For a family of four, a camping cabin at a campground usually costs less per night than a hotel room, and the gap widens once you count what each one includes. The US hotel average was about $164 a night in mid-2025 (STR/CoStar data), before parking or resort fees. At Walnut Hills Family Campground in Durand, Michigan, our two camping cabins sleep four, come with air conditioning and a fridge, and weeknight rates start in the $70s, with weekends starting around $120 and varying by date. Your stay also includes the beach, the spring-fed lake, the playgrounds and the weekend events, which is where most of the real savings come from.
The trade-off is honest: a camping cabin is not a hotel room. There is no bathroom inside, you bring your own bedding, and you walk to the bathhouse. Here is how the two compare on cost, where cabins save money, where hotels still win, and exactly what you get in a Walnut Hills cabin.
Cabin rentals vs. hotels: what each one costs
| Camping cabin at Walnut Hills | Typical hotel room | |
|---|---|---|
| Nightly rate | Weeknights from the $70s; weekends from around $120 (see the rates page) | About $164 US average in 2025, higher in summer and near attractions |
| Who’s included | 2 adults and 2 children; extra adults $13 and extra kids (3 to 17) $9 per night | Usually 2 to 4 people per room; larger families often need two rooms |
| Bathroom | Shared bathhouse a short walk away | Private, in the room |
| Bedding | Bring your own linens, pillows and blankets | Provided |
| Food | Fridge, microwave and coffee maker inside; fire ring and grill outside | Mini-fridge at best; restaurant meals |
| Entertainment | Beach, swimming lake, playgrounds, Kangaroo Jumper, dog park, weekend events and food trucks on site | Pool, sometimes a gym; everything else is a paid outing |
| Deposits and fees | $75 cleaning deposit, refunded at departure if you clean up; water-park wristbands on weekends | Parking, resort and incidental fees vary by property |
| Pets | Not allowed in the cabins | Varies; often a pet fee |
Put plainly: a cabin is cheaper per night and cheaper per person, but you give up the private bathroom and the made bed. Whether that trade is worth it depends on the trip you want.
Where the real savings are
The nightly rate is only part of the math. Three things usually matter more.
Entertainment is on site, not a paid outing
A hotel room is a place to sleep between things you pay for. At a campground, the things to do are outside your door. At Walnut Hills that means the spring-fed swimming lake and sandy beach, two playgrounds, the gaga ball pit, the ball field, a fenced dog park, an arcade in the store and a schedule of weekend events: tie-dye and kids’ crafts at Pavilion 1, giant kickball by the ball field, and a DJ dance party, karaoke or a band at Pavilion 2 on Saturday nights. None of that costs extra for registered campers. The Wibit floating water park has a wristband fee on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and it is free for campers Tuesday through Thursday, which is one reason our team recommends arriving on a Thursday if you can.
You feed the family from a cooler and a fire
Every cabin has a fridge, microwave and coffee maker inside and a fire ring, grill and picnic table outside. Breakfast and lunch from a cooler and one cookout dinner replace three restaurant meals a day. On Saturdays from Memorial Day through September there is a food truck in the park, and often a Friday dinner truck and a Sunday breakfast truck too, so you can skip cooking without leaving the campground. The camp store carries the groceries, ice and firewood people forget, plus scooped ice cream.
One cabin instead of two rooms
Each Walnut Hills cabin has a double bed and a twin-over-twin bunk, so a family of four sleeps in one unit. Larger families can add a small pup tent outside the cabin for the extra kids; the extra-tent fee is $25 a night, and the extra-person rates above apply. A hotel often turns a family of five into two rooms, and every fee doubles with it.
Where a hotel still wins
Be fair to the hotel. It wins on the private bathroom, the daily housekeeping, the bedding and towels, and usually on breakfast. A camping cabin is one room with no plumbing. If someone in your group needs a bathroom a few steps away at 2 a.m., or you simply don’t want to pack sheets, a hotel or a kitchen cabin elsewhere is the better fit. The Oaks, our sister park near Jackson, has no cabins at all, so in Michigan the Walnut Hills cabins are the GatherGrounds option.
