Full Time RV Living in Florida
RVing full time in Florida in the coldest winter months was something our family of four just had to do!
Here we’ll share with you our full travel plans, including the exact RV parks we stayed at that fit our big rig, AND what we did in the area.
Our itinerary was based on a few important factors:
The meaningful places for our family. Since both of our children were adopted from Florida, seeing their birth families and spending time with them was at the top of our list. We also went to college in Pensacola, so some time in the panhandle was required. AND our son is a HUGE Lego fan, so Legoland was a MUST.
Budget friendly. Anyways as budget friendly as you can get being around so many fun (and expensive) things to do! We also LOVE fish, so eating out every single night was a huge temptation. But we did our best to stay on a budget, and were totally satisfied just hanging out on public beaches (for free).
The young kids had to be able to do it, too. The most exciting Florida adventures can be centered around kayaking, wind surfing, snorkeling, alligator wrestling (maybe), and deep sea fishing. For us, we were limited (as usual) by what a five-year-old and two-year-old could do with us. There were a few exceptions to this that we’ll detail below.
The trek to Florida from Colorado
First we had to cross Texas, the never-ending state to travel across, especially when you’re driving through it diagonally. Thankfully our first real stop was in Austin, Texas, where we visited with family and had the best BBQ of our lives. But…. moving on (right through Louisiana and a quick stop in Mobile to see the USS Alabama Battleship), our first stop was in the panhandle at Navarre Beach in early January. And boy was it a happy welcome to the sunshine state with a view right from our RV of the ocean.
1. Emerald Beach RV Park in Navarre, FL
8885 Navarre Parkway, Navarre, FL
Favorite things to do:
Go to Navarre Beach (beautiful emerald waters!)
Chill out on the RV park’s private beach (on the sound)
Eat out at Scooter’s Fish House
Attend the Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park in Fort Walton
Explore Destin, Florida (fun shops and restaurants at the Boardwalk)
2. Harvest Host near Tallahassee, FL: Ride Baby Ranch
We stayed two nights here (emergency stay after our initial plans fell through), and it was WONDERFUL.
You get to pet the horses who walk right up to your trailer door (and beg for apples), fish at their private pond, explore the farm, and simply just unplug (literally) and relax!
3. Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park Campground in Jacksonville, FL
2999 Wonderwood Dr, Jacksonville, FL 32227
This is a crazy jungle that you’ll feel like your big rig does NOT belong in. But if you’re okay being a little uncomfortable and little nervous, you will LOVE this campground! It’s affordable, adventurous, and simply beautiful being sandwiched in between the ocean and a lake.
Favorite things to do:
The beach! If you don’t stay in the park, pay for a day pass to get into Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park and go to the beaches there because they’ll be FAR less crowded than the public beaches. Our alternative is Jax Beach, but mainly for the memories.
Go to the Jacksonville Zoo
Visit a local fish market, Dan’s Seafood was pretty great!
Go to the Riverside Arts Market on the weekends (think all the wonderful meats and produce you could imagine, herbal products, handmade products, artisan coffee and fabulous food trucks… and all under a bridge!)
Explore Atlantic Beach and downtown area - fun shops and great restaurants
4. St. Augustine RV Resort
426 Resort Way, Saint Augustine, FL 32084 (Good Sam)
We LOVE St. Augustine. The beach is gorgeous, but was VERY crowded and we struggled finding parking. Downtown, historical St. Augustine is really the part that we love (history buffs here), and have been multiple times. Side note: don’t go on a holiday weekend if you can help it. The parking garage was full by 9 am, and everything was a mad house. We had to come back the following day!
Favorite things to do:
Pirate and Treasure Museum. Really fun for the kids, and pretty small, so it’s a quick visit.
Castillo De San Marcos National Monument (this is for you National Park passport people! Super neat fort with a beautiful view, too)
Project Swing Park (trust us, it’s more than just a playground)
5. Sonrise Palms RV Park
660 Tucker Lane, Cocoa FL, 32926 (Good Sam)
Our goal with this stay: get as close to the Kennedy Space Center as possible. We had a short three nights here, so we didn’t want a massive drive just to get there. With traffic in the morning, it still took us 45 minutes. But all in all, it wasn’t terrible. We did a two day pass to Kennedy Space Center and thought it was well worth it! We loved it.
