Hi there!
So you want to go camping in the Florida Keys!
The Bahia Honda State Park campgrounds are some of the best campgrounds in the Florida Keys!
Yes, there are several campgrounds in Bahia Honda State Park!
If you want to go camping in a state park near Key West, Bahia Honda is it! (There are no state park campgrounds in Key West.)
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There are 3 campgrounds in Bahia Honda State Park:
- Buttonwood Campground
- Bayside Campground
- Sandspur Campground
All campgrounds have waterfront campsites. (Although not all campsites are waterfront!)
So, you are never too far from seeing amazing views!
1. Buttonwood Campground
Buttonwood Campground is for RV camping and tent camping.
You can get electricity and water at your campsite.
There is a modern bathroom at this campground, and there are showers.
The campground comes with views of the Florida Overseas Highway!
Nice for pictures, bad for tent camping with the noise!
You can even see this campground as you are driving along the bridge of the Overseas Highway!
People go swimming in front of the waterfront campsites at Buttonwood Campground.
It seems that you also have a chance to have a fun snorkeling experience by swimming at this campground too.
Although for safety it’s probably best to not venture too far!
Even if you don’t get a waterfront site, there is a sort of community site where you can enter the water without going through other people’s campsites. There are parking spots here too.
Once at the campground, there is a campground road that goes under a bridge that will take you to the Bayside campground and cabins.
The community site can be found along the side of the road just before you go under the bridge.
This would still be for campers only, as the campgrounds are gated with access by code only that you will receive at check-in.
So it’s a private campers snorkeling spot!
More about Buttonwood Campground, according to the Florida Park Service:
Buttonwood Campground (campsites 1 to 48) accommodate a variety of camping rigs from large RVs to small tents.
The campsites are gravel and have electricity, water, picnic tables and grills.
This campground contains a bathhouse with restrooms and hot showers, as well as a dump station.
Waterfront campsites are 12 to 25.
Campsites 12 and 13 are by the campers marina and campsite 14 is on the channel.
👆 To make camping reservations at Buttonwood Campground, look for Loop BTWC after searching for Bahia Honda State Park on the Florida state parks camping reservation website.
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2. Bayside Campground
👆 Waterfront camping in the Florida Keys: The cars are in individual campsites for tent camping in Bahia Honda State Park at Bayside Campground.
Bayside Campground is for tent camping only.
There is no electricity at your campsite.
There is a modern bathroom at the campground, and there are outlets here too if you want to do some quick charging of devices. (A good spot to charge a portable fan!)
There are no showers at the Bayside Campground. Instead, you can use the showers at Buttonwood Campground.
All campsites are waterfront campsites! There’s the bay right in front of you.
👆 Waterfront tent camping in the Florida Keys: Spot the tent!
There is no swimming allowed at this campground, but if you look down you might be able to see some little fishies swimming around. In the morning you might also see some big fish jumping out of the water. I don’t know fish, but someone mentioned it’s tarpon.
The Bahia Honda State Park cabins are also in front of you.
Because no RVs are allowed, you might have an easier time finding availability here because of no competition from RV campers! I believe that contributed to how I was able to find a 2 week opening at Bayside Campground.
More about Bayside Campground, according to the Florida Park Service:
Bayside Campground (campsites 73 to 80) consists of eight non-electric campsites.
These primitive campsites have a picnic table, grill and water.
A small restroom is nearby, but campers must travel a half-mile to Buttonwood Campground to use its bathhouse with hot showers.
To access the Bayside Campground, vehicles must be able to go under the new Bahia Honda Bridge, which has a low overhead clearance of only 6 feet 8 inches.
👆 Driving to Bayside Campground under the famous Florida Keys road.
👆 To make camping reservations at Bayside Campground, look for Loop BAYS after searching for Bahia Honda State Park on the Florida state parks camping reservation website.
