Hello I am Mark Koep with CampgroundViews.com. Today I will bring you some tips on how to discover the Florida Keys in
your RV. First place to start is
CampgroundViews.com you noticed I've searched for the Florida Keys but that's not really
a good way to start out. You want to search Islamorada or one of the other
island names to start out your query once you get in there
change the radius out to one hundred miles and you'll see why those two things are
important number one the Florida Keys are an island chain so it's not a city and it is not a
state. You can't search key largo (meant Florida Keys) We have to search the names of the different
islands Key Largo Tavernier, Islamorada Duck Key in all the way out to
Key West you got Big Pine Key right there that's an important once because there are number of parks in that area
on marathon there are a number of parks
getting to the Florida Keys is a big question. Why do you go to the Florida
Keys well if it is the winter time you're usually leaving somewhere
north of here heading down to the warm weather in the summertime the Keys are
also popular. It's mostly for folks from this area (Mmiami) getting out of that hot
humid mess and down into a little bit cooler humid mess so the Keys are
popular both summer and winter. Winter being the primary season. A lot of these
parks actually do very well during the summer time with locals coming down
there. So we are headed down to the keys how do you get here?
The easiest way is the most direct route of Ii-95. Take it straight down go along the coast
through Daytona Beach down to Miami and out to the Florida Keys if you don't like
traffic and want to get a more scenic route some of these interior routes thru Florida
offer you a unique perspective on the state and little bit prettier drive and less
trafficked also. Thru Sebring around Lake Okeechobee this US 27 drops down
and you can actually drop right into almost Homestead you can come down the
back road here lets zoom in to give you a better shot this US 27 come straight
down
taper off on this 997 here and it runs right along the Everglades straight down
into Homestead and allows you access to the keys that's a better route if you're
in our RV and don't want to deal with the traffic that takes place out on the
highways here through Miami once to the Keys the only route is the US 1 from
Homestead once you get on the highway here this is it you're going in
alternatively you can take the side roads this Card Sound Road out through
Key Largo there is a toll through that route so you have to pay a little bit
but it offers an alternative especially if the US 1is backed up due to an
accident or something like that
There is not a lot of camping up in this region here this North Key Largo it's a
little bit more remote little bit more natural coming down onto the Keys you will
be going over a series of bridges that's what the highway US 1 is through the Keys
it's a series of bridges all the way out to Key West and you follow the route of the
original train setup that got to Key West and you'll see that on your drive
going out here. Now for camping ideas where to stay where to stay in
what we The first thing to realize about the Florida Keys is it
is very expensive compared to everywhere else. Why is that there's very
little real estate so property values are high and there's a huge demand for sites
don't be surprised if rates are $2,500 a month plus forRV sites some of these sites can
run up to $5,000 a month range during peak season
so where do we stay where should you stay There is a number of private RV
parks and campgrounds all along the Florida Keys Can I recommend anyone of
them? Not really depends on your needs your budget and you. Where you want to
stay if you're going down for the first time? Generally you want to stay in three
spots beginning middle and again out at the end.
allows you to take in the whole area without having to drive the route the
problem with US 1 through the Keys is that the speed limit is pretty low
anywhere from 35 to 45 miles an hour there are sections were it bumps up to 55
but overall it's just two lanes of traffic one lane in each direction and
not a lot of passing zones so it takes about an hour hour and a half to get
from Largo to Key West and that's if you're lucky so you want to stay in the
three areas to experience without having to worry about driving
back and forth along the road. State Parks in the Florida Keys have some of the
most beautiful state parks in the country. Right here we have Long Key State
Park you've also got several other parks out along the water and to see an
example on Curry Hammock State Park a beautiful State Park. Long Key Pine
campground that is actually not even out there that is right here in the
everglades so ignore that one and where to stay.
