Campgrounds and RV parks near New Glarus, WI

The Sugar River State Trail runs directly from the village, a compressed limestone path connecting New Glarus to Brodhead that accommodates hiking, biking, and snowmobiling. New Glarus Woods State Park sits along the trail corridor and makes a natural starting point. Cyclists staying at Blue Mound State Park can pick up the Military Ridge State Trail from bike-in campsites within the park. Blue Mound itself is perched atop the highest point in southern Wisconsin, with observation towers, over 20 miles of hiking, off-road biking, and cross-country ski trails, plus a summer swimming pool. Yellowstone Lake State Park adds swimming, fishing, and boating on a 450-acre lake, with bluegill, largemouth bass, walleye, and northern pike. In the village, the New Glarus Brewing Company, Swiss bakeries, and the Chalet of the Golden Fleece museum round out an easy afternoon.

The prime RV window runs from May through October. Wisconsin state park campgrounds around New Glarus lean heavily toward this season. At Blue Mound, reservations for family camping are accepted from May 1 through October 31 on sites 1-56, and Yellowstone Lake's campground is typically open mid-April through November. Summer weekends, especially around Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day, book out earliest. Spring brings cool nights, wildflowers, and muddy trails. Fall brings hardwood color across the Driftless hills and lighter crowds after Labor Day. Mosquitoes and ticks are most active from late May into July. Winter camping is limited but available. New Glarus Woods State Park is open year-round, and part of the Blue Mound campground stays open in winter with firewood and tap water, but winter access is walk-in or ski-in only, with parking at the campground entrance and no vehicular access to sites. That effectively rules out RV winter stays inside the state parks, so cold-season RV renters should look to private campgrounds with plowed access and electric sites.

State park sites near New Glarus are wooded and rustic. New Glarus Woods is the most limited for RVs: it has a small, primitive campground with 18 drive-in sites for tents, pop-ups and small RVs, plus 14 walk-to tent sites, no electrical hookups, and no sanitary dump station in the park. Rigs are generally limited to about 25 feet. Blue Mound is the better fit for larger rigs. The campground is open year-round and offers 78 wooded sites plus 12 bike/hike-in sites and a rustic accessible cabin, each with a picnic table and fire ring, along with flush toilets, hot showers, and a dump station at the campground entrance. A limited number of sites have electrical hookups. Yellowstone Lake has 128 individual campsites, 38 with electric, plus seasonal flush toilets, showers, and a dump station. Cell coverage is generally reliable near the village and spottier in the wooded park interiors. Pets are welcome on leash at the state parks.