Best RV Parks & Resorts near Summerland Key, FL

We were so excited to visit this highly rated Thousand Trails Sunshine Key!  The pictures online are not exactly accurate.  The RV sites are barren with little shade - feels like a parking lot.  There are a LOT of full-timers here and they have the best sites, close to the marina and pool.  The resort has a fun/upbeat vibe with lots going on - happy hour with music, crafts and farmers market.  Our site 57 was more isolated and the park was only 2/3 full, even though the Thousand Trails website says it is full!

There is a small beach area with lounge chairs and a Tiki hut.  Our dogs ran off leash and swam in the ocean as there was no one around.  They also have a marina and dock with beautiful sunset views.  The other guests were very friendly and we wish the weather was better to hang out and meet more people.  We had one day, out of 14 with clear, sunny skies.  The other days were raining a tropical storm and the winds were insane.  This was unusual however for December.

Everyday the staff sends texts to remind you of activities - happy hour, live music, bingo, farmers market and crafts.  Friendly and welcoming and would recommend again.  I don't however, think it lives up to the hype of one of the very best Thousand Trails/Encore in the Keys.

Marathon is a laid back, Keys island with eclectic dining, shops and activities.  We had dinner one night at Isla Bella - very upscale, but expensive.  The Sombrero Beach is beautiful and dog friendly if on a leash.

Curry Hammock State Park, located at mile marker 56, is just outside of Marathon in the Florida Keys on the Atlantic side of US 1. The park is compact, offering excellent gravel, well-leveled sites, and a super clean bath house.

The sites feel secluded because of the vegetation, but don’t expect much shade here. While there is beach access, it’s not much of a beach. Typical of the Florida Keys, it is rocky and weedy. It’s not Miami Beach.

Kayaking, SUP, and bicycling are the main recreational attractions. Kayaks and SUPs can be launched from a small sandy beach spot, where swimming is not allowed. Cyclists can access the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail, across US 1 from the park entrance. The asphalt paved path is safely segregated from traffic on the Overseas Highway, allowing access to Marathon.

Curry Hammock State Park is a gorgeous Florida Keys gem; however, that implies hot, muggy, and buggy conditions during the warmer months, which are mostly all year. If those conditions don’t suit you, I would suggest one of the RV resorts down the road a bit.

We love Cudjoe key. This is not a Campground or odd V resort. It is a condominium community that features eclectic housing in a gated Community. It is expensive, but not compared to similar RV resorts in the keys. Yo RV well been nestled among mobile homes, stick built structures, manufactured homes, and other RVs. Amenities include a beautiful swimming pool, rec hall, good laundry and showers, and the sense of being part of the community. The Saint Boondockin. Highly recommend it if you can live with numerous rules that are published in advance. Read them in advance.

It’s a state park so no full hook ups. It has such beautiful scenery and in the ocean. It’s very hard to get a spot.

Stayed here one night. There are only 11 sites with full hook ups, no showers, restrooms, laundry or WiFi, but you can get spots right on the water. They are strict with the rules there which isn't a problem, just a heads up for those disrespectful people who do not clean up after their dogs and those with inadequate sewer hook ups on their rigs. We were told they were recently fined for such behavior from visitors with is sad and that there are cameras to keep a closer eye on things. Chris and Fiona were very nice. It's a quick bike ride into downtown Key West.

Good cell reception with AT&T and Verizon.

We stayed here a week our site #99 is right on the water next to the fire pit. Nice view with full hook up, a picnic table, sites are tight with no privacy. This site faces the Atlantic so we weren’t facing another camper. The pool and clubhouse are nice and the laundry room has 5 washers and dryer’s. There is a boat ramp, fish cleaning station, docks for you boat and they sell gas for your boat. 

The deer walk up to you    that’s nice. The office and store are nice lots of good things in there prices were good. We saw some sunrises and sunsets from our site. The bonfire pit is nice it’s propane so no smell which was nice. They turn it on every evening till 10:00. 

The campground is maintained well, clean bath house, pool, clubhouse and laundry room very clean. There is a dish cleaning station next to an outside shower, for tent campers. 

Over in the primitive camping area there’s a trail you can walk along the water lots of deer hoof prints, and derelict crab bouys. It’s a nice trail to walk there are sand spurs so wear shoes.

The entire week we were there it was windy we had lots of seaweed blow in it does smell. Hardly anyone was there mid oct.  They store campers there too lots of snow birds come for the winter. 

On Big pine key there’s a Winn Dixie, 2 hardware stores, the Big Pine Rooster restaurant, cocos has great Cubans, Trinaos taco truck, and drive out to the north name pub they have good pizza and homemade sangria. Bahia Honda state park is across the bridge it’s a nice place to spend a day. On Marathon Porky’s has a good breakfast and barbecue, the Sunset grill has good she crab soup, and the Keys Fishery good raw bar upstairs and cooked food downstairs. 

I gave this campground a 4 star review due to no swim beach.

