Ortona South

Ortona South Campground, ACE campground in Moore Haven, FL. We absolutely love staying here. There are no trails nearby (The unofficial trail near site 21 is closed off due to construction up river.)but a nice walk on the access road out to the highway is a 4 mile round trip from the back of the campground. Lots of dump truck traffic on this road from the nearby gravel yard. (Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good

(71yr olds in a 17’ trailer. Our rating of a campground is influenced by the following: The general ambiance- sort of wilderness feel the campground gives us. Also, a selection of campsites which offer some visual privacy and/or scenic view is valuable. Cleanliness of the facilities that are offered is important and usually noted in my review. ))

Overall Rating: 4 for the spectacular views in most sites.
Price 2023: $ 15 w interagency pass Usage during visit: Full Site Privacy: Open. In our corner site , #21, we were able to swing our 17’ trailer around to offer much more privacy with the water view. This could be done with a small van as well or an RV pulling in nose first. # 20 is the most private site. Site Views: Some sites have very nice water views, others nice open grassland views. Noted below. Site Spacing: Good
Site surface: Concrete Reservations: Yes. Sites in this campground is in high demand.
Campground Noise: Quiet. Road Noise: None Through Traffic in campground: None Electric Hookup: Yes Sewer Hookup: No Dump Station: Yes Potable Water Available: At sites Bathroom: One in each loop. Flush toilets. Old. Reasonably clean. Showers: Two showers in each bathroom with curtains which share a dressing area.
Pull Throughs: Some - in the first of two loops. Pull throughs all are in the first loop and include a double site.
Cell Service (AT&T): 3 to 4 bars Setting: Campground runs along a the Caloosahatchee River. Open grass land with scattered palm trees on the other side. The campground road runs between the campground and grass land in the first loop only. Recent Weather: 80’s for 5 of our days. Then it cooled off with some rain. Bugs: Mosquitoes are around in the evening, especially . Solar: Would be available in all sites. Host: Sites are near the entrance Rig size: Large rigs are fine in most if not all sites.

Sites: First Loop, just after the entry station (31-50): SITES ALONG CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER but view is limited : 32-39. 23 ,24 have a nice view up a waterway. Largest site occupying largest area is on the corner (no real view): 31. Fishing dock, access is between site, 32 and 33, and across from site 51. 44 and 43 are pull throughs, and do not offer as much as other sites regarding location/view. Same with the double back in sites,45 and 46.

SECOND LOOP, furthest from entry station: (1 - 30): #29 has a palm barrier giving picnic side nicer privacy. Sites 21 - 30 are right along the river, all with nice water views. #24- 30 , are the best water view sites. 21,22 and 23 water views up the river are a bit limited due to vegetation on the riverbank up the river. All these sites view the river down to the dam. Sites on the river side have more space between sites than the grassland side, 1-20. Maybe that is so sites on the grassland side can still see the river in between the more spacious sites on the river side. Across from #2,3,4 sites is the access to the dam crossing which accesses the fishing dock on the other side. The corner site, #20, offers the absolute most privacy of any site with a grassland view. (I liked the grassland view sites, but I prefer the water views.)

#1 has a building right behind it which detracts from, but does not eliminate the grassland view.

There are fishing docks on both sides of the Calossahatchee, but I have been told that the fishing on the other side of the river is better. The dam crossing to access the other side is open from 7:30AM untill 4:30PM.

All sites have a covered picnic table .

Ortona is a great park! Very clean and well maintained. Excellent hosts that are friendly and helpful. Always monitoring the park. Sites are concrete and level. Long enough for our 38 ft coach. They just added two charging stations! Awesome!

Everyone's really nice there's electric hookups fishing up the little pier nice little river coming through right by the locks. Dog friendly I haven't tried the bathroom yet but I'm sure they're clean. You can hear the cows next door lol pet friendly I have my dog and my ferrets with me. And with my discount it was extremely affordable I'll definitely be back again.

Very clean and great park! Good size sites and driveways. Walking and biking. Great camp hosts. Love walking to the dam and watching the boat traffic.

Tough to get in short stays only but well worth it.

Took the new travel trailer here as a shake down run. Wife was in failing health so I pretty much set up alone. Everything was well laid out and took little time to get everything hooked up and make the two of us comfy.  Out of the way, yet close to our Naples home. Not much for us to do (I don't fish) other than take the beagle for pleasant walks. It was perfect. TV reception of local channels was good enough. A pleasant last trip together.

…so buy your groceries before camping here! The park is the destination.

Super clean and quite great hosts

This park is so pretty. It’s very relaxing and could stay there for a long time. The sunsets are unbelievable.

This i a very well maintained top notch facility, Clean restrooms, shower facilities. Checking in was a breeze. Great fishing

We love Ortona! Our site, 29, waterfront! So many boats going through the locks. Unfortunately, the locks are still closed to people walking across. Very clean, good long sites, and very friendly! 50 amp, and water hookups.

