This is a big campground with several sections. The signage makes it easy to find your spot. I will say the spots are somewhat smaller compared to other Ohio state parks we stayed at. The slots are not angled so it can be tricky to back in. They do offer lots of pull through options. Inside the campground there is a boat launch, lots of extra parking, shower houses, camp store, game room, and nature center. They don't offer a lot of activities but there were a few. My kids just loved riding our bikes up to the beach and playing in the lake. There is a nice bike bath that makes it easy to get there. There is no food in the area so bring your own or be prepared to drive.

The campground was full and sites were right on top of each other, everyone was mostly respectful. Check-in was easy, but late night noise levels were not enforced. One rude group kept everyone up until 3am. And many campers left so much food, booze bottles and garbage everywhere. Several of the bathrooms ran out of toilet paper. The trails were mostly mowed and taken care of.

My visit in late August 2018 was a great weekend. We booked the yurt for the three of us meeting between Detroit and Columbus, OH. It was clean and comfy, watertight (very important with the number of storms that came through our weekend). The park is clean, well maintained, the beach was nice, bathrooms were nice for the amount of use they received. I liked the fact that the yurt comes with a refrigerator, microwave, and two large fans to keep the air flowing through. We will be back!

Campsites are really close together and super small. So if you have a group, you might need to get two that are next to each other. Because they're so close together, it is so loud. Quiet hours are definitely not enforced, and kids will run around and scream ALL night. Bathrooms are subpar, clean, but old. Overall, i personally wouldn't stay here again.

I will not come back. My friend and I decided to give camping a try for Memorial Day weekend. Upon arrival, we were told that there were heavy storms and flooding, and our pre-paid campsite was underwater. Ok... this is out of their control so we just stood by and waited for what to do. The helpful visitors center associate let us know that since we were staying for just one night, they were able to relocate us. This is was a relief, as everything was booked and we didn't have any other options really. We posted up our campsite, and I could already tell that this would not be a fun experience. As soon as we drove up, the people next to us tried to take our picnic table right in front of us. Literally right as we are getting out of the car. Yeah, no. Not gonna happen. This place is full of people in huge trailers and motorhomes, blocking any kind of view possible, and there's kids just running around, some near our fire pit, as if it would be my fault if they got burned or hurt or something??? Bathhouse was nice, pretty clean with spacious restrooms and nice sink area. There was also a hand dryer to cut down on paper waste. Also, I'm not sure if this was just due to the recent flooding, but the bugs were INSANE. They were coating the car, and biting me left and right. Any time you opened the tent or opened a car door, there were tons of bugs to kill. It was not a fun time for someone who wants to try out rustic camping! As we were settling down for the night, we could just feel these old cranky campers staring at us trying to set up our tent and plug in our car (*insert Boomer complaining about electric vehicles here*) . As if we're the problem, when they're just in an apartment on wheels, with a full fridge and tons of lights and radios and TVs and all this crap, and think they're "camping". This place is full of weird old campers who act like you're pitching a tent on their lawn. There's no privacy, and lots of people act like they own the place. It's especially irritating because we paid the same as them to be treated like we didn't belong, and that we were somehow messing with their camping experience, meanwhile when I laid in the tent that night, instead of stars and trees, all I saw were massive trailers all around me. I feel a bit guilty giving low stars when the site itself had everything as described, but honestly the experience was just so disheartening. Aside from the good price and nice bathrooms, this experience took the wind out of our sails to go camping again, and I want to let other beginner, tent campers know that they probably won't feel welcome either.

We went during a weekend in October not realizing that Halloween is such a big deal in this campground. The place was packed with kids running everywhere, and even though "trick or treating" was canceled due to COVID, most ignored that and were handing out candy anyway. Also, the campsites are too close together and the quiet hours are not inforced. If you come here to camp, don't expect a peaceful experience. We won't be back.

This a beautiful campground that is close to many pretty places. Catch a sunset, drive 15 minutes to touristy areas, or just chill. The bathrooms and shower areas are clean and functional. Zero complaints.

This is great campground. We came after camp store closed for the season so I can't comment on that. The camp sites are spacious, our had full hookups. Plenty of green space with walking trails. Very impressed with this state park.

Wonderful camping experience here! I've only been once so gave it 4 stars until I go again. The website is very easy to understand and navigate to the information you're seeking. The campsite was clean when we got there, plenty of electrical hook ups. The bathroom area was clean, I never encountered a line for a toilet or shower and it was July! The showers also very clean, free and hot water! My only complaint was how hard the ground was. Broke many tent stakes by roots and overall hard ground. Next time I will look for a campsite free of any large trees nearby.

