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Felicia Wong loves planning trips for her family of four. Renting an RV makes it easy for Felicia and her husband, Jason, to pack up the kids and go to their favorite spots. Find out why the Wong family loves RVing and how they take time to disconnect from everyday life to reconnect with the ones who matter most.
Explore these Southern gateway parks, which serve as primary entry points for visitors. Enjoy the nearby attractions, activities, and campground accommodations.
Jeff Crider
9 MIN READ
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Reserving campsites in some of the nation’s most popular state and national parks is often easier said than done, particularly during the busy summer months. The good news is that there are many privately owned and operated campgrounds nearby that can be used as base camps for day trips into these parks.
Privately owned campgrounds also have amenities like water, electrical, and sewer service hookups at each campsite as well as swimming pools and Wi-Fi service. Some even have hot tubs, restaurants, organized family activities, and other attractions that make them great places to camp. Here’s a listing of several popular state and national parks across the Southern states, along with campgrounds where you should have a decent chance of snagging a campsite — even during the peak summer travel season:
Gulf State Park:This park offers a multitude of activities, including hiking. biking, fishing, exploring, geocaching, and paddling. Beach vendors are available to plan activities such as parasailing and kayaking. Nearby campgrounds include:
Gulf Shores RV Resort in Gulf Shores: Amenities at this park include a saline swimming pool, a fitness center, a fish-cleaning station, cornhole and pickleball courts.
Island Retreat RV Park in Gulf Shores: This pet-friendly park is less than three miles from the white sand beaches of the Gulf Coast. Amenities include a salt water swimming pool and fishing pole rentals.
Sun Outdoors RV Resort in Orange Beach: Amenities at his park include a poolside restaurant, a splash pad, e-bike and golf cart rentals, fishing, and a dog wash station.
Oak Mountain State Park: This is Alabama’s largest state park. Its attractions include an 18-hole championship golf course. Nearby campgrounds include:
Birmingham South RV Park in Pelham: This pet-friendly park is less than four miles away from Oak Mountain State Park. Amenities include a swimming pool, an outdoor pavilion and sports courts.
Torreya State Park east of Tallahassee: With its dense forests and high bluffs overlooking the Apalachicola River, Torreya is considered to be one of Florida's most scenic places. Nearby campgrounds include:
Florida Caverns State Park near Marianna: Florida Caverns is the only state park in Florida where visitors can take tours through a large cave system and see exceptional examples of icicle-shaped stalactites and stalagmites of different sizes as well as columns and flowstone. Nearby campgrounds include:
Henderson Beach State Park near Destin: White sand beaches with sand dunes as high as 30 feet are among the attractions at this park. Nearby campgrounds include:
St. Andrews State Park near Panama City:Activities at this park include hiking, bicycling, swimming, kayaking, snorkeling, fishing, and wildlife viewing. Nearby campgrounds include:
Silver Springs State Park: This park has been a natural landmark destination since the 1870s. The 4,000-acre park encompasses not only the springs, but the entire 5-mile Silver River and surrounding sandhill forest. Visitors can wander among the historic structures and serene gardens surrounding the main spring. Visitors enjoy the Silver River Museum, hike, paddle the river, and explore the springs in the park’s glass-bottom boats. Nearby campgrounds include:
Terra Ceia Preserve State Park: This park's 2,000 acres encompass mangrove forests, freshwater and saltwater wetlands, and uplands communities. Kayaking, fishing, and hiking are the primary activities within the preserve. Nearby campgrounds include:
Paynes Creek Historic State Park: This park has a museum at the visitor center that depicts the lives of Florida's Seminole Native Americans and pioneers during the 19th century. Nearby campgrounds include:
Big Cypress National Preserve: The freshwaters of this preserve support the rich marine estuaries along Florida's southwest coast. Big Cypress National Preserve contains a mixture of tropical and temperate plant communities that are home to diverse wildlife, including the Endangered Florida panther. Nearby campgrounds include:
Fort Myers RV Resort in Fort Myers: Amenities at this park include a heated swimming pool, miniature golf, a boat launch and kayak rentals.
