To plan an Okoboji family reunion, settle the dates and a rough headcount first, then book in the fall or winter, because large units are scarce. At Fillenwarth Beach on West Lake Okoboji, eight units are equipped for twelve or more people and only one, Cottage 160, takes eighteen. So most reunions combine several cabins, cottages and apartments, ideally within one of our four properties so nobody is a drive away from anybody else. The boats, pools and recreation program are included for every guest whichever unit they are in. Every unit has a kitchen or kitchenette and a gas grill. The 2027 season runs May 1 to September 19. There is no online booking, and credit and debit cards are not accepted.
Key Takeaways
- Get a headcount by household, not a total, and note who cannot do stairs.
- Keep the group on one property. South Beach and Cottage 160, a block north, have four large lakefront units equipped for 52 between them.
- “Equipped for” counts two people per bed and two per sofa sleeper. Plan below it.
- Every guest gets the boats and pools, but cruises and ski slots are signed up for, one per person per day.
- A full week costs less per night than a weekend, and the cancellation deadline for groups is long.
When should you book a family reunion for next summer?
Now, or close to it. The calendar for a reunion is set by its biggest household, and the units that fit big households are the scarcest thing we have.
Across all 38 unit types, eight are equipped for twelve or more people: Two-Story Cottage 154, the North Beach Chalets 155 and 156, South Beach Penthouse 115, South Beach Lakeside Cottage 160, and Cottages 409, 411 and 417 at Cottage Colony. One of them, 160, takes eighteen.
Many of our guests come back every summer, and we do not overbook, so a unit that is held is held.
The order that works: pick two or three candidate weeks, get a headcount by household (not just a total), find out who needs a ground floor, then call. Bring the household list to the phone. “Thirty-one people” is hard to place. “Six households, two of them with babies, one grandparent who cannot do stairs” can be placed on the first call.
How many units does a reunion actually need?
More than the arithmetic says. “Equipped for” counts two people per bed and two per sofa sleeper, which assumes every grown cousin will share a sofa sleeper with another grown cousin. Most will not. Take the equipped-for number, subtract two, and that is the party that will enjoy the week without resentment building by Thursday. Our guide to choosing between our cabins, cottages and suites explains the unit types in full. For a reunion, these are the ones that do the heavy lifting:
- Cottage 160, equipped for 18. Four bedrooms, a 40-foot living, kitchen and dining room, two full baths, a fenced lakeside yard, its own dock and mobility features. Renovated in 2025.
- South Beach Penthouse 115, equipped for 14, and Penthouses 116 and 117, equipped for 10 each. Upstairs, lakefront, two full baths apiece.
- North Beach Chalets 155 and 156, equipped for 14 each. Four bedrooms, across the road, stairway only.
- Two-Story Cottage 154, equipped for 12, across the street from Lakeside Duplex 153 at North Beach.
- Cottage 411 and Cottage 417, equipped for 12 each, and Cottage 409, equipped for 14, all at Cottage Colony.
- North Beach Lakefront 141 and 142, equipped for 10 each, right on the water.
Two of those come with an honest footnote. Cottage 409 does sleep fourteen, but it has a small kitchen and our own description says privacy and spaciousness are limited. Put the cousins who sleep anywhere in it. And 141 and 142 are equipped for ten with one bathroom each. Ten people. One bathroom. Plan the mornings accordingly.
Then count cars, because parking is per unit. Each unit gets two parking spaces, one for some of the smaller rooms and three for the largest. Occupied RVs, tents and campers are not allowed on the property, so the uncle who wants to bring the camper needs a unit of his own or a campground. Boat trailers go in a designated area at Cottage Colony or a small one at South Beach.
Which part of the resort suits your group?
Choose the property first and the units second. This is the step people skip and then spend a week walking to see each other. Split a family between North Beach and South Beach and you will mostly see each other at dinner. On one property, the cousins find each other without anyone texting.
South Beach is the strongest single site for a big group. It is all lakefront, has its own large dock, the tennis court with pickleball lines, and one of the best natural sand beaches in Okoboji next door. Cottage 160 sits a block to the north, and with Penthouses 115, 116 and 117 that is four large units equipped for 52. The South Beach studios, equipped for six each, fill in around them.
