This is our first visit but won't be our last. We had a water site and parked facing the water. We enjoyed watching the sunset at night from our site. Lots of biking, walking, nice beaches, etc. Everyone from the check out to the store have been very friendly. I understand now why you have to make reservations 11 months in advance. The only item that could make this park better would be sewer hookups. We will return. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We are here for 2 weeks. We booked this site in Jan 09. The previous reviewer stated he could get only one night but a walk up person got 2 weeks.That is the policy here. Walk ups can get available sites held back for this purpose. It's a crap shoot. If you come in without a reservation, you are taking your chances. Site just fit our 40ft motorhome with 50 amp and water. No sewer. We will enjoy seeing the Key's for these two weeks. Good luck on getting a site. Use Reserve America to see when sites are available. We camped here in a Motorhome.
I waited 2 years to get a site on a trip to the Keys. I was only able to book in advance for one night, but was discouraged by what happened when I was checking in. There was a gentleman from outside the states camping in a rental RV. He was able to book two weeks, just by walking up. Being a Florida resident, it's irritating that I could not get a site for more than one day on-line, booking more than six months in advance. I would rate this place a 10 if I could book more than One night with ease. The views here are excellent for sunset and sunrise. Kayaking was a 10. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This is a fabulous state park. So much to do inside the park that you don't really need to leave to have fun. Snorkel, swim, fish, bike ride etc. all great times. If you can get a reservation here, enjoy it! Be sure to bring sun and insect protection. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Although this park is very hard to get into (takes reservations up to a year in advance) we had a good time. The sites are small and in my case site #34 has to share the water hook-up with site #35, which means my water hose was too small and a trip into Marathon was made. Another down side is the dumpster is adjacent to the bath house and in the summer months those who dive for lobster and fish all day dump the remains in the dumpster and the summer heat can play cruel tricks on you during the day or night and the smell is bad. Other than that this is about the best overall camping area south of Marathon and north of Key West. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Very nice park but crowded most of the time. But if going to Key West about as close as you will get with out paying a lot more. The rangers are nice and the park is clean. The down side is that it is close to US one and the traffic noise is pretty loud. Other than that if there enduring the summer make sure to have mosquito spray and a good air conditioner. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Florida mile marker 37. This is a wonderful state park with over 80 campsites in three areas. Bayside without electricity (not for RV’s), Sandspur for tents, popups and vans with electricity and water and Buttonwood for everyone with electricity and water. Some sites face the gulf side and some of the tent sites face the ocean side. You can snorkel, bike, fish, swim, picnic, kayaking or hike up to the old bridge. There is a nature center with talks by the rangers. The water is like that beautiful carribean blue and in May it was enjoyable but still hot. We had site 12 where the little fishing dock was in back of and we could see both bridges (new and old) from our site. Very enjoyable three day stay. Checkout is at 1 and checkin at 3 but if you come in early you can enjoy the park until your site is cleared. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Great location in Paradise! If you want a waterfront site directly on the water, this is the perfect spot. Fishing is great in the Bahia Honda Channel: grouper, tarpon, many reef fish. We were able to kayak directly from the site. There are 4 miles of road to bike on. There are 3 beaches with sand to chose from. You can snorkel from shore or sign up for an offshore tour. In addition, you are only 37 miles from Key West. If you are looking for a tent site avoid the Bayside Campground, it smelled like rotten eggs the entire week. Sandspur would be an excellent choice for tent or pop up campers. Buttonwood is for the RVs. Try to avoid the sites near the restroom since the dump station and garbage are also located there. I look forward to returning. You will probably need to reserve your spot 11 months in advance since this is a very popular and economical choice for the Keys. We camped here in a Motorhome.
One of the nicest Ocean side parks in the USA. Beautiful sites on the beach or very near the water. Great kayaking, fishing, boating, biking, sunsets. Nice beach. Very difficult to get in here; it is one of Florida's most sought after sites to camp not only because of its beauty but price. Sunshine Key RV park also on big Pine Key is $110 a night and it is a parking lot. We have camped on the beach here and if, like us, you always dreamed of camping on the beach, remember it can be windy here and the fine gulf sand that looks like sugar will drift around your tent like snow! We camped here in a Tent.
