Best Tent Camping near Green Cove Springs, FL

Closely gathered tent camp sites, without water or electric at the site. Water is stationed within walking distance, tastes weird. Nonpotable?Clean sites. Bath house with hot water, boat ramp for large and small boats. Current is very fast for kayaking. Go tot he dam instead which offers World renowned fishing. Lots of alligators. Go to Rodman damn for the fishing and quiet waters to kayak in. A minagerie of wildlife is available to view. No phone service. Dog friendly camping. Isolated. Bring what you need.

Fantastic campground and recreation area. Over 150 campsites, one area full hookups with all amenities and other area for tent camping. Sites have lots of space and majority have shade trees with moss flowing in the breeze. All sites have picnic table, lantern pole, grill, and fire ring. We have 2 golden retrievers and had plenty of space to spare. Beautiful stars out at night. Bathhouses are large, clean, hot showers. Trailer sites were full and only a few tent campers this time of year. Tent sites are complete with Bear boxes at each site. Camp hosts and management were very friendly and helpful.
Saw manatees kayaking in the spring and river on premises. Spring area has a boardwalk around it. People swam with them too. Saw bald eagle catching fish, lots of birds, some fish, etc. Has a small boat launch and marina. Can tent kayaks. Great place for bikes. A few hiking trails were well maintained.
Convenient location to lots of springs to visit and things to do. Visited Silver Springs, Blue Springs, Juniper Spring to name a few. All within 1 hr drive.
Not sure how summer time is, but this late February time was Awesome. 40-50 at night and 60s in the day! This is a must stay place.

Salt Springs Recreation Area is part of the Ocala National Forest. It’s the oldest national forest east of the Mississippi River and protects the world’s largest sand pine scrub forest. The Salt Springs gets its name from the magnesium, sodium and potassium levels in the water, giving it a slight salinity. We made our reservations online at www.recreation.gov you can also call 877-444-6777 the local office is(352) 685-2048. We’re a married couple in our forties traveling with two dogs and a cat in our 37 foot motorhome. We stayed at Salt Springs campground for about a week in February. It was$34 for full hookups or$23 for tent camping. American Land& Leisure does a great job managing this recreation and camping area, the staff are professional and friendly. It’s a very safe and well lit campground. Activities include spring swimming, basketball courts, horseshoe pit, fishing, snorkeling, hiking, boating and kayaking. Canoe rentals are available. Nearby in the town of Salt Springs you will find a grocery store, gas station, restaurants, post office and laundromat. Don’t expect big box stores to shop in, this is a very small town and a place to get away from the world. We stayed in a full hookup site and had lots of space to ourselves, at least 25 yards to our neighbor on either side and about 40 yards to the next loop behind us. It was a flat site and very easy to level our motorhome. Sites are fully equipped with fire ring, grill, lantern post and picnic table. The tent sites include a bear locker. We loved the recycling opportunities at each trash container. They recycle plastic, glass and aluminum. The bathhouses are a gem, extremely clean and well taken care of. For campers in tents they offer a kitchen sink area to clean your dishes. Overall we loved our stay here, we went swimming multiple times with our snorkel gear and drove down to Silver Springs on two separate days(one for the glass bottomed boats and a second day to go kayaking).

This is a beautiful campground with proximity to the Florida Scenic Trail. Ideal for tent camping, as the forest service roads were a little rough for our RV. Campground is along a beautiful and unique wet prairie. No cell service, no electric or water hookups. Worth a stay in a tent! Recommend using entrance off route 19 via forest service road 86.

Close to a nice spring (not the most beautiful of the area). Tent site are fine. Very friendly staff.

Great park for tent camping and small motorhomes. We are 37 feet and only 5 sites were able to accommodate us mainly due to tree branches and large overhanging limbs. It's quiet and there's a large amount of vegetation between sites.

The facilities at this camp ground are nearly immaculate. The beach access is spacious and pristine. Water sport equipment rental and snack shack on site. Highly recommended to the beach enthusiast. Caution: concerts at the amphitheater can be heard from some sites if you're tent camping.

My friends and I have tent camped at LTI no fewer than 7 times over the last few years. The sites are nice and tucked away, birds are plentiful and the bathrooms are always very clean. Beach access is a drive (or bike ride) across the street.