We stayed in the yurt the first weekend of June. I was unable to find much info online about the East Harbor yurt, so I wanted to get a review out there. Our family of 4 really enjoyed our stay in the yurt, but there were a few things that were of note. The park is very nice and we enjoyed all the wildlife, the nice beach, and the frisbee golf course. The campground facilities were the usual for state parks and I have no complaints. There yurt includes a microwave, coffee maker, full size refrigerator, a table, 4 chairs, 2 double beds, 1 twin bed, a grill, a fire ring, and 2 picnic tables. There is a TV, but we didn't try using it. Bring your own bedding as none is provided. The nearest water source is a spigot all the way over by the restroom. Bring a jug to carry water. The yurt has a space heater, but no A/C. This was fine at the beginning of June as the nights were still cool and the temperature went down fast in the evening. The top of the structure is a clear plastic window, so a small amount of sun made it very hot inside and there are no shade trees nearby. Do not keep anything inside that is heat sensitive (cosmetics, food, cell phones, etc). Bring fans. There are plenty of outlets. You get one key to the door. In order to lock the door from the inside, you must use the key. If you need to get out, you must find the key to unlock the door. If someone is inside the yurt and another person locks the door from the outside, the person inside the yurt cannot get out. This really is a safety hazard and is very odd. The refrigerator doesn't get very cold, but does OK. For best results, don't turn the freezer part too cold. It may not be cold enough to keep raw meat safe.

We had such a nice time! It was a well kept and clean campground, we just didn't realize in advance how close each space was but that's our fault. The beach is CRAZY packed but if you go on the beach line in front of the rocks, you'll have less dirty diapers and plastic bottles! Otherwise, great camping experience with very friendly and helpful staff. Super clean bathrooms.

Great location on Lake Erie with a full public beach that is clean, guarded and shallow so the kids can play without you freaking out. They usually have some sort of activity going on at night, might be a nature hike, might be a movie on a projection screen. Good sized playground and plenty of fishing and hiking trails. Really close to shopping and diners if you need one. There is also a really decent restaurant up the street called Crow's Nest that is a great place for food or happy hour. This place is a must for me in the summer, we go at least 2-3 times.

On one of our early dates, the boy took me 'camping.' It happened to be in his living room and the campfire was his fireplace, but I still thought it would be nice to take him real camping for his birthday. Since he'd never been, I decided to come here since a friend had a lake house nearby that we could escape to if camping turned out to be, well, more than we had bargained for. The staff here was friendly and the views amazing. The naturist was a wealth of information and had all sorts of critters for us to look at. The facilities were clean and in good working order and it was nice that there were volunteer ambassadors that must spend their summers there helping out other campers. Everyone else around us was helpful and friendly and if you forget anything, a grocery store is right down the road for those last minute marshmallow runs. We saw lots of deer, geese, and other assorted wildlife and spent our days walking the paths and hanging out at the nearby beach. All the park is walkable which makes it really nice if you want to ditch the car for a while and walk or jump on your bike. A good price (less than $30 a night for a campsite) and there are preset-up campsites and RV available for those of you not so adventurous about pitching your own tent!

East Harbor has quickly become one of my favorite state parks to camp in Ohio. There are obvious pluses, including: -Easy access to a beautiful beach. When it's the middle of the summer and you're looking for a place to catch sun and cool off, bingo! But it's also beautiful during the beginning of fall when the temps are mild. Try watching the sunset or rolling up your pant legs and frolicking in the sun a little. So nice. -Besides Lake Erie, the surrounding environment is beautiful as well. Dense forested areas to explore and load of activities. Bike riding, hiking, you name it. -You're super close to many other attractions in the area like Put-in-Bay and Cedar Point. A vacation that truly has it all. Camping can be a really great and cheap alternative to booking a hotel in that area. Some things that I love that aren't so obvious: -I love the sense of community in this campground. I know that some people go out to camp to be in the middle of nowhere. But that's not my kind of camping. In fact, that freaks me out. I love to interact with other people who are also camping. I like knowing that there are other humans around me if something goes wrong. It's just a comforting feeling. Besides, there is a camping atmosphere that I just love. -You're far enough away to feel like you're on vacation, but close enough to civilization to feel comfortable. I love that just a quick trip over from Cleveland can put me in a completely different state of mind. The scenery is so beautiful that you don't even feel like you're in Ohio anymore. It's just a win-win all around.

