Red Coconut RV Park: Camping on the Beach in Southwest Florida

Back before camping became a thing in my family, I’d often drive past a campground directly on the beach and sigh with envy.

“I want to wake up and dip my toes in the sand just like those lucky people,” I’d think to myself. 

This year, I finally did.

Red Coconut RV Park sits along Estero Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach. For those of you outside of Florida, Fort Myers Beach is in Southwest Florida, between the cities of Naples and Fort Myers. It’s a popular hub for snowbirds and is known for its beautiful beaches, picturesque sunsets and the fact that you can wear shorts year ‘round. It’s pretty awesome. And I’m fortunate enough to just live about 30 minutes away from the campground.

Red Coconut is a campground for travel trailers and motorhomes that has been around for years. It’s one of the few camping spots on the beach in this neck of the woods, and it’s regulars have the same spots booked year after year. Unfortunately, that means that the front row on the beachside is often booked, but the good news is that if you get a spot in the second or third rows, you’re still just a few steps away from the beach. 

The campground has about 30 spots beachside, and it also offers sites behind the office across the street. (all sites are full hookup) The office looks touristy and tacky, but in a good way. (fyi, you can also buy some fun beach knick knacks inside) If you reserve a site on the beach, and you are hauling a travel trailer, you unhook your trailer by the office and a Red Coco employee hooks it up to a tractor and drives it across the street to park for you. It saves the driver the headache of backing up his camper, and lets the employee do his thing because he’s obviously a pro at it. The campground is small and spaces are tight, so it’s probably a relief to many that they offer this perk.

We stayed in the second row on the beachside, but had friends who managed to snag a beachfront spot, so we spent most of our time hanging by their camper. Each site has a picnic table and full hookup. There is also a bathroom facility with showers if you need it. 

One of the great things about staying here is that you can set up all of your beach gear (think umbrella, toys, chairs, etc) and leave it there the entire day. So you can hang at your spot for a few hours, go back to your camper and relax, and then go back to your beach setup for sunset. Sounds pretty perfect, right? 

We went in July, and unfortunately that’s rainy season in Florida. So we did have to deal with the afternoon thunderstorms that ruined some of our beach fun. However, those storms washed up some of the best shells we’ve ever collected so, for that, we were very grateful. (I try to look at the glass half full!)

Nearby are plenty of places to visit if you feel like leaving the campground. We walked to a cute restaurant called Heavenly Biscuits, which operates out of a tiny house about a mile or so away from Red Coconut. There isn’t much seating inside, which is why we always took our food to go. You might also notice there’s a line, but it goes quickly. Here, you can buy homemade cinnamon rolls as big as your head, and those are definitely worth the wait.

A little further down the road is the center of Fort Myers Beach for tourists. Beach shops, restaurants, bars, ice cream parlors and a great pier, where you can often spot dolphin and great sunsets.. Oh and if you need groceries while you’re there, a Publix is within a short drive of the campground, and so is a 7-Eleven.

Red Coconut RV Park is old school, and you can’t book online. You have to call to make your reservation or, if you’re local, you can go directly to the office to see what spots are open to choose from. If you’re reading this and plan to go, I hope you enjoy this place as much as I did. I’ve already made plans to camp there again for soon! Happy Camping!