Bahia Honda State Park Campground

Arrival - Great pre-arrival communication from FLSP system. No real registration lane to speak of, just have to pull off to the side or in the median to go back into the office to register with the park volunteer/ranger.

Tips - If you are a longer/big rig and have a choice, look into sites 13 - 15 which are all on the waters edge and face SW to W respectively; site 13 is the most difficult to back into IMHO because of the trees and bushes but, it's doable.

Favorites - So many. Super well maintained sites, the volunteers are very helpful and friendly, the geocaching opportunities, the ranger talks, the water activities, the SUNSETS, the SUNRISES, the ease of access, the marina snack bar, store, and watersports sign up, and the end-of-the-day conch serenade to the sun.

Negatives - Site 13 was a tad difficult to get into. The sites tend to flood a little after a good rain. The difficulty actually getting a spot in this park. Some highway noise from the bridge.

As Florida residents, we felt very lucky to have snagged a cancellation for a site at BH's Buttonwood campground. Most know, sites are hard to come by.

We love Florida State Parks, and Bahia Honda was no exception. Is it buggy? Yes. But seriously, Florida is a buggy state, so if you wanna camp here, just get over it; buy a good bug spray and use it if you need it.

We camped in a handicap site, number 46. Online, it notes the site is 30' long, and has a 30' pad. But, it was more like 40' - we had no trouble with enough room for our 276BH (which is about 34' from bumper to hitch). It was the only site that was completely concrete, and is also full-hookup so it was very nice. We had just enough room to park our pickup next to the trailer (see photos). The site was clean, and we saw volunteers cleaning and raking other sites within Buttonwood when they were vacated.

I read some reviews with complaints about road noise, but with our air conditioner running (and we needed it even in March) we really never heard any when we were inside the camper.

We loved joining other campers at the nightly sunset countdown (while we were camping, it was led by volunteer Francois - a really lovely, kind man) and blow conch horns to the sky. Everyone at the park was super nice; at checkin (although they had us pull to the side which seemed unnecessary), throughout the park (at the beach, campground, camp store, etc), and even when we had to ask for a vehicle jump (battery issues with our pickup).

We enjoyed a couple of days beach side (which really wasn't too crowded), a bike ride on the newly finished Old 7 Mile Bridge trail, and lunch and the pool at the Sunset Grille in Marathon.

The only drawback we had was the lack of cellular service. We were able to stream a little TV now and then, but surfing the net from our phones with Verizon was challenging at best.

We really enjoyed our stay at Bahia Honda and hope to get lucky with another reservation again!

Wow. This park is gorgeous.

This park has three separate camping areas: Buttonwood (Sites 1-48), Sandspur (Sites 49-72), and Bayside (Sites 73-80).

The MAX length in the Buttonwood section is 45ft, but only a few sites can handle rigs over 40ft in this campground. Be very sure to read length limits before booking your site - the rangers have been very thoughtful in prescribing them.

The MAX length for Sandspur sites is 23ft. This is due to turning radius issues on the narrow road in this camping area and if you are longer than 23ft you should NOT book sites 49-72 (or 72-80).

The Bayside section is limited to vehicles less than 6'8'' tall. This is a strict height restraint due to a very low underpass accessing these sites.

We stayed 10 days, swapping between 3 different sites within the Buttonwood camping area based on what sites we were able to string together a reservation for.

Our favorite sites was very much Site 19, which is waterfront with amazing views and direct water access. This was also the loudest, breeziest, and buggiest site we stayed in here but we'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Site 48 is a back-in site with no water views but a bit more privacy and far less bugs, noise, and wind.

Site 43 was an almost pull-through site with water views over your across the street neighbors. It's less breezy and buggy but still noisy.

Every site in this park is gorgeous, although if you don't get a water front site you might find yourself a bit jaded. You shouldn't be because beach, kayak, viewing access is abundant and accessible! We loved popping into the park store (where you can also sign up for snorkel tours or rent snorkel gear!) for frozen key lime pie on a stick, and enjoyed hunting for manatee within the boat docking area.

We had great. success with Starlink here, and most every site within the park should provide sufficient sky views for Starlink, although a few might take a bit of pole height or placement to get past foliage obstructions.

Restrooms and showers are clean and sufficient. The dump station is in the Buttonwood camping area is easily accessible.

There are not a lot of recent reviews for the Sandspur campground because it only reopened in Summer ‘22 after being closed for 5 years following hurricane Irma in ‘17. It is a wonderful small ocean-front campground as part of the larger state park. The sites are short, so best for smaller Class C’s, Bs, vans and small trailers. The back of the sites are 100 feet or so from the water. The shoreline immediately behind the campsites is a bit rocky, but it is a short walk to a nice sand beach. The views are stunning. Far less road noise and day use commotion than in the other campgrounds in the park. Since it has all been recently rebuilt - everything is new, from pavement to utilities to the restrooms. Be prepared - there is no shade. Did I mention the stunning views?

