fontainebleau state park

Had a stunning day, no one was there due to the light rain. Had the joint to myself. Swamp AND Beach AND history AND wildlife AND park AND pier. Everything you want

They don't charge much, but with so much in Mandeville that's free, why go to this park? And the staff at the entrance are rude and unhelpful. Skip this and go to the Trace or the Lake for free.

This is a great spot to stay and explore the North Coast. The bike trail is convenient and a great way to travel on bikes to see Abita Springs, Mandeville and Slidell. The facilities are nice. The other hiking trails are a little less okay.

Plenty to do as far as hiking running swimming and strolling. Clean friendly and good accommodations.

The park is well kept and improvements have been made over the years. I have been going to the park as long as I can remember. Now we bring our grandkids who just love the water feature. It is a great place to go as a family.

We love the playground, the water park for small kids and the lakefront beach. We live in Mandeville, so it is an easy access recreational activity for our family.

You really won't believe you're in Louisiana. This State Park not only has a lot of history, but it's clean, safe, beautiful and has a fabulous beach on Lake Pontchartrain! They also have great cabins for small or large parties. New Orleans is only 25 minutes away, and Old Mandeville is right down the road with amazing things to do. The best kept secret is the Dew Drop Jazz Hall about 3 minutes away. This is the oldest structure used as a jazz hall in the US. Some of the most famous jazz musicians play here, and it's easier to see them at the Dew Drop than in New Orleans. Bring your lounge chair, bottle of wine, and either sit in or out to hear the best music. The little church next door fries up the best chicken or catfish dishes for only 10.00. The Dew Drop is seasonal so check the website. There is also the Old Mandeville Farmers market every Saturday, bike rentals, and lots of local great restaurants only 3 minutes away! Definitely a park to visit!!!!!

Lots of open spaces for baseball or football. Wooded areas. Playground. Picnic tables. Beach wasn't open the day we were there, but nice sandy beach with a lookout you can walk out to. Several weddings on this day made the scenes especially beautiful.

This is a very attractive state park on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain just east of Mandeville. It’s a nice place for hiking, cycling, bird watching, picnicking and camping. There are cabin facilities but some are closed presently due to damage sustained in Hurricane Isaac; check the website for current information. An RV park is available for trailers and campers. There is a small entrance fee to the park.

We were so excited to visit this park! Online it said it was $1 per person, per day. At the park, it is $2 per person. Not a big deal, but it is if you have a lot of people. Then we went to the alligator board walk. We walked so far to get there then when we got to the "board walk" it was about 6 feet long. The website shows a long, beautiful board walk over the water. This "board walk" was just over the grass. I don't know if it used to be a long board walk (as shown in the picture) and it was torn down. IF that's the case, they should have posted signs saying the board walk wasn't there anymore. Either way it was very disappointing for out of town travelers.

Beautiful state park with lots of wildlife. Mostly pine woods and a marsh area offer opportunities to sight large variety of birds. Several playgrounds for the kids, a fishing pond and a small beach on the lake.

Great place to spend the day. Also, if you can rent a cabin out there you will not be disappointed! Out over the water of Lake Ponchartrain, it's quiet and idyllic for sunsets.

Hiked the trail along the bogs and enjoyed the trail. It takes you in and out of many beautiful areas of the park. When you are done hiking, sit and relax on the beach. Lovely way to spend the day!

This is a Beautiful park for a day trip or camping. Plenty of wide open spaces where you can be away from everyone. Nice, safe walking trails and beautiful water to look out on. Great for families or anyone really. Price for camping and day use is reasonable for any income.

I actually visited Fontainebleau State Park with my family and my mom in March 2014 but hadn't written a review. Now, however, I am planning our next vacation and all any of us can do is think about our experiences here and everything else is paling in comparison. So I figured that deserved a rating and review!! We left Michigan with 3 boys (2 10 yr olds and an 8 month old), 2 vehicles, 1 camper, 0 reservations, and no real idea where we were heading. I had an idea that Fontainebleau was where I wanted to stay but there were a few Parks on the way that we planned to check out first. After seeing the other parks and realizing they were not what we were looking for, we were getting pretty discouraged as I called Fontainebleau and spoke with one of the Rangers. He told us they had TWO sites available that weren't flooded (hmm, that sounded concerning) but that they wouldn't be available for long and we were 2 hours away yet. I did not like that I had to choose a site without being able to see it first but we didn't want to risk losing the chance of getting a site at all and being stranded overnight :) Besides, the Ranger assured me that I would be able to move to the other site in the morning if we were unhappy and it was still available. I want to take a minute to talk about the Rangers as I have read quite a few negative reviews about them. We loved the Rangers and found them to be great resources and very helpful!! They may have been a bit stand-off-ish at first (after all, they see tourists come and go every day) but that didn't fly with me or my mother, they didn't stand a chance and we had them gabbing within minutes. I feel that respecting them and being kind to them will get you far and only enhance the already incredible stay. Just my opinion and experience, we loved our Rangers. Anyway, we were all pretty irritable with one another when we got to the site and I took the car back to the Ranger station to pay while my fiancé started to set up camp (in the dark!!). When I came back I found him LITERALLY setting up a tent in a small lake/large puddle, sloshing around and getting more frustrated by the second. I thought I had blown it by choosing this site and Campground and I pictured us packing up first thing in the morning and wondered where we would go. We ended up moving the tent onto the only dry ground in the site which happened to be between the camper and the road which was definitely not ideal but at least it wasn't floating. We threw the bedding together, threw ourselves into bed, and couldn't wait to put that day behind us. Then we woke up...I will not easily forget stepping out of the camper the next morning and actually getting to see where we were camping. It was so awesome!! We wanted to get away to experience something different than what we were used to and WE GOT IT!! Yes, it was wet and there were numerous sites that were flooded completely but the boys loved wading in their boots looking for frogs and other critters. We were in site 2 right on the way in and not far from the dump site which I never would have imagined camping next to but I truly can't complain about one single thing. The campground is so clean and well maintained, the bathrooms were some of the best I have ever seen at a campground (but I wasn't expecting the Hilton), the playground is great for the kids, the ruins are incredible, and the lake and Marsh are beyond words. Hiking, biking, relaxing, exploring, this campground has it all and I can't imagine anything more beautiful than watching the sun set over the causeway. It would be amazing to get the boardwalk repaired allowing us to go out to the look-out we saw from a distance but I wouldn't say that ruined our experience by any means... just gives us something to come back for. We will be back Fontainebleau and we can't wait!!