How to Make a Campground Reservation in Florida

We love camping in Florida and apparently so do a lot of other campers. Finding a campsite for a weekend getaway can be frustrating. You will quickly realize that the more popular campgrounds are booked months in advance, especially during the winter months. I’ll give several ways we learned on how to make a campground reservation in Florida.

If you are like us, you don’t always know that very far ahead if you will have time off to camp for a weekend. I have found some helpful websites and an app to help find the perfect campground for each of our camping trips with just a few weeks to plan.

Decide where to go

The first thing you need to do is decide where you want to go and what you want to do. Do you want lounge on a beach, explore the woods or chill out on tube in a Florida spring. There are a lot of options in Florida.

I always check out an area with the app Park Advisor. I explore the different campgrounds in an area, depending on what we want to do that weekend. It’s also a great way to find campgrounds you have never heard of and get honest reviews from other campers.

Florida State Parks

I like to check the Florida State Parks website first. This is such a great website to use and helpful when trying to find a campsite. It’s also a fantastic way to explore the different Florida Sate Parks.

These campsites fill up fast. Unfortunately we have never been able to find a campsite for a weekend of camping during our time frame, but I still go here first. Hoping someone will make a cancellation, but to also learn what the area offers. If you are a pre-planner this is great way to get a spot in one of these awesome campgrounds before they all fill up.

The website has a feature where you can enter the dates you want to camp and it will tell you the campgrounds that have openings for your selected dates. This is an excellent way to see if there are any openings near where you want to camp.

We have done several day trips to Florida State Parks. Check out my posts on Rainbow Springs State Park and Blue Spring State Park. Both of these would be great campgrounds if you can get a reservation, but also make cool day trips if you camp nearby.

UPDATE:

Florida State Parks recently changed their camping reservation system. It no longer has my favorite feature of placing dates and finding an open campsite in all available state parks. A mapping feature does show open campsites nearby your desired state park. You can find the new reservation system here.

Recreation.gov

The Recreation.gov website is another great site to search for campgrounds in Florida. We found one of our favorite places to camp here. We wouldn’t of found this campground without this website.

Read my post of Salt Springs Recreation Area. This was such a fantastic campground to stay at in the Ocala National Forest.

This is also a great resource to find other campgrounds nation wide in other National Forests and government lands.

County Campgrounds

Florida has 67 counties. Each of these counties have their own campgrounds. Finding them can be tricky if you not familiar with the area. We found a couple of great county campsites by doing a little bit of research. We first used the app Park Advisor to find a campground in an area we hadn’t been to before. Then narrowed our search down, luckily finding campgrounds that we loved.

Making reservations at county owned campgrounds varies. Rely on their websites to learn the best way to reserve a spot. Some may have you call to make a reservation while others you may be able to make a reservation online.

Fort De Soto was probably the hardest to get a reservation, but I was persistent. I really wanted to stay at this campground. Calling doesn’t help you here, I tried. I checked that website several times a day for an open spot. My persistence paid off. We got the perfect campsite for our family and had a great weekend of camping.

Check out my post on Fort De Soto and click here to try your luck at getting a campsite at this beautiful campground.

City Parks

Often the larger cities in Florida have campgrounds in their parks and recreations programs. We found a fantastic city campground in Jacksonville. Kathryn Abbey Hanna Campground was a such a fun place to camp. Our campsite was walking distance from the beach and dogs are allowed.

Private Campgrounds

Privately owned campgrounds are also great places to camp in Florida. The most famous of course is Disney’s Fort Wilderness. No one does it like Disney, but there are other fantastic places to stay.

Camp Florida is an awesome resource to find a campground for your family. It has direct links to privately owned campgrounds.

Camp Florida

Another great source to check out is Campspot. If you know the general area you want to find a campground Campspot will find available campgrounds in that area on the days you need it.

Camping in Florida is a terrific way to explore the diverse nature the state offers. I hope these resources help you to find the perfect campground for your next camping adventure. Good luck!

Happy Camping!