Estero Bay Preserve State Park: This is a dog-friendly preserve with numerous miles of trails through native vegetation. The trails in the preserve are rugged and seasonally flooded in some areas. Sturdy footwear, insect repellent, sunscreen, and plenty of water are recommended. Nearby campgrounds include:
Myakka River State Park: Visitors can hear the cries of limpkins and osprey and see alligators and turtles sunning themselves on logs and riverbanks. Boating, fishing, canoeing, and kayaking are popular activities on the water while hikers and bicyclists explore miles of trails and backroads. Nearby campgrounds include:
Everglades National Park: This park protects a subtropical wetland ecosystem spanning two million acres across central and south Florida. During the wet season, Lake Okeechobee overflows, releasing water into a very slow moving, shallow river dominated by sawgrass marsh—dubbed the "river of grass." The water flows southward, passing through diverse habitats, including cypress swamps, wet prairie, and mangroves, until it reaches Everglades National Park and eventually Florida Bay. The Everglades is home to a wide variety of plants and animals, including alligators, crocodiles, and wading birds. Nearby campgrounds include:
A particularly interesting site is Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park in Key West, which features a historic fort with the largest collection of Civil War armaments in the U.S. as well as a scenic beach. Nearby campgrounds include:
Key Largo Kampground & Marina in Key Largo: This park sits on 40 acres alongside the Atlantic Ocean, off the main South Creek channel in a sheltered cover. The park offers RV sites, including waterfront sites, as well as a marina with 14 wet slips to dock your boat. The park is just a few minutes south of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.
Sun Outdoors Key Largo: This resort offers 35 full-hookup RV sites with cable TV and WiFi service. Amenities include a boat launch, docks, and a small private beach perfect for snorkeling and swimming. Rental accommodations are also available.
Sun Outdoors Islamorada: This is a brand new, all-ages resort with RV sites and rental accommodations with ocean views. Amenities include a heated swimming pool, state of the art clubhouse, and poolside cabanas.
Fiesta Key RV Resort and Marina in Long Key: This 28-acre Thousand Trails resort sits on its own private island. Amenities include a swimming pool and spa, an on-site restaurant and a bar on the beach. Popular nearby attractions include Long Key State Park, the Dolphin Research Center, and Bun n’ Mary’s Dive Center.
Grassy Key RV Park and Resort in Marathon: This park offers waterfront, premium and standard RV sites with water, sewer, electrical and cable hookups with a free WiFi hotspot at the clubhouse. Beautiful sunsets and views of the waters of the Gulf of Mexico are visible throughout the resort. For those who bring their own boats, the resort’s docks offer easy navigation into the Gulf.
