The boardwalk at Indiana Dunes ends on a dune face of loose sand, and Lake Michigan fills the view once you top it. The blowout is the first wide look at more than three miles of beach, with the ridge at your back and open water all the way out. Walk the wet sand until the ridge looks small behind you.
After that first look at the lake, walk the 3 Dune Challenge on the state park side. The route goes up the ridges and back down to the beach you saw from the blowout, and the afternoon is a swim off that sand. The national park and the state park share this shoreline, so a single day uses beach and ridges in both units. Sleep inland of that sand, in the trees behind the dunes, so morning is a short walk back to the water.
Dunewood, on the national park side, is a drive-in loop shaded by trees, close enough that the beach is the next morning's walk. There is no electric or water at the pads, and the campground runs April 1 through November 1, with sites reservable up to six months ahead as of September 2026. Some of those sites cap rig length, so check the pad before you size up to a South Bend RV rental for extra sleeping space.
The state park campground is next to the same beach and the 3 Dune Challenge, with electric hookups if you want to stay plugged in after a swim. That loop has 140 sites on 50-amp. On summer and fall weekends, lock whichever loop you want before you book the van.
Notre Dame football weekend
Home Saturdays in South Bend fill an off-campus lot with rigs and tailgate rows by mid-morning. The row is the weekend, from arrival through the game. You spend the day there and sleep on the same ground at night.
The home season runs September through November, which overlaps the last weeks Dunewood is open. A home weekend and a dune night compete for the same vans and the same sites around South Bend. On those shared dates, lock the overnight first, the lot or the campground pad, then book the van.
Notre Dame does not allow overnight parking in any campus lot as of September 2026. The RV night is the private Pendle Road lot off campus, or a campground pad you already hold at Potato Creek or the dunes.
Potato Creek State Park
From the boat launch, Worster Lake is a wide bowl of water with a wooded ridge on the far shore. You paddle the morning on that water, then walk the overlook trail after you come off the lake. Grass and wet low ground wrap the shoreline, and the van night is the electric loop in the trees.
It makes an easy first night close to South Bend. The campground is 287 electric sites about 12 miles southwest of South Bend, and fall weekends book out. When the trip leaves the dunes for the rest of the state, start with Indiana campervan rentals.