Ocala - Leesburg Area

[heritage2006]

I'm in St. Augustine's, FL right now and heading out Friday morning. Planning on heading in the South West direction. Looking for a place to stay for a couple of weeks. I don't need 'beach' type places. Just a nice, quiet and friendly place whereby I can take my bike out to enjoy the surrounding scenery.

Any recommendations you have would be greatly appreciated. There are just so many and I spent hours online last night looking at the various ones. I would think I found one...then I would go to the online reviews and they would not be nice.

I'd like something that is not so cramped and lots of the pics I see are basically an RV Parking Lot type of place.

Please help !!!

[travelgirl]

Howdy,

After we bought our MH we were introduced to a web site. The site is www.campgrounds.com we have found alot of interesting campgrounds on there for things to do and places to stay. you might als want to try Yogi Bear park Madision, FL I stayed there once with my parents as a kid, yopu can also try www.koa.com thet have some nice places as well. Hope you have a great trip best of luck...Happy Holidays

[WheelingIt]

Well, we were recently in Ocala and stayed at Silver River State Park. Lots and lots of space (sites are huge in fact), plus quiet, excellent separation (between campers) and biking/hiking trails on-site. I would definitely recommend it.
You can see my pics of the place here: SP Campground Review

[ParTheCourse]

Our third winter here Villages Area RV Resort | RV Lot Rentals Sales | Central Florida RV Park | Southern Oaks RV Resort
Give them a call, sure there will be room for a couple of more weeks. We're on site 122 if you choose this C/G.

[RVhauler]

Recreation Plantation located in Lady lake (the villages) is probably one of the best in the nation. i stay there yearly however need reservations as they are always full up. Not the cheapest but well kept and convient to many places/happenings

[Greg Lepage]

Quote:

Originally Posted by heritage2006 I'm in St. Augustine's, FL right now and heading out Friday morning. Planning on heading in the South West direction. Looking for a place to stay for a couple of weeks. I don't need 'beach' type places. Just a nice, quiet and friendly place whereby I can take my bike out to enjoy the surrounding scenery. Any recommendations you have would be greatly appreciated. There are just so many and I spent hours online last night looking at the various ones. I would think I found one...then I would go to the online reviews and they would not be nice. I'd like something that is not so cramped and lots of the pics I see are basically an RV Parking Lot type of place. Please help !!!

If you are staying in St. Augustine in an RV can you give a review of the park you are at? I am heading there as soon as my house sells. Thanks!

[powderman]

My choice for the area would be Recreation Plantation also. Very clean and very close to the Villages. They even have a golf driving range within walking distance. We really like it there as people are friendly. I also checked out the Southern Oaks which when I was there (Jan or Feb). The place was 3/4 empty and this scared me away. It was all open with no shade and had only a pool where the Plantation has a pool & hot tub. Of course there is a big difference in price as the Plantation is close to $800 a month while the Southern Oaks is around $500. This was a new park and I see they have added a club house so maybe in a few years it will be ready for prime time. Another place in the area which I would NOT recommend is the Blue Parrot. The people there are nice, but it is an old park and doesn't handle large RV's well. We even had difficulty with my 28' 5th wheel with 1 slide. Also it seems that the water goes off about every few days as someone will run over the water connections while trying to get into a tight spot. JMO YMMV

PS If you like state parks there is Griffin SP a few miles from the villages also. I took a look but didn't stay as I already had booked for the season. It looked like a nice place but like most SP not much amenities.

[floridaflash]

Salt Springs Campground is very nice. It is part of the Ocala National Forest and you can use your NP discount card if you have one. Sites have plenty of room and they have full hookups.
David

[heritage2006]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Lepage If you are staying in St. Augustine in an RV can you give a review of the park you are at? I am heading there as soon as my house sells. Thanks!

Sure can ! I stayed at the Anastasia State Park from November 28th and pulled out December 3rd. And that was only because they were booked for the weekend.....and ALL weekends. So you would have to reserve early.

I spoke with two other Campers and they wanted to stay longer as well but couldn't. So that says a lot about the Park I think. St. Augustine's is truly beautiful and lot of things to do and see. Camp Hosts on site and lots of patrolling by the Ranger so I certainly felt safe there. Very quiet.

Another security feature was the gates were locked after a certain time..can't remember right now what time that was....but you get the security code to get in.

The 'drawbacks' to this State Park are:

Not suitable really for BIG rigs.....narrow one-way roads.
No pull-thru sites.
The ground in the sites is sand. I'll NEVER get all of the sand out of the RV. LOL

Anything else, please ask

[heritage2006]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ParTheCourse Our third winter here Villages Area RV Resort | RV Lot Rentals Sales | Central Florida RV Park | Southern Oaks RV Resort Give them a call, sure there will be room for a couple of more weeks. We're on site 122 if you choose this C/G.

This place looks nice and the rates are reasonable. Do you happen to have any pics of the actually camping area ?

[heritage2006]

Some great suggestion by all. Sure do appreciate it ! And those pics from (WheelinIt) the State Park look great ! I have a feeling that's where I'll be going.

Thanks again everyone !

[ParTheCourse]

Quote:

This place looks nice and the rates are reasonable. Do you happen to have any pics of the actually camping area ?

As stated above this is our 3rd year here, and by mid January it will be mostly full if the past is any indicator. We have had luck getting IRV2 friends in some for return visits the next year. The rec. hall has been here for those three years and a pool was added last year.

This is a picture of a shuttle launch as seen for the roof of our rig, gotta be a hundred miles over tho the Space Center but it's quite a site from here, gives you an idea of the purported "The place was 3/4 empty ", maybe in December but not after the snowbirds get here.

[heritage2006]

Thanks for that AWESOME pic !

I ended up at the Ocala Sun RV Resort. I left earlier today on the bike to look at 4 different places. I got so lost it took me an hour to find this place and it was only 12 miles away !!

So I booked it for a week and thought the rates were very good. Paid $209.00 for the week. Too much of a 'parking lot' type for me but that's ok 'cause I'm out on the bike during the day exploring the area.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and find the others that were suggested here.

[CurbCrusher]

In the Leesburg area you can check out Lake Griffin State Park. Its pretty much in the middle of what I think of as the Leesburg area. Its a small state park with only water and electric, but you feel more like your camping rather than sitting in a parking lot.