I don't understand all the amazingly glowing reviews for this park. It's generally okay, but nowhere remotely near the best in Florida. We came from Curry Hammock directly to Bahia Honda and I greatly prefer Curry Hammock. The bugs at Bahia Honda are far worse than CH. The campground is situated in a brush forest backed by swamp. We can't be outdoors any time of day or night without being eaten alive. We sat out every evening in Curry Hammock with only a few bugs. There are a few spots on the water that are probably better with the bugs and definitely have a better view, but if you can't get one of those, I wouldn't come here. They do have a beach here, but it is insanely crowded and loud.
The park has the potential to be exceptionally nice, but is poorly designed. They could have put the campsites along the ocean waterfront where the current entry road is. Every site would have amazing views and the sea breeze would keep the bugs away. Instead most of the waterfront is taken up by a pedestrian inaccessible road and most of the campsites are in the low bug ridden brush with no views at all.
They seem to use no volunteers here and the sites reflect that. All other Florida State Parks we've visited have volunteers that check and clean every site between occupants. They don't do that here. Our site when we arrived had trash in it and a dirty grill. Forget about raked gravel like the pristine sites at Curry Hammock had. I've seen lots of rangers driving around, but never a volunteer.
They also love fences here. I feel claustrophobic with all the fences. Nearly every campsite is surrounded by a fence. When you sit outside in your campsite, instead of feeling like you're in the middle of a forest or jungle like most other Florida parks we've been to, you feel like you're in a pen. A simple curb would be plenty if they want to delineate the natural area to leave alone. They don't have to fence you in.
The park is right next to the Keys Overseas Heritage Trail, which is great for biking and running, but they put up more fences to make sure you can't get to it. You have to go nearly a mile, through vehicle gates and down roads with no sidewalk or shoulders and backtrack up the highway to get back to the start of the trail that is less than 50 yards from the campground, but they blocked it off with a chainlink fence. I guess they were worried about losing their $1.50 access fee from pedestrians sneaking in from the trail. Every other park we've been to just has signs at the access points saying you need to pay and leaving it on the honor system instead of resorting to the prison camp system.
Both Verizon and AT&T were very weak, but marginally usable.

Everything about this campground is top notch, especially if you are able to score a waterfront spot. Spot #20 was ideal for our 35' motorhome, we fit in great with lots of room to camp. Some of the internal sites would have been a bit too tight for us, but they were great for smaller RV's, tents, etc.

The campground had level, gravel sites with a charcoal grill, no fire pit. We were 5 feet from the Gulf waters, and had a gorgeous sunset every night. The campground gives you full access to Bahia Honda State Park, which is easily one of our favorite beach destinations we have ever visited. There is plenty to do here: walking, biking, fishing, swimming, kayaking, snorkeling, boating, floating, reading, etc. The water is crystal clear, and during parts of the day the water colors are worth the price of admission.

Bathhouses were clean every time we used them, and the showers were great. The Rangers and Hosts were friendly, as were all of the campers we met. Verizon service was poor, but our Sprint / TMobile hot spot worked great.

From Bahia Honda, you are only 15 minutes from Marathon or Big Pine, and only about 45 minutes from Key West.

I hear the pricing went up again July 1, which is a shame. But for the Keys, the price is still hard to beat. We plan to come back here yearly. Enjoy your visit!

I probably shouldn't even be submitting a review for this park since it is so popular and so hard to get a spot here. But it really is my favorite state park in Florida. The sites that back up to the water are amazing! We really enjoyed snorkeling and swimming in the water behind our site. We also loved snorkeling in the 2 swim beach areas. There is another beach area nearby called Horseshoe Beach which also has great snorkeling. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile all worked well here.

I now see why Bahia Honda State Park camping is so popular. In this video, I give you a walking tour of Bahia Honda State Park, the day use area, concessions, picnic and beach areas, the old overseas highway bridge trail, and the campground. Video uploaded here on Campendium for your immediate reference. I show you the best campsites at this picturesque camping location in the Florida keys. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 0.19 Mbps download speed and 0.04 Mbps upload speed. Service on Verizon was not reliable at this location. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 27.2 Mbps download speed and 3.98 Mbps upload speed. T-Mobile cellular service clocked in at 65.3 Mbps download speed and 2.62 Mbps upload speed.

What can you say. This is one of the most sought after campground in Florida. We got it through a cancellation. Staff is very friendly and always ready to give a hand.

The place is awesome since every site is either by the water or a 3 minute walk to it.

We were able to snatch up another weekend in October and can’t wait to get back.