The campgrounds at Iowa state parks and forests are opening for business on April 1. Staff are busy sprucing up campsites, freshening up facilities, and will be turning on water during the month. With more than 759,000 campers and nearly 13.5 million visitor days last year, state parks are anticipating another busy season.
All campsites now reservable online or by phone
Starting in 2026, all campsites in the Iowa state park system will be reservable through the DNR’s reservation system. In the past, many state park campgrounds operated with 75 percent of sites available through the reservation system, and 25 percent were walk-in sites available only on a first-come, first-served basis.
In 2021, a successful pilot project at Maquoketa Caves State Park, where all sites in the park were made available through the reservation system, garnered positive camper feedback, improved efficiency and created an uptick in camping reservations. From 2022-2025, 16 additional campgrounds made the switch, with similar results.
Now all state park sites are available online or by phone through the reservation system.
Benefits of 100 percent reservable sites include:
- Reservations can be made online or by phone using a credit card.
- Availability is known immediately and can be made the same day.
- If a cancellation occurs, the site is available for reservation within minutes.
- The system increases convenience and reduces uncertainty for campers who previously may have arrived at a campground not knowing if sites were open.
- Customers can change a reservation until 10 pm on the day of arrival - some limitations apply. Additionally, campers can change a reservation to a different park, allowing for more flexibility.
- Staff can spend more time caring for the park, helping visitors and attending to other priorities instead of handling cash or check-ins at the campground.
A kiosk in each campground will provide online reservation information for those who come to the park looking for a site. Campers will no longer need to complete paper registration forms or pay with cash; all reservations can be made online at iowastateparks.reserveamerica.com or by calling (877) 427-2757.
For information on when individual parks turn on water, along with other park alerts, please visit the DNR state park alert and closures web page.