Long Pine Key Campground in the Everglades National Park has been one of our favorites to date. This week we moved from our full hookup site at Larry and Penny Thompson Memorial Park in Miami to Long Pine Key, a dry campground. You can read my review on Larry and Penny Thompson Memorial Park here.
This was our first time staying in a dry campground. We were a little nervous to boondock (dry camping or camping with no electric, water or sewer hookups) for the first time, mostly because we were worried about out dog and the heat. Dogs are allowed in the campground but not in the rest of the national park. I’m so glad we gave it a chance though; it was breathtakingly beautiful.
Cost
Let’s start with the one of the most important factors in deciding on where to stay. The cost for our visit in January was $39/ night (including tax). This is normal for a national park that offer no hookups, a great value in my opinion.
Sites and Amenities
Each site is paved and completely level. There is space between each site and your neighbors are barely visible behind you and to the sides of you. We were able to see our neighbor in front of us but only when we were in our RV. When we were outside by the fire, we couldn’t see anyone else.
They campground offers a potable water station next to the dump station. It was very convenient to be able to fill our fresh tank when we arrived rather than traveling with a full tank of water.
There were dumpsters located centrally. The campground was very well kept. I don’t think we saw a speck of trash on the ground. There were bathhouses located centrally as well. The hot water was solar- powered, so hot showers are not guaranteed. We didn’t use them, and it was a cloudy couple of days so I’m sure they weren’t very hot.
Each site had a fire ring and a picnic table. Ours were on the wrong side of the rig but it didn’t bother us too much. It created extra privacy when having a fire at nighttime.
Generators are allowed from 8am to 8pm. You would think this would make the campground loud. Since the sites are so well spaced, you hardly noticed other people’s generators. It also helped that the people around us all had quiet generators, including us. I didn’t think we’d need our generator for only two nights, but clouds and cool temps didn’t help our solar panels keep our battery charged.
If you have a big rig (we’re 35’) they do have big rig friendly sites including some pull throughs. There aren’t many so you’ll want to make your reservations early. There are even less pull throughs but the back in sites are all angled making backing in very easy.
Cell phone service is limited to just Verizon (what we have) from what we were told. We didn’t use our Starlink so we could conserve battery. We used the two nights there as a break from technology. We felt like we were actually camping again. It was the perfect place to disconnect from the modern world (besides having our RV) and reconnect with nature.
Location
Long Pine Key Campground is the first campground you pass when you enter Everglades National Park. It’s 12 miles from the entrance to the campground entrance. There is another campground, Flamingo Campgroud, at the very end of the national park. They do have full hookups there. We made our reservations in May, and it was already completely booked. I even check periodically for cancellations and still nothing. There is no cell service in that campground, though.
Even though Long Pine Key has no hookups, I think I would choose it again for a short stay only because if you need anything like gas, groceries, etc. you’re close to the entrance. If you stay in Flamingo, you’re traveling almost an hour just to leave the national park and then those things are still 20 minutes away from the entrance.
For a longer stop I would like to be on full hookups and would just try to stock up on everything before entering the park. Starlink would’ve worked in either campground so we could use our phones via WIFI if we were staying in Flamingo.
Cons
It’s hard to come up with cons to Long Pine Key. We were awestruck from the moment we pulled in. it was beautiful, quiet, and super clean. My two cons are one, dry camping. I would’ve loved to see at least water and electric or just electric. This way we could have our AC running for our dog while we were away. We didn’t need to use it this visit as it was chilly but if it was warmer I would’ve been worried.
My other con is the price of firewood. We spent $15 on a bundle of wood. It was dry and burned well but it wasn’t a very large bag of wood. I’m not sure why they charge double what most places do but it’s too much in my opinion. I’m all about the park service making money but yikes, that’s high. With that said, it was the perfect place to have a campfire.
Conclusion
Like I said above, Long Pine Key Campground has been our favorite place to stay so far since full time RVing. Even with no hookups, I’d take a few nights here over anywhere else.
The campground was extremely peaceful, clean, and the sites are so well spaced you feel like you’re almost alone. Paved sites and easy back ins are all reasons I loved Long Pine Key. Being in the national park was a really cool experience. One that is hard to describe. Even though there were other campers, you felt like you were alone for miles.
If you’re planning a trip to the Everglades National Park either by RV or tent, I highly recommend Long Pine Key Campground. We will definitely be going back at some point.
I hope you all enjoyed this review. If you did, please consider giving it a “like” below. Also feel free to leave any comments below.
Until next time, God bless and stay safe!
The Touring Torres’s 
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