Best Campgrounds near Winter Haven, FL

Didn‘t find the Main Camping area. Parked in one of the side roads. Didn’t run into anyone eventhough permit page indicated Booked out.

We went for a day trip with my husband to see the area for the future ideas and to meet the family. It was mid-March 2025, when a famous annual auto racing event spiked the hotel prices to $400-600 per night, with $200 rooms either inferior or sold out. But your campers can be parked minutes away, with all the hook ups, at around $600 per month ( not per night :)), and at about $60 per night. 

The Joy Bamboo farm has three hook up spaces for your campers, a solid spacious "dirt road" ( very clean actually :)) leading there. You can connect your camper to water, sewage, and electricity, of course. The owners visit the site often, maintain it well, and park their own (permanent) campers there, and can advise you on the perks of the area. 

The farm delivers its promise of the most pristine fresh air while walking through the acres of bamboo plants: my breathing issues were gone during the visit and stayed away the following day as well. 

At night the air on the farm got mysteriously fragrant with flowers, though the main greens growing are bamboo and several cool fruit trees. You can chill outside at a picnic table near the bamboo, the weather mid-March (our visit of this review) is ideal, but other months are reported to be very Floridian as well. 

The quiet soft rustling of Asper bamboo on the farm is an "ear bath", cleansing for the mind, the peacefulness is serene. Just strolling through rejuvenates, the dry husk under your feet serving as mulch, the tall plants shading your head.  

The bamboo is grown for a commercial use, but the inner bushes are not sprayed, ask the owner how to get a few leaves for bamboo tea :)

Such farm is exactly what puts the goodness in the concept of "eco": it is frugal, with the luxury feelings coming from the surrounding nature. 

Multiple beautiful giant lakes nearby, one is a few minutes drive away, with swimming, fishing, pristine waters, flocks of ibises, and beach conveniences (bathrooms, equipped playground, covered patio tables and benches, mature plants give shade, a huge library, and so on). There is a shallow part where the children can play in water. Boats are offered for sale and for rent throughout the region. 

A large plaza at the center of Sebring is also a few min drive away. Try their Peru Fresh place (at the City Circle) ceviche for lunch, check out Faded (a charming restorant nested in a lush exotic garden) for a special dining experience at night. 

It is wonderful hiking the trails in the pristine parks, also a few min drive away. 

If you want to make a base in the area and explore with longer drives, Miami is 3 hours away. Also a comparable drive to Orlando Universal, to Legoland, and so on. We actually drove from Miami, there is a contrasting feel of the giant metropolitan area of Greater Miami and the tranquil Sebring spot :)

Overall, we loved it

We love this place. The long and windy ride in gives you a trip back to some real Florida. The campground is well maintained and has large, level sites. We have stayed in site 1 and 11 and didn’t need blocks for either. Easy access to Richloam for some Jeeping in the woods.

This park just reopened a couple of weeks ago from the hurricanes. They are slowly bringing the sites back up to par, but it is still an awesome place. Everything is kept up, and several short trails to see The only class 2 rapids in Florida. Pretty wild.

PROS: lots of trees and shade, near river. 

CONS: right next to a highway/ large road with TONS of traffic noise. A fair amount of trash scattered around the campground, and a portapotty right on our site. Also, although it's near Little Manatee River State Park, the trails are not accessible from the campground and you can't really walk safely along the highway/big road to get to the trailhead. 

ALSO: many people staying there seem to be long-term residents-- it doesn't really cater to vacation travelers. That's fine and everyone was friendly.

If you’ve got one of those incredibly large mobile homes on wheels, then this particular RV location just off of Highway 414 near Hiawassee may just be the perfect spot for you. OK, there were a few tents here, but you could tell this place was really built for the mobile campers in mind. With 28 ample slanted, elongated parking lanes for your parking pleasure, all of the sites come equipped with the typical 30 / 50 amp electrical hook-ups, waste disposal and water connections. The bathrooms and shower facilities are clean and fairly well-maintained.

