My DW and I want to travel down to Florida for a couple of months this winter. Probably the February and March timeframe.In checking around it looks like a great many campgrounds are solidly booked for the winter months.We were wondering if some of the folks on RV.NET have some experience in finding places to camp with or without reservations.Any and all suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Are state parks an option? Out of the way campgrounds?We travel in a 24' class C motorhome and do not pull a toad.Thanks for any suggestions, John S

I moved to SWFL from Chicago in 1983. The only thing I can tell you about the winter months is that the weather is beautiful. With that being said, the campgrounds get filled up quick and reservations at SP are made up to 11 months in advance and many people return to the same campground year after year. I-4 seems to be the magical median for snowbirds. To the south of it are warmer temps but larger crowds and higher prices. While north does get crowded but not as bad and usually is less expensive and cooler. In the winter months it is very hard for even locals to get sites but I do find that the northern part of the state is usually easier to find sites. One thought that I have mentioned on numerous occasions when people post is that a high of 65 degrees in the northern part of Florida is still better than the teens wherever it is your coming from. Don't get too caught up on the temps just try to find a place you like. Hope that helps.

The east coast of Florida has has fewer campgrounds than the west coast but sometimes you can get lucky. Try Vero Beach, Sebastian, Wabasso, Palm Bay, Melbourne, Titusville.... That's starting in Indian River County and going North up the coast. Soiuth of Indian River County is St Lucy County, Palm Beach County. Again, you might get lucky. All these areas are nice for snowbirding. South of Palm Beach County would be extremely difficult to find a place until you hit down in the Keyes. There it would be catch as catch can but if you're willing to move frequently you might be able to make it work.

For the first time you probably want to travel around... need to move the MH anyway since no toad. It's easier to get a few days than a month, even in SPs. Many CGs do not need to advertise so use Google to search for CGs in various towns. I would not worry about advanced reservations for shorter stays.In Orlando I use Stage Stop (Winter Garden) without reservations and you can walk to shopping. Nothing fancy but reasonable plus close to where my sister lives.In many areas you can overnight at Walmart or Cracker Barrel BUT not in the Orlando area.

Check out the state parks by all means. You don't say what part of Florida your targeting, but the FL state park system is awesome. Most of them are listed at campsitephotos.com

In Central Florida you might look at Bushnell. Blueberry Hill is a nice c.g. with lots of activities and good shopping a 5 minute walk away. Having a smaller RV will probably make it easier for you to find vacancies.

Florida camping in February and March | Good Sam Community

John_S2
Explorer
Oct 29, 2015
Great map Kaz.... Thank you.... Since my rig is not well insulated figure I want to stay somewhere between Orlando and the southern tip of FL.
sher9570
Explorer
Oct 29, 2015
John you might want to check out Buttonwood Inlet RV Resort in Cortez, Fl.
It doesn't happen often but there are sometimes cancellations.
It's two minutes to Anna Marie Island, lots and lots of great beaches, restaurants (especially the ole Florida type) with great seafood, it's a fishing village and it supplies the restaurants daily with fresh seafood!
Check it out...

Sher
John_S2
Explorer
Dec 20, 2015
Thanks for the suggestions Sher.
John_S2
Explorer
Dec 20, 2015
Thanks for the suggestions Sher.
JoeTampa
Explorer
Dec 20, 2015
I live in Tampa, and we camp on short notice most of the time, and never have been totally unable to camp SOMEWHERE within an hour and a half drive.

Check out Tropical Palms in Kissimmee (a few mins from Disney, lots of no-kid attractions along International Drive, plus some right near the campground). Sun & Fun in Sarasota is the Mac Daddy of glamping. We go to both regularly. I can also recommend Rock Crusher Canyon.

Be aware that near Tampa in Jan and Feb the temps can drop below freezing overnight - if only briefly. It usually rebounds nicely, however. You will see temps roughly 10 degrees warmer on average in extreme southern FL (Miami, say) versus Tampa.
spoon059
Explorer II
Dec 20, 2015
When you get down to Florida in February and March you will understand why the parks are so packed! The weather is BEAUTIFUL, especially when coming from the cold and snowy northeast!

When we started going to Florida in the winter a couple years ago (high gas prices), we didn't plan ahead, we just drove down and found a place. With fuel prices as low as they are, more people are vacationing again. We have a favorite park south of Tampa that we go to and we got 8 nights there, 4 or 5 nights in St Augustine as well.
spoon059
Explorer II
Dec 20, 2015
sher9570 wrote:
John you might want to check out Buttonwood Inlet RV Resort in Cortez, Fl.
It doesn't happen often but there are sometimes cancellations.
It's two minutes to Anna Marie Island, lots and lots of great beaches, restaurants (especially the ole Florida type) with great seafood, it's a fishing village and it supplies the restaurants daily with fresh seafood!
Check it out...

Sher

Dangit! Don't let the cat outta the bag! That is where we are staying. Great park, they have redone the cheaper spots between last year and this year too. Fantastic location and respectable prices for a winter in Florida!
spoon059
Explorer II
Dec 20, 2015
JoeTampa wrote:
Check out Tropical Palms in Kissimmee (a few mins from Disney, lots of no-kid attractions along International Drive, plus some right near the campground).

We stayed there about 10 years ago when we went to Disney. Nice park, good amenities, good prices and it is walking distance to Old Town which is a fun little park.
dapperdan
Explorer
Dec 20, 2015
Thanks for posting this question JohnS, we're headed for New orleans then onto Destin area after that on February 25th. The only reservation we made is for a place in the Destin area for about a week, after that we're going to "wing it". With all this info I feel pretty good about getting into some place.

We won't be going any further south than that, we actually will start heading north around the middle of March. We have a bunch of places we'd like to see in that general area. We realize it won't be real "green" then and it's going to be chilly at night but being from Wisconsin we're used to that. Should be a fun trip (we hope).

Heck this last March I spent a week in Fairbanks AK so I don't have a fear of cold! :B

Dan
wxtoad
Explorer
Dec 22, 2015
We spend most winters in Florida and rarely make reservations. Occasionally we will make one perhaps a week before a holiday weekend, just to be safe. March gets more challenging with Spring Break campers filling campgrounds.

Florida, and just about every other state, offers a lot of public campground alternatives to the regular state and federal sites. Cities and counties often operate campgrounds, many of which are very nice and reasonably priced. We discovered that The Ultimate Public Campgrounds Project seems to have the most complete listing. It also includes lots of boondocking places if you can manage without hookups for a few days.

Have a great trip.
WxToad

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