3. Sandspur Campground
👆 Oceanfront camping in the Florida Keys: Sandspur Campground at Bahia Honda State Park
Sandspur Campground is for small RV camping and tent camping.
You can get electricity and water at your campsite.
There is a bathroom at this campground, and there are showers. I called Bahia Honda State Park in August 2022 and asked if Sandspur Campground has showers. They said there are “portable showers,” which I’m not really sure exactly what that means, but they did say YES to hot water showers!
The Sandspur Campground is on the other side of Bahia Honda State Park compared to the other campgrounds and the main Bahia Honda beaches.
Sandspur is the side of the state park that took the longest to re-open after hurricane damage. (It took YEARS!) It only re-opened in 2022.
Out of all the campgrounds, the waterfront campsites at Sandspur Campground come with the best views!
Camping at Sandspur Campground, you will be near Sandspur Beach.
Because of the limits of RVs, you might have an easier time finding availability here because of no competition from the big RVs!
More about Sandspur Campground, according to the Florida Park Service:
Sandspur Campground (campsites 49 to 72) accommodates a variety of camping rigs.
The campsites are gravel and have electricity, water, picnic tables and grills.
Maximum rig length is 23 feet.
Larger camping rigs cannot navigate the sharp turns in this camping loop.
👆 To make camping reservations at Sandspur Campground, look for Loop SSC after searching for Bahia Honda State Park on the Florida state parks camping reservation website.
See more for your Bahia Honda camping trip:
Bahia Honda State Park camping: THE BAD
Now, there really is a lot of good for camping in Bahia Honda State Park.
But first we will get the bad out of the way because not everything is the perfect dream Florida Keys experience.
The time of year you go camping in the Florida Keys can make a difference for some things.
My Bahia Honda State Park camping trip was in May.
Despite all of these bad things, I would still say I would not necessarily avoid coming again in May because I think the GOOD can outweigh the bad. (aka I WOULD consider camping in the Florida Keys in May again.)
For me, the BIG good is the water temperature! I did a lot of swimming and snorkeling during my stay at Bahia Honda State Park.
That included snorkeling at Bahia Honda State Park beaches, Key West beaches (including the Key West Marine Park), down the road at Horseshoe Beach, and the Looe Key reef by boat.
Although I did have a day (a few hours?) of rain, overall it was also before rainy season began. So in terms of rain, weather was overall good. I left the Florida Keys in mid-May.
#1 BAD about Bahia Honda State Park camping: NOISE from Overseas Highway (tent camping)
This is mostly a concern if you are tent camping any time of year.
If you are sleeping in a vehicle, whether that be RV camping or car camping, then it likely won’t be an issue.
The main road that goes through the Florida Keys is the Overseas Highway.
The Overseas Highway is pretty much directly alongside Bahia Honda State Park, and that means it’s also close enough to the Bahia Honda State Park campgrounds to be impacted by the noise.
There aren’t very many trees or other structures to block the noise.
It can be loud enough where it can disrupt your sleep.
👆 Waterfront camping with views of the famous road that goes through the Florida Keys must be some of the best tent camping in the Florida Keys… right?! Maybe if you bring earplugs!
The first couple of nights, I slept in my car. This is what I had been doing for most of my camping trips in Florida, including the the rest of the Florida Keys campgrounds, the Southwest Florida campgrounds, the Ocala National Forest springs campgrounds, and the Florida Panhandle campgrounds I stayed at.
But it was hot when I was at Bahia Honda State Park so I decided to sleep in the tent.
The first night or 2 of sleeping in the tent, I woke up either in the middle of the night or early morning. And I would not say I’m a light sleeper. I now believe it’s because of the traffic on the Overseas Highway that caused me to wake up.
Because then I started using ear plugs, and I slept through the night.
So if you are tent camping, you might want to add ear plugs to your Florida Keys camping packing list!
#2 BAD about Bahia Honda State Park camping: HOT WEATHER
Again you will be most affected by the weather depending on the time of year you go camping.