Photo courtesy of Everglades National Park
Mammoth Cave National Park: This park is believed to have the world’s longest cave system. Nearby campgrounds include:
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: This park protects some of the most pristine natural areas in the eastern U.S. in both Tennessee and North Carolina. A tour through the park offers visitors breathtaking mountain scenery, including panoramic views, rushing mountain streams, and mature hardwood forests stretching to the horizon. Nearby campgrounds include:
Cummins Falls State Park: This is rugged, 306-acre day-use park located nine miles north of Cookeville on the Blackburn Fork State Scenic River on the Eastern Highland Rim. The area has been a scenic spot and swimming hole for local residents of Jackson and Putnam counties for more than 100 years. Cummins Falls is Tennessee’s eighth largest waterfall in volume of water and is 75 feet high. Nearby campgrounds include:
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area: The focal point of this park is the massive pink granite dome that has drawn people for thousands of years. Activities include hiking and rock climbing. Nearby campgrounds include:
Palo Duro Canyon State Parkand Caprock Canyons State Park and Trailway: Some of the most pristine nature in Texas is located in and around these two parks in the Palo Duro Canyon area, which are located roughly 30 and 100 miles south of Amarillo, respectively. Nearby campgrounds include:
Casselman River Bridge State Park: This 4-acre park is popular for picnicking, fly fishing and photography. When the bridge was build in 1813 with its 80-foot span over the Casselman River, it was the longest single-span stone arch bridge in the United States. It served as an important link on the National Road from 1813 to 1933. The bridge no longer carries vehicular traffic and was closed for restoration work at the time of this writing. Nearby campgrounds include:
Deep Creek Lake State Park: This park encompasses over 1,800 acres and adjoins Deep Creek Lake Natural Resources Management Area and its 3,900-acre man-made lake. Activities include fishing and hunting. Nearby campgrounds include:
Rock State Park: This park features 855 acres of rocky forest land nestled in rural northern Hartford County. Primary attractions at Rocks include the King and Queen Seat and Kilgore Falls. The main section of the park includes three picnic areas, 3.5-miles of hiking trails and access to Deer Creek, which is ideal for fishing, wading and tubing. The park’s two satellite properties, Falling Branch (home to Kilgore Falls) and Hidden Valley, are a short drive from the main park. Nearby campgrounds include:
Sang Run State Park: Visitors can step back in time at this park. It preserves a homestead, formerly known as Friends Delight, that dates back to the early 1800’s. The original home site, farm and store were donated to Maryland in 2008 and designated as a State Park in 2017. Highlights include the Historic Friends Store and Election House where visitors can learn how people bought goods, and voted in the 1920s. Other activities include hiking, fishing, picnicking and relaxing along the Wild and Scenic Youghiogheny River.
Susquehanna State Park: Located along the Susquehanna River valley with its heavy forest cover and rocky terrain, this park is home to some of the most popular mountain biking trails in Maryland and the river itself beckons fishermen and boaters alike. The river offers excellent fishing opportunities, including pike, perch, and bass for shoreline anglers or boating anglers who launch from the Lapidum Boat Ramp. Nearby campgrounds include:
Carvers Creek State Park: Located in Cumberland County 13 miles northwest of Fayetteville, Carvers Creek State Park features Long Valley Farm, which was once the winter retreat of James Stillman Rockefeller, and the Sandhills access that offers multiuse trails through beautiful longleaf pine ecosystems. The park provides hiking, biking and equestrian trails. Nearby campgrounds include:
Mount Mitchell State Park: Located in Yancey County 30 miles northeast of Asheville, Mount Mitchell State Park was the genesis of North Carolina's state parks system. At 6,684 feet, the mountain is the highest point east of the Mississippi River. An observation deck provides breathtaking mountaintop views on clear days. Easy trails at the summit explore the Fraser fir forest, while a vast network of challenging trails — including the Mountains-to-Sea Trail — extend into adjacent wilderness areas and lead to backpacking opportunities within Pisgah National Forest. Nearby campgrounds include:
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: This park protects some of the most pristine natural areas in the eastern U.S. in both Tennessee and North Carolina. A tour through the park offers visitors breathtaking mountain scenery, including panoramic views, rushing mountain streams, and mature hardwood forests stretching to the horizon. Nearby campgrounds include:
Jelllystone Park Camp-Resort in Cherokee: This park offers campsites and rental accommodations as well as organized family activities and theme weekends with Yogi Bear.
Photo courtesy of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Jeff Crider, President and CEO of Crider Public Relations, has been involved in covering the campground industry for over 25 years. Jeff has worked as a freelance writer for publications such as RV Business, Motor Home Magazine, Trailer Life, Highways and other Affinity Group Inc. publications since 1995. He has also successfully pitched many of the nation's top tier media outlets, including CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Financial Times, Reuters, The Associated Press and National Public Radio. In addition to writing, Jeff is also a talented photographer and humanitarian.
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