Easy in and out. Gate attendant is friendly. Paved roads but gravel sites.Great nature center and employee. Nice bath, clean and bleach odor. Stayed 5 days. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Nice paved interior roads & gravel camp pads. Dump site is easily accessible for big rigs. The beaches (3 of them ) are great as is the sunset from on top of the old bridge. Yes there is some road noise, but you are in the Key and almost everything is 'just off the hwy' . The only draw back to this park is that it is almost impossible to get a reservation for a site. Reservations can be made up to 11 months in advance. We managed to get a site for 1 nite. (someone must have cancelled) Just for grins I checked the web site & discovered that this site is booked every nite for the next 11 months. So plan ahead if you want to stay here. FYI - if you are a tent camper - Sandspur sites 62-72 are RIGHT ON THE WATER and beautiful. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This is a beautiful campground. The sites a closer together than in some state parks, but had plenty of privacy because of the shrubs between the sites. The sites are quite level and clean but if you have a tent bring lots of spikes instead of stakes as the limestone is like cement. A great place to sit and enjoy a tropical paradise and sip a margarita! We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Pros: Great winter weather. Friendly rangers with excellent ranger talks. Historic content preserved (Old railroad bridge). Nice Beach. Some spaces are right on the ocean! Boat launch ramp and place to park your small boat very close. Great fish restaurants nearby (Key Fisheries three times in a week). Fresh ocean breeze. Cool nights. Cons: Highway noise pretty severe in campground. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
After reading so many nice comments at Woodalls forums regarding Bahia, we weren't all that impressed. They had signs stating to conserve water and electricity, yet the mens bathroom had a missing shower head so the water would pour out, when this occured, the toilets wouldn't always flush properly, so to say the least we had several occurences of plugged up toilets in both the mens and ladies bathroom, which weren't cleaned all that well. There are no doors or screens on the bathroom entry doors that made for some major bug problems with skeeters, that even the park staff said were the worse they had seen in years, and made sitting outside darn near impossible at times, especially in the evening's. As for the beach, if this is rated as one of the top beaches in the nation, they haven't seen some of the wonderful beaches along the Great Lakes (of course the water is a little cooler). At high tide the beach was covered in seaweed, and had small bugs flying all around it, at low tide we could sit out in chairs in the water. The snorkeling was nice though. The ocean front sites have a great view of Hwy 1, with quite abit of noise from the Hwy, we didn't realize how close the Hwy was going to be. We think we would've liked Long Key better since the view isn't wasted on a HWY. There is a dumpster in the area between sites 38 and 45 and the smell in this area was terrible, I wouldn't even consider a spot in this area as it was that bad (think rotting fish guts in 90 degree temps and you'll have an idea). The camp store closes at 5 PM and doesn't carry any groceries, but ice is available. The kids liked getting ice cream, besides that the store was kinda of worthless. We heard that there was a park ranger that patrolled the area, but we only saw them on two occasions in 5 days, but there were no real problems with noise or rowdy's. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
Nice park but would advise tent campers to get in the sandspur section the rest of the campground is too close to the highway and is noisy. We camped here in a Tent.
Its our family tradition. Endangered key deer visit campsites in the evening. Family oriented. The best place in the world to get away. We camped here in a Motorhome.
