Collier-Seminole State Park

Collier-Seminole is the perfect definition of just "okay". Its location is its greatest asset (close to both Naples and Marco Island). The campground itself has some issues. Some of the sites are VERY close together, most have a gravel/grass mixture comprising the pads, and when it rains, the sites in lower lying areas go under water.

The boat launch area is beautiful and, by far, the nicest part of the campground. The basin is well engineered, and the day/use picnic area is great. From there you can rent kayaks, canoes, and bikes. There are two pavilions for families or groups, and there are a few trails, albeit short, that leave from the launch parking lot.

The campground as a whole is small, so riding bikes and walking was a bit limiting, at least compared to other parks in the Florida State Park system that we've been to. There isn't a lot to do at the park. There is a memorial area with a monument, a mock up of a Seminole Indian village, and an area where they display the crawler/excavator used to create roads/canals in the early part of the 20th century. Other than that, unless you're deep into kayaking, it's an "okay" campground. Under the question, "Would you camp here again", there SHOULD be an option for "maybe", because that's my actual response. If I wanted to visit Naples or Marco Island, I'd stay there. But I wouldn't go there as a destination campground.

Your mileage may vary.

Collier-Seminole is a small state park located close to Naples and Marcos Island. While there is not much to do in the park itself, it is close enough to the beach and downtown Naples that you will stay entertained. The campground itself has some good sites and some terrible sites. Basically stay away from the inner portion of loop B. Most of the sites in the inner loop B are very tight with trees making it even tighter. I've had more room in most commercial parks than I did on site 65. The best sites are 1-19 (loop A) where sites are screened from each other and tend to be quite large. It appears that the bathhouse is new and there is a washer and dryer available. You will catch some road noise in teh campground because the road to Marcos Island cuts along the back side. But its not too bad.

Collier-Seminole is a nice park. We found the bathrooms to be spotless, at all times. The people at the gate were friendly and helpful. Many of the sites are nicely spaced, but I would not stay in our site again. Sites 66, 67 & 68 are so close together. We had to step OVER our neighbor's water lines to get to our picnic table, and their sewer connection (68 is the camp host site) was just outside our back door. The width of our site was listed as 15' online, and I would say that was accurate for the site, not the pad. There are many more nicer, larger, wider sites in the park. I don't know why they are so squeezed in on this short road.

This seems to be the only state park in south Florida that normally has availability. Easy drive to Marco Island with some nice beaches. Also easy to Everglades parks, close access to air boat tours. Driving back into the park there was a bear in a tree at the park entrance. Park has a nice feel with lots of foliage surrounding the sites.

We stayed in site number 22 which is one of the 3 sites that possess concrete pads. All of the other sites in the loop are grass pads. Site #22 and #23 share a large concrete pad and during the 14 days we stayed on Site #22, Site #23 was kept vacant. I'm assuming they kept site #23 vacant because it was shoulder to shoulder with site #22. I did hear a few people mention that there were a lot of bugs on the grass pads. The loop I was in had 2 shower/restroom locations and there was a washer and dryer in one of them. I used the shower/toilet in the facility closest to Site #22 and will say that it was cleaned on a daily basis, at least twice a day. I did have to use leveling blocks on Site #22 only because I try to keep my rig almost completely level. It is only a short walk to the boat launch which is a really beautiful place to hang out at. The launch area was full of manatee and several gators. We did see one guy who was fishing from a kayak catch a small tarpon using an artificial lure. My Verizon cell service fluctuated between 1 and 2 bars but I was able to surf the net most of the time. I my cell service would have been better, I would have rated this CG as 5 stars. It truly is one of the nicest Florida State parks that I have stayed at.

We picked up our teardrop on Friday just in time to make the reservation I’d booked months ago for Friday-Sunday. We were going to arrive after hours so we called in advance, and after verifying our reservation and being read the rules, we were given the gate code. We had to set up in the dark which was a bad time of year for that in the Everglades. We ended up with a lot of mosquitoes inside, but it was still a great trip overall. Next time we’re bringing our canoe. The boat ramp is a short drive from the campground. There were canoe and kayak rentals available, but they closed early and were not open when we made our way to the river. We tried to hike on 3 different trails. 2 were about a mile drive from the campsite and 1 by the river and boat launch area. All 3 were flooded higher than ankle deep before we got very far. We camped on the tent side of the campground, but we also explored the RV side. The tent side has more secluded campsites with trees in between each site. The RV side is more open and less private. It was a short walk from site 4 to the bathhouse which was in between the tent and RV loops. I believe there were 2 more bathhouses in the RV loop I believe. I only went in the one on the tent side, but it was very clean. There was a men’s, women’s, and family bathroom with a washing machine and dryer outside. The family bathroom had a toilet, sink, and shower in it. There was a gas station and what looked like a biker bar right outside the park but not much else nearby. Our cell signal with xfinity was very weak until we turned the cell signal booster on. Then we were able to watch Saturday night football on an iPad. While cooking dinner on Saturday night, there were SWARMS of mosquitoes so definitely bring bug spray, and a Buff came in handy to keep them out of my face and ears. Despite that, we will definitely be camping here again.

We had some trepidation about staying here after reading other reviews and seeing pictures of folks covered in bug bites, but were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was here. Yes, I got a couple of bug bites but not a big deal considering we were in the middle of the woods and surrounded by swampland. Collier-Seminole is a beautifully well-kept park with plenty of clean bathrooms (3 bath houses throughout the park) and even a couple of washers and dryers (but you had to get there early or wait very late to access them). The sites are a little close, but not uncomfortably so and ours was shady and quiet and right across from the bath house which was nice. The location is a great jumping off point for Naples, Marco Island and the Everglades.