Favorite things to do:
Kennedy Space Center. That’s all we did, but I’m sure there’s other great stuff to do in Cocoa Beach!
6. Long Pine Key Campground in Everglades National Park
1 Flamingo Lodge Highway, Homestead, FL, 33034
Huge bucket list item: visit Everglades National Park. We went in February, which meant beautiful weather and active alligators! This campground does not have hookups (others in the park do, so take a look at your options), but we were able to boondock comfortably enough for three days. Also note that dogs are not allowed on any trails (as is the case with most National Parks). So having your dogs with you and not able to run your air conditioners might be a deal breaker!
Favorite things to do:
Just drive around the park, pull over, and explore! Bring a picnic lunch, and enjoy.
Anhinga Trail. This is THE trail to do to see wildlife! We saw SO many alligators, and they were active given it was mating season. Do it!
Gator Park airboat ride. You HAVE to do an airboat ride when in the Everglades! And while the most popular ones are on the other side of the park, this one is near the campground we were at, and we thought it was pretty great.
Find a good place to go get you some gator bites!
7. Encore Miami Everglades Resort
20675 SW 162nd Ave, Miami, FL 33187
This is a Thousand Trails RV Park, and it was pretty nice, even though we didn’t have sewer hookups and it was CROWDED. The pool was nice, the facilities were great, and it was in a good location to access Miami, the Everglades, and even the Keys!
While we really wanted to stay in the Keys, it just didn’t fit our budget and was hard to find available spots when we started booking things 6 months prior. So we just took a day trip down to the Keys, just to say we did it (though my FOMO was pretty active).
Favorite things to do:
Visit a farmer’s market stand! Get a massive Florida avocado, and a cold coconut!
Visit Biscayne National Park. We were NOT prepared for the epicness of this park, with 95% of it being WATER. Incredible coral reefs to explore, light houses to find only by boat, and mangroves to explore with your kayak… we only grazed the beauty of the park by overlooking the water from the shore. If you can, go snorkel or scuba dive this amazing national park.
Take a trip to the Keys. We went all the way to Marathon Key because it had a public beach (Siesta Beach) with great seafood nearby and cute shopping, making it doable for us.
8. Camp Margaritaville
361 Denton Ave, Auburndale, FL 33823
This is what we call VACATION. We splurged on this resort for an entire week. We skipped the Clear Water area of Florida with the more recent hurricane having done quite a bit of damage, and leaving us with not a ton of options for an RV park. This was a decent alternative. We were at the pool EVERY DAY.
Favorite things to do:
Pool. Did I already mention that? Hello water slide and splash park!
LegoLand. Alright, so Legoland outdid the RV park pools, but only by a little bit. This is our FAVORITE amusement park for LITTLE kids. They have so many toddler friendly rides, and the roller coasters are doable for kids around 5. We loved it. We did a two day pass.
9. Pensacola RV Park
3117 Wilde Lake Boulevard, Pensacola, FL 32526
Pensacola is near and dear to our hearts since this is where we both went to college, fell in love, and got engaged. So it was fun reliving the memories. We stayed inland to save money, and did a week long stay, regrouping ourselves for “real life,” and getting back into the routine of homeschooling, work, and scheduling things for when we returned to Colorado.
Favorite things to do:
Naval Aviation Museum (there were some restrictions when we went, so check online ahead of time)
Pensacola Beach
Eat out at CRABS and (our favorite) Flounder’s Chowder House
Visit Gulf Islands National Seashore. It has Fort Pickens on it with lots of history, and BEAUTIFUL white sand beaches.
A little less than 3 months, over 2300 miles, and rarely under 70 degrees… we LOVED our time in Florida! For a quick recap of our time, check out our YouTube video!
While full time RV living in Florida can be challenging to plan, it is completely possible for young families, and worth every effort! Our itinerary was quick, affordable, and fun for even the youngest of our family. We hope to winter in Florida again next year!