If you tow a boat they will remove from motorhome with a small tractor, launch boat, park
trailer in storage lot and you can drive boat around to your camp site.Great service, marina and fuel on site. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Starting in May I had some business in Big Pine Key that required that I be there for a couple of months so I decided it would be more convenient and cheaper to bring my trailer. I happened upon Breezy Pines and because it was the beginning of the slow, summer season I was able to rent a nice, shady spot for $650.00 per month including water, electric, cable TV and wireless internet. The wireless is very strong and the connection has been great. I find it to be a bargain for the Keys. This is not a luxury park but the sites that are available are fairly large, generally clean and quiet. The bathroom facilities consist of one ladies and one men's and each has two showers. They are fairly clean and they are not used a great deal because most of the people that are here are permanent or semi-permanent. The park is oin the process of attempting to convert the sites to condominium and they are trying to sell each individual sites. However, there are some sites that are empty and available. I have been here for almost three weeks and have had no real complaints. There are laundry facilities, a large club house and the pool is very clean and nice. I was very hesitant about staying here because the park had never been reviewed, but I am very satisfied. The location is great and the price could not be better and the management is always around to make sure everything is OK. An extra benefit is the park is in the middle of the key deer habitat and the deer just walk all around the park and will approach you without fear. This is the off season and things could be quite different in the winter. I would be certain that the park is full in the winter and that the prices are much higher. For me this was a nice find and I would not hesitate to stay here again. We camped here in a Travel Trailer.
This is another Encore Resort Park and we were disappointed once again. We will never go to another Encore Park again. This is basically a Cuban tent city. Large families living permanently in this park in small travel trailers or multiple tents on one site. Loud music all the time. Partying all night day and night long. Lots of golf carts with kids driving them. We were driving our vehicle at 15 MPH (as posted in the park) and they were passing us, music blaring, talking on cell phones, etc. Tried to use the pool but there were so many full timers there we couldn't use as much as we wanted to. Lots of drinking and partying in the pool area and unsupervised children. Pool area updated but pool itself very old, cracked and unclean throughout. Sites are littered with garbage. Our site was the local dog walking site. No one picked up after their pets. Talked to Sheriff patrolling and he said they always have to do extra patrols in the campground. Lots of gang tagging and men with gang tatooes. Tent sites are actual RV sites so ground too hard to use stakes for tents. Would never go back to this or any other Encore Park again!!! We camped here in a Motorhome.
This park reminded me of the refugee tent camps set up along Interstate 95 in Miami in 1980. To say it was a dump would be an understatement and being too nice. The permanent campers had every type of dumpy building add on, tacky awnings of every weird shape and color, and exposed sewers. The waterfront sites where primarily only occupied by Cubans associated with the park or their families having several dumpy looking tents set up where normally one family would camp. These full time residents sped through the park on golf carts ignoring safety and rules. The trash was plentiful, the staff rude, and the pool down right disgusting. No attention was given at all to any rules or safety. There was a huge Latin pool party where most all attendees were drinking beer from glass bottles inside the pool. Couples were making out and getting lewd in full view of children. The park was full of potholes, mud holes, and debris. For a whopping $75 a night this place was a tremendous dump. The only real thing this park has going for it was location…past that RUN! It’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt here. I feel sorry for their insurance company...if there is one. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We stayed here in an RV on a last minute trip to the Keys for 4 days. The $75 a night was very expensive for this Cuban hobo camp. Yep, you heard me right...hobo camp doesn't describe it enough. junk semi-perms, outdoor pluming and trashy camp sites abound. The staff (mostly Cuban) appeared to own, operate and occupy the choice water front sites. They were friendly, but oddly rude as they ran you down with their electric golf carts. They posted “NO TRESPASSING SIGNS” at the entrance to their sites even though the beach (no real beach exists) access ran between them. Each of these large choice water front sites contained a trailer and about 3-5 tents housing multiple families generating noise all night long. Our slip was directly across from a group of these characters and I was in amazement at how these pseudo mob wannabes presented themselves and carried on as if they were the center of the universe. The pool needed a paint job and a good cleaning. There was trash everywhere. No attention was paid to cleanliness at all. Dogs were using the pool grounds as a bathroom which was disgusting. There was a huge Cuban pool party the weekend we were there (I expect every weekend) and most everyone was drinking beer from glass bottles in and around the pool. “NO GLASS” signs were posted which they all ignored. Loud music poured from the pool area and lewd and lascivious behavior was everywhere. To be honest I could go on and on for hours about how ridiculous this place is, but I will just say…if you are interested in a quality family camping experience…you may want to look elsewhere. Happy camping. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We were so elated to find such a jewel of a campground in the Keys! First of all, I have never been in cleaner restrooms in all of my camping experience! The campground is located on a beautiful island at the end of the 7 mile bridge. It has a very nice pool and is right on the ocean with a fabulous beach for swimming! They also have their own marina - which is perfect if you own a boat. There are a lot of sites at this campground and I was pleasantly surprised every night to find that Quiet Hours were strictly enforced! We will be planning yearly visits to this campground! We camped here in a Motorhome.
