Emma Long Metropolitan Park

Pros: This campground is 20-30 minutes to downtown Austin, which is nice if you're there to explore Austin but want to stay somewhere other than an RV park. It's on a really pretty river that we were able to kayak and look at all the mansions built along the river.

Cons: This campground was super weird. There are absolutely no signs telling you where to go, so make sure you have the google map link that the campground sends in your confirmation email pulled up before getting off the main roads. Cell signal drops out on the way to the campground. The one-way signs are NOT correct, and if you follow the one-way sign closest to the RV area, you will end up having to back up your rig to turn around.

The grass had not been cut in a long time when we were there so it made it hard to enjoy our site as it was super overgrown and buggy. The bathrooms were also closed and we were there during bad weather and had no idea where we could have gone if we needed to shelter somewhere in case of a tornado.

The website is absolutely terrible and almost impossible to book. The warning of the ants is correct and we now have ants in our camper even though we covered all points touching the ground in deet.

We had trouble finding the spot to begin with. We arrived before dark but office people had already left (but tried to call before and no one had picked up) so we just made our way down to our spot. The RV/utility spots are at the back of the park. With all the construction going on it was pretty confusing.
Due to the recent Texas storm, the water had a boil notice. That was ok, we just wound up going into town to refill our jugs. But the bathrooms were also closed :( and we’ll be here for 4 days so that will not be great.
We arrived on a Saturday, and as mentioned in other reviews, there were some families having picnics. The people across the lake we’re having a party. Both were blaring music, I think trying to outdo the others...that was not great. They kept up until around 9pm. It seems like the noise rule is not enforced here.

All in all, i think after the construction is done (I have no idea how long that’s been going on), and the bathrooms open back up, and the water works...maybe we would come back.

First of all, navigating through their website to find an available spot is a bit of a nightmare. Then Google map directions don’t guide you far enough down the road to get to the park. The dump station at the front of the park is obscure and no hose available for a rinse down of stuff. The sights themselves are nice but the site picnic table is quite a distance from the actual Site. It’s a beautiful setting along the water with several large trees. We arrived on a Sun evening and there was a lot of boat traffic with loud music playing as they raced up and down the waterway, even at dusk. There were several empty sites along the water, even though the reservation sites said they were full🤔. It’s a long road down to the park.

With such mixed reviews, we were overall pleasantly surprised by this park. The waterfront utility sites are simply stunning. Definitely not for larger RVs however, so glad we visited in our van conversion as a side trip.

There are some downsides to this park -

- Check-in time is officially 3pm, but the office closes at 4pm. Kinda a tight window to make. We came in a touch later than 4pm - no problem. In the morning a host checked our license plate, and informed us to come to the front office to get our paperwork. Since we're in a van and didn't want to disconnect - we had to walk. It's over a mile walk back. Seems silly - couldn't they have just brought the form to us, or had it available for late check-in?

- I also do worry about what would happen if a non-reserved late arrival just came and took a reserved spot? There was absolutely no indication at the gate house or the spots which sites were open.

- There are large houses across the river. They're pretty to look at. But the big annoyance is that mid-week many of them have lawn care services. Our entire stay was listening to mowers and leaf blowers caring for the huge lawns. Some houses were also having renovations, so there was construction noise too. Basically, don't come here expecting being out deep in nature - despite the long twisty road to get here.

- The bathhouses are miserable. Metal toilets and outdoor shower stalls & changing 'rooms' with no curtains for privacy. They felt more like a prison or gym, than a campground. Oh, and over a 1/2 mile walk from pretty much any site (tent or RV).

Overall, if you come prepared to be self sufficient, and catch a day without yard maintenance across the way - this place has the potential to be magical. At least the RV spots. The tent spots looked downright horrible (packed in, on a slope and not even close to the water).

I'm not sure why this site is getting such bad reviews on here. I really wasn't expecting a great experience but we needed to be close to Austin and this fit the bill. It was great! I will admit, we weren't in the tent section and it looks like they just stack them up down there and on the third night (a Friday night) there were some loud neighbours who were setting off something very loud. The drive up is twisty but not unreasonably so. It is also breathtaking. There were lots of pretty big rigs there while we were there. The RV section is right on the (other) Colorado River. It is a fast moving, huge river! Across the river are fancy houses. Boats start using the river recreationally pretty early. Our site was paved, with water and electricity. The sites are wide enough to fit a vehicle and an RV, mostly. There are lots of port-a-potties around and actual bathrooms (that we didn't use). The parks and rec. guy came by multiple times each day. We were pretty much 30 minutes away from any destination in Austin. It also seemed safe as I didn't realize our bikes or grill were not locked up the whole time we were there, only when we were packing up did we realize. Nothing was stolen. The check out time is 10am, which is a bit inconvenient.

