Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Venice, FL

Beautiful park! Clean, quiet, large private spaces, and nice bath facilities. Be advised that there is only one section thst allows pets and limited areas that pets are allowed but has a nice dog beach and off leash dog park.

This is one of the best parks anywhere. It’s not a National Park surrounding a national treasure but it might as well be. The park has three loops. All have waterfront sites and inner loop sites. One is set up for tents, folding campers and small teardrop style trailers. One is conducive to big rigs but it’s a tight fit and one handles all, but allows pets. There’s lots of wildlife, particularly raccoons. A short drive or bike ride from the campground lands you at the old fort, or a ferry to Egmont Key for the day, or a beach with a view of Tampa Bay and the Skyway bridge, or the amazing north beach which has been listed several times as the best beach in America. It’s a truly gorgeous park. Kayaking, SUP, dog parks, dog beach as well as coyote, rattlesnakes, amazing shore birding, white pelicans, eagles, ospreys, roseates, manatees, dolphins... hard to get reservations but well worth it.
Our return to this park year after year resulted in us building a home in the area for our endless summer adventures.

Very friendly staff, nice k9 Kamp dog park. Surrounded by water. Paradise

I absolutely loved the MacDill FamCamp. It’s right by the beach and marina. There’s a small dog beach and two dog parks. Laundry facilities are centrally located. Cable is included. I recommend bringing a Verizon hotspot or stopping at spectrum and getting a WiFi plan. cellular service is not great, especially for data.

Long sites mostly waterfront. A dog friendly section and a no dog area. A nice little store. The park includes access to miles of beaches, a top 10 in the USA dog park, a dog beach, free fishing piers. Bicycle, hiking and exercise trails. A washer and dryer at every restroom. A playground. This park has it all. Every Friday they release 10% of their sites for the next week. It is a very popular park for good reason. There are low branches to watch for and some curbs that are a parking nuisance.

The campsite was nice. The dog park was nice. The pool was nice but had ALOT of frogs that didn’t make it… I was told there was a turtle found once so look before you enter, they do clean it very often though! Very close to Walmart! I even had a package delivered here!

We have camped at Fort DeSoto many times with our 38” travel trailer. The campground is clean but could use some tree trimming. The spots we have rented we kind of tight for our side trailer and our large truck. The branches are low so watch out! The neighbors are very close. We are used to larger campsites where we can spread out. Overall the campground is tightly packed but clean and convenient. Fort DeSoto Park and beach are a five minute drive. Our dogs loved the dog beach and the dog park. Very nice bike trails also.

We were trying to find a place near Ruskin kind of last minute, they had an available spot.We were literally in our neighbors yard.We needed to stay longer to finish rv repairs,ended up staying 5+ months.there are alot of nice people there,but alot of full-time residents. From our experience there were several cliques which is not our thing,nice pool,nice dog park, they have alot of activities (bingo,cornhole,pickleball).they are doing cosmetic upgrades, but need infrastructure upgrades (low water pressure, several electric outages)

This is an out of the way park. The map may show that it's close to Sanibel and Ft Meyers but it is not really by car. This place grows on you. Pine island has no beaches but does have a lot of fishing spots and great restaurants. The noseeums about did me in there. No one sits out once the sun starts to set. The pool closes at dusk. The laundry room is spotless and adjoins a wonderful library. This park has mostly permanent residents but the people are friendly. There is a nice dog park and playground.

I live local and have been staying here in the pull through area a month until I transition to 100% travel trailer life. I have 2 50 lb+ dogs and there are many other people with dogs, plus a dog park. Park is very well kept, beautiful gym, pool, hot tub, and private island on backside to fish and other games like horseshoes. Love this place! Maintenance is A M A Z I N G!!!!!!!! I will be staying here again for short and extended periods and feel more than comfortable to recommend to friends and family. Laundry facilities and bathrooms are fine too. Dryers dry a full load of towels in one cycle, was pretty impressive! Also plenty of area to ride a bike a couple times around the park. It is also close to gas, grocery store and really good restaurants. Two thumbs up!!!