Cottage Colony is across the road from Main Beach and none of it is lakefront. What it has instead suits a reunion with young children very well: the outdoor pool, a playground, the sand volleyball court and the large picnic area. Cottages 422, 423 and 424 have decks that look over the pool and the picnic area, which is useful when one adult is cooking and another is watching the pool. Cottages 409, 411 and 417 supply the big beds.
North Beach has two docks for its units and a private one at Cottage 150. The shoreline is rocky, courtesy of the glacier, and the city beach is two blocks away. It suits a group that would rather sit on a dock than on sand.
Main Beach has no unit larger than six, but its sixteen Lakefront Chateaus sit on the water beside the office, the indoor pool and the dock where all the boat rides and skiing leave from. Six small households can take six Chateaus in a row.
Where does everybody eat together?
Every unit has a kitchen or kitchenette and a gas grill, so daily meals mostly look after themselves. The one meal that needs planning is the big dinner.
If one unit is hosting, pick one built for it. Cottage 160 has that 40-foot living, kitchen and dining room. Cottage 417 and Penthouses 116 and 117 each have a conference-sized dining table. If the meal is outdoors, the Cottage Colony picnic area is the obvious place, with the pool and playground next to it. Mention the plan when you call. It helps when we are placing the households, and it keeps you from arriving and realizing the table does not fit twenty chairs.
If your week includes a Monday in season, the resort supplies one evening for you: the Monday night beach party, with a live band and a limited round of complimentary drinks. On a rainy evening, the recreation building, with ping-pong, pool, arcade games and board games to check out, is open until midnight in the full season.
How do thirty people share the boats?
Every guest at Fillenwarth Beach can use the complimentary activities, whichever unit they sleep in. That means the Sun Runner cruises, water skiing with instruction, the 28-foot scow, both heated pools and the rest. There are limits, and thirty people hit them faster than four.
Each guest may sign up for one Sun Runner cruise, one Million Dollar Home Cruise, one History Cruise and one ski slot per day, availability permitting. Three people ski every half hour. So the plan where the whole family goes skiing Tuesday at ten is not going to happen. Spread the skiers across the week and sign up at the front office early. The canoes, rowboats and paddle boats need no sign-up at all and can go out as often as you like.
Cruises, sailing and skiing are all weather permitting, and West Lake has opinions about wind. Look at the National Weather Service forecast for Arnolds Park as the week gets close, and if the group photo on the Sun Runner is the point of the trip, do not save it for the last afternoon.
What about the grandparents, the babies and the dog?
Stairs. The North Beach Chalets are reached by stairway only, and the South Beach Penthouses are on the upper level. If a grandparent cannot manage stairs, say so on the first call.
Accessibility. Mobility features are in units 412, 413, 414, 160 and 143, and 143 has a roll-in shower. Cottages 412, 413 and 414 are at Cottage Colony, the same property as the outdoor pool and picnic area, which makes them a natural fit for grandparents at a Cottage Colony reunion. At Main Beach there is a push-button entrance, a ramp and an accessible check-in desk, plus accessible parking at the Lakeview ramp, which reaches the Boardwalk-level rooms, the Terrace Room and the tram to the docks. The full list, including portable aids you can request, is on our accessibility page.
Babies. Cribs and Pack ‘n Plays come at no extra charge, and so do the foam flip-out beds we use instead of rollaways. We can try to arrange a babysitter if you ask about a week before you arrive, and the fee is paid to the sitter directly.
The dog. Well-behaved pets are welcome under our pet policy. Tell us at check-in, and crate the dog when it is left alone. The second part is not optional, and with a dozen children going in and out of doors all week it is also common sense. You are responsible for any damage, and Iowa law makes pet owners liable.
Which week, and how does the money work?
The 2027 season runs May 1 to September 19. Rates are discounted 25% from June 13 to June 29 and from August 15 to August 22, and 50% before June 13 and from August 22 to the end of the season. The full-rate summer sits between them.
