Long Pine Key Campground — Hotel in Florida City

This campground is in the Everglades National Park but is managed by a third-party. That was good for us because we were able to stay here during the government shutdown. We stayed for 8 nights at the beginning of January 2019.

First, the website shows that sites are first-come, first-serve except for a limited number of sites that can be reserved. I called and was told reservations were not accepted so we took our chances on getting a spot. When we arrived, the agent stated that there were only 3 spots available for the 3 nights we were going to originally stay (we weren’t sure about connectivity). We found out that they do take reservations somewhere on-line, but I couldn’t find the website for it. We stayed three nights in spot #5. It was a good spot, but our solar was struggling because it was in shade most of the afternoon. We decided to stay a few extra days to explore more. Connectivity was not an issue – Verizon has 3-4 bars without booster. AT&T has no service though. With our booster, we were able to get about 1-2 bars of AT&T and thankfully one of our phones as Wi-Fi call capability, so we were able to make and receive calls. Keep that in mind if you are AT&T only. The campground Flamingo about 40 miles from this campground does have AT&T connectivity, but we didn’t explore the campground to see how it compared.

When we decided to stay longer, we were told we had to move because someone reserved spot #5. That was fine because we wanted to move spots for better solar anyway. The agent said she couldn’t look up which spots were available for the timeframe we wanted, but we could drive around and find a few spots we wanted and then she could look it up. That seemed weird, but we did that. We found that spot #66 had great access to solar in the mid-late afternoon so chose it. Thankfully that spot was available. There was some confusion about whether we could reserve it or not. Each person we spoke to said something different, but after many tries, it ended up working out and we were able to stay longer.

We stayed another 5 nights at our new spot #66. Solar was much better there, and we had a nice view of the lake. Both spots we were on were level and it seemed most in the park were level. The road coming in is paved so no issues with accessibility. Since the campground is in the park, you do have to pay the entrance fee, but we have the national park pass. Of course, because of the shutdown there was no one at the gate anyway.

We didn’t inspect the bathrooms or shower houses, but the park was clean and well-maintained. They have a camp host on-site and we did not see any issues that were seen in other parks because of the shutdown. For some reason, the dumpsters were not emptied until our last day there so some people had put their trash next to the dumpsters, but it was otherwise clean. Very quiet and peaceful as well.

The campground has a lot of slash pine trees which give some shade, but still allows some solar. There were not a ton of good spots for solar IMO (at least in the winter), but anything by the lake would be good. There are no hookups at this site, but they do have potable water and a dump station near the entrance to the campground.

Tons of things to do near this campground. There are trails and of course exploring the Everglades. Homestead/Florida City is about a 20 min drive and you can get groceries, gas and whatever you need there. Robert is Here is a nice fruit stand in Florida City you may want to check out. Worth a trip to the Flamingo visitor center to see crocodiles and manatees. I would also recommend the Royal Palm visitor center and the anhinga trail.

Overall, despite the confusion and frustration over the reservations, it was a nice place and we would stay again. It is closed in the summer months which makes sense, it would be way too hot, and mosquito infested for the summer. Mosquitos were tolerable when we were there, but you...

Well, I was worried I would prefer the national parks and... I was absolutely right. For the first time since this trip we finally had a "private" yard. and quiet, actual peace and quiet. No car doors slamming, beeping, people yelling, screaming, kids messing about and although you're not meant to I felt perfectly comfortable letting the dogs go outside off leash to do their business. To be honest there wasn't much point in putting our fence up as we were stopping for one night.||||Anyway, I found this site on yelp. It was $20 per night with no hookups and had a shady online paying system but I am so glad we did it rather than staying at a Walmart, which all the locals had warned us we would definitely get robbed! But needless to say I was nervous this booking was also a scam. When we arrived (a grueling 7 hours later) there was a half built concrete shed and a shipping container. But much to my surprise a very friendly lady came over and handed us our reservation. She said there was fresh water to fill up our tank and dump station round the other side but we could essentially stay where we wanted as the park was empty. Something I was shocked about for the christmas period! Unfortunately we arrived in the dark again, but after some hollering at each other we managed to get parked up. The space was not long enough for us to leave the truck hooked up to our 37ft trailer, despite me booking the largest site I could.||||So we parked up and immediately got the generator going as I was freaking out about the fridge and freezer defrosting. You can run generators 8am-8pm on this site. ||||Nothing blocking the sites which was nice, no trees to navigate or concrete posts, just a driveway/pavement essentially. ||||We did have one couple opposite in a tent, but they left 6am next morning and then there was literally no one around us. We had a lovely walk in the morning and on the way out saw a beautiful great white Egret and an alligator just hanging by the side of the road. That made my birthday extra special!||||The cell service was non existent yet our pepwave router managed to pick up 5mb of data, so our phones were usable but we didn't risk the xboxs...

I would have given this a 5 if it were not for a VERY upsetting incident that occurred. My son, who suffers from seizures and has a ADA approved service dog to help detect these for him, and to bark to alert others and to himself, he was denied entry to using the shower with his service dog. The worker simply told him the following - "You CAN'T bring a dog in there" - then she proceeded to glare at him, which intimidated him, and he left.

I approached the worker after hearing about this. She is between 30 to 40 years old, about 5 foot 5, is white [not hispanic], with light colored hair. When I informed her that the dog is a ADA dog and can literally go anywhere no matter what as she is for a disability, and offered her the verification papers along with the .GOV phone number to call, this woman stormed off from me and headed to her golf cart while mumbling swear words under her breath. I never expected this in my life to happen at a national park while camping but it happened. And I am glad that I was there to defend my son at least and he wasn't by himself.

We didn't let this ruin our time at the park or at the campsite, but, it needs to be pointed out there is a very mean and rude worker at this location, who is violating the law by denying service to disabled people. I did not get her name unfortunately but I do hope that someone who works there reads this and can state their policy to their workers so that no other disabled person is mistreated like this again.

Also, other workers were professional and did not mistreat either of us. Point being - this woman is making your entire staff look bad, and that's not fair to the workers who don't mistreat people, and treat others as they would want to...