DW and I are thinking of camping in Florida in March. we will leave Connecticut(brrrrr) about Feb 1st
Can somebody give me an idea of how crowded Fl is.Here in New England we can more a less find a campground any time we want with a short notice.(2 people,newly retired=campground req. to be safe and clean----not interested in much else.
Can we travel freely or must we make reservations for the whole month.

Thanks and happy trails

Dennis

Correction----we will leave March 1st ----32' Montana 5th wheel

Dennis,

You can have the hold state anytime from April on into the summer months. Now the state may sink into the Gulf due to all the people down here. We stay at home his time of year. You can call around and see if anyone has an open site. We see RV units everyplace we go now, good places to eat have cars with tow bars in parking lot, 5th wheel trucks everyplace as well. You may think about places a little north of here like GA as the weather is better than New England and then move on down in April. FL has been in a deep freeze over the past 10 days but warm up is due today.

We never make reservations (almost never) in Florida and don't have any problems. You may have to search a little. My own unscientific private marketing survey shows the occupany rate to be a little lower than last year which was a bad season. I suspect if you start calling around at noon utilizing the normal campground books, rarely will you ever have to make more than one or two calls.

With 10s of thousands of RV sites in the state, even if they were all full to begin with enough of the old timers will have made their "last" trip and a site will be open. I would suggest letting your fingers do the walking and research where you really want to be. There are some really good parks in Florida and some really bad ones to even out the Karma. Dream trip or nightmare journey depends a lot on which you choose. I don't recommend random luck. Make a reservation at a well researched park.

[quote name='dpierce4' date='Jan 10 2010, 02:15 PM' post='20612']
DW and I are thinking of camping in Florida in March. ....
Can we travel freely or must we make reservations for the whole month.
Dennis

Hi Dennis,
I'm a 50 yr resident of FL, & have camped all my life, FL & all over.
Yes, March is a busy tourist month, but you should not have any problems. It is true that most parks that normally fill up are down 10-30 % in occupancy this year. True, many really nice parks & those close in to big cities or especially popular tourist spots may be full, but if you are flexible and are staying a few days to a week here & there, you should find plenty of open spots. having a large rig, you might want to call ahead to check if they can accomodate you (some older parks have smaller, tight spaces). State Parks may show no availability, but they all have 20-50 % of sites as first come, first served, non-reservable. Show up 2pm Sunday afternoon and you'll get a site that a local weekend camper just left. With well over 100 state parks, plus some county parks that have campsites, always one fairly close. Orange County(Orlando area) has a couple great parks. We like Moss Park (but no pets allowed), $23/ $17 for seniors, large sites, ultra nice bathhouse, lots of wildlife. http://parks.orangecountyfl.net/dept/cesrv...s.asp?ParkID=29
Ocala area has tons of campsites, many in Nat'l Forest. Silver River is nice. Lots of sites in Crystal River area, and you can swim with the manatees. Fort DeSoto(St Pete) has great beaches, but better get reservations there , also anything in the Keys require reservations. C'mon down. You'll love it.

I think rosegramma comments were pretty accurate. I mainly stay in State Parks or military campgrounds and have found this time of the year (before Easter) that you have better luck north of Orlando (I-4 corridor). I recently looked at O'Leno State Park, Talbot Island St Park and Abby Hannah City Park (it is in Jacksonville) and they all had room especially during the week. The nearest weekend was frequently full, but you can avoid that by planning a little ahead. Good luck.