Lake Wales Campground

We spent a month at Lake Wales (Dec. 2017) after doing plenty of research for places to stay near Tampa. This park is centrally located between Tampa/Orlando and is one of the most affordable. Don't let the price fool you though, this is a great place to stay. The owners are wonderful, and the people are very friendly and welcoming. There is plenty of space for your pet(s) too.

The facilities are perfectly adequate, the local wildlife is abundant, and we would definitely stay here again.

Lake Wales has plenty of restaurants and supply stores, but Winter Haven and Lakeland are only a short drive with even more options.

Most of the sites at Lake Wales are dedicated to permanent and seasonal residents, however we were able to book a pull-through site with full hook-ups for our shorter stay. The park itself isn’t bad, while our space had adequate separation many are really tight and none afford any privacy. There are some mature trees for shade and a small pond with three resident geese. The park owners and many of the residents were exceptionally friendly and helpful.

Amenities include an indoor pool, shuffleboard, library, game room, and laundry. The Bok Tower and Gardens is close and well worth a visit – best children’s garden I’ve ever seen and the Tower hosts a 60-bell carillon with daily concerts. On the downside, you’re too far away from the Orlando attractions to use this as a base for visiting the amusement parks. We were attending an event nearby otherwise I’d suggest checking for space at the Kissimmee State Park, we visited there and enjoyed the trails and wildlife.

The $38 is the nightly rate, the weekly rate was $195, and the monthly rate is $375 (less if electric is metered and paid separately).

We had good Verizon coverage, 3 bars of 4G unboosted and the park has free WiFi which worked most of the time.