First stop Key Largo There are a number of campgrounds in Key Largo I just left them all because I switched
pages on you. The first I like to recommend is the state park even if you
don't stay John Pennekamp. Still go into John Pennekamp why you can hop on a boat
that takes you out to the coral reefs located along the shoreline here in the
Florida Keys. There is camping and John Pennekamp
is not the most scenic campgrounds are kind of tucked back in there but you're in
the park and there are trails and there's kayaking plus access to the boats in the
Mangroves So from a camping perspective it is not exactly super scenic as you can see the
tent sites kind of in the trees and nothing really spectacular. We have a video on this one but that's
great spot if you wanna go check out the coral reefs otherwise you do have
private campgrounds located along here Kings Camp is a popular location also
Key Largo Campground and Marina A few of these are more of seasonal
long-term sites in his Carefree Resorts for example have long-term guests but
overall most of these parks have short-term sites and have availability depending on
the month or week. Just call ahead and find out if there is a spot. Next spot to consider
stopping is out near Marathon. There are a number of campgrounds along here and there's
also one that is an Encore park located on Sunset Key
the reason I mention this park is it's an Encore Park so a lot of folks who have
discounts to Encore or 1000 trails it offers you a discount camping at this
location and the location itself is as the name suggests
a Key. It is an island and the RV park is situated on that island. There are both
seasonal sites short-term sites as you can see from the satellite view the whole RV park
takes up all the land mass of the island. They have seasonal sites along the
marina here there's a boat launch you can hop in your kayak paddle out into
this channel there is a current here in this channel you go underneath the bridge paddle
right around and you can hit the beaches of Bahia Honda. I mentioned Bahia Honda because there is also
a campground here. This is considered one of the prettiest campgrounds in all of
American you'll see pretty pictures from here from people who stay. There is tent sites
on the inland side of the island and then RV sites on this end
overlooking the old bridge it's a very scenic spot to camp and very popular for
that reason. I will pull up some video so you can see or some photos to give you an idea of what there is to
offer here
Big problem with all the state parks in Florida is that they book the second reservations open it
varies by year but generally it's about six months out you can book your stay. And
there are people who know exactly what dates their are going and at 12:01 a.m. they are
on the website booking and reserving their site so if you're
lucky enough to get a site good for you otherwise
start looking at some of these private parks that offer you discounted rates. So
that is Sunset Key you can also stay in Marathon. Marathon is the most
active of the Keys city wise there is a lot of shopping groceries food and fuel located on
that island. There is also a number of campgrounds One we discovered when we were
here this last time is called Bonefish should pull up right there Bonefish
Bay this is a newer park and they offer some waterfront sites and seasonal sites but
it's a pretty location it's a packed gravel and they have a marina its newer
so people don't tend to know about it yet and they were building some
additional sites when we were there. You can see it's not exactly green grass and such
but you're right on the water so that's an insider tip on location to call
again that's Bonefish Bay RV Park and Motel its a nice little spot now. Tthey have reasonable
rates for the Keys, I'll put that caveat on there, for the Keys. Anywhere else you
would freak but for the Keys it is reasonable. As you head out to Key West now the rates
tend to go up. There is some really pretty campgrounds out here um none that I would
recommend over the other
they're all really nice. Question is Key West can I camp and RV in Key West. the answer is
yes in fact there's a very beautiful campground in Key West right
on the water
and I'm gonna pull up the satellite view cause we don't have it listed why don't
we have it listed? Where is it? Somewhere in here. We don't have it listed because its a military
campground. Only retired military can stay at it and that means all of us normal folks
don't get to experience it. Other than that there's no camping on Key West
itself. Closest camping is on Stock Island there are several choices here
Leo's Ccampground, Boyd's Key West and El Mar RV resort. The one I want to show
you real fast is the ElMar this one is probably one of the more exclusive RV
parks in the Keys and that's primarily because there's only 10 full hookup sites
but the sites themselves all back up to the water nice paved concrete pads and
pretty exclusive little location that is ELMar RV resort and that one is out
just past Boyds Key West off the 1. Now Boyds is a very popular spot you've probably
heard of it if you're headed to the Keys
lot of folks stay there it's a large site a large location the sites themselves are a bit
packed in there but we see some big rigs that pull into there.
then there's Leo's. Leo's is best suited to folks with smaller RVs. This overhead
shot kind of gives you an idea but if you go down and watch our video you will see what I means
They use a shoe horn to get these rigs in here so it's very tight nice thing about
it is it's right behind some restaurants right here on the road
plus you can hop on your bike cross at the light right here and then you're on a
bike path into Key West so those three are the closest campgrounds to Key West
there are three private RV parks
and that is it that's the Florida Keys not a lot to it. Basically there's not a
lot to it because they are islands ... small space we have all of them listed on the website
CampgroundViews.com. You can plan your trip and also find out where you are going to stay on the way
down there. We have over 400 parks in Florida on film for you to see and
we're here to help you when you're planning your trip to Key West. Hope this has been
helpful. If you liked it
follow the YouTube channel. We will be posting more of these webinars pretty soon. more of these webinars pretty soon my
My name is Mark Koep I am with CampgroundViews.com. Thank you and goodbye