There’s the standard picnic table, garbage receptacles and even a community BBQ. The hosts are incredibly nice and offer pricing by the night, week and month. Overall, the community is inviting and friendly and there’s at times some planned activities, with most of those featuring horse shows and competitions of some sort, throughout the week (check with the front desk). While there’s not a ton of amenities to pick and choose from, this location does come with grills, park and shelter as well as all the free glimpses of horses being trained. Of course, should you be here with your noble steed, there’s some 22 miles worth of paths to gallup. Near this RV parking lot, you do have access to Lake Apopka.

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) The real draw to this particular campground is the massive equestrian infrastructure that exists as the fulcrum, so if you are camping, this can be a very nice distraction, in case you come here with the principle idea of racing / showing your horses, then this CG is ideal – and less so if you don’t have a horse and don’t want to camp alongside what could be considered a bit of a circus (especially on show days); (2) Should you grow tired of whipping up franks & beans again for supper and you wanna check out some local fare, you’re going to have to drive a bit north to South Apopka where there’s joints like The Nauti Lobstah, Verona Café, Lechonera Latina and Wings-N-Things; (3) In the event that you need to load up on supplies, there’s both a Sam’s Club and Walmart Supercenter due NE of here; and (4) For some really great hiking & biking, of course, there’s the West Orange Trail, but if you are looking for something a bit different and less trodden, then check out Oakland Nature Preserve, which sits south of Lake Apopka.

 Happy Camping!

Camp spots are big, flat with gravel parking areas. Power and water an each site for RV camping. Nicer (newer) bathrooms than most FL state parks. Our van is so small in our site.

East Toho RV Resort (name changed) was a great quick spot for me to stay overnight before an early morning meeting. I was able to check in late easily via a lock box and found a great campsite close to clean bathroom/shower facilities. While it was late and dark, the resort seemed very nice and affordable. I will would definitely be back!

This is a great location to get away from everything, without going far. It has nice, spread out spots, and plenty of activities if you are outdoorsy.

Very nice staff, the showers and toilets are simple. You hear the nearby road.

People- 5 Stars Wildlife Viewing- 5 Stars Moise- Negative 10. On the weekends, the airport noise is painfully deafening and hurts your ear drums even with ear pods. Wish it could be better, but with the headaches and pain in my ears and lack of sleep here make it a no go ever!

Nice level spots. Lots to around the state park.

Sawmill Campground is not what it claims to be. The so-called "trails" are frequented by older men engaging in inappropriate activities in plain view, which is both disturbing and unhygienic. This kind of behavior fosters an environment that can promote the transmission of STDs, posing health risks to anyone who visits.

The overall quality of the patrons is less than appealing, and if you have any issues with management, don't expect professionalism. They will go to great lengths to deny problems and shift blame rather than address valid concerns.

Between the unsafe environment and the lack of accountability, this place is the definition of negligence. I strongly advise avoiding Sawmill Campground for your own safety and peace of mind.

Cabin 5 stars- Immaculately clean with comfortable furniture, bright spacious living room, t.v. in living room and bedroom, bathroom and bedroom a little tight but adequate, tub/shower combo, loft area easily accessible with stairs, no porch-but paved driveway, picnic table and grill, linens provided but towels and pillows were on the thin side *Campground 5 stars- Family friendly atmosphere, clean, quiet, sunny, well maintained landscaping *Amenities 5 stars- Clean and spacious rec center with lots of scheduled activities for adults and children-Bingo, hot food/snacks available for purchase Outdoor amenities (pool, putt-putt, shuffle board, pickle ball, playground, etc.) looked nice but we didn’t utilize them on this visit *Staff 5 stars- Efficient and very responsive

I stayed with 3 adults and 3 children under the age of 8. We stayed two night in 40 degree weather. This is a great place for families wanting to start out primitive camping! 

Super clean campsites and great easy trail out to the site. Very safe area. The rangers made sure there was plenty of fire wood in the wooden hut. There are trash cans at every site and campsite 1, 3 and 4 have hammock poles able to fit 3 hammocks at a time. The bathroom is a short hike with a water spout. 

Only downfall is that there is a lot of road noise throughout the entire night. Definitely took away from the “nature” experience. 

Such a great time! Highly recommend.