Best Tent Camping near Tarpon Springs, FL

So I will say this site has super clean bathrooms, nice tent campsites and freshly paved roads. The tent sites have hookups and very close to the bathrooms. The only downfall is there isn't a ton to do here so don't expect anything spectacular.

We tent camped here for two nights. I really enjoyed our stay and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

We stayed one of the premium tent sites, but unfortunately there is a very bright street light on all night right next to premium camping. The primitive campsites with no hookups are in a much more secluded area and not affected by lighting at night.

Other than that, everything else was great.

Colt Creek State Park is one of the newest parks in the Florida State Park System. Their RV/Tent Campground just recently opened in early 2018. RV spots are spacious. There is not a lot of privacy between spots but cover will grow in in time. Most sites are in full sun most of the day. Tent camping areas are on grass not gravel. very nice dump and wash area at gate to campground. They also offer equestrian, group, and primitive camping at this location. The equestrian camp is well used and quite large with standard amenities for horses and campers. There are 2 primitive sites along a 10 mile loop trail. Group site does not have a pavilion but does have port o lets ( no water or electric). There are 4 lakes ( no swimming) on the property kayak/canoe rentals, nice fishing ares and a dock. Lots of wildlife. Great for biking as well.

Nice place, relatively quiet. Little light pollution. Sites are very spacious. Close and clean facilities. Saw a good bit of wildlife: deer and wild boar. Hiking and biking trials. I regular tent sites (which are also hammock friendly). Also have cabins for rent. Prices are on the lower end, $17 a night for tent sites. Only reason for the 4 start is the reservation system has to be done through the county park and rec sites.

The people are friendly and the fishing is great. Tent sites are primitive but there is a bath house.

Tent camped at a site in loop one. Weather was nice, though we were warned it can get a bit muddy when it rains. Crowds were a bit higher on the trails during Saturday afternoon but Sunday morning was much more quiet and we saw lots of wildlife.

I typically avoid tent camping here in the summer months– early summer the trails are heavy with mosquitoes and summer rains bring a large amount of flooding. Though in the fall winter and spring this park is AMAZING. We were very lucky on this trip to have snagged spot at the high part of the riverside loop. Sites 20 and 21 typically stay dry enough for tents. Sites along the river side of loops are prone to flooding some holding as much as 4-6 inches of water.

 This trip was a short overnight to get rid of some pent up cabin fever. We loaded up a tent and the bikes, praying for dry weather. The mosquitoes were not bad, almost none, the the river was near flood stage and inches from overflowing its bank near the campground. 

The 2.5 mile loop from main entrance is perfect for biking, be careful near the pool area that is VERY crowded in the summer as many locals visit and it will reach capacity early in the day. You can rent bikes and canoes at the concession area near the stand if you did not bring your own. The grounds are beautifully kept, campground hosts are helpful, bathrooms clean and playground areas are plentiful. There are very nice pavilions and one air conditioned building available for rent for special events. If you are visiting in the summer call to make sure the site you booked is dry. 

We did see where one person got his travel trailer stuck on the mud trying to get into his site. There are very few tent campers in the summer so be prepared if you are tent camping to hear neighbors a/c running all night. 

I get products to test from time to time- today I am testing the INNO INH540 Bike Rack On first impression upon receiving– this is a heavy duty rack! Shipping weight is nearly 50lbs. and came fully assembled. This bike rack will fit both 1.25 and 2 inch receivers. We first tried to mount on my Jeep Liberty but we need to get a receiver extension as our spare tire prevented installation. So we mounted on our Dodge 1500 truck. I had to have my husband help me slip it into the receiver(was a bit awkward for me to do on my own).

 I was very pleased to find the unit came with a hitch lock that was keyed the same as the cable lock for the bikes. Rack came with 2 keys so we each have a key on our ring and can access without looking for it. 

The bars are adjustable and the rotating upper and lower cradles are well designed. The support bars also fold down when not in use. Another nice feature is locking pivot at base that will allow you to tilt the rack out of the way of tailgate to enable access without removing the entire rack. 

The rack will hold 4 bikes up to 35 lbs each or a total of 140 lbs. We have mountain bikes with less space on crossbars of frame so was a bit tight to get loaded. Loading was much easier once we did it a couple times and got used to where we needed to place the cradles. Street bikes load with no issues,(we borrowed the neighbors bikes to test and to show off our new INNO bike rack– they were jealous)! 