This campground is a Corps of Engineer facility with 51 sites with electric and water available. A dump station is onsite as you leave. Open year round the campground is set along the Caloosahatchee River where campers can watch the boats and manatees pass through the Ortona Lock. 

Nature abounds in and near the park. Alligators, osprey, quail, egrets, otters and other wildlife are frequently seen here.

The grounds are well maintained and the staff are knowledgeable and friendly. This is a great place to bring the family for a quiet adventure in nature.

Have waited six months into our RV life to start reviews for fair comparisons. Spent total of 6 nights in 5 different sites(they call it the Ortona shuffle). Liked all sites for different reasons. Another peaceful, clean, spread out ACE campground. A birders paradise. Also have resident gators. Long entrance road to get in which we took advantage of to run and bike. It ends at the highway though so did not bike further. Nice biking/walking path out of the back of the park near the dumpster. Easy dog walking. Friendly hosts and fellow campers. Lock system was interesting. My husband not as excited as no real hiking/biking on site, but if like me you’re happy to sit peacefully looking at nature and birdwatching this is heaven.

Ortona South was one of our favorites on our recent trip to FL (early Feb). We stayed there twice for a total of 6 nights. We had sites 19 (not riverfront), 23 (riverfront), and 28 (riverfront). Part of me doesn’t want to share this place - it’s already hard to get into! The campground is quiet, but with friendly fellow campers. This campground is very well maintained, with beautiful views of the river - complete with boats going in and out of the locks and various wildlife. We saw manatees feeding on our first stay and there was an alligator on our second stay. There is also a ton of birds in this area - both flying over as well as in the fields, and on a small creek feeding into the river. The riverfront sites are just so relaxing - so nice to watch the boats float by and watch the flocks of birds fly over in the evening. Note that there isn’t much privacy for the riverfront sites, but the views are worth it. Our non-river site (19) had great privacy and the bonus of birdwatching from our site. We had a peregrine falcon, an egret and a juvenile white ibis hanging out behind our site, as well as a bald eagle flying over. There’s also an unofficial trail at the end of the campground that leads to a field/marsh area where flocks of egrets, ibises, and cormorants fly into every evening. There were also Roseate Spoonbills flying over, but we never saw them land. The road coming into the campground is also great for a walk or run - we loved our sunset runs seeing tons of birds and beautiful views the whole way. Sites were paved and completely level. Looking forward to staying here again!!

Great clean park. Make sure you get a spot on the river! Beautiful! Tons of birds and fish jumping! Otters and gators swimming too! Neat to watch the ships pass through the lock. Army corps of engineers camp. Cheap! Only 50 spots and is hard to get a spot!!

We stayed at the other end of the Locks and we wanted to try this side. It was so cool seeing the cows and the Eagle’s nest. It’s so cool watching the boats come and go in the Locks. Very relaxing! It has nice separation in between your spot and your neighbor. Great place to walk around or ride your bikes around.

Arrived here at 8:30 pm after a couple of hours drive through flatlands. Didn't have any nearer choice from Jupiter because everything else was booked. It is August 2020. On the fly, found this site, registered on recreation.gov, and was given an email with the combination to the lock on the gate. Drove in. The site is clean and quiet. Lots of bugs on that muggy night. Set up tent. And slept peacefully. Bathrooms are clean, showers are good. Camped right next to the lock. The site is run by the Army Corps of Engineers, so everything has a certain look of efficiency. There was a night attendant who emerged from the first RV in sight after the vehicle entrance on the western end. Double water hook ups, full electric. No shade. Each spot has a roofed picnic table, a fire pit, and a barbecue stand. Very quiet. Nothing much to do here if you're active, save for going around the loop on your bicycle, lol. Great place to get away from it all and contemplate life.

While staying at Franklin took a drive to check out this camp ground. Staff was great, park was very clean and peaceful. Not much around area making this a great place to do some nighttime photography. Little light pollution. Only 2 sites were taken. During slow season 1-30 are closed which is ashame as they tend to be the better sites. Only explanation for this would be these are the furthest away from shower/bath facilities. Looking forward to future trip in Oct.

If you want peace and quiet with one of the cleanest campgrounds around this is a must go to spot. Lots to look at on the river as all the boats go by through the lock. Fishing is good. Sites are concrete and level. Another amazing Corp of Engineers federal park! We can’t wait to come back.

Great COE campground. Spacious sites, with level cement pads.Best sites are 21 to 26 back up to small canal with a lock. Fun to watch boats navigate thru. Fishing on canal. Also like sites 17 to 20. Beautiful landscaping. Friendly, informative hosts. Lots of birds, eagles, hawks and a family of otters! Two negatives- gate closes 7 to 7. You have to get out, unlock a hard to read padlock, open gate, drive thru and then close. Hard to do in the dark Second negative- the bathhouses are clean but no shelf by the single sink and the two showers are set up oddly where you have to pass thru one to hey to the other.
All in all a great place.