Lakedale Resort at Three Lakes

Very aggressive management that does not seem to have respect for the truth. The island itself is quite nice, regrettably the resort has seen it’s best days a longer time ago. Not worth spending the money at this resort. Have never written a bad review, but potential guests need to be informed of the lack of courtesy at the resort as well as the lack of any luxury that is promised through «pretty» pictures on the website. Just mad at myself for spending money and even more my valuable time at this resort. Management needs a «reshuffling».

Just think outrageous pricing for outdated room /​dirty tents and really nasty aggravated management.

Five stars alone for Mary Ann. She cooks an amazing breakfast for everyone in the lodge and gives great tips for sights on the island. We loved our stay. Highly recommended!

We decided to take a mini trip to Friday Harbor for New Years Eve! We got to Lakedale around 10:30am from driving a few hours. Then spoke to Richard the front desk agent about checking in early. He said no problem at all. We can get you checked in at 12:00pm instead of the normal check in time of 4:00pm. He was very helpful and told us a couple of good places in town to check out.
We stayed in the lodge in the Deluxe room with a queen bed. The room had such an awesome view right on the lake. There was a fireplace in the room with a Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. Everything was really clean and very comfortable. This was probably the nicest, cleaniest, and relaxing place we’ve stayed at.
In the morning you can go down for breakfast. They make pretty much everything home made with is awesome. I had fresh greek yogurt, home made granola, fresh fruit, and a bacon omelet that was to die for. Everyday they make some kind of home made snack and set it out for guests too.
The location is great because it’s not too far from the downtown area. We didn’t want to leave and almost stayed an extra night here. Lakedale Resort is a wonderful place to stay and just relax. Richard’s customer service is phenomenal and I really appreciate him taking his time out to make our experience the best I’ve ever had. Everyone that works there really loves their jobs and you can totally tell. Please take my advice and stay there sometime. I know we will be back very soon :)

I was part of a wedding that was being held here and had been told this place would be nicer, but the new owners totally skimp on things. We found this to be painfully true and were disappointed over and over again.
While some may enjoy the glamping experience, the cabins are ridiculously overpriced at $ 500+/night. The cabin consisted of zero amenities, no conditioner in the bathroom and I’ve had better towels at the YMCA. Seriously, the towels were undersized and as soft as sandpaper. Second, they advertise the cabins as a «2 bedroom, 2 bathroom» cabin. However the 2^nd bedroom is basically a loft and was completely open and offered zero privacy. This is not a «luxury» experience as the price would lead you to believe. There is no AC, which would be ok, if you could leave your doors or windows open. That’s not an option on the first floor bedroom since there’s no window and the door doesn’t even has a screen door. The food options are incredibly limited, as we were staying in the cabins and paying the same price as other wedding guests in the lodge we were told that we couldn’t eat breakfast in the lodge. Seriously! I paid the exact same price per person and was told no to the breakfast they served. For what we paid, we expected so much more. There is NOTHING luxurious about this place and it is far away from town and they do not offer any sort of shuttle service, so you must have your own transportation. Anything you want to do in addition at the resort costs money.
The pictures on the website abuse the wide angle lens a little too much to make everything look much bigger and more impressive that it actually is in person. Not all doors have screens, and not all rooms have windows… So in our bedroom, we had a room with no AC, no windows and a door without a screen.
I would never return here or recommend it to any of my friends in the Seattle area. There are far better accommodations to be had in Friday Harbor. Do yourself a favor and stay in Friday Harbor and enjoy the ability to walk through town and dine at the many wonderful restaurants.