This is my first time camping in my RV anywhere. I should have suspected that an RV resort in FL in the winter would be full of retirees, but I didn't expect the number of mobile homes permanently here. At my site, when looking outside, I had a great view of the lake, am surrounded by mobile homes, and can see only one RV. Great laundry facilities and front office staff are wonderful. Flexible pricing with many discounts. Club house and swimming pool is like being in a retirement resort. There are some nice sites, and all are full hookups, but in my case, I have a small lot with a mobile home, literally about 8 feet along side of me. They have a dog park, and it is shady, which is needed in the FL heat, but not very kept up and clean. Location is nice because you are right off I-75 and can be anywhere in the Greater Tampa Bay area with easy access. However, the noise of the interstate is non-stop, and traffic in this area is really congested.

No surprise on a military base but felt like a campground equivalent of base housing. Tight spots with full hook ups. Lots of snow birds, so getting in was a challenge. We had to show up without a reservation and take advantage of first come, first serve spots.

Full hook up (electric/water/sewer) and cable. No wifi (so weak it didn't work) and cell coverage almost non-existent (AT&T).

Close to a small beach and marina with a restaurant walking distance. Several dog parks but muddy/dirt. Laundry available for fee. Bath houses clean and large.

Good amenities on base. Gym not too far and massive.

Make sure you arrive at the base through the gate at the end of Dale Mabry, as it's the only gate campers can come thru. And be sure to go to the far right lane, even if it's got a red X showing the lane is closed. They will open the wider lane for you. You don't want to know why I know that or how close our Airstream was to the guard shacks if you don't go in the far lane!

Great park awesome amenities Pet Friendly and ok pricing! They have everything you can think of for a RV park and more! We will definitely be back! ♥️

Quite possible the best county park in the USA. This park is incredibly well run and has so much to do. This is our go to place for a close to home weekend when we are lucky enough to get a reservation. If you are a visiting from Miami or out of state you won’t be disappointed if you can get in. 

What makes this park special for us is that many of the camping sites are coveted waterfront sites. The campground portion of the park is divided into three parts, one camping area that is pet friendly, one no pets and one predominantly for tents and pop ups with smaller sites. 

Another bonus of Fort DeSoto in addition to the old fort is the fishing peer, great beach, cycling path and absolutely enormous parking lots so unlike many Florida locations, especially in season, parking is never really an issue. 

Fort De Soto County Park is a very special place. We are lucky to have it so close to us.

I loved** Fort De Soto State Park**, Florida! My favorite for this trip as far as location and atmosphere . But this may be because I seldom visit the beach type campgrounds and it’s something unique to me. If you don’t like sand in everything you may not pick this as your favorite;)

In the campground there are two loops. Most of the outer sites in each area had access to the water, some had direct access where people parked their watercraft for their visit.

In the first loop all the middle sites were long and pull through with a screen of foliage between each site. Suited for the bigger rigs. The second loop had smaller sites and the road was a little “skinnier” more for pop ups and tents. It was a little more crowded in the middle sites and less of a foliage screen between sites.

Overall both areas were very Gilligan’s Island homey if you were on a cruise ship that ran aground and everyone made their “homes” in the same area ;) It is a well maintained area with centrally located facilities. There is an inlet for fishing and short trail within easy walking distance or you can strike out on the long paved trail.

Recreationally speaking aside from the water sports there was a hike/ bike trail the entire length of the park with access to several beach areas and fishing piers. Then there is the Fort to explore if you like your history and a ferry service within the park. Another thing was a triathlon going on while we visited at the far end of the park, the swim portion would have been a definite challenge, the bike was on flat roads and I didn’t see the run portion but if it was on the sand that would be a workout!

I saved the best for last (in my opinion) there is a TOTALLY AWESOME DOG BEACH which was definitely the main reason I picked the park to visit. A nice stretch of beach where my dogs had an excellent time playing in the water, weeds and sand. There are two fenced dog parks with seats, shade and dog wash areas to rinse off the sand before heading back out. All of this is very close to a touristy area with coffee shops, fuel and other necessities. But you would never know it if you just stay in the park, it just feels very .....detached from the city.

A thumb and three paws up for this park!

We can echo everything stated in the previous reviews. This is a great little spot with beach access that no other campground in the area offers.

One thing in the Dyrt listing is incorrect though.... Turtle Beach does not allow pets (only service animals)