Florida Park costs this Winter?

Parrothead Mike wrote:
We have reservations along the Gulf Coast (Citrus County) about 80 miles north of Tampa. Our monthly rate for 4 months is $912.50. That includes electricty, water, sewer, garbage service, about 60 cable channels, in a gated 400-site park with a nice pool. The mostly private sites are generous with plenty of trees, bushes, and grass.

The rate has gone up over the years from the lower $800s. We've stayed at this park since 2013.

The late December and January weather can be a bit cooler than south of I-4, but we stay December 1 - April 1 and there is plenty of warm weather. Not real beachy in this area, but if you like to fish, kayak, ride motorcycles, golf, then there is plenty to do. The seafood is excellent. Tampa, via the toll road, is only about 1.5 hours.

That's a good report. I may check that out. Do they stay full or do they typically have some spaces available?

Anywhere from $2300-3000/mo near the coast. They're all booked up, oftentimes by April each year. You can occasionally get reservations if someone cancels, but most places have people on a waiting list.

We live here in Central Florida -- when we're not traveling the country, I still camp occasionally in various CG, usually state parks or national parks. I find most are booked if you need more than a few days. But generally, if I call on a weekday morning, I can get one or two days open, but I don't need a week or two or longer either.

I'm not sure about private CG, but believe the private CG's are mostly booked solid for the winter. I'd expect you can get a day or two set between longer reservations in public parks. It means moving around, but I'd also suspect most long-term reservations get booked months or more in advance.

Thanks for the replies. The figure of $2300-3000/mo sounds way off to me. I know it depends on location and amenities, but I can rent a nice apartment for less than that in Florida cities. So I decided to do a Google search. I want something South of Tampa so that it's not too cold, but not too close to a big city either since I'm retired. I found several in the mid-Florida area near both coasts for around $900-$1,000 per month during the Winter 2022 with spaces still available. That's still double or more the cost compared to South Texas where I have stayed, but I knew it would be more. I'm willing to pay more for one Winter to decide if I want to live in Florida permanently and maybe buy a house there.

DallasSteve wrote:
Thanks for the replies. The figure of $2300-3000/mo sounds way off to me. I know it depends on location and amenities, but I can rent a nice apartment for less than that in Florida cities. So I decided to do a Google search. I want something South of Tampa so that it's not too cold, but not too close to a big city either since I'm retired. I found several in the mid-Florida area near both coasts for around $900-$1,000 per month during the Winter 2022 with spaces still available. That's still double or more the cost compared to South Texas where I have stayed, but I knew it would be more. I'm willing to pay more for one Winter to decide if I want to live in Florida permanently and maybe buy a house there.

There is a reason the prices you found are low and there is availability..... you get what you pay for.

There are places that are decent and cheaper. Like said, "you get what you pay for" or at least the perception. I have found a marina/campground near Tallahassee that has monthly sites for $600/mo. But I neither need nor want much of what most RVers want. But then I also have no problem with staying someplace that has "long-term, permanent, older RVs" in the reviews. If you want the "resort" amenities and you want to hold your nose up high, then you will have to pay for it. If you don't, there are places out there. If I can find them, I'm sure you can too. It just requires thinking outside the box (avoid highly desirable micro area) and looking at a lot of websites. If you want to be on the coast on a more rural "Old Florida" type place (I'm assuming that means "dirt-poor Florida Cracker", which is my family background), try looking on the Gulf Coast, north of Clearwater and east of Panama City. Otherwise you will need to get off the coast and head inland (north of Orlando towards the FL/GA state line and in the panhandle along the fL/GA and FL/AL state lines). Try using the map on AllStays to find CGs.

LMHS wrote:
There are places that are decent and cheaper. Like said, "you get what you pay for" or at least the perception. I have found a marina/campground near Tallahassee that has monthly sites for $600/mo. But I neither need nor want much of what most RVers want. But then I also have no problem with staying someplace that has "long-term, permanent, older RVs" in the reviews. If you want the "resort" amenities and you want to hold your nose up high, then you will have to pay for it. If you don't, there are places out there. If I can find them, I'm sure you can too. It just requires thinking outside the box (avoid highly desirable micro area) and looking at a lot of websites. If you want to be on the coast on a more rural "Old Florida" type place (I'm assuming that means "dirt-poor Florida Cracker", which is my family background), try looking on the Gulf Coast, north of Clearwater and east of Panama City. Otherwise you will need to get off the coast and head inland (north of Orlando towards the FL/GA state line and in the panhandle along the fL/GA and FL/AL state lines). Try using the map on AllStays to find CGs.

Thanks for the feedback. I think people want to be farther south to be warmer in the Winter so those rates are higher. I might try a little of both: some South Florida at higher rates and North Florida at cooler temperatures. We have stayed in far South Texas and it's about the same temps in Winter as the area north of Tampa; that wasn't too bad for us.

phillyg wrote:
Anywhere from $2300-3000/mo near the coast. They're all booked up, oftentimes by April each year. You can occasionally get reservations if someone cancels, but most places have people on a waiting list.

This is more like on the beach or very high end resort places.

We stayed at a place 2 winters ago in Kissimmee and they had a $550 rate. It was a clean well maintained with decent facilities but not high end place.

If you want near (but not on) the beach, I would be looking at something more like $1000-1500. But a lot depends on specifics.
- Further south you go the higher the prices with the Keys being crazy and northern Florida very reasonable.
- Lots of higher end facilities will increase the price.
- Bigger lots will increase the price.

I would suggest looking up the areas you are interested in via campendium or similar websites and then check out the campground websites rather than asking for random prices without details about where they are located or what amenities you can expect.

We have reservations along the Gulf Coast (Citrus County) about 80 miles north of Tampa. Our monthly rate for 4 months is $912.50. That includes electricty, water, sewer, garbage service, about 60 cable channels, in a gated 400-site park with a nice pool. The mostly private sites are generous with plenty of trees, bushes, and grass.

The rate has gone up over the years from the lower $800s. We've stayed at this park since 2013.

The late December and January weather can be a bit cooler than south of I-4, but we stay December 1 - April 1 and there is plenty of warm weather. Not real beachy in this area, but if you like to fish, kayak, ride motorcycles, golf, then there is plenty to do. The seafood is excellent. Tampa, via the toll road, is only about 1.5 hours.

The park is generally pretty full. Plus Sun Corp., who now owns the park, put in about 30 park models a few years ago that they rent out.

We stay at Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park in Crystal River. There are a few other parks in the area, but I'd shy away from those west of U.S. 19 because it gets pretty buggy there. It's a fairly rural area without much in the way of beaches. It's a river area with fishing, kayaking, and plenty of manatees.

Your best bet is to try to get in during December or early January because February & March are pretty busy. Give them a call to see what's available.