John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Campground

Full hookups, beaches, marina, hiking paths, small park and lots of relaxing in the sun. Down the road has grocery stores, small shops and great restaurants.

General: Small campground (47 sites) in a larger state park with many activities you can participate in. 

Site Quality: All sites are level and gravel but are pretty close together with little to no foliage separating them. 

Bathhouse: Typical of all the other Florida state parks we have stayed in. Clean with good showers. 

Activities/Amenities: This is where this park shines! Swimming, boating, snorkeling. You can rent kayaks or SUPS for a reasonable amount. There are also snorkel tours. There is a food truck, marina, and aquarium. Laundry facilities but one of the two dryers was out of order. Two swimming beaches but we have been to better ones in Florida. Note that alcohol is permitted in your campsite but not in the public areas of the park. Note also that the playground was closed due to safety reasons. 

We were lucky to snag a one-night reservation 11 months ago so had to decide which activities to partake in. We chose kayaking and SUP but wish we could have also done a snorkel tour!

Considered purely as a campground, this place was a big disappointment. It's basically an RV park, and a mediocre one at that. The spaces are tight and close together. You get a gravel pad with little to no shade or privacy, an old picnic table in one corner, and... that's about it. Full hookup, but not terribly useful to me as a tent camper.

I had much higher expectations for this place, given the reviews. I thought I had lucked out when I showed up without a reservation and they told me there had been a cancellation so yes, there was a site available (so, it was booked almost solid on a Monday night in August). But the fee was sky high for what I got. Haven't been this let down by a campground all summer.

The only redeeming qualities from my perspective were the nice bathrooms and the walking trails. Otherwise, the rest of the park was in sorry shape as well. Bathrooms closed, playground closed, boardwalk closed. Wouldn't recommend this campground unless you're mainly there to go snorkeling or to take a glass bottom boat tour.

Beautiful park, just make sure you brinG an itinerary of things to do. Within the park you can rent a boat, fish off land or kayak the lagoon. You can goto the quasi-beach and swim or snorkel—but both get busy. Otherwise, plan to spend money going shopping or eating out locally.

This is all about location. The sites themselves are tight and no view. But the park is pretty. We were there when the weather wasn’t good, so we missed out on boat tours and snorkeling, but still enjoyed the park and the views.

Site 17 had a 30amp plug issue ranger replaced took about an hour. Noseeums are crazy at dusk and dawn. Unless there’s a breeze can’t be outside. It’s tough to be outside. Site gets good all day sun. No tree coverage and a stagnant water are behind gives off a smell with a north wind. Weather cancelled boat tours this week. Trails are nice but buggy. Beaches aren’t much. This place is mostly for the offshore reefs, boating and kayaking. Rangers very helpful.

Site 18, great weather, full hookups. Snorkel trip in park lots of fish Good tmobile service Must eat at fish house

I’m is a great park and near impossible to get into but because of space limitations the sights are on top of each other. Often my chair would be within 2 feet of my neighbors sewer line which is kind of gross. Bugs were horrible worst I have ever been tore up. Spray and candles did almost nothing. And no campfires allowed which is always a bummer. I would go back for the beauty of the area but as a campground this state park is lacking.

We were next to a host site. They kept the very bright lights on there RV shining all night long. It was very disturbing. The park and trails are ok the playground was shut down. The mangrove trail was shut down. But there is still alot to do at Pennekamp st.park

Small, quaint and quite. Full hook up state park w beach and marina.

Awesome place to go for water enthusiasts. There’s boating, canoeing,kayaking,snorkeling,fishing, and there’s a good beach for the little kids to enjoy the water. The campground is very well shaded with showers and bathrooms within walking distance from any campsite. There is full hookups with 30&50amps available. Be aware there are mosquitoes in the summer months ,so bring bug spray. There are great restaurants in the area all serving up fresh fish and seafood caught right off the coast daily. Bring lots of sunscreen and enjoy the water and sun in the Florida Keys. The park is located in key largo on the ocean side of A1A also known as US1.

We stayed 3 nights and it was really nice. Our site #27 was perfect for our little Rv. The camp was clean and it had plenty to keep us busy. 2 beaches that are great for kiddos not very clear, but typical key beaches. We went to Bahia honda, key west, veteran memorial park ( great little clear and beautiful beach) dog friendly

We stay a night here and there to break up the drive before heading south. The campground has tight spots hardly any privacy but has full hook up. Some sites back up to an area when the tide comes in it has a marsh behind the campers which can attract mosquitos and has a marsh smell so we camp on the other side of the street. You can drive to the beach in the park and snorkel out to a canon (a replica) there’s a big anchor and reef fish. Take the snorkel trip out to the reefs they are nice and one has a statue Christ of the deep.
Plenty to do around the park , kayak, swim, glass bottom boat tour and more.

Not the campgrounds fault - we took what we could get last minute.  Only reason it was less than ideal is we heard the RVs humming all night, smelled of sewage, and the trash pandas were digging in the neighbor RV's trash all night.

Fun wildlife and good spot to stay if you are making your way down the keys.