The first couple of weeks in May started to get a little hot for me, during the day and at night. (And I am one to prefer the heat to the cold!)
👆 Camping in the Florida Keys in hot weather: It was almost 9pm, and it was nearly 90 degrees outside according to the car!
Even sleeping in the tent was a little hot, and I was SO happy to have a portable fan.
It can make SUCH a difference.
So once again, if you’re tent camping, you might want to add a small portable fan to your Florida Keys camping packing list!
👆 Camping in the Florida Keys in hot weather: It was past 11pm, and it was 83 degrees in the tent.
Otherwise, I would say early May was almost perfect to be camping in the Florida Keys because the water temperature was great for swimming and snorkeling.
#3 BAD about Bahia Honda State Park camping: BUGS
Once again, this will have more to do with the time of year you are camping.
Florida is known for terrible bugs in summer.
That’s what can make camping in Florida in the winter or spring so attractive. (Although on the flip side, you might have to deal with cold weather. There were a couple of nights in the month of March where I was camping with overnight lows in the 30s! That was at Florida Caverns State Park and Big Lagoon State Park.)
Camping in Bahia Honda State Park in May, the tiny little bugs were a serious nuisance in the evening.
The bugs were SO annoying. I didn’t want to be outside.
I understand these tiny little bugs are called no-see-ums.
They say bug spray doesn’t work so I didn’t even try. I just suffered and complained. 😂
#4 BAD about Bahia Honda State Park camping: SMELLY SEAWEED
Seaweed in the Florida Keys is a thing.
You are very likely to see seaweed along the shoreline in the Florida Keys.
It’s said to be a natural part of the coastal ecosystem, and there are no proactive measures to remove the seaweed in the state parks.
This seaweed has the potential to stink up the area and make for a smelly Florida Keys camping experience.
There have also been negative reviews of Bahia Honda State Park camping in the past about the bad smell of seaweed.
There was no noticeable smell when I was camping in Bahia Honda State Park so it did not affect me.
But it seems like it is a possibility so just something to be aware of.
The best part about camping in Bahia Honda State Park
In short, for me the best part about camping in Bahia Honda State Park was being so close to the ocean and just a short drive away from beaches for swimming and snorkeling!
The Bahia Honda beaches can be perfect for swimming and snorkeling.
👆 The Bahia Honda State Park water temperature in May can be in the low 80s.
Although there’s never any guarantee to see little fishies, I had fun snorkeling experiences in Bahia Honda State Park!
This includes snorkeling at Calusa Beach and Loggerhead Beach.
👆 You can drive a couple of minutes from any Bahia Honda State Park campground to go snorkeling at Calusa Beach.
👆 You can drive a couple of minutes from any Bahia Honda State Park campground to go snorkeling at Loggerhead Beach.
I also drove 5 minutes down the Overseas Highway to Horseshoe Beach for another fun snorkeling experience.
And then directly from Bahia Honda State Park, you might also be able to take a snorkeling tour that goes to one of the best snorkeling spots in the Florida Keys.
That is, a Looe Key snorkeling tour from Bahia Honda State Park! (This does not always run for various reasons, but you can look elsewhere for Looe Key snorkeling tours if you can’t get a Bahia Honda tour.)
You can also go ocean kayaking in Bahia Honda State Park. There are kayak rentals available at the park.
And now, some basics about the Bahia Honda State Park campgrounds!
Bahia Honda State Park camping reservations
In short… good luck! 😜
Another BAD about Bahia Honda State Park camping is how difficult it is to get a camping reservation.
Finding open campsite availability at any of the Bahia Honda State Park campgrounds is known to be (very) difficult.
Bahia Honda State Park is one of the most difficult state park campgrounds to find availability for in the Florida Keys, if not all of Florida.
State park campgrounds in the Florida Keys are often fully booked 11 months in advance when campsites open up for booking!