The location is superb although there is not a nice big beach at the campground. The campground was clean and well maintained except for the pool which looked like they forgot to paint and clean it. The staff was very helpful and friendly. Our biggest complaints is they allow more than one family per campsite. Because the waterfront (ocean) campsites are so large, tenter's tend to camp there and it was not unusual seeing 3-5 tents and several families on one campsite. For those of us who wanted an oceanfront and were in a big rig, this was somewhat bothersome. The other sites off the water were gravel and much smaller. There were several 'permanent' residents and if you want to camp but don't have the 'doings' the campground will rent trailers. The location is right off the main road so there is road noise, I guess to be expected in the Keys. We will probably find somewhere else to camp in the future. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Just a fabulous campground! We loved the gravel, clean RV sites. People are very friendly at office and gate. Restrooms clean, showers tiny though, only drawback that we found. We loved the small dock where you could just go sit and look out at water, or watch a sunset. Good biking for everyone around campground. This place is a gem. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We saw some pretty spectacular sunsets here. We did not stay on the ocean, but a couple of rows behind. We would stay here again. Friendly people and close to a lot of good restaurants. We had our motorcycles with us, so we drove to Key West a couple of times and had a great time. My husband went fishing for dolphin, and we grilled it at our campsite. Wonderful! The only complaint was they were working on the laundry room, and we had to come back and finish our laundry a couple of hours later. We camped here in a Motorhome.
A very nice park with all the amenities. The only reason I didn't give it a 10 is the gravel roads were a little rough. The staff were excellent and every thing we needed was there. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
I agree that this park is very cliquey. It is also very junky appearing because there are no rules regarding tents, junk, maintenance on boats. Some people have really done nice jobs with there space, many others look like hobo camps. Down here in the Keys and at the rates they charge, we expected a resort campground and we paid a special rate through Encore. I'd say this was no more than a fish camp with some amenities added. There is no use able beach for swimming. General maintenance is needed badly as many of the power and phone/cable post have been knocked over. The park in general looks run down. The food at the on property restaurant was reasonable and good. We would probably look elsewhere if we were to come to the Keys again although it would do in a pinch. We have stayed at private parks at 60% of this special rate we got here and the park was twice as nice. We camped here in a Motorhome.
This is a large park with crowded campsites. Due to mechanical problems with our RV, we arrived late, intending to tent camp. We explained this to the attendant upon check-in, but only found out when trying to set up the tent that it would not be possible for us to drive stakes into the hard coral ground surface. We ultimately spent the night on the seats of our substitute Suburban. We returned to check-in to request advise on local restaurants, but were only able to get information on the nearest gas station from the attendant. The bathhouses had inadequately sized showers, but were clean. We did not use any other facilities. The rate charged was $112 per night, too high to fit into the Nightly Rate blank. We do not plan to visit this site again. We camped here in a Tent.
The staff couldn't have been more helpful. We got in a day early and were not charged for extra night. We are extending our stay here a couple of extra days. We camped here in a Fifth Wheel.
