Free Camping Near Tampa Florida | Cypress Creek Preserve
We’ve heard many people say, “it’s hard to find free camping in Florida!” Well, we’re here to bust that myth. Not only can you find free camping throughout the state, you can find it near big cities like Tampa.
We recently camped at Cypress Creek Preserve, located in Land O Lakes, Florida. In the info below we’ll share all the deets & GPS coordinates for your camping pleasure!
Let’s dive in.
Address: 5550 Parkway Blvd. / Land O Lakes, FL 34637
GPS Location: 28.2382, -82.4305
Miles to Downtown Tampa: 22 miles
Why You’ll Love It: Cypress Creek Preserve gives you the best of both worlds. The camp sites are tucked back into beautiful Florida nature with trees and brush for privacy. However, it’s also located within 4 miles of shopping & dinning options.
The site hosts many hiking & biking trails – best of all, they’re dog friendly! River, our pup, enjoyed hiking the area every day.
Keep In Mind: Florida Water Management boondocking requires a reservation. Here’s the site to do that. It’s seems cumbersome to reserve a free campsite, but I assure you it makes the experience better.
You’ll receive a gate code upon receiving your reservation. This locked gate prevent random traffic from driving though the grounds. It also guarantees the campground won’t be too crowded.
Onsite Amenities: This is standard dry-camping. No water or electric is provided. They do offer a port-o-potty at the campground, as well as fire rings & picnic tables.
Cell Connectivity: We used AT&T during our stay and never lost connection. The signal was strong enough for us to stream Netflix & Hulu. Reports also confirm Verizon service.
What’s The Word: Don’t just take our word! Penny on Campendium says:
We enjoyed the quiet beauty all around us. We pulled in and had to clean our site and the one next to us due to previous people leaving trash. Once we had it cleaned it was beautiful again, I hate to clean up after slobs but if we don’t then these free places will soon close. We will definitely return.
The Best FREE Camping in the USA
We love camping across this amazing country. And, we really love it when its free. Here’s our list of the 20 Best Free Campsites in the USA.
If you haven’t tried free camping before, also known as boondocking, take a look at our beginners guide to boondocking filled with everything you need to know to get started.
Become a FREE CAMPING INSIDER and join the 100,000 campers that love to score the best site! Simply enter your email below.
Lol! Just took a second read and see they now have a reservation system. Which explains your being able to get a spot@
That looked like Mortons On The Move RV parked next to yours. Hope you have a good time together. I know they helped you a lot on your renovation but now you can be together on a social level.
Lot of typing and clicking to find out they are full when you want to be there. Could have saved me the trouble of registering, just show availability. Florida is very frustrating.
Thanks for posting this article! I was able to reserve a spot at this beautiful campsite for a whole week, while I was working out in Tampa. I must say, camping for a week somewhere like this (the only amenities were a single portajohn, fire pits and picnic tables, and a large covered picnic area with a grill near the center) will reset your brain. I am more mindful now and my sleep is on a very consistent 11pm-8am schedule. On Monday morning, they have someone come to mow the grass and the portajohn is surprisingly clean and well-maintained. Even has toilet paper! But just like Penny, I had to clean up after the previous guests who were apparently burning trash and plastic bottles in the fire pit!?! There is plenty of dry trigs and branches everywhere, why someone would burn something so toxic instead of just walking around for a minute to pick up branches is beyond me!
Anyway, it was very peaceful there most of the time, my only complaint is an RV that was running its motor/ac for a whole day and night producing gas fumes that stunk up the whole place, spoiling the fresh air. It was cool enough at night that I could sleep with my tent flaps open and be very comfortable. They missed out on that by running their AC instead. Some people just don’t know how to truly enjoy nature!