Our stay was wonderful and absolutely perfect vacation the staff were very helpful we felt very pampered the rooms were beautiful life doesn’t get any better than Lakedale we will be back to see Maryanne Richard and Carla they are wonderful keep up the good work

I was part of a wedding that was being held here, so I was forced to stay at this place. I am told it used to be nicer, but the new owners totally skimp on things. We found this to be painfully true and were disappointed over and over again.
First of all 3 nights in a cabin with zero amenities should not have been $ 500+/ night!!! Second, an open loft is legally not allowed to be called a private bedroom, but that didn’t stop this place from calling our cabin a «2 bedroom, 2 bathroom». The loft was completely open and offered zero privacy. Not a «bedroom «, it was a 2^nd floor landing with a bed. The cabins are about 7 feet away from each other, so I hope you like hearing everything going on around you, apparently the lodge was equally private, and you could hear everything in the room on either side of you. This is not a «luxury» experience as the price would lead you to believe. The bathrooms didn’t have conditioner or hand soap in the kitchen. The towels, which were more like loin cloths (I am not an overweight person, and they were useless.) Pretty much, think motel six towels. There is no AC, which would be ok, if leaving your windows open didn’t mean listening to everything going on in the cabins next door. The screen door on the cabin Porch didn’t have a spring, so it slammed, and sounded like a gun shot every time someone walked through it… which was a huge problem since our group was not acquainted with each other and the other couple came and went at all hours. The television they have in the cabin is a tube 26 inch tube TV (seriously?!? It is less than $ 100 for the same flat screen). You are also 5 full miles from the town, they did no food available onsite and the market is absolutely ridiculously over priced (this coming from people who lived in San Francisco until a year ago). For what we paid, I expected so much more. There is NOTHING luxurious about this place and it is far away from town. They do not offer any sort of shuttle service, so you must have your own transportation. There is nothing to do at the resort that doesn’t cost a small fortune.
The website abuses the wide angle lens to make everything look much bigger and more impressive that it actually is in person. The appliances in the cabins are painfully outdated (not surprising given the tube TV situation). Not all doors have screens, and not all rooms have windows… So in our cabin, we had a room with no AC, no windows and doors without a screen (and a shit load of bugs all over the place to come in to the cabin, so it was hot and stuffy because we couldn’t open our door because again, there was no privacy with the room upstairs being a loft.
The camping portion of the facility looks nice, but again, you are at the mercy of your very close neighbor.
We will never return here or recommend it to our many friends in the Seattle area. This whole experience was lackluster and awful. There are far better accommodations to be had in Friday harbor and other «camping/​glamping» sites with so much more to offer (including cell phone reception, there is none this far out from town)

Really wonderful private campground with virtually no cheesy stuff and lots of sweet touches. We were hesitant to attend a private campground, but this one was like a throw back to the olden days of sweet family camps.
We stayed in a camping spot. The lake side spots are mostly great, but some of the interior ones are awesome and others are a bit boring or exposed.

Staff were all very friendly, the grounds are well-​maintained, and the views are pretty.
However, for the money I expected a lot more.
We reserved the biggest house on the property and weren’t thrilled that it’s located right on the main road in and out, so it can be a little loud and you’re really close to the other cabins. The back of the house is also about 4 feet away from some sort of storage garage that staff leave the light on in all night and frequently go in and out of at all hours. If you’re a light sleeper don’t take the bedroom nearest that garage. The house is also located quite close to the dumpsters, so on garbage day expect to be rudely woken up very early. There was also an electrical issue in the house while we stayed there that couldn’t be resolved, so we had pretty limited lighting in the main living/​dining area.
Also, despite the very high cost per night, nothing is included. Kindling for fires? Buy your own. Take a boat out on the lake? Pay per hour. And the kitchen in the house was missing quite a few items that I assumed would be there and have been in other rental home kitchens.
Overall, I expected a LOT more for the money.

We used the tent campground for 4 nights. Terrible bathroom setup. One small, poorly designed bathroom was not enough for the whole campground. It was not kept clean. You can’t keep the faucets on to wash up. Women are crowded in at busy times of the day all the time. The sites are expensive and still we had to pay for minimal showers; not fair. Dirt sites should be small gravel for that price to cutdown dust. Really dirty! Very noisy! Noise levels were not controlled at all. Honey buckets were really bad. Water spigots splashed all over. No hot water at the 2 dishwashing stations. Dirt roads kicked up dust all over the place. We won’t be back.

