Hi, I am new to Cleveland area.

 

My brother's family from New York City are going to visit us this summer. I am looking for a camping area around Lake Erie / Kelly island area in August. It would be nice to have cabin to host up to 7 people, and there is place for camp fire.

 

I just came back from my son's cup scout camping to cuyahoga national park. We were actually living in a cabin. This was the first experience we ever had to camp out. The camping went extremely well. So I would like to arrange for another one for my family reunion this summer.

 

We also toured a little to port clinton/sandusky last weekend. We were trying to find some nice beach around that area for a family day out barbeque. It turned out too cold and windy.So we drove around and find out that there are not that much public beach, except for a few private beach. In order to save some gas in our next trip, please give some advice.

 

Thanks

 

Not sure about Kelly island, but Put-In-Bay rents cabins and has plenty to do for a weekend.

East Harbor State Park and Kelley's Island State Park are my suggestions for a public beach.  I haven't been to either this season though.  I personally go to the sandbar opposite of Cedar Point but it's only accessible via boat and has no facilities of any kind.

I know this isn't exactly where you were looking, but the state park out in Geneva-on-the-Lake has cabins and the beach out there is pretty nice.  Thats way out east of Cleveland, as opposed to Kelly's and PIB which are out west.  Geneva-on-the-lake is an interesting little resort town.  Its main drag is kind of carnival-like, but it also has some wineries.

 

 

I spent a week at Kelley's Island two years ago. The state park has a beautiful beach (truly beautiful). The state park is pretty isolated from the main "downtown-ish" part of the island. There are many camping sites in the park, but there are no cabins. There are many many private houses to rent, but they tend to be closer to the south shore (beach is on the north shore). The houses/cabins vary greatly. Here is a list:

 

http://www.kelleysislandchamber.com/lodging/lodging.htm

 

Feel free to PM me about this. I did a lot of research on this before I committed my in-laws' money to a week-long lakefront century home. Depending on what you need, you could end up with something great or something too isolated. No website will give you a perfect feeling for how the various rentals stack up against each other. General truth: you'll get what you pay for.  I had shied away from Put In Bay because of the party reputation, but I later found out that the island is large enough and diverse enough to find whatever you're looking for.