Iowa State Fairgrounds

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.