After some of the reviews we read here, we had some trepidation. Much of the ‘cons’ that other people experienced, we did not. We stayed in T loop since we wanted electrical hookup. This loop is designed for RVs and travel trailers, electric hookups at each site, but you needed to fill your water tanks from the spigot at the bathrooms. There is a dump station to make your deposit on the way out. Sites are all pull-thru and very level. Each site has a fire ring with grate, and a picnic table (very heavy and hard to move). There is a smattering of trees throughout, but not enough to offer much shade. There is a good amount of space between sites so you are not crammed in like sardines, which we have experienced at other National park campgrounds.

At this particular time of year, we experienced little to no bugs and there was a constant slight sea breeze which helped to make it feel a bit cooler. We were here the second week of February and it was plenty hot (80s) and humid for us northerners. The area we were in was very quiet, mostly us “older” folks. Very peaceful here at night, and a great location for stargazing since the campground has very few lights. Some previous reviews mentioned pesky vultures, we never saw any. I can’t speak to the conditions of the bathrooms in this loop as we had our own and didn’t need to visit them. Bring your bikes, fishing gear and kayaks as those seem to be the major activities here. It’s long way from major stores, so be sure to bring whatever supplies you might need. The store at the marina has some basics, but you won’t want to buy many groceries there.

Glad we went, but now that we’ve been there, probably won’t feel the need to go back, but it’s a nice place to get to at least once!

We did not have enough time to do everything we would have liked. Flamingo Adventures is about as far away as you can get from the rat race. They have eco tents, dry camping and hook ups. You can camp in the open grassy tent field by the bay, or in one of the campgrounds with hook ups for RVs. When the FHU sites fill there are still lots of dry sites available. They have clean bathrooms with showers. Some have solar heated water and some don’t. We stayed in the dry area and heard a lot of generator noise but most were considerate. The marina and store are an easy bike ride along a path that follows the waterfront. Manatee activities are in the canal and marina. There are many side trips along the very long ride from the visitors center at the entrance to Everglades National Park to Flamingo. They were working on many new and updated amenities: visitor center, conference center and lodging. Crocodiles can be seen in and around marina. Many friendly people everywhere; staff, rangers and visitors.

Not a bad campground. The sites are gravel driveways that are set up great for RVs but not so great for tents. There are picnic tables and fire pits at the sites.

OK. So the Everglades can be cool. You can rent a canoe here, and tent camp or RV camp. The bugs can be hellish though. I was bit like a million times (exaggeration, but everywhere).

I am a member of Passport America, they are listed as 50% off campsites for 5 days maximum. When I called to reserve they told me that our trailer would not fit on the designated Passport Amerca sites, but we could have the next level site for 50% off instead, but they were $10.00 more a night. When we drove by the office, on our way out to eat on the night we arrived, they had prices posted for late arrivals to check themselves in, the price listed for the two sites on either side of us was $16.00 less than they charged me for the site before my 50% off. There were several empty sites in the Passport America area that we could have easiily fit on, they were about the same size as the site we were given. With them making me upgrade to a more expensive site, then charged me more than the other sites next to me, that were identical to mine, I did not get the 50% off price stated on Passport America. We thought the campground was nice, but there are way too many rules! For example, try telling your dog that he can not do his business until you get all the way across the campground to the doggie park. The rules for pets stated that you would loose your deposit if you let your dog do his business on any campsite or common area. There was only two places acceptable, one was up front between the RV Park and the main road, on a tiny strip of grass or in the Bark Park. The pool closed at sundown. We usually relax in the pool at night at most campgrounds to wind down before bed. I tried to do our laundry the night we arrived, the laundry room was open, but they did not have a change machine, so I had to wait until the next day, after we went to get change. We actually had plans, but I had to do laundry instead, we had to have clean clothes, we had already been traveling for 17 days, the campground we had been in for the last 4 days did not have a laundry room. The machines were small, but cost $4.00 per load to wash and .25 cents, per 5 minutes to dry. It cost us $38.00 to wash and dry 6 loads! We did not get to do all of our laundry, we only washed what would fit in the machines, for each color. The showers were clean, but there were signs posted that said the water temperature and pressure were pre-set, you had to press a button to turn the water on, that only gave you about a minute of time, so you had to keep repressing the button to take your shower. It was just like the bathroom sinks you have to press to wash your hands.We were traveling with my two youngest kids, 21 & 23, my oldest son, who is in the Air Force, his wife and two kids was meeting us 4 days after we arrived, but they said they would NOT let them stay with us, there was a strict 6 person maximum and one vehicle per site policy. We had originally planned on staying 11 days, 5 at 50% off snd 6 at full price. When we told them we would only be staying for 4 days, because our son could not camp with us, they told us that we could pay $73.00 a night for a tent site, but they could actually stay in our camper with us. We counted 10 people at the campsite across from us, they also had two large vehicles, and a large boat. The showers were clean, but there were signs posted that said the water temperature and pressure were pre-set, you had to press a button to turn the water on, that only gave you about a minute of time, so you had to keep repressing the button to take your shower. It was just like the bathroom sinks you have to press to wash your hands. The boat ramp on site was nice, we launched our kayaks from it. The swim area was roped off , with no beach, only a narrow strip of concrete. You climbed into the water using a small latter.The sunset view was beautiful from the swim area or if you had a waterside site.