What a great place to bring the entire family. Make memories here that will last you a lifetime.

One of the worst camping experiences I've ever had. Front desk over charged my camp site by $30. Our campsite neighbors dog died and when we tried to help them, park rangers told us throw the dog in the dumpster. (Not hey maybe a vet can help you out). Front desk ladies gave away our campsite reservation because they got the numbers mixed up after confirming the site multiple times. Moral of story: park rangers and front desk is a joke and they are very ignorant. The park itself is beautiful but I would never come here again because of the staff. read more

Stay here every year for decades! Great park, excellent amenities. Family fun for all!

Garner State Park is a wonderful place to get away! We camped two days under the stars and explored the park grounds. Even during the winter season, Garner is beautiful. Clean streams, hiking trails, and camp grounds offer a beautiful escape from the city. Several of my friends grew up in this park during the summer and have nothing but great memories. read more

Best state park EVER. Fun things to do during the day and night. Don't wait to go again next year. Great family vacation!

I will always give Garner 5 stars, we have stayed at many spots within the park over the last 25 years or so, but this weekend we stay at site#132, this is directly across from a sewer transfer station, when the wind blows right you will smell the sewer and it is not good, the spot is well shaded but the smell does get to you, I talked to a person working in the park and was told it was a lot worse before they rebuilt the station, and she said there is really nothing they can do, to changes location to another site you have to go back to the reservation office and stand in line, and possibly change IF they have another site. #132 is in Shady Meadows and my guess is that you would smell this if you are in that general area, several weeks ago we stayed at River Crossing which is across the main road, that was a perfect spot. read more

Nice park for day user. Good concessions. Water is frio! But Texas Friendly should begin at the entry fee booth, and the woman working there when we came through needs an attitude adjustment or a new line of work. If she's reading this, she knows who I'm talking about. Geez. read more

Spent a single night camping with my children and was very disappointed. As a native, I've been camping at Garner before, but hadn't been back for years and years and now I know why. First, I'll cover the negatives, then I'll end on a high note. The camping sucks. We stayed at the Pecan Grove campsite, which was kind of like being in a parking lot with some grills and a bunch of donkeys running around everywhere (not really, but the loud, rude stampeding humans brings to mind another type of ass). Since the campsites are right next to each other, you can hear everything from your neighbor--and of course, no one controls their children, pummel fellow campers with flying soccer balls. One child actually tripped on the edge of our fire pit, which had me thinking of law suits and gun battles (we are in Texas). Same children also decided to see what kind of food we had stocked. The park has huge trees that provide a canopy of shade, but they are widely space and mostly on the perimeter of the camp space, so no foliage to provide sound barriers or privacy. Our picnic table was covered in blood from someone's previous visit, so I spent some time scrubbing the table down with water. The grill was ok, but I did have to shoo people away from our wood! The night meant only a few hours sleep for me and my oldest. Since the campsites are so close, any music, conversation, or laughter spills over to the entire area. We were regaled with this until 2 a.m., when the park ranger finally came to tell the offenders to shut it up. The groups still laughed and caroused for another hour. This was interspersed with a barking dog, and the sound of car horns. As far as something nice to say , the hiking is pretty good, though not a very long trek. It was strenuous and very steep in a lot of places for the more adventurous. Definitely won't be back to Garner. It was like camping in everyone else's armpits. If isolation, quiet, and relaxation is what you crave, avoid this one. read more