From hiking trails two camping fishing kayaking cycling and disc golf!!! Primitive tent camping RV camping or cozy cabins great for the whole family. Reasonably priced. The very friendly staff. A great starter camping location or Family Getaway. I give four stars because the restrooms are not up kept.

Many campgrounds in Florida offer either a beach or tree canopy campsite but not both. Anastasia is one of the few that has both and is very well maintained.

Most of the campsites in this State Park have oak tree canopies with the hanging spanish moss that give it a soothing shady feel.

The beach is a short car ride away (or decent walk but not too far).

My visit was for tent camping but the sites have full hookups and there is a dump station for RVers.

Quiet, lots of wildlife (wild horses, bison, alligators, deer, birds, turtles); plenty of hiking and biking trails with beautiful sunsets on the lake. Restroom facilities are showing some age but clean.  Walk-in tent sites are pretty close to the Restrooms.

Another nice stop on our East Coast bike tour! Spacious sites with picnic tables and water. Charge phone in the bathroom. No hot water for shower the night we were there though, and the tent camping area backs up to the main road into the neighborhood, so we heard car noise throughout the night.

Anastasia park is one of the cleanest parks. Friendly rangers . Camp sides nice in woods. Beach so close that u can hear splash waves. Bathrooms clean. Mix tent sites and RV. Close to St. Augustine but if u are inside park u dont even think u r that close

Nice area and staff. Site 142 is big and slightly more separated than the rest of the tent sites. Also closest to the kayak launch. The other sites holy crap no privacy or separation between most of them. Wouldn't want to camp here when they are busy.

Except for the noise of the highway, you would never guess you were 10 minutes from a major metropolitan city. The campground is very private with lots of trees and palms separating sites, especially in the tent loops. The tent sites are walk in, with some closer than others. I took site #23 for the night, which was set back just enough to the private, but not so far as to really haul my gear. Each tent site has a numbered parking space as well. There seemed to be about 10-12 tent only sites and the remainder of the 50 sites had hook-ups for RVs. The bathhouse was clean and modern, and well taken care of. 

A two mile hike will take you the visitors center, from which you can climb the observation tower to look over the prairie and have access to several trails. It was really wet when I was there which meant that several trails were partially closed. But I still managed to hike several miles over several trails. I never did see the Cracker Wild Spanish Horses or the bison, but did see lots of signs in the form of poop. I also didn’t see any gators, but did get to see lots of birds of various size and variety.

Every dream about visiting a campground where all of the campsites are actually up in the trees? Well, look no further than Camp Chowenwaw Park. This slice of verdant paradise is just due west of St. Johns River in Green Cove Springs. When I first researched this place, because of its name, I couldn’t believe what I was in store for. 

First of all, among the dozen or so treehouse campsites, there is very great space between each of the treehouses, although the area when we visited still seemed somewhat sparsely populated with brush and encircled by a wide swath of a nature preserve. This campground has all of the typical amenities that you would expect: fire rings, standing BBQ grills and running water. The area with the Treehouse campsites offers up a wholly dedicated his and hers bathroom and shower facilities (while not the most spartan, they are functional and kept fairly clean) as well as a working kitchen and even a screened-in mess hall for large groups. The dispersed camping area, of which there’s a half dozen or so campsites, is completely on the ground with 15 x 15 sand / pebble boxes for you to plant your tent in. 

About a ¼ mile from these two campgrounds you’ll come across the Bayard swimming pool, which is an excellent size and open to the public as well as fellow campers. Over here you’ll also see that there’s a Kayak-dispensing machine (yeah, just have a look at the photos!) as well as a nature center and access to a handful of really good, yet basic hiking trails. 

Insider’s tip? Here’s a BIG ONE – if you get tired of roasting hot dogs and beans fireside, just head on over to nearby Woodpecker’s for the finest BBQ that I’ve ever had in the great state of Florida. 

Happy Camping!

There are two loops for campers, both very nice - one is near the lakes but not directly accessing the water (you’ll get more RVs in that area) and the tent camping loop backs up against the woods. Great access to water sports, the ravine hiking trails, dirt roads leading out the back entrance for motorcycles to easily access the nearby forest roads, and the amenities are spare but clean. The staff are always friendly and understanding, and other campers tend to be seasonal, return groups and families - pets are more than welcomed.