Dirtiest filthiest, most disgusting campground on the planet. The staff is the fakest, rudest, most criminal I have ever had the discomfort of dealing with. They should be ashamed of themselves. The staff parties all night. I paid one month in advance. Several nights I was kept up all night by people driving in and not paying. The staff said that there is noting they can do about that. The staff themselves are mostly Cuban (so they don't speak English). On several occasions we braved the water and the staff Seadooed right next to us and our children. It was SCARY! The staff had fishing expeditions just off shore with nets all night long. My family along with several other camping families were hospitalized with ailments linked with water contamination there. The campground refused to add an elbow and cap to the sewage, so we bought our own. We were overcharged $24.00. Really outrageous that they refused to give us back the over payment. They took it off of our credit card. They charged us more than the discounted rate we agreed to before we saw the place. They charged more than their full rate. There was no sign to find the place and no warning from the staff that there was no site. When we first arrived we faced a flooded campground. Our spot was completely under deep water. It was so terrible that most campers had left the campground. They did not offer a refund. They offered us a partially flooded spot instead, and that we would move several times during the month. It was the worst experience of our full timing lives. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Really beautiful. We had a great time. The place is a bit cliquey and newbies were snubbed by the regulars. They all think they are rich and better than anyone else. It was amusing. The staff was nice and we didn't care about the neighbors. We were there to enjoy the Keys and the ocean not to make friends with the neighbors. Key West was a 40 minute drive and there are many little shops and restaurants in the area. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Nice resort but need some work. Some of the roads had big pot holes that filled with water after a rain. The little building that housed the restaurant was almost rotted apart. The staff was very nice and eager to help. I would return for another stay. We camped here in a Motorhome.
We were terribly disappointed on our trip to this campground. We had been here before and loved it but this trip was a nightmare. Office was torn apart and unfinished (yes, I know they can't help that) but their attitude in the office seem to match the look. We had made reservations over the Internet and were given a price and confirmation. When we got there, we went in and the office woman told us our site number and that was it. I said can we have a map so we can find it? We were not given a receipt or any paperwork. Driving to our site, we were shocked to see all the golf carts with kids driving and adults driving around on golf carts with open beer bottles hooting and hollering. Our site would have been big enough but person next to us took 5 feet of our site for their motorhome, canopy, boat, and 2 trucks. Spanish music was blaring from 4 different sites so we were surrounded with noise. One man across the street called us over and told us that it is like this every weekend all summer. He said you missed the fireworks last night. More than half of the campground was filled with what appeared to be gypsies, large refrigerator, freezers, and dog houses in most of these sites. No poop pick up from any of them, no donuts on their sewer hook up, and the noise was unbearable. Another couple comes over and says they have been coming here for years but never again. Each "gypsy" style campsite has a canopy next to their coach or trailer with privacy mesh wrapped around it. They had their sofas outside and most sites had 10 to 20 people sitting around drinking. We went to the office to to get a receipt and complain and the office woman said that these people come every summer and are guests just as we are. I told her that this will be our last trip to this "Resort" and her answer was: "well, goodbye" When we looked at our receipt, we saw where they added $3 per day for "using the resort" As our one neighbor stated, none of us that play by the rules can use any of the resort facilities due to the misuse of their other "guests" We camped here in a Motorhome.
Not a lot of choices in the Keys for reasonably priced Campsites as the State Parks are booked months ahead of time. We arrived here on the first day of the 'low season' and paid 65.00 a night for a site that was 125.00 the previous night. The sites are not paved and the interior roads were full of potholes & flooded on the 2 days it rained. The restrooms are small and in need of some updating as is the very small pool. The laundry room was adequate but we were disappointed that the clubhouse & book exchange were already locked up. The good news is that this campground is located right on the water - Gulf on one side, Atlantic on the other. However there is no place to swim. They do have a Marina & docks where you can leave your boat for the season (for a fee). This campground is located right at the southern end of the famous 7 mile bridge ( out of Marathon ) and it took us about 1 hour to drive to Key West. If we ever return to the Keys I don't think we would stay here, we would try for the State Parks or a campground closer to Key West or Key Largo. We camped here in a Motorhome.