I absolutely love this park and have been camping here several times and often recommend to others. Unfortunately, yesterday, I had an awful run in with the front desk staff when I was checking in. I was supposed to come in with a group the night before, but couldn't because of work. So they kindly took my son in advance and register my car when they checked in and paid my fee. A very nice gentleman, who I believe name was Chris, did not tell my party that they could not pre-register my vehicle. When I arrive the next day, already emotionally and physically exhausted from another long day, I encountered a female attendant at the front office. After letting her know I was checking in and already registered and paid, she rang up my card anyway saying that It had been inappropriate for the group to pre-register my car the night before. While I waited for my friend to send me a copy of the registration and showed my vehicle license plate by text, I signed a credit card receipt as she explained I could get a refund after I show the receipt. When she again repeated it was inappropriate, I suggested to her that it was the park's responsibility to have let the party know that pre-registration was not allowed. She responded "we ALWAYS tell people about this requirement" voice dripping with condescension. Obviously, her incredibly rude and unprofessional implication was that someone in my party had lied. She was not present for that encounter the night before nor has she did she even bothered to check the validity of her assumption. Given her age, I won't include her name here or fault her for the complete lack of the most basic emotional intelligence and professionalism. This was a training and management issue. She then called her supervisor, who I think may have actually been the park assistant superintendent, David Allen, who came out. He then, chest puffed, proceeded to support her without even wondering what the exchange between she and I was. Even after I told him and had shown her that my car had already been paid for, he refused to refund the money that I gave. He said the people that had pre-registered my car would have to come up and have a discussion with him first. At this point, I was near tears out of sheer exhaustion both from the long day I had had and with frustration of trying to maintain my faith while swallowing insults. I let the matter drop and I let them keep the additional $13 and chalked it up to a donation. When I let my group know what happened, and they said they were never told they could not register my car when they came in. They also said the gentlemen Chris? Who was taking care of them was incredibly kind and professional and there was never any discussion of the sort. What an embarrassment to this establishment to have a young lady like the one I dealt with representing the park implying that my group had lied without having any information about the encounter that happened the night before. And how much more embarrassing for the establishment to have a supervisor come out and essentially support his employee on her accusation that our group lied without any knowledge of what happened the night before. As much as I wanted to stop in again this morning to discuss the matter again now that I had heard what had happened the night before, the office was not yet opened when we left. My recommendation is to invest a little more time training the front desk and whoever the gentleman was, Mr. Allen or otherwise, on general principles of decency, professionalism, and courtesy. What an incredible disappointing experience. My family and I will continue returning to this park because this is one of God's most beautiful creations in our state. But I hope that by our next visit, someone will have taken the time to reflect and work on changing the attitudes of the front office staff that I dealt with. read more

My wife and I decided take a small vacation and we rented a cabin in the park. The cabin we stayed at was $130 a night. They require a $100 deposit. The rental was on Wed and Thu with us checking out on Friday. Good luck getting a cabin over the weekend as when we were checked out at 8:00am and there was already a line for people coming in. My wife and I loved the peace and quiet. Over the 2 days we were there, we hiked several trails. The maps they provide are very detailed and will even give you a designation of easy to hard depending on the incline. some trails go straight up...very exhausting but worth the view. Be prepared for a complete "offline" experience as the park has no wifi, no cell service. at least for T-Mobile, and no TV so once you are in for the day, there is absolutely nothing to do. the cabins do have a fridge, microwave, and A/C, but no towels, sheets, pillows, and blankets for the beds. You have to bring your own. We had to buy everything at Walmart in Uvalde south of the park about 40 minutes away. We will be back! read more

Normally Garner is Awesome and the office and security people are great but this weekend the state police, security people were still awesome and so were the office staff we dealt with. However after informing the people in charge of closing the gate that we had two young people coming in before 11:30 they locked the gate about 11:14. Our kids locked out, people that went to the dance locked in and even two of their workers couldn't go home. Unreal!! Fortunately the State Cops came out and in their usual awesome selves saved the night for a lot of people. The people that ran out on everybody needs to be replaced. They were rude to my two young people and somebody else trying to get in and then left. read more

The river and camping has always been a great family outing. I have been camping at Garner for over 20 years. Lately, they have not been keeping up with weeds. The growth along the sides of the river especially in New Garner is out of control. Also, there was an unbelievable amount of garbage, water bottles and glass beer bottles in the river. This is very dangerous. Last time we went about 2 years ago in the deep area behind the pavilion, there was a metal pipe, roubar pipe, sticking out of the rocks right where people jump in. Very dangerous. They need staff to clean. Also, I noticed that the area behind the pavilion where you climb down to the water, there is a foul smell like a can of rotten beans. It was there this time I visited as well, July 2016. They need to clean better. I hope they do. I used to love taking my kids there. read more

First impression while entering this park as overnight tenters. We booked and paid online in advance and have a campsite already. Today is the start of the peak season and there's a 1-2 hour wait to register. We are 65 in the queue. At least you can take take a ticket instead of lining up in a queue. 3 of the 5 kiosks have are being operated. There is NO seating in the waiting room, you have to either stand for 1-2 hours or wait in your car or sit in the grass. Astonished at the lack of efficiency here. Oh yes, one more thing: it's currently 94 degrees and the water fountains are not working. read more

