Florida Keys RV Parks in Winter

FL has no BLM camping... I think 1 COE park outside of Ft Myers... very nice.
Tampa area you might be OK with 1-2 weeks... Daytona I went to for Christmas one year for maybe 5 days. Tampa area may be 25 miles out, but a nice drive to the beaches and lots of other things.

I have been to the Keys and you might get lucky, but usually are booked a year in advance. I would think Panama Beach is "off-season" during Jan/Feb, so you might be OK there.

Congratulations on your new rig.

Don't know about the Keys but just north of Tampa some of the parks only accept reservations for a 4 month period. I know when they have cancellations they will let shorter ones happen but there is a great demand.

You can find some with weekly rates but a suggestion is to use http://www.campgroundreviews.com/ and search the area you want and then call each park. Some may help and others, like around Daytona, will let you know that Feb and March are only $2250/month. Not what we like but they can get it so they charge what the market will bear.

Good luck in your search and start now.

We winter in the Florida Keys and most of the RV parks there rent by the day, the week, the month or several months. The only problem is they are usually all booked way ahead of time.
If I were you, I would be trying to book now for next winter

Guy

We go to Blue Water Key -- during the winter, they have a 7 day minimum. Most sites are booked a year in advance. Call and see what you might find.

dalenoel wrote:
Don't know about the Keys but just north of Tampa some of the parks only accept reservations for a 4 month period.

Is that Rock Crusher? That's too bad. We stayed there for a week a few years ago. Nice campground. Lots of Michiganders...

I spoke with some returning snowbirds last week that stayed in Mexico Beach area. They said it was still a mess from last hurricane season.

Welcome to the fray! I started asking the same sorts of questions about a year ago. It's pretty complicated finding a place to camp in Florida during the winter, especially in the Keys. You have to either book way ahead (as in 11 or 12 months ahead) or work the "cancellation" routine. I found this article to be really helpful in getting started.

Also, concerning COE and other forest service possibilities, go to recreation.gov and choose all the appropriate filters. There are a couple of COE campgrounds in southern Florida, and a bunch of forest service campgrounds in the Ocala National Forest area.

Don't overlook county parks as well. The tricky thing is, there are a lot of counties in Florida, and you have to find each one's website and explore whether or not they have parks that have camping. And most of them give early preference to reservations from county residents (as they should).

Good luck. Maybe we'll see you down there. It's doable, but it takes effort and either advanced planning or a laid-back attitude. Last month I met a couple who had been on the road in Florida for 4 months, and as far as I can tell they didn't have any reservations anywhere. They were having a good time moving around from one available short-term stay to another. That's great if you have the temperament for it.

-Speak

jdarwin wrote:
Do RV parks in Florida require you to stay a min. of 30 days?

We're newbies. We just purchased our first 5th wheel and are planning to winter (Jan-Feb 2020) in Florida. We joined Good Sam and started looking for parks to book. We wanted to stay in the keys for 1-2 weeks. From looking at the list of parks on Good Sam they only seem to offer 30 rentals. Are there parks with weekly rates in winter? We'd like to spend a week in Daytona, 1-2 weeks in Miami, 1-2 weeks in the keys, 1-2 weeks in Ft. Meyers, 1-2 weeks in Tampa, 1-2 weeks in Panama Beach.

What about COE/BLM or Nat'l parks? We'd appreciate any input and ideas from more seasoned campers. Thanks

Vicke and John

We go to the Keys ,You can figure on paying in the area of $4000.00 a month, that is if you can find an opening
...C

jplante4 wrote:

dalenoel wrote:
Don't know about the Keys but just north of Tampa some of the parks only accept reservations for a 4 month period.

Is that Rock Crusher? That's too bad. We stayed there for a week a few years ago. Nice campground. Lots of Michiganders...

I spoke with some returning snowbirds last week that stayed in Mexico Beach area. They said it was still a mess from last hurricane season.

We stay at Rock Crusher for the winter months and while they often get busy during the January - March, especially February and early March, time period there are a lot of the few days to weeks type snowbirds there. We reserve for 4 months at a time, but there are usually openings for shorter periods.

If you're military active/retired and/or DOD you can camp at the NASKW Sigsbee/Trumbo campgrounds located right on Key West. Limited FHU's during the winter, but there are dry camping options until a FHU becaomes available.

Stay at either Sunshine RV or Bluewater RV. I don't recommend Venture Out at Cudjoe Key unless you have no pets. Beware of love bugs. They just did $2,000 damage to the front of my mh protective shield...