Order yours today from https://www.innoracks.com/ You will not be disappointed!

Really beautiful area. Sites w/grills that can fit 2 cars. Foliage between sites so they are visually private but can get loud depending on your neighbors. Plenty of space for hammocks.

Camp store on site has firewood, bug spray, sunscreen, all the basics.

We tent camped in July and it was truly the hottest I've ever been. Character building.

What a lovely campground!

Everything is quiet and even though the sites are close to each other, there's lots of privacy (at least among the tent sites).

There appears to be a lot of people actives on water and on foot.

Staff has been very friendly.

Very friendly, helpful staff. This place was always clean and well maintained. Tent camped here for 11 days. Water access to the gulf for fishing crabbing claming kayaking etc. The pinellas county trail runs along side KOA and they rent bikes and fun little tricycles to ride the trail or use in campground. Itwas great. Plenty of trees to add shade. Nice clean pool and rec center. They even had a movie night at the pool. Cant wait to go back in my RV. Loved it here

I rated this park a four, only because it's not really meant for a long stay for tent campers or for a lot of activities. There is a beautiful lake that you can canoe/kayak/boat on, and a great trail that runs along side of it, but it is super close to I75. I am a heavy sleeper, and actually appreciate "white noise" but for others tent camping, it may be inconvenient. I would recommend this as for a one night stop for travelers or for RV's only. There isn't a visitors center and check-in is by honor code. Dogs are allowed so this is always nice for me! There is also dirt biking trails, which is something you don't always see and nice to have. Other that water activities there wasn't much to do on site. Locally and near by is the Dade City Battlefield, which was really interesting and historic information about Florida. There is also an ancient oak tree in the middle of the park which was beautiful! I'd recommend visiting if you stay at this park.

Colt Creek State Park is one of the newer parks in the Florida State Park System. We had the opportunity to camp at one of the handicap accessible sites recently and found it to be very convenient. Path and pad on site were roomy and fire pit was higher than usual for safety. These tent sites had water and electric as well. There are 2 of these sites available and both are easily accessed from handicap parking close by. Because this is a new er park the trees have not grown in well enough yet to provide adequate shade so be prepared for that. There is a lovely fishing doc with easy access and bathrooms are just wonderful. There is a paved trail as well as wide dirt trails to explore. This is a great place to visit. Camp hosts were wonderful as well.

I love this place! Even though you can't bring your dogs here (Cypress Glenn you can - it's just down the road, but not as secluded and more for RV's). There are a few group campsites here and some side by side, but most of the sites are secluded with dense forest in between each site. Tent camping only, with a picnic table, fire ring and water faucet. You have a bath house you can get to by walking and it has hot water in the fall and winter months. You are right near the Withlacoochee river and there are lots of trails to walk around and visit. You have some walk up sites (2) and the others you will need to reserve ahead of time. Love the wildlife around here. We don't have the time to travel as far as we would like

We stayed at Colt Creek for one night at the beginning of February. We were lucky to have a very large site with good separation between neighbors - site 31. Note that you can see the entry road from the back, but this wasn’t a big deal for us since it was just an overnight stay. A lot of the other sites looked closer together with a little less privacy, but all of the sites looked well maintained. The tent sites were some of the best maintained sites I’ve ever seen. Our site was completely level. The trails looked nice, but we unfortunately didn’t have time to explore. One item of note - we had zero cell service (Verizon) which is normally a good thing on vacation, but a bad thing when working remotely. Would definitely stay here again when we’d have time to do trails and not worry about cell service.

I have been a regular here for some time. It is definitely more glamping than anything but always a fun stay and the staff is always kind.

Everything you could ever need to be comfortable camping and easygoing including a convenience store to free wi-fi. There’s a massive pool and two hot tubs. One is fenced off in the back for adults only which can be nice when there are a lot of loud kids.

The sites are very well kept and have very nice views of the water way. A couple of the sites are not up against the water but you still get a nice look at it all.

If you’re traveling around, it would be a great place to stay and be comfortable. Walmart/Publix/Wawa all within a 10 minute drive. The beach is maybe 15 minutes away also. 

There are two tent sites. One considered primitive because there is no water and electricity hook up but there’s a phone charging station at the site. 6 sites. Then there is 2 sites available with water and electricity in between a section on RVs by the waterfront.