The best state park I have been to. Even in a drought the water was nice. We took the kids out of school and stayed on the weekdays since we heard you cant move at the park on weekends. Old Garner has great trees and cute cabins, New garner is where we stayed was a short hike to the water and had shade. The staff was great! read more

My wife, kids and myself checked in today to our reserved space. We were told if we wanted to move to a different spot to go ahead and take it, but to let the front office know. So, we went to our spot and my wife liked another location, so I took the spot she liked. After backing our RV in and getting it level, I grab my bike and road back over to the office to notify them we were in a different location. After waiting in line for quite awhile, my number was called and the lady behind the desk told me I needed the document that gets attached to your windshield. I let her know I would have to ride back and get it (over a mile away and up a big hill) she told me she couldn't do it without. She assured me the spot wouldn't get filled. So, I road back to the site, got the document and road back to the office, waited in line again ( 3rd time waiting). Got called up and let the next lady know I needed to move from spot 32 to spot 36 only for her to tell me the spot was now taken! Now, I'm a pretty chill guy, but this has now gone on for almost 2hrs! I asked for my money back ( we had reserved and paid for 5 days) she told they could only give us our money back for 4 of the days. I told her that was fine. It told her a good part of 20 minutes to issues a refund and then issue another one day pass. I let her know that wouldn't be nessisary, but she told me I wouldn't be able to leave without one. I couldn't wait to get out of there! Both of the staff working there were extremely rude and unwilling to help at all. It was an unusual experience for a state park. We always look for state parks to stay at because of the great surroundings and friendly staff. Garner does have the great surroundings, but the Staff is terrible! Don't recommend! And, won't go back to visit! read more

Garner Park is a very nice place to visit. The last time we visited was 5 years ago and they fixed up the park. I agree with one of the reviews that they are very strict on rules. I have never met someone as rude as the park ranger. I have worked law enforcement for over 18 years as a supervisor and if I was this rangers supervisor, I would teach him how to speak to people. This is a family place, not a bar! read more

I have been going to Garner every year since 1974. We stay for 2 weeks when we go. I love the beauty of the park and the river. It does not matter whether the water is high or low. It is easy to find a good spot with a water chute for the kids to play in and just sit around and relax and enjoy our camping groups company. Yes, it takes a while to check in but we have as much fun sitting in line and visiting with people from all over the state as we do when we get to our campsite. We actually go up a day early and form a line for the next day check-in. Over the years we have developed a system for getting campsites that we love. Our kids look forward to being in the river all day and going to the dances every night. It is "tradition" as most people will agree. If there ever is a problem with other campers, the park rangers have always handled it with professionalism. We book our sites 333 days in advance at 12:01 a.m. We do not consider is a hassle be it is worth the trip and the great times and memories that we have. I would say my best memories other than going to the dance as a kid would be when we would go down and "shoot the tubes". There would be 2 to 3 hundred people there just having a great time. I sure do miss the tubes even at my age now. Baytown, North Shore, Galena Park campers from the 70's and 80's know exactly what I am talking about. It is not hard to have a great time when you camp with great people. Our camping group has been together for 20 plus years and still going strong. I have camping group friends that have been together since the 60's and still camp together at River Bend right down the road from Garner. I am without a doubt a die hard Garner fan and will be till the day I take that last float. read more

We're arrived on a Monday evening after the check in station was closed. The place was empty. Picked a great camping spot #28. We departed on Friday. We loved the beauty of the river and surrounding hiking trails. The bathrooms and shower were just okay. I'll give them a 2 on a scale of 5. The campsites were too close together. What we mostly didn't like was how huge the park was. So many campsites and day site use areas makes for an enormous number of people on the weekends and it stresses the environment. I was shocked at how much trash there was in our campsite. Not large pieces of trash but bits and pieces everywhere. I probably noticed this more than usual because we had a 4 month old puppy with us and he wants to put everything in his mouth. Scattered all over our site were Twist ties, bottle caps, Q-tips, bones of every kind... Chicken, ribs, beef. Those little plastic juice bottles that kids suck on and the twist off plastic top that looks like a crab claw. Tent stakes all over our site that we had to pull out in order not to trip on them. Rope, twine, two 20oz plastic drink bottles full of what looked like pee tossed to the side of our site. As we wandered around the Campground we noticed it wasn't just our site. It was everywhere. The dance hall and the Garner Grill weren't open during the weekdays and we were glad, just one more thing to attract more people. Down by the river in the day use it was depressing the way people just leave their bits and pieces of trash all over. I fear for the Frio River. Probably won't ever go back. It was too depressing to see how people treat it. read more

