Fontainebleau State Park

Enjoyed an overnight stay here with my dog. The sites were quite large and secluded, very quiet, slept well. We practically had the place to ourselves! Mosquitoes were huge, as they are in the south in the summer...and it was expectedly very hot, but not unbearable because of the shade and overcast skies.

Walked around the former plantation in the morning and was in awe of the magnificent live oak trees. The Spanish moss dripping down almost to the ground. It was a hauntingly beautiful sight! Pup enjoyed a romp in the sand at the shore of Lake Ponchartrain, but we realized why the park was probably empty. There was an algae bloom that is toxic so no swimming was allowed. It would have been nice to know that ahead of time because I really wanted a place my dog and I could go swimming. I would also have asked for a discounted rate. Giving 4 stars only for this reason.

Overall a lovely place to spend some time relaxing...possibly in the fall when it's cooler.

What a great park! Loved the camp hosts, staff and loved the Tammany Trace a 34 mile bike, walk, horse trail that runs through the entrance to the park. You can bike ride to dinner, ride to breweries and ride to a weekly concert at an old train depot in Mandeville.
Enjoyed the evening sunsets at the pier inside the park. I am sure summer is crowded, but April was a pretty good get away. Lovely spanish moss hanging from the trees, deer cruising through the park, just a really beautiful camp site. Saw a few wedding photo sessions happening while we were there, beautiful grounds.
RV/Trailer sites were asphalt, not all sites were perfect, but our site stayed dry, grass was muddy after a good rain storm. So stay on your pad.

We stayed here a little over two weeks in mid-February 2019. We really enjoyed this park. It does get very busy on the weekend, but the area we were in was still quiet and peaceful. We were in an area that is deemed long-term and some people around us were staying several months. There is only water and electricity hookups, but there are two dump stations throughout the park. We used our tote to dump grey water while there. We were on spot #138 and were close to the dump and the camp host. Very convenient for using the tote. This is a bit older park, but we liked it. There are a few walking trails and you can walk along the road as well. There is a long bike trail that takes you into town, but we didn’t do that. There is a cute little beach and pier at Lake Pontchartrain. Would have loved to have a beach day, but the weather did not cooperate. We walked around the park most days and enjoyed the birds and the wonderful trees with Spanish moss. As with most things in Louisiana, the park is low-lying so with rain there are puddles and mud. The campground did not get bad even though it rained several times while we were there. Internet access was good. Strong signal with AT&T and Verizon. The park is close to Mandeville and Covington if you need any essentials. Access to New Orleans is about an hour. We went twice while there. This was our second time staying here and we enjoyed it more this time because we had extra time to explore the park. We saw numerous deer and several wild boars which was fun. We were there during the off-season, so rates were $20/night on the weeknights and $28/night on weekends. We will definitely be back when in the area again.

We stopped here on our way to the Gulf Coast planning to stay just one night. Loved it so much we ended up staying three additional nights. I was concerned that the weekend would be louder but while there were more people but Friday night it was still a peaceful & quiet experience. We loved the visitor center so many interesting exhibits, and the hiking trails were awesome to explore. We also like riding our bikes all over the park and you can access the Tammany Trace from the state park. Beach area is nice but too cold for us to swim this time of year but we enjoyed exploring and watching the bald eagle catch fish! Deer wander through the campground eating acorns. We had two bathhouses in our area and both were really clean.

This is a very pretty park with great access to the beach and a pier. The park is mostly 'big-rig' friendly, but there are couple trees that require some maneuvering, and while the trees are beautiful, it makes accessing some sites challenging. Our site was W/E for $20 a night (week days) and $28 (weekends), and the dump station was easy to access on the way out. Some sites were more level than others, and ours was a bit of mess, covered in large chunk gravel to cover up black-top denting and cracking.
Particularly when the park is quieter (week days), there is a lot of wild life... some welcome (deer), some not so much (lots of wild pigs and racoons), and the wild pigs are worth a mention. They were quite a problem for the park in general during our stay- they rip up the grass and take every opportunity to get into trash left around.
I don't have a thorough explanation, but this park had the most chaotic feel of anywhere we've stayed. Car traffic was easily the most constant, not even that people drove too quickly, but there was no stroll or dog walk without many cars around. Our neighbors weren't terribly loud, but there was just a ton of people around all the time (not 2 at a site, but 15). I guess this is just a huge LA vacation spot and who can blame them.
This park was located well for us, but we had only intended and took one day to go into NOLA, which a short (45 min) trip across the causeway. Otherwise, it's close to grocery stores, gas, and local restaurants.

We stayed in Fontainebleau for 10 days in January 2018. It was great, just be aware if you are a naive tourist (like me) that Lake Pontchartrain is BIG. It will take you about 45 minutes to get to New Orleans and 30 minutes of that is just crossing the bridge. I had no idea, so hopefully you do or you will now.
Pros:

• There are 4 full hookup sites in the park and we managed to get a reservation in one of them.
• The park itself is HUGE and beautiful and well maintained. There are 2 separate areas for camping, a bike/running path at the entrance that goes for more miles than I could ever bike for and you can walk down to Lake Pontchartrain.

Cons:

• It rained... a lot. And the campground turned into a lake with small RV pad islands. If we had a canoe we could have easily paddled around in places. Just be aware if rain is in your forecast as after the water disperses the lake becomes a mud pit. Bring rubber boots.

Side note:
There were A LOT of deer. And there are some people there that sing and feed the deer. Yes, they were singing to them and then feeding them. Not sure what that was all about but it was definitely odd.

All in all we will definitely stay here again when we are in the area! You will also be close to some pretty stellar bayou swamp tours so you should definitely check that out.

This is a big park on Ponchatrain Lake that looks like it would be very busy in summer. We were here in February for Mardi Gras. There was a lot of standing water around the sites. Very swampy.

The sites are paved but uneven and the overall campground seems dated. It was clean but needed some maintenance and updating.

Electric and water sites only. Dump on site. I didn’t use the showers because they weren’t very appealing.