Herkimer Diamond KOA Resort

Address:	4626 NY-28, Herkimer, NY 13350, USA
Phone:	+1 315-891-7355
Site:	koa.com
Rating:	4.1

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 8

A Private User

There have been some upgrades since Ive been there (Kottages, Lodges (the Lodges! WOW) and the crazy 100% green lodge). My wife and I stayed in a Lodge and it had EVERYTHING we needed - kitchenette, 2 physical bedrooms, sleeping room for 6, bathroom, shower, couch and TV! Haha I know, camping with TV? we didnt use it but it was nice to know its there. The kitchenette even had dishes for us! (only complaint is I felt compelled to wash them before we left! haha I know.. leave it in better condition than you found it) - we did Campground was just was beautiful as I remember. The community bathroom was very clean and had a lily in it - A LILY! Most places give you a crappy fake weed or air freshener. And this was in the MENS room - nobody cares about the mens room! Womens room must have had massage chairs or gold toilets or something. Best camp ground Ive ever stayed at.. so clean, very well kept and really friendly staff - they saved our butts since we arrived too late to check in and they kindly left our key in a place we would find it with a note asking that we register the next morning. I would easily recommend this to anybody - dont like camping? Get a lodge or cabin - you get that camping feel but with your own shower :)

Jason M

This campground in far from KOA quality. Campground needs much TLC. In many areas, lawn/weed and campsites need maintenance. Many campsites were close together. Some pull-thru sites are available. Our campsite was all mud, unlike many of the other sites which were rock. During a minor rain storm, we had mud flowing through our site down to the river. We watched our doormat float away. DirecTV (free standing satellite) had no issue. Wi-Fi was weak and not reliable. Verizon phones were able to get a weak 4g signal. Electricity at the sites is spotty. There are 2 sites per power post and we lost power twice, which required a reset at the “main” breaker by the office. Campground provides breakfast delivery (prices kinda high) to your campsite. KOA convenience store was available, but pricey. Campground is 10mins from major grocery store, food and gas stations. The campground is 20mins from major highway. We utilized this location to take a cruise on the Erie Canal. Campground includes a kid’s playground, pool, laundry, bikes to rent and a Frisbee golf course. A large river flows through this campground, which people were using to float (tube) down and fish.

Michael L

The Herkimer Diamond Mines was a fun day for sure. Although it is probably great for kids, not all children would enjoy the experience in the same way. Depending on the time of year, you can be outside working hard in the hot sun. If you are planning on spending several hours, it may take its toll if your kids are not thrilled with hard work. With that said, they certainly can enjoy the experience. Because it was a three hour drive from my home, I decided to venture on my own and leave the kids at home. Although this is not the suggested way to enjoy such an experience, I actually drove three hours, worked on my hands and knees for around six hours, then turned around drove three hours back home. My kids would have been miserable with such a schedule. Next time, I will take the kids and spend the evening. That would make it an enjoyable day for the entire family. It is important to note that these are NOT diamonds. They are called diamonds, Herkimer Diamonds are beautiful double-terminated quartz crystals found in Herkimer, New York. "Quartz" not "Diamonds". The fact that it is quartz does not distract from the fun trying to obtain them...

Frank Visca

Interesting experience. When we went it was mid 90s temperature and humid! It was exhausting swinging that hammer to try to find any stones at the diamond mine. If it would have been in the 70s temp-wise, maybe my experience would have been different. We didnt find much. The whole place seems "picked over" and not many people found to much. It is a great thing to do w family at least once, especially if your a camper. Now, the campsite was pretty nice. We had the unfortunate experience of being in a site right next to 3 huge RVs with a ton of people all shove on one site. They were up until 1AM blaring music and used profanity loudly (ear muffs ony 3 year old); the security there did speak to them, but they were rowdy and we curb our trip short one day due to the inconsiderate people next to us. In fact, the campsite not only reimbursed us for our one day, they made the obnoxious people pay for that money lost for the campgrounds.

Kristin Gordon

This was our first stay at any KOA and we couldn’t have been more pleased with our stay. Definitely a 5-star resort! There was never a shortage of yellow shirts to give us a hand when we needed it. Everyone was genuinely pleasant and I felt they all loved their jobs. There was plenty to do on the campsite for kids and adults alike. Quiet time was just that – quiet. The restaurant indeed had the best wood fired pizza we’ve had in a long time, as was promised by more than one worker who recommended it. The mining experience was also wonderful -- well organized and reasonably priced. It was a great place to spend the Memorial Day weekend and we’ve already started planning for a week there so we can bring more camping friends.

Julie Miller

Went here with my husband and 3 kids all under 10 years old over memorial day weekend 2016. This was our first experience with a KOA and we will never do another KOA again. We felt like this wasnt camping at all. The sites were right on top of each other and way too congested. My daughter broke her arm our first night on the playground there and we ended up leaving the following day. I never once had anyone there ask how she was or if we needed any help with anything. On top of everything else it was almost impossible to get a refund. This put a bad taste in my mouth for KOA . Never again will we franchise camp only State grounds.

Sam Kiesinger

Fantastic place to spend a day pounding rocks for quartz crystals. They arent real diamonds but they are a rare type of gem. Bring your own equipment or rent hammers and picks at the site. Turn it into an educational day for the kids or just go and smash rocks like an animal for 8 hours and take some neat rocks home. Your best bet is to find rocks that have lots of small black blemishes in them, usually with some glitter in the blemishes. If you find promising rocks you can bring them home and use a mix of concrete cleaner and water(use caution) to dissolve promising rocks for any crystals hidden inside.

Michael Sampson

Theres only 7 KOA resorts and this one was amazing. Depending on what you want to do, there literally is something for everyone. We tent camped in a deluxe site and it was right along the Canada river and the rushing water was quite tranquil. Theres a playground, basketball court, 2 shower houses, unique cabins, one even had a telescope. The staff are nice and friendly and helped us with any problems we had. The diamond mine and restaurant are right across the street within easy walking distance. I loved this place. We are already planning a return visit.