I have been a "Garner Brat" for 52 years. i am sorry there are those who do not have a great time at Garner, but when it is enjoyed by so many people then of course it is crowded. some of the country music has been on the juke box since i was 12 years old and i am 64. it brings back many wonderful memories. i climbed Old Baldy in my younger years but now am very content to sit in camp and listen to the many adventures going on around me. i prefer to go in early October as i do not do "kids" as well as i did once upon a time, but i will go anytime i can get a site, cabin or shelter. the river is awesome. last year it was a bit low due to drought but i understand that it is up again this year. one of my favorite things to do now at Garner is to sit quietly in my camp and photograph the many skunks that come visiting. if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. they are only scavenging for left over food. they will not stay if you clear up your campsite nicely and be very quiet. i am looking forward to staying in one of the renovated cabins since i don't have a travel trailer anymore and to be honest it is, to me, the most magnificent place in all of Texas. if you want to be totally quiet and peaceful, go in the fall or early spring. if you don't mind a lot of noise and other people, go in the summer. any season is wonderful at Garner. there are always those who have no respect for lands owned by us all so pick up your trash, keep your music down and do not treat all around you to music they may not like. if you are under age, do not drink. follow the rules and you will have an awesome time at Garner. read more

Garner is an amazing family park! My family has been going to garner since 1983. I am now 36 and have not missed one summer of camping there with my husband, and my daughter. Garner is the busiest texas state park, but those who are repeated goers know the dos and donts of the reservation process, the wait times when you get to the park, and what part of the park you wish to stay in. Those who complain about things in Garner, just haven't gone long enough to experience the beauty and fun of a camping park. CAMPING is the operative word. Which means you are out doors. If there is any camping park in this world where there is no noise or music, or fun then you should find one because garner is not for you. Garner is awesome, and to all the garner veterans reading this probably agree that this is a camp and rv park. That is why they call it the great outdoors! But I do want to say to all readers of this review. Keep the park clean, clean after yourselves and your kids. Take your broken canopies and chairs, beer cans and beer bottles and dispose of them. After all, if you want your kids to bring their kids, then teach by example! read more

Our family goes to Garner every year and we absolutely love it! Obviously a lot of reviewers on here don't know what to expect or know the history and traditions of Garner! First of all, unless it's been a really wet year - which hasn't happened in a really long time - the Frio River in Garner is really not a good place to float. But we don't go there to float. The dance every night during the summer is tradition, and contrary to what someone claimed, you cannot hear it all over the park. Yes it's hot - it's outside under the Big Tree at the Pavillion and it's summertime in Texas....where isn't it hot???? By the way, the rules for setting up chairs for the dance has changed for the better. Garner is the MOST POPULAR state park in Texas and you generally have to make reservations 11 months in advance if you are planning on going during the summer - unless it's after school starts back. With that being said, yes there are long check in lines and you have to know how to handle that. We actually keep a book with the maps of all the state parks we visit and circle the sites we like. That way when we check in we know which sites to ask for. There are signs about alcohol use in the park and the rangers have been known to give out tickets. The dance is over at 11:00 so anyone going back to their campsites will get back between 11:15-11:30...who goes to bed early at Garner?? As for cell phone service, we have AT&T and we do not have problems. I do know people with TMobile and Sprint have had problems there. The park staff is friendly - most have been there for a long time - there's a newly remodeled upgraded park store, you can rent bikes, kayaks, paddleboats and all other kinds of things to give you a change of pace. I do get upset about the people who leave their trash and I'm not one to be embarrassed to call someone out on it. No excuse for that. Friends of Garner does a lot to help the park including picking up trash. The weekend after Labor Day is River Clean UP and we've helped with that - makes you wonder about some of the people who camp there. Garner is our summer family tradition! read more