Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Goodland, FL

This is a nice camping location…or will be when they complete renovations. They are still recovering from hurricane damage, so there was some construction and noise. The spaces are pretty tight, but not as bad as other places. And they are staggered so it feels roomier. we had a nice site with a shaded patio. Also a misquote problem! Lots of misquotes and no see-ums. But the pool, boat ramp, playground, and dog park are all open. 2 dog parks! The laundry, hot tub, and camp store are still closed. It’s close to the Big Cypress Wildlife area, and an easy drive to Everglades National Park.

We had an exceptionally unpleasant experience due to the pet policy being misrepresented. We paid in advance, their policy, for the entire month of February. We had to sign a document stating the payment was not refundable. Before signing, we read through the policies that affected renters, like the pet policy and did not see anything out of line with other RV parks. We set up our exercise pens for the dogs, like we've done at every RV park for the last 30 years. We were informed that exercise pens violated their policy. We had not seen that and asked that it be shown to us. They showed a construction policy that stated owners were not allowed to build a fence on their property. We had not built anything on their property, but they maintained that an exercise pen was a fence and had to be taken down. Our dogs are quiet and love to bask in the warm sun. It felt like a cruel expectation for them to have to stay in our RV 24/7 for a full month. They suggested that we could tie our dogs out on the lawn, but they are escape artists and we could not risk them getting away. We again stated that we were not in any way violating their policy. They were very indifferent. We could not put our pets through being confined to and RV, so we immediately left. They refused to refund our money, offer a stay at another date or even offer any kindness at all. This is truly the worst experience and poorest treatment that we've ever had at an RV resort.

We camp Koreshan because it is literally less than 10 minutes from our house. We can set up camp and stay throughput the week even if the kids have school. It’s hard to book a weekend at any Florida campground in season so plan ahead if you want a Florida State park. This campground has short trails to hike through beautiful bamboo forests. A ramp for putting in your kayaks or SUPs as well as kayak rental. Locations to fish the river. You are a 20 minute drive to the beach from here. Very centrally located to shopping and farmers markets. Koreshan has a farmers market there at the park I believe on Sundays. The campsites have a fire pit and wood is sold at the entrance. It is a historic site of the early settlers of the area from the late 1800’s so there are historical buildings on site to tour. It is a pet friendly campground. The only reason I give this campground 4* rather than 5 is because of the road noise from Hwy 41 that it is off. It’s quite peaceful until you get a motorcycle racing up and down the highway at 2am. They do have specific sites if you wish to camp in hammocks. If you google the campground you should be able to find out which sites those are.

The campground located inside the historical state park has a total of 54 sites, 39 are RV or tent, 3 only RV, and 12 Tent only. There is a bath house on the inside loop of the sites, it has hot showers and flush toilets. Each site has electrical hookup, with picnic tables, fire pit, and utility pole. Each site has good foliage and privacy from other sites. The park has water fountains and water faucets for portable water. Each site has a gravel drive and sandy/grassy area for tents, no tent pads. It is also pet friendly. Two sites I have stayed at are 020 and 009, both are large sites with lots of privacy from neighbors. From October-April it is fairly busy, and availability is scarce, so planning a head is usually necessary to get the site you want. It is $26 a night with a $6.70 nonrefundable reservation fee, reservation is on the park website.

This state park is part of a Historical Settlement of a religious group that built this particular settlement in 1893, there are lots of buildings still preserved and available for you to walk through. A couple short and nice trails, some along the Estero river. Kayaking and fishing are also permitted.