I am not a fan of camping per se. But each year we meet friends for the Halloween Camp-out at East Harbor and we have a blast. Campers go all out decorating their camp sites in Halloween decor, and the campground has numerous activities like a dog parade, bonfire, haunted walk, hayride, etc. They really do a nice job. And for a bike ride you can ride to the lake. A few bathrooms were recently renovated and are pretty nice. All in all, a fun weekend, even for a non-camper like me. And make sure you assign someone in your camping group to go to Jill's Doughnuts in Marblehead...literally a 7 minute drive from the campground.

I have a special place in my heart for this campground. I have been here half a dozen times and have a ton of memories from adventures we've experienced in the area. The campground itself is always well managed and clean. The engineers who originally designed it did so quite thoughtfully, the layout is pretty good. Park employees were very friendly and pricing was reasonable as are all state campgrounds. A visit to Put In Bay is a necessity.

This is a nice campground but they don't have much to do. If you don't like bugs, there are lots of mayflies. There's a lot of nice places nearby. They could use a pool for the kids. There's a lot of grills and the scenery is beautiful.

We recently visited this campground for the first time. Let me give you 2 different sides to our experience. side 1- We booked a full hookup site, which is NOT easy to do at this park. side 2- We drove 4 hours to find our site under water. While they did have another site to put us in, it was not full hook up. side 1- they did return the difference in the site costs side 2- it wasn't what I booked so it wasn't what I wanted. But it worked. Side 1- This campground has LOTS of campsites Side 2- Most sites are very small; barely large enough for our 27ft pull behind. Certainly no room for our truck. Side 1- There are lots of camp hosts. I believe this may cut down on theft and SHOULD be helpful to campers Side 2- You can not often find a camp host. They fly around on golf carts and at some point, as a cart flew by, I said, "EXCUSE ME!" Nothing.....just kept zipping by Side 1- large park, lots of kids Side 2- not many planned activities for the kids We'll be back to this park (but hate the drive! lol) it's right on Lake Erie and there are lots of close by sight-seeing.

Easy to make reservations online and simple to check in at the site. The campgrounds are very scenic and have the essentials

We love this campground and have stayed here many times often for a week or Holiday Weekend. Let's start with the bad....the sites are somewhat small...my 37ft travel trailer barely fits in most of them. On top of that, there are very few sites with hookups of any type, maybe 10-20 total, the rest are all primitive. So fill your water tank on the way in and use it sparingly, take advantage of the nice shower houses. And the final nail in the coffin...the campsite hosts. For some reason the state of Ohio lets old retired or transient couples live here for free in their own camper in exchange for small work such as cleaning up the sites, helping guests park their campers, etc. Instead of helping me maneuver my huge camper in, our hosts sat on their butts in their lawn chairs and watched. Then when we were done they took a golf cart ride on their state issued vehicle which is mostly used to drive by other host sites and exchange curse words in front of children. The office also sells firewood in 1 cubic foot bundles which I calculated would cost $800 if you bought a cord of it which is ridiculous. Several people living near the park sell firewood, some on the honor system, and most at a very very good price. Now the good. It's a beautiful campground, seems like it goes on and on forever. If you bring your bike you can ride for miles just riding all of the loops. They have great beaches for the kids to play on and even better ones in the state park that surrounds the campground. They have a camping/boat parking area that's unique in my experience as well, plus places to dock your boat if you camp somewhere else in the campground. In the summer they have ranger programs for the kids, movie and popcorn nights, not to mention all of the playgrounds. If you're booking on a holiday weekend you can book six months in advance and I suggest you book six months and two weeks in advance like all the old fuddy duddy's do...book two weeks, then after a few weeks call back and change your reservation to the real number of days you need. That's how all the old geezers do it and get the best sites or the coveted full hookup pull through sites for larger rigs.

Just the right place for us. Here in August during the weekday and check-in was friendly, campsites and restrooms clean, and situated in a beautiful area. ( But explain to me why the local Sheriff wears a Conferderate Flag shirt). I guess coming to Ohio is also stepping back in time.

I have been camping at East Harbor for over 40 years - while I have dogs myself I liked that there was a pet area and a no-pet area. If I want to get away for the weekend without listening to other campers dogs bark constantly I shouldn't have to worry about that. Now they allow dogs in all areas. I understand the majority of dog owners are responsible but I always am the lucky one who gets next to the barkers. Please bring back the separated areas!