Stars are amazing. Too bad I didn’t get much time at the park. I was running in the Islamorada 10k.

The campground is great! The bath houses are clean and close by. Paved roads are great for bicycle rides. We had iguana visitors each morning. We enjoyed the birds and wildlife.

The beach is less than desired. It’s VERY rocky (bring water shoes) and the beach is covered in a seaweed muck. You have to walk through it to get to the water. If you’re interested in sunbathing, the beach is perfect!

We hope we can find availability again so we can re-visit!

This little park is off of Route 1 ( Overseas Highway ) on the North bound side. The park is decently maintained. There is a boat launch and docks. You can rent boats and scuba equipment. You can also take one of the parks many boat tours.

Great campsite. We were camping in the tent, but still felt a little crowded since Irma took a lot of trees. Don’t let It dIscourage you! reasonable prices, neat and clean facilities, and a couple of nice snorkling spots worth it.

First, I’m reviewing our second trip to John Pennekamp mainly because it was after Hurricane Irma. They lost a lot in the storm, so many trees, the iguanas are gone and the restaurant is still closed do to high water ruining there kitchen. Most of the park amenities are available.

the sites are very close together and it was a bit difficult to get a 40’ fifth wheel in. Fortunately the site across from us was empty so we could utilize that space. To pull forward to get in straight. We found the sites lacking vegetation in between. But, again this was after Irma and they have replanted but it will take years.

Would we go back? Absolutely!

Would not recommend this campground if you are tent camping. It was packed with RVs and the spaces are very close together. Dogs are allowed but there were so many when we went it was difficult to walk our dogs. Great place to snorkel, small beaches, fishing, boat rentals.

Went there and loved it! Our site backed up to a swamp where the ibis were wading all the time. The iguanas were an issue and we had to make sure and put away all our food but they were neat. The tent site didn't offer a lot of privacy but on the island theres really not much room so I wasn't shocked by this. Great bathrooms and laundry facilities. Very neat places to swim and we even tubbed around the offshoots. Beautiful sunrise.

I spent an entire summer here doing dive medicine research and enjoyed all aspects of the area. The camping is awesome although really hot in the summer (think tropical!). There are plenty of amenities, eateries, stores, and nightlife nearby. Plenty of outdoorsy adventure as well.

You can explore the ocean, gulf, and mangroves within only a mile of each other.

You don't have to be a diver to experience the water excitement either. Many of the sites can be seen and enjoyed via snorkeling as well.

I highly recommend Key Largo as a necessary stop for your bucket list and also a kicking off point for further adventures deeper into the Keys.

These sites are an ok size for tents, but they’re separated out and leveled with the broken cocina shell ground cover which makes having a ground tarp essential if you don’t want to end up damaging your tent. There is power and picnic tables, but you might initially be confused as to who’s table is who’s depending on how people before you have arranged things to fit their RVs….or at least we were for a few moments. These sites are right on each other with tiny strips in between to separate them, but that’s about it. The restroom facilities were nicely maintained like most Florida State parks

Stayed at the park a while ago with a friend as we were road tripping down to Key West. Wish we had taken a tour out to the main reef and done some scuba or snorkeling, but we had an amazing time renting a kayak and exploring the coves through the mangroves and doing some snorkeling there. We could swim around with some huge Tarpin which could have cared less about us being in their home.

New paved road in the gated cg. All the sites were narrow for a state park and no plantings for privacy. We were on site 43 with water/electric (50A). The sites are all gravel and ours, along with some others, were not quite level. We used our rubber stall mats and were fine. We had to drive through the day use area (pretty busy) to get to the cg. Very nice Visitor Center with aquarium, marina, couple of swim beaches, and canoe trails amongst the mangroves. Boat tours go out daily to the nearby coral reef for snorkeling. There is also a glass bottom boat that operates from the marina (maybe next time). Cannon Beach, one of the swim areas, is a nice place to practice snorkeling with a planted sunken shipwreck. We could see a few cannons and anchor along with a few fish swimming around.

Very beautiful area but the roads are very narrow that we could barely get our 5th wheel in. Very friendly people but very high traffic as well.

I love Pennekamp park. The snorkling and scuba diving there is absolutely incredible!

Seeing the colorful reef surrounding the statue of Jesus was breathtaking. We saw all sorts of colorful fish and flora, even though it wasn't the best weather day. It was cloudy, but the reef more then made up for it.

We took a snorkeling tour that lasted half a day and loved seeing the reef. As good as places we've been abroad. Bring your own fins & snorkel if possible so you can explore any body of water you find. This camp site is convenient to the water and snorkeling options, plus general beach lounging. Our campsite neighbors let us borrow their kayak. The State Park has educational films and programs all summer. There are no tent-only sites, as far as I remember, which is kind of disappointing but it wasn't crowded (May) so it was ok. There may be more private or secluded options nearby but the greater park area is surreal beautiful. Nice and clean, well-kept, basic amenities (aside from education programs, which are great). Wonderful area, looking forward to return.

Great park with fantastic snorkeling and scuba diving. Excellent area to visit with a lot to offer.