There is also a middle path a lot of reunion families use. RV delivery services such as Rolling Adventures RV will set up a rental camper, with a kitchen and bathroom, on a Walnut Hills site before you arrive, and our office staff lets them in that morning. You get the amenities and the private bathroom; you just rent the site from us and the RV from them.
What’s actually in a Walnut Hills camping cabin
Our two cabins are sites 43 and 46. Each is a one-room cabin with a tongue-and-groove wood interior, red-painted exterior and a small front porch. Inside you’ll find:
- Lights and air conditioning
- A double bed and a twin-over-twin bunk bed (sleeps 4)
- A table and chairs, a refrigerator, a microwave and a coffee maker
Outside there is a fire ring, a grill and a picnic table. Cabin 46 is a short walk from the main bathhouse, with a set of privies even closer; cabin 43 is a slightly longer but still easy walk. The bathhouse itself was rebuilt with new showers, quality sink bays and private toilet stalls, and guests mention its cleanliness as often as any amenity in the park. You can scroll through photos of each cabin in the booking system: click Book Now, then click the cabin on the site map.
A few simple guidelines keep the cabins affordable for everyone: bring your own linens, sweep up before you leave so your $75 cleaning deposit comes back, and plan for the dog to stay home, since pets aren’t allowed in the cabins. The rest of the park is pet-friendly; see our guide to pet-friendly cabins in Michigan if that matters for your trip.
How to get the lowest cabin rate
Cabin rates at Walnut Hills move with demand, like hotel rates. Holiday weekends cost the most and book earliest. The best values are weeknights, May before Memorial Day, the weekend after Memorial Day, the weekends around Labor Day, and October. Those dates have the same lake, events and food trucks, and the weekday Wibit is free. With only two cabins, holiday weekends are the one time they regularly sell out, so book those months ahead. For the full picture of what a cabin costs in Michigan, see our campground cabin prices guide.
Who the cabins work best for
A campground employee put it simply: the cabins are “a benefit to grandparents who don’t have their own RV, or other family members who aren’t typically campers, but want to be part of the family reunion.” That is the most common booking. The rest of the family sets up on RV or tent sites nearby, and the grandparents get a real bed, air conditioning and a porch while still being in the middle of everything. First-time campers use them the same way: a cabin is a low-commitment way to find out whether your family likes camping before you buy gear or an RV. If you’re weighing a cabin against a tent, our cabin vs. tent camping guide covers that choice.
Walnut Hills is about an hour from Flint, Lansing and the north Detroit suburbs, so a cabin weekend is a short drive rather than a flight and a hotel. See Walnut Hills Family Campground and the amenities page for everything on site, or browse other Michigan campgrounds with cabins.
Frequently asked questions
Are camping cabins cheaper than hotels?
Usually, yes. Walnut Hills cabins start in the $70s on weeknights and around $120 on weekends for up to four people, below the 2025 US hotel average of about $164 a night, and the entertainment is included. Hotels win on the private bathroom and bedding.
Do the Walnut Hills cabins have a bathroom or kitchen?
No. They have a fridge, microwave and coffee maker, a fire ring and grill, and air conditioning, but no plumbing. The bathhouse is a short walk from either cabin.
What do I need to bring for a cabin stay?
Sheets, pillows and blankets for a double bed and two twins, towels, cookware for the fire, and a cooler. Firewood is sold at the store (outside firewood isn’t allowed in Michigan).
Can I bring my dog to a cabin?
Not in the cabins. Dogs are welcome on RV and tent sites on a leash, can run off leash in the fenced dog park, and can swim in the river at the boat launch (the swim lake and beach are people-only).
How far ahead should I book?
There are only two cabins. Holiday weekends and the three Halloween weekends in September and October fill months ahead; ordinary weekends and weeknights are much easier.