East Harbor has more camp sites than any other State Park In Ohio. It is usually Busy full or nearly full. If you want a full hook up site with water, sewer and electric you need to make reservations months ahead of time and even more on holidays. It has a big beach, hiking, biking and lots of wild life. Fishing is good and there are handicap fishing sites also. Camp store with good stock and reasonable prices, morning coffee is always fresh. Slushes, Toft Ice Cream and snacks. Kid freindly happy staff. Deb1 and Deb 2, both are short . Speed limit is 20 mph and enforced by on site 24 hrs. a day Ohio Park Rangers who will tell you where the Deer are and Kids Trout Pond is. Marina and I could go on and on.No open view alcohol permitted but you are Okay as long as you don't flont it or get too loud. They have movie night with pop corn, halloween trails in Oct. Park Hot Dog Cook Outs, Nature center, sunset walks along lake erie etc. It is also is a good jump off point for Cedar Point, African Safari and the Islands. Don't order Pizza from Outay's by the way.

This is our first time here. Staff was incredibly friendly and helpful explaining the campground layout. Spots are nice size and the park is exceptionally maintained. We'll definitely be back!

Our family has stayed multiple times in the campground. It has been consistently clean and well-maintained! There is almost no litter! The sites are far enough apart to afford some privacy in a large campground. The camp store is well-stocked with friendly people and reasonable prices. The disc golf course is cool! The asphalt trail to the beach is great for walking or biking! The swimming beach is fairly large! You can also stroll the storm damaged area. One of our favorite spots!

If you're looking for a quiet and private getaway, this probably isn't the place for you. The sites are small (even for tents) and don't offer more than about 10 feet between them. That being said, the park is maintained well and my shower in the morning was hot, which is pretty much all I care about! I camped here when I went to Cedar Point to save some money, it's about a half an hour to the park but at $23/night on a summer weekend I'm not complaining!

I took my family to this campground when we took a vacation to go to Cedar Point. And I must say this vacation was one of our FAVORITES! The camp ground is BEAUTIFUL and the Beach is CLEAN and designed for families with small children. The water at the beach is very shallow which was nice because my boys were 6 and 4 at the time. The staff at the camp ground were extremely nice and very professional. On the 4th day of our stay a strong storm came rolling in and the rangers made sure that everyone was notified of the strength of the storm and made suggestions to campers to take down pop ups and tents for the campers own safety. If your looking for a unforgetable vacation the I highly suggest East Harbor.

my favorite place in the universe. the corps or engineers screwed up back in the day with the installation of that breakwall, so now the beach is a bit of a trek but its still just dandy. if you really love ohio you will love this place

The first thing is the bad. When you drive make sure you drive the speed limit. the state troopers there are pencil pushers for tickets. i was going 70 in a 65 on route 2. trooper said i was going 77. said he was going to give me a warning and let me go. instead went to his vehicle and wrote me a ticket. asked why but pretty much you know how they can be. i get to the campground try to have a good time and did. wanted to stay for 3 nights all ready paid for but left early when i misinformed my girlfriend of a large mouth bass(bass was out of season due to small population) being a yellow perch due to the yellow fins. she got a ticket for 200.00. memorial weekend by the way. the thing I experience made me realize that this place is a depressed area and they are in desperate need for cash flow for their town and surrounding towns to do what ever they are trying to do to fix things or what ever their economic issue is. the park is a 20 mph zone and the campground is 10 mph. I got no tickets in the area cause I know there is kids and families everywhere. I respect the laws and know there there to keep everyone safe. I have been going here since I was 5 yrs old. riding on my grandfathers boat in port clinton, ohio which id the next exit west. I fell in love with this area and now after all these years this is the one that breaks the camels back and its time to find a new place to enjoy my fishing and camping needs. theres no boat( small canoe and small little boats) for east harbor lake in case you have no boat just bring one you may borrow. also the sothern end does not have shade due to some ash issue and they needed to cut down the trees. i suggest the a area or any of the nothern areas by the lake for rv or campers or tents. look if you take my experience with understanding to follow the laws and be a straight narrow person whos perfect good luck. i dont need that stress on my vacation. the good is it really is a great park and used to love it for alot of reasons. the main thing is get educated on fish game and drive the speed limit and have a good time. however you wont see me having fun there anymore and if these troopers and rangers do not lighten up. they may see a more depressed area than they have ever experience and i wont be suprised that that might not be the only cause cause the fishing population is just getting worse and worse and maybe the weight that breaks the backs of these townfolks who are nice but really the police need to be more attentive to the crosswalks on the walleye festival cause the town folks and folks out of town are so ignorant when crossing sidewalks and traffic blocking intersections during traffic light changes. must be all those cops looking for their unlawful abiding citizens of Ohio a little too much. they must be short staffed to for obvious reasons. im done. if you go there for years and if you don't see these problems then get out of the rock you been hiding in and get ready cause its only a matter of time that you will feel the same as me.