My wife and I stayed here in the canvas cabins (glamping) for our anniversary. The setting was beautiful and the tent was nice. Overall our stay was enjoyable and we will likely return here someday. A few tips:
1. Remember that glamping is still camping (at least it is at lake dale). Bring everything you would normally bring sans the tent. Example: bug spray, fire starting materials, etc.
2. Bring a fly-​swatter if you visit in the summer. There is a heavy presence of meat bees.
3. Bring your own towels. Those provided are small and not to be used at the lake.
4. If you are glamping with children, bring a potty seat. The walk to the bathrooms at night isn’t fun. Fortunately it was just the two of us this time, so this is a tip we ourselves will heed if our next visit is with the whole family.
5. Outside of the main lodge, the rest of the facilities are very family friendly. Lots of kids running around, riding bikes, swimming, etc. This didn’t bother us, but don’t expect a particularly quite setting. The majority of the property is made up of «traditional» campsites, so expect the usual camping experience outside of your ‘canvas cabin’.
6. The general store is reasonably priced. A bit more expensive than buying things in advance, but we never got the feeling we were taken advantage of.
Critiques:
1. The overall value seems low for what was offered. The tent was nice, but the rate we paid is close to that of a room at a bed and breakfast. Still, it’s one of the less expensive ways to enjoy the island short of going «traditional» camping.
2. The included continental breakfast wasn’t impressive and seemed like a missed opportunity to add value to our stay and make the whole experience more ‘glamorous’.
3. There seems to be a lack of bathroom facilities. As far as we could tell, there is only one bathroom/​shower facility which is shared between the entire campground (canvas tents and traditional campsites). There was often a wait and the walk from our cabin was a little far at night. Also, the trash dumpsters are right next to the bathrooms and were quite smelly & unpleasant to walk past.

The update: it’s still wonderful, and my fiancé is now my wife!
We’ve since returned with our own paddle boards, leisurely enjoying the placid waters of three lakes. Compared to other parts of SJ in August, Lakedake remains peaceful despite the influx of tourists (ourselves included).

Given that I’m not a huge fan of camping (learning to love it at this point!), I was still seriously impressed with Lakedale. They have great kids activities, boats available for rent, and a general store that has everything you could possibly need or want-​including coffee for the adults in camp every morning. We stayed here with several adults and several young kids in one of the cheaper campgrounds where you bring your own gear and I felt perfectly comfortable and content the whole time. The existence of real showers and real toilets is a huge bonus, even if they were a bit of a hike from our particular campground. I would definitely camp here again next time I’m out on San Juan Island. Minus one star for the port-​a-​potties being in disgusting shape.

Great place, so many activities for kids. Book early because it fills up on holiday weekends. A short drive from Friday harbor, great place for dogs too. No cell reception but they do have wifi at the lodge. Great swimming, paddle boats, etc. Either being it yourself or rent equipment from them.

Absolutely wonderful place to stay! We stayed in one of their two story log cabins for a week and it was amazing! The staff is all very friendly and helpful. We spent our days at the lake swimming, paddle boarding, kayaking and fishing. They have life size chess and jenga (super fun), and the kids participated in one of the many crafts offered. They stuffed an animal of their choice than made them a tiny tie dye shirt.
The cabin was fully accommodating, a full kitchen including all cookware, toaster, waffle maker, cutting board, microwave, fridge etc. You only need to bring food to prepare. We had two queen beds, two full bathrooms, a living room and a great «backyard» including a lake! The cabin also had a fireplace that turned on with a light switch (amazing), and there’s a private hot tub available too. It’s such a family friendly place and just walking the property is beautiful! Lots of deer in the area as well which was a treat. They also had a small tv and DVD player and movies available to borrow. We would come back in a heart beat!
It’s almost smack in between Roch and Friday harbor and the drive to either harbor is mesmerizing.

I first would like to apologize I took so long to write this review. We camped out earlier last month and it was simply incredible! We took our own tent and in the morning a gracious wonderful lady came walking up with a karaffe of fresh coffee and fresh made muffins!!! We were not expecting this! Lakesdale resort was very clean the kids enjoyed the kayaks and the freedom to explore. They went fishing and released what they caught. Simply said the place was magical and we will be returning!!! I have recommended this location to several friends and they have all gone (everyone) and came back wanting more, some already talikng about booking for next year!
AWESOME.

