Florida State Parks and RVs?

[RVade]

Hi all,

What a great community!

I'm a Brit planning first RV holiday around Florida.

Looking at various websites there's some confusion about which State Parks I can camp at.

Specifically the Florida state parks website lists only a relatively small number of sites as bookable for RV camping.

But other websites listing RV camps in Florida will list a much larger number of state parks as open to RV camping. If you check sites at these parks on reserveamerica then the sites are described as 'standard family electric/water' (I realise there's rarely a sewage hook-up in a state park) with a trailer -type symbol.

For instance the John Pennekamp Coral Reef park at Key Largo is not listed under RVs on the state park website, but it is listed as an RV site on the more general RV websites.

The specific campite descriptions are almost identical at sites which are 'official' RV sites (eg Bahia Honda further down the Keys) and sites which are not on the 'official' list but nevertheless feature on many other RV site lists (like John Pennekamp).

It doesn't seem to depend on maximum vehicle length either, as some 'official' sites list the max length as 30ft. btw our RV will just be a modest C-25

Please can anyone resolve this confusion for me? I may be missing something very simple! If I can use the sites which are not on the 'official' very limited list then I'll have a wider choice of state parks to consider for our itinerary.

Thanks for any advice,

Adrian

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I've been to a few of the parks (moslty quite nice) but unfortunatelt those I have visited happen to all be in te "RV Camping" category, so I can't give first hand comparisons.  The Florida Park Service doesn't really explain their different terms, but this is what I deduce from this official page:  Florida State Park Camping

The parks which have "FULL FACILITY CAMPING" (tent icon) can handle Rvs as well as tents on the sites. Most have at least some sites with water & electric, though some maybe only 20A You will have to check each park to see what facilities are available at that park, length of sites, etc.  Those labeled "PRIMITIVE CAMPING" have limited site facilities and usually don't accomodate RVS though I suppose small ones (e.g. small pop-ups) might fit on some.  "RV CAMPING" indicates parks with sites dedicated to RVs, versus the mixed envronment of Full Facility Camping.

 

[RVade]

Hi Gary,

Thanks so much for your reply.

Makes a lot of sense - I bet the major difference is to do with the electric. I'll bear it in mind as I wouldn't want to be without aircon at that time of year in FL!

Best,

Adrian