The discount weeks are tempting for a group, so know what changes. In the 25% weeks the recreation program is limited, and skiing, sailing and the History and Million Dollar Home Cruises are not always offered. In the 50% weeks, full room service, the recreation program, skiing, sailing and the History and Million Dollar Home Cruises are not normally offered. A reunion that mostly wants each other’s company and a dock can do well in June. A reunion built around the boats should look at the full season. If you are weighing an early-June week for the swimming, check the West Lake water temperature by month first, because the lake warms late and a cold early-June swim is not the same as a July one.
Rates change every year. How they are prorated is what decides whether a weekend makes sense. Under the published 2026 rate structure, every unit is quoted at a weekly rate and shorter stays are prorated from it. The first three nights each cost 20% of the weekly rate and nights four through seven cost 10% each. A two-night summer weekend costs 55% of the weekly rate. So two nights cost more than half a week, and the last four nights of a full week cost 40% between them. For a family driving in from three states, the long weekend is rarely the bargain it looks. Rates for each unit in 2027 come from the office, and the structure is what to plan around.
Then four things the person collecting the money needs to know, especially the aunt doing the spreadsheet:
- Tax is added on top: 5% Iowa sales tax and 7% hotel tax.
- Each reservation needs a deposit, the greater of 20% of the weekly rate or the first night.
- Credit and debit cards are not accepted. Settle how the households are splitting the bill before anyone arrives, not at the front desk.
- Cancellation notice is long for groups. Units for six or fewer need 30 days. Units equipped for eight or more, and any group holding four or more units, need a good deal longer. Set your family’s firm yes-or-no deadline four months before arrival and you will be on the right side of it.
One outing worth planning ahead: Arnolds Park Amusement Park is a short walk from every one of our properties, and it offers group rates on day passes for parties of fifteen or more. Most reunions clear that without counting, and for a big group the better rate adds up.
Where Fillenwarth Beach fits
What a big family needs is beds close together and enough going on that nobody has to be the cruise director. That is why a resort often suits a big family better than one rental house, though not always, and our comparison of Okoboji vacation rentals and resorts covers when the house wins. Here each household gets its own kitchen and door on roughly half a mile of West Lake shoreline, and the boats, pools and Monday band are already paid for. The large units go first. Call early.
FAQ
How far ahead should we book a family reunion at Lake Okoboji?
For a summer reunion, book in the fall or winter before. At Fillenwarth Beach only eight units are equipped for twelve or more people and nothing is overbooked. Groups with flexible dates and smaller households can wait longer, but the choice narrows as the season gets close.
How many people can Fillenwarth Beach hold for a reunion?
The largest single unit, Cottage 160, is equipped for eighteen. Larger groups combine units. South Beach and Cottage 160, a block north, have four large lakefront units equipped for 52 between them, with studios around them for six each. Plan a little below the equipped-for numbers.
Is a full week cheaper than a long weekend?
Per night, yes. Shorter stays are prorated from the weekly rate, with the first three nights at 20% of it each and later nights at 10%, while a two-night summer weekend costs 55% of the weekly rate. Tax of 12% is added either way. A weekend is a nice idea for a couple. For a family of thirty, the math favors the week.
Can everyone in the group use the boats and pools?
Yes. Every guest can use the complimentary activities whichever unit they stay in. Cruises and ski slots are signed up for one per person per day, three people ski each half hour, and boating is weather permitting. The paddle boats, canoes and rowboats need no sign-up.
Which week is best for a family reunion?
It depends on what the reunion is for. If the boats matter, a full-rate week between the two discount periods, roughly the end of June to mid-August in 2027. If the group mostly wants time together and a dock, the 25% weeks in mid-June and mid-August cost less, with a limited recreation program and fewer boat activities. Weeks at 50% off drop most of the staffed program.
There is no booking engine on this site, and for a reunion that is an advantage. A person who knows all 38 unit types will work out which combination keeps your family together, and they will do it on the phone, not through a form that does not know who your grandparents are. Call (712) 332-5646 or toll free (800) 332-7236, or send the reservations form with your dates and headcount, and put the number of households and anyone who cannot manage stairs in the comment box. The brochure has every unit if you want to look first.