Lake Superior fills the windshield from the Burlington Bay shore, where the Two Harbors city campground sets the rig on the lake at the edge of town. That's the near end of a week up the North Shore. The far end is the Grand Marais harbor, with its break wall and cobblestone beach. MN-61 ties the two towns together along river mouths and rocky points, and the waterfalls and the lighthouse in between turn into day stops instead of overnights.
That's how a family motorhome does the North Shore: a couple of nights in one harbor town, the rest of the week in the other, and the shore road driven in daylight with nowhere to be by dark. The rig stays plugged in and level while everyone's out on the rocks, and the trip runs through summer and early fall.
Burlington Bay to the Grand Marais harbor on MN-61
Night one is Burlington Bay, close enough to Duluth that the first afternoon goes to the lake instead of the road. The pads look out on Lake Superior from the Two Harbors shore, and the kids can be down on the beach rocks before the awning is out. The campground's loops split between sites with water and 30/50-amp electric and sites that add sewer, and the city takes bookings online through Firefly.
North of Two Harbors the road follows the shore, and two stops earn the morning. Gooseberry Falls pours over basalt ledges just off the highway, and Split Rock Lighthouse stands on its cliff above the lake farther up. Both make a slow first half of the drive to Grand Marais, or a morning trip back down the shore from the Burlington Bay pad.
Grand Marais is where the week settles. The Grand Marais Recreation Area runs along the harbor with RVs in rows by the break wall, the cobblestone beach at the water and the town a walk away. Its pull-through sites carry electric, water and sewer, so the rig can sit for the rest of the week without moving.
Book both campgrounds before the motorhome. Grand Marais recommends reservations from June through September, and the dates you can hold on the harbor and at Burlington Bay are what set the week, with the rental matched to them after. Coming back down MN-61, Burlington Bay's dump station is an easy stop before Duluth.
Indian Point on the St. Louis River
For a week based in town, Indian Point Campground holds a wooded promontory over Spirit Bay on the St. Louis River, with the sites under maples, elms and pines. Downtown, ore carriers come in through the ship canal, tall ships too when they visit, and the North Shore road starts on the far side of the city. A parked week here mixes river mornings with afternoons on the lakefront.
Indian Point has pull-through sites, a full-hookup tier with water, electric and sewer, and a dump station. It also makes the first night when the rig is collected in Duluth and the shore is the second leg of the trip.
The campground names Grandma's Marathon, Bluesfest and the Airshow as base-camp weekends, and those dates pull on the same rigs and the same river pads at once. Reservations go by phone, so call for the site before booking the motorhome for any of them.
Jay Cooke State Park farther up the river, the Spirit Mountain campground and the North Shore state parks from Tettegouche to Cascade River suit two people moving camp each night, and that trip is written up for a smaller rig out of Duluth. For a rig week inland, Itasca and the Brainerd lakes are on the Minnesota RV page.