This two night (Thu / Fri) stay was far above our expectations, based on other reviews, perhaps because it was the first week of March. While the other paved campsites were full, there were no day users, so the park was very quiet. Lots of grass around the very wide sites and down to the lake. Our 24' Class B+ just fit into Site 10. There was one Class A on another site, but this is not a place for "big rigs", both because of the site size and the hilly, twisting access road. The dump station is marked, but the opening is just a metal plate on the asphalt, not the typical foot-operated cap. And, there was no wash down hose. We are boaters, so watching the occasional pontoon or ski boat drive by was a plus. The gate was not locked during our stay.

The County Line On The Lake BBQ restaurant, with a large covered dog-friendly porch right on water, is within a few miles. We did not have time to hike the popular Turkey Creek trail, but will do so if we return. When we left on Saturday morning, the parking lot for the trail was full, but almost empty on the two previous days.

The park was pretty run down, but we'll chock that up to it being the middle of a very cold December. Our site was adequate for the rate, with water and power. Close to a good part of Austin and only 20 min from downtown. Couple trails in the area.

We did have one night where we had to put the smack down on a large group pulled in across from us at Midnight to party. Otherwise a solid location.

I've reviewed this place before but it's been a few years, and we camped this time in the tent zone, so Im'ma drop another fat beat here get all the new kids on the block in sync.

The tent area...yeah, it's for tenting, so I didn't expect much, and don't need much. There was shade cast down on the corner of our site from a beautiful elm tree, a nice little trail leading up into the cliffside, a firepit, and a ridiculous number of biting ants. Like, ten million. We all got bitten all day long all the time. They didn't get into our Bus, but if at any point we wanted to be outside it was like playing Austin Roulette.

It was Mother's Day weekend, where local tradition holds that as many people as possible are required to come to this park and completely destroy the toilets. The many port o johns scattered across the park ended up being the better choice come Sunday.

Other annoyances...well, when we finally got over to the RV park part, where they have hookups and you're on the water and it's rather beautiful actually, spacious sites, just a lovely spot (largely ant free!), a family was in our site.

So we asked them to leave but they didn't want to. They asked us where the signs were, told us how silly a reservation system is, and started getting lippy. I explained to them that though we do look like we are the owners of site #7 in Emma Long Park, we actually aren't personally responsible for the rules and simply want to get setup as we've got friends coming over.

They said they'd leave, but next thing I knew Uncle Bill and his son were casting their lines back in. So I repeated the statement that we had the reservation, yada yada. They refused to leave.

A ranger type employee came by and asked them to leave, finally, but not before they threw an impressively massive fish, blood and all, they'd just caught on our table.

Yum, I love my burgers with a little fish guts flavoring!

They also stole our charcoal.

So, I drove to get more charcoal. But the park didn't want to let me leave because they were now "at capacity", a ridiculous idea as there were just about more people than blades of grass.

I was eventually given permission to leave when they heard my sad tale of no charcoal (it's a long drive to go and get supplies from here). I was able to sneak my friends in via my own vehicle, too, which was nice, and then we all had a great evening.

If you've read this far and still want to check out this park (because outside of the weekend, the bathrooms, and the fire ants, it's a pretty chill place), I'd try and snag site #11 in the RV area. Great tree and water access.

Stars below are for the tent area.

This was the only place I could book because of South by Southwest. At least the only place that looked decent. I definitely felt like a city park. The rest rooms closest to the RV sites were closed. The other restrooms worked, but they were sort of open air. Which worked for me the first day, but on the second morning the weather got wet and cold, so it wasn't an option. There was a lot of noise at this campground as well. I slept with my vents opened and fan running because the 30 amp connection plug looked dicey. The staff were not very warm. If you do book this park, be sure you pick the correct amperage site. Because if you have to book another site, getting a refund is a HUGE ordeal. It took months for me to get my money back, only after I called the city of Austin. That kept Austin weird for me. Aside from that, you are miles from downtown. If I weren't for a wedding, and the weather was better, I'm sure I could have found some interesting things around me. I especially could have hiked the trail in the park.