Tag Archives: South Haven Michigan

Campground Review: Sunny Brook RV Resort, South Haven, MI

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011Campground Review Summary

  • Name: South Haven Sunny Brook RV Resort
  • Dates of stay: June 21-28, 2019
  • Location: 68300 CR 388, South Haven, MI 49090
  • Type of campground: Private / Ownership type
  • Cost: $60.13/night (with free night coupon)
  • Additional fees: none
  • Stay limit: none
  • Accepts mail / packages: yes
  • Cell reception: ATT adequate
  • Website: http://www.sunnybrookrvresort.com
  • Pros: Beautiful sites, nice amenities
  • Cons: pricey, not much to do in area

Full Review

South Haven Michigan wasn’t originally on our radar as a spot to visit, but we snagged a “pay for two nights get one night free” coupon at January’s Tampa RV Super Store. Since free is good, we booked an 8 night stay. We paid for 6 nights, got one free (their weekly rate) plus the one free coupon night. It still wasn’t cheap, averaging $60/night with the discounts! And that was for a basic lot, premium lots with lakeside or ravine view cost additional.

Sunny Brook RV resort is intended to be an ownership-type resort, with many of the sites individually-owned and customized. The resort seems to draw owners primarily from upper Illinois and lower Michigan that use the resort as a seasonal and weekend retreat. And it is a beautifully-maintained resort, with some of the prettiest site landscaping I’ve seen anywhere. RV’s are required to be 28 feet or longer, 10 years old or newer, with some sites restricted to Class A’s only.

Our site was a basic paved, back in site with full hook ups (50 amp electric, water, sewer). There appeared to be cable TV outlet installed, but it was sealed and not available to us. Our site was satellite friendly, and our dish locked on with no problem. The campground wifi was just OK, and we used our own wifi for the most part. Surprisingly (for such a high end resort), our RV pad was not level. In fact, most sites did not appear to be level! We were able to level our rig using front tire blocks, but saw other units with tires off the ground. Personally, I would never invest in a site lot with an un-level pad and can’t understand why it was designed this way.

Otherwise, the RV resort was delightful. There are two pool and clubhouse facilities – one main facility for everyone and one smaller facility restricted to owners only. The main facility was equipped with a huge clubhouse and lounge, library, fitness center, coin laundry, bath house, playground, pool and hot tub. Renters are permitted to use the coin laundry and bath house at the owners facility, just not their lounge and pool area. A tip: the showers at the owners side are larger and nicer than the main facility! The resort also includes a small lake with sandy beach, boat launch area for kayaks and such, and picnic tables. There are facilities for pickleball, basketball, shuffleboard, and horseshoes. It has something for everyone.

Activity-wise, the resort provides a lovely, free happy hour every Friday night with wine/beer and appetizers. It is understandably well-attended! The park also offers exercise classes and a few other activities which we did not sample. The park is family-friendly and I enjoyed seeing kids riding their bicycles and cavorting in the pool. During our late-June visit, the resort wasn’t fully occupied, and many RV’s appeared to be utilized only on the weekends.

The surrounding area, though, offered only limited activities. There is the Kal-Haven bicycle trail, as well as shopping/dining at South Haven and other nearby lake tourist towns. It was just a little too sleepy for us. I get the appeal of having a vacation-home base, but there needs to be more going on to keep our interest long term.

Bottom Line: Beautiful resort, although a bit pricey. Worth a short visit, but the area is too sleepy to hold our interest for long.

South Haven, Michigan

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After spending over two weeks parking lot camping during our motorhome work performed at Entegra and Spartan, it was exciting to transition back to vacation travel mode! I have to say, though, the opportunity to meet other motorhome owners was an unexpected pleasure. We learned a LOT about our rig just by comparing notes and learning from others’ experiences. And we were able to ask questions of the folks that made our rig. We came away from the experience with a greater knowledge and appreciation for our coach – and met some great people along the way! We are now planning to loop back around this way at least every couple of years, just to keep our motorhome systems in top condition. It surely makes a difference to have work done by people who really know what they are doing!

South Haven wasn’t originally on our radar, but we picked up a free night’s stay at nearby Sunny Brook RV Resort during January’s Tampa RV Super Show. Since free is always good – and it was reasonably on our way north after our Spartan visit – we figured we’d check it out.  I booked an 8 night stay (at the buy 6 nights get one free weekly rate, plus our free day). The resort is quite nice and I’ll do my customary review later.

010.jpgSouth Haven is a charming little tourist town perched on the edge of Lake Michigan. The small downtown hosts shops, wine tasting rooms and restaurants with a view of the expansive lake and nearby light house. The Saturday Farmer’s market offered the usual variety of produce and sundries. There, I picked up a batch of prepared, fresh chicken tamales that re-heated (steamed) beautifully and were delicious! (It’s so hard to find good tamales) The nearby WalMart had the best price on milk that I’ve seen nationwide – $1.19 per gallon!  That’s almost cheaper than water! The South Haven area also offers the Kal Haven (mostly paved) bike trail that runs 34 miles between South Haven and Kalamazoo.

Up the coast were the small towns of Naugatuk and Holland, each with their distinctive features. Naugatuk wrapped around a bay front, while the larger town of Holland celebrates its Dutch heritage with Windmill Island and the nearby Dutch village. I vaguely remember going to Holland as child, but I DON’T remember shelling out cash to see the village. They’ve been turned into “attractions” with a $15 admission rate to see the reproduction village and shops. I passed. It was a bit disappointing, really.

In general, I thought the little downtown shops in this area were overpriced. We did some biking, Jeff played golf one day and we toured around on the motorcycle. We hit up the Farmers market and visited a local meat market to purchase local smoked whitefish and salmon. After that …. there wasn’t much to do. It’s a nice enough area, and prettily scenic, but just a bit too sleepy for us. We like places that have a bit more going on.

One of the great highlights of our stay though, was a visit by long time friends Dave and Carol. We met through our workplace back in Indiana, while in our early-twenties. We are exactly the same age, all born the same year. We each met our prospective spouses there and became close friends before circumstances pulled us in different directions. They went north to Michigan while we went south to Florida. We’ve thought of them many times, but hadn’t physically met for over 30 years. They drove over from their home about an hour away, and it was as though we’d never been apart. We grilled burgers, drank too much wine, and talked and laughed away the years. It was absolutely fantastic.

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We have dubbed this year the “Friends and Family” loop, and that is proving to be very true — and very wonderful.