But, people do cancel. It’s how I was able to stay at a Bahia Honda State Park campground for 10 days!
So unless you are attempting to book a campsite 11 months out, which campground you choose may be decided for you based on the availability you can find!
But don’t worry, not all hope is lost if you aren’t capable of planning that far in advance. (And even if you were, it’s also known to be difficult. Reports indicate state park campsites in the Florida Keys can get snatched up within the first 5 minutes… or less!)
If your hopeful Bahia Honda camping trip is just a few months, weeks, or even days away, cancellations do happen.
You just have to get lucky and search for campgrounds immediately after someone cancels.
Your “luck” will increase the more you search, and the closer you are to your travel date.
Searching over and over (and over 😜) does really work.
My Bahia Honda camping trip was in May 2022. I made camping reservations in April.
I must have searched shortly after someone canceled. There was actually a full 2 weeks available at the same campsite! 😱
I actually didn’t know what to do because I didn’t know how many days I should stay in Bahia Honda State Park! In the end, I settled for 10 days.
But again, this is really all about luck.
1 night stays will generally be easier to find than multi-night stays.
You will find the greatest difficulty in finding open campgrounds for Saturday nights.
👆 Bahia Honda State Park camping reservations: Red means FULL campground! Check the “next available date” to see if that works for you, or keep checking back to see if there have been any cancellations! For the state park campgrounds with a lot of competition (aka Bahia Honda State Park campgrounds!), I don’t think the “notify me” is particularly useful but you can still give it a try. When I tried it, the notifications came once a day in the morning. For Bahia Honda State Park campgrounds, availability can come and go during the day!
How to make Bahia Honda State Park camping reservations
You will make Bahia Honda State Park camping reservations at the official Florida state parks camping reservations website.
Is there state park camping in Key West?
There are no state parks with camping in Key West.
The state park campgrounds that are the closest to Key West are the Bahia Honda State Park campgrounds!
Bahia Honda State Park to Key West is around a 1 hour drive.
This might seem a bit of a drive, but it’s still an easy day trip to Key West from Bahia Honda State Park.
Explore the map: Bahia Honda State Park campground
Explore the map: Bahia Honda State Park to Key West
RV camping and tent camping at Bahia Honda State Park campgrounds
Bahia Honda State Park campgrounds are for RV camping and tent camping, although some campsites are tent camping only.
Buttonwood Campground is for RV camping and tent camping.
Sandspur Campground is for small RV camping and tent camping.
There are hot water showers at these Bahia Honda State Park campgrounds, along with modern bathrooms. There is also electricity and water at each campsite.
Bayside Campground is for tent camping only. There is no electricity at your campsite, but there is water. There is a modern bathroom at this campground, but no showers. You can go to the nearby campground to take a shower.
There is no laundry in Bahia Honda State Park.
For a state park campground with laundry in the Florida Keys, you’ll want to stay at the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park campground.
Otherwise, there’s a laundromat 15 minutes away from Bahia Honda State Park in Big Pine Key FL.
Bahia Honda State Park cabins
There are also Bahia Honda State Park cabin you can stay at.
The cabins are located in the same area at the Bayside Campground.
Similarly, the cabins are very difficult to find open availability.
You will also go to the official Florida state parks camping reservations website to make Bahia Honda State Park cabin reservations too.
And that’s a bit about camping in Bahia Honda State Park!
My Bahia Honda State Park camping trip was in May 2022. Your experience may vary!
See more for your Florida Keys camping trip and beyond:
- Things to do in the Florida Keys
- Best camping in Southwest Florida
- Best camping in the Florida Panhandle
- Tampa to Miami
- Things to do in Everglades National Park
- Things to do in Southwest Florida
- Things to do in the Florida Panhandle
- Ocala National Forest springs (camping in Central Florida)
HAPPY CAMPING IN BAHIA HONDA STATE PARK!
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