Best RV Parks & Resorts near De Soto National Forest

What a great little RV park Magnolia Sands is!! Bridgett and Gary offer a rural setting in southeast Mississippi. 5 miles from Wiggins, Ms. Park has 20 sites with full hook-ups. $24 for 30 amp and $26 per night for 50 amp. Beautiful park amongst the trees with its own pond. Concrete pads are large enough to handle most “big rigs”. Open year round and monthly rates are available. The park is 40 miles north of Gulf Port and Biloxi so finding some Gulf beaches is easy. On site is a laundry, game room, meeting room and bathrooms with showers. Basketball and volleyball areas provide recreational entertainment. A strong WiFi network is available. The nearby town of Wiggins has everything you’ll need! Restaurants, grocery stores and fuel.

If you are looking for a quite, peaceful, no frills spot to stay… I highly recommend Magnolia Sands RV Park! We have already booked our stay to return in March.

We really enjoyed our stay at Davis Bayou. The campground seems to be a bit dated, but we kinda enjoyed the nostalgic element this added to the vibe.

The sites vary in size, we noticed most big rigs had to park their tow vehicles or toads in the auxiliary parking. If this is a problem you may want to look at other options, as the park staff is very diligent about keeping folks off the grass.

The park staff did regular patrols though out the park. They were very friendly.

We enjoyed riding our bikes around the park and to the historic arts district in Ocean Springs. There are several restaurants and bars with live music which was fun. There are also alot of art studios to check out.

We also took our canoe all though out Davis Bayou and to the beach, which was a ton of fun. The tides are in play here, so make sure you study up as conditions can and do change rapidly.

The visitors center is definitely worth checking out and while your there make sure to check out the fishing pier.

Each site has a picnic table, fire ring, power and water.

The cost is $22 a night per site.

The bathhouses were cleaned regular and had great water pressure. The water has a bit of a smell to it.

Verizon cell service worked okay.

Bring bug spray.

I’m not sure where they got the name from, but if El Colon was still living, he would really dig how this RV parking lot is using the name of his beloved Santa Maria! Located due south of Farragut Lake, right off Rt. 10 and just west of the Pascagoula River, you’ll come across Santa Maria RV Resort Marina. 

This spot offers up just about everything you would expect – full RV hook ups including water, sewer and electricity (30 / 50 amp), level gravel beds where you can just connect, level up and be done with it in under 5 minutes. Unlike most RV parking lots, this place has a ton of space and there’s somewhat good distance between your spot and those on either side of you. And if you’re hauling or driving anything bigger than the standard RV or camper, no worries, this place is spacious enough to accommodate just about any size (and even large group sizes). The campground was both kid and pet friendly. Also, I found the on-site campground management team to be incredibly over-friendly (nice Southern hospitality!) and accommodating. 

From an amenities standpoint, this place is completely full-service (in fact, they’ll escort you right to your campsite!). They’ve got a small, but clean swimming pool, laundr-O-mat, spartan restroom facilities and a propane pump on-site. WiFi is available for free and cable is offered for a small price if you need that. Overall, I found the place to be very well-organized, incredibly clean and exceptionally safe with round-the-clock security. 

With nature in mind, this place is in close proximity to quite a bit – from Gautier, MS who’s moniker is ‘Nature’s Playground,’ there’s tons of wildlife to see, decent outdoor recreation and hiking to be found and bayous all over the place to drop your kayak or canoe into. 

Insider’s tip? Some of the best kayaking was had in and around Mississippi - Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. Closer to the campground though, you’ll find a splendid little Southern town in the City of Gautier, which has some quiet boutique-type shops, Southern restauarnts (I strongly recommend Belle’s on the Bayou or Country Gentleman), farmers market on the weekends, nice municipal parks and even some art exhibits from time to time. All in all, I strongly recommend Santa Maria RV Resort Marina if you’re looking for a decent stop along your travels. 

Happy Camping!

We had a good stay here in the summer of 2019. The pool was small, but we preferred to just walk across the road to the beach. Occasionally, we drove to spend the day on the beach. We were close to town, but out enough that it was relatively quiet. The bathrooms were wonderful and the laundry room was great for our week stay. It is pet friendly, and my only complaint is that no one monitored the owners to make sure they cleaned up after their pets. Also, the sites are all close and gravel. Over all we were satisfied and would stay here again in the future.