Sugar Mill Ruins Travel Park Campground

Bring your rental motorhome at Sugar Mill Ruins Travel Park and expect heaps of thrills on Florida’s Fun Coast. New Smyrna Beach offers the best redfish fishing on this side of the Atlantic while expert and amateur surfers find ideal wave breaks here. For something more exotic, set off on a diving cruise, a sunset dolphin tour, or backwater kayaking trip on the Indian River Lagoon. And even if you don’t set foot anywhere else, the town’s 17 miles of sandy coastline will always have a secluded spot for a contemplative walk on the beach.

Search for an RV in Volusia County and enjoy the chance to experience nature the way it used to be – or something close – on miles of Canaveral National Seashore’s undeveloped shoreline. The Mosquito Lagoon offers a fantastic setting for a guided canoe tour; wooded trails invite exploration, and the sandy beaches teem with activity under cover of darkness when loggerhead sea turtles clamber up from the sea and nest on the shore. To truly escape from it all, head to Playalinda Beach, often ranked high in the list of the country’s quietest beaches. Or you can gaze skyward and witness a live rocket launch from the nearby Kennedy Space Center.

Camp in an RV near New Smyrna Beach and you’ll be less than 90 minutes’ drive from the largest contiguous sand pine scrub forest in the world. A little more than an hour's drive north of Orlando, the Ocala National Forest evokes an ancient feel, as the sand ridge dunes that you see here were once a chain of islands submerged in water. But the real draw of Ocala is its hundreds of lakes, rivers, and waterways. Try "Juniper Run," a narrow seven-mile canoe trail that winds under a dense canopy of old-growth forest. If you'd rather venture underwater, put on your scuba gear and take the plunge at Alexander Springs.

The forest also brims with hiking trails, whether you're up for a half-mile stroll on a boardwalk or game enough for a 100-miler. The Black Bear Scenic Byway slices through the forest for close to 100 miles, so bring your rental RV and embrace the open road.

Often compared to Daytona Beach but with a more laid-back vibe, New Smyrna Beach is perhaps more on the creative side, with many galleries, art studios, and artists-in-residence communities to fill an entire day of art-oriented touring. The town also has a palpable connection to its storied past; videos, models, and artifacts of the New Smyrna Museum of History traces the 250 years of the “Smyrnea Settlement.” The Mary S. Harrell Black Heritage Museum, on the other hand, illustrates race relations in small-town Florida over the course of the 20th century through oral histories, photos, and memorabilia.

Camping in New Smyrna Beach puts you within arm’s reach of the waterfront, a hub of culinary activity especially if you’re partial to fresh seafood, pasta, and steaks. Flagler Avenue provides the setting for the Beach Food Festival happening annually in April. If you like jazz, rent a camper near Sugar Mill Ruins Travel Park in late September when the Jazz Festival kicks off in clubs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian River. The more than a dozen gas stations and numerous grocery and convenience stores in town ensure that you'll be amply supplied with food and fuel during the festivities. Not to be outdone by Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach has its very own high-banked, half-mile paved oval track that’s seen some of the finest stock car racing this side of the Atlantic. The New Smyrna Speedway also hosts weekly racing events and visiting NASCAR teams test-driving before their big events.

So if you’re in search of campgrounds in Florida’s Fun Coast, find RV parks in New Smyrna Beach to get close to a generous dose of nature, arts, history, and culture. And if you like motorsports? Even better.