Bahia Honda State Park

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.

Great no-frills camping surrounded by beaches, good fishing and easy access to scenic areas and walking "trails". If the wind is blowing too hard on one beach, use the other one, they are only a short few minute walk from each other. The beaches are kept natural for environmental reasons and may disappoint those looking for manicured sand. If so, turn around and go back to Miami and join the other 50,000 people on the beach.

I really enjoyed the daily sunset conch shell horn blowing, announcing the official sunset of the day. I bought my own horn on a trip to Key West and joined in on the fun that evening. Great, friendly camp hosts and staff topped of the overall enjoyment of the place. We will be back.

We love this campground we have stayed in many different sites on the water where the Atlantic Ocean & the Gulf meet. Kayak right from your site or drive it over to the beach side on the Atlantic & put in there. We have water and electric with a dump station onsite. The water is so pretty there great snorkeling and swimming. The Manatees hang out near site # 13 a big site on the water yet not the best view. There is a place people can dock there boats, a fish cleaning table there and when you run the water the Manatees come up & drink the fresh water. They have a nurse shark that hangs there too. Mile Marker 37 your close to Key West. If you on the water closer to A1A bridge you do hear traffic, facing the other bridge (the old bridge) on weekends it can get loud during the day at the swim beach. By far a great place to camp.

You can catch lobster off the campground if you know how & you snorkel or dive watch out for the current the tides change & become stronger.

The campground does snorkeling trips they have a big cat boat I believe they do 2 trips a day. You can take the little trolley trip to the Sandspur campground (Primitive) which is being restored it could take a year or 2.

You can fish off your waterfront site or float on a noodle or tube and hang out. The bath house is being redone Hurricane Irma took out the sandspur campground & the bath houses. This park is in the middle keys lots of great eats & things to do. There is a Winn Dixie on Big Pine (has great Key lime pie by Mikes Pies) & a Walmart the other direction. The Keys Fishery raw bar has a great Happy Hour with Shrimp, Mussels, stone crab claws when in season, and lots more. A sunset toast provided by the bar everyday at sunset. The lower portion of the Fishery has fried food & other options for eating. The Sunset grill on Marathon has a great crab soup, lobster tacos and more with a great view of the water/sunset & a pool. Porky's has a good breakfast, I'm sure other food too just went for breakfast.