Highly recommend staying here! We stayed for memorial weekend and had so much fun. We camped in the canvas tents right on the lake and it was the ultimate glamping experience! They give you warm water packs for your feet at night, supply you with everything you need like a cooler, grill tools, flashlights, a free bundle of wood & travel shampoo and conditioner. Special shoutout to MaryAnn the dining coordinator, she genuinely wants you to enjoy your stay & makes you feel like family. Malcolm at the front desk is probably the nicest person I’ve ever met and Matt at the general store was very helpful getting anything we needed to our campsite! Great people, great food, great vibe.
The ONLY con I have, which isn’t really a factor at all, but the wood bundles are a little pricey @ 9 dollars, and the ice is 4.50 a bag. There are a ton of locals selling wood for 5.00 a bundle all over the island so I would suggest you do that, just make sure you have cash as it’s an honor system setup!

I absolutely loved my stay at Lakedale. I was there for a 5-​day knitting retreat and the staff was very accommodating for our needs (we took over the entire place). The setting is serene and gorgeous — nestled in the woods overlooking a small private lake. Many of the rooms in the lodge overlook the lake — mine was on the ground floor and opened out directly onto the deck. The lobby features a giant fireplace (which was going the whole time we were there in chilly April) and huge windows that seemed to bring the outside in. My room was lovely — beautifully appointed with a jetted tub and fireplace. Full breakfast is included, and always had several options including scrambled eggs, oatmeal, a variety of breads, cereals and fruit, and even a pancake maker. The staff is very nice and helpful.
A word about the negative reviews — please note they are all about the campsites. Stay in the lodge. You won’t regret it.

I like to think a man of fine tastes. I’m okay paying a little extra for a «premium» experience. Yes, Chipotle, I’ll have the guacamole on my burrito. Yes, I know it costs $ 1.95 extra, but I’m okay with that. You see, I am a man of fine tastes.
I’ll take the Kindle with NO Special Offers, thank you very much. Some things are worth paying for. You see, I am a man of fine tastes, after all.
So I’m okay paying $ 200 for a «glamping» experience. But when I pay $ 200, which I did for a Canvas Cabin for one night stay, I don’t expect to have to walk 500 feet to the bathroom/​showers and then be given two tokens for showers, providing me five minutes of showering each. Oh, but it’s okay, if you run out of tokens, you can buy them at the General Store. Because that’s what I want to do when I am dropping a few hundred bucks on a canvas cabin: buy shower tokens for a public shower.
Aside from that, there’s a lot to like about Lakedale. The site is lovely, the walk between sites is pretty brief, the staff is super friendly. There’s wifi at the lodge, although cell phone reception is spotty (and even started charging me roaming at one point). One downside (or upside, depending on how you look at it): There’s no illumination on any of their paths, so you must bring a flashlight. Especially if you want to get to the bathroom at night.
If I’d paid half the amount I did, I would be ecstatic about my experience. But don’t charge me $ 200 and then give me shower tokens. I’m a man of fine tastes.

Six of us had a great weekend on San Juan Island camping here! I would do it again! We camped in a «Lakeside family site». The site was very spacious and easily fit our two cars and three tents with area to spare but we weren’t exactly Lakeside I would say.
As far as camping amenities go I was really impressed, it’s pretty luxurious for «roughing it». The showers were clean and you never had to wait that long to get one. Tokens are $ 2 for five minutes. We rented poles and a boat and caught about 5 fish between the 6 of us in a few hours on their stocked lake, that was great fun.
The loud toad is still there on the lake and it makes an ungodly noise (seriously, sounds like someone starting a lawnmower) all night but once you tune it out it’s not that bad.
The staff was alright, a bit spacey and you have to be sure to keep track of what you bought. We realized they hadn’t actually given us our shower tokens and a few other things but they were good about correcting that.
Main point, the campsites are spaced out enough with enough trees and growth in between that you feel separated from your neighbor, which is usual the hardest thing to find in campgrounds.