⚖️ Quartzsite 🌵 vs. The Florida Keys 🌴:Two Totally Different Winter RV Trips
- Watts On Wheels (Karen)
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
If you’ve ever tried to decide between Quartzsite, Arizona and the Florida Keys for a winter RV trip, you already know one thing is true:
Both promise warm weather — but the camping experience couldn’t be more different.
We’ve spent time in both places, and depending on what you’re looking for — freedom and flexibility or tropical scenery and vacation vibes — one may fit you far better than the other. Here’s what camping is really like in each.
The biggest difference in one sentence
Quartzsite is about how you camp. The Florida Keys are about where you camp.
Quartzsite becomes the destination because the RV lifestyle, space, and community are the main event. In the Keys, the campground is often just your home base while you head out to enjoy the islands and scenery.
Camping in Quartzsite: freedom, space, and RV community
When people think of Quartzsite, they often picture boondocking in the desert — and that’s true — but it’s only part of the story.
Quartzsite lets you design your own experience. You can camp:
close to the action and other RVers
farther out for peace and privacy
near amenities like water and dump stations, or farther away with more space
Boondocking is a huge part of the Quartzsite experience, but it isn’t plug-and-play. You need the right setup — batteries, power management, water, and tank capacity — to be comfortable off-grid. Some RVers are fully self-sufficient for weeks, while others stay closer to amenities and make occasional service runs. Quartzsite supports both styles well.
During the winter season, potentially up to a million people camp in the Quartzsite desert. Quartzsite feels like a temporary RV town. People settle in for weeks or months, meet up with friends, gather around firepits, cook out together, and explore the surrounding desert and mountains.
If you enjoy camping where the community and lifestyle (whether in solitude or with friends you meet up with) are a big part of the attraction, Quartzsite delivers.
Camping in the Florida Keys: tropical scenery with real-world tradeoffs
The Florida Keys are stunning — Islamorada, Marathon, and Key West all have that laid-back island flair people dream about. But the camping reality is very different.
Availability is one of the biggest challenges. Getting into a campground often requires booking many months in advance, sometimes years, and sometimes even then it comes down to what sites you can get — not necessarily where you’d prefer to stay.
Campground experiences vary widely:
some feel like tropical retreats
others feel more like parking lots with amenities
The scenery and activities often make up for it, but it’s important to know that the campsite itself may not be the highlight.
Space and privacy: desert vs. islands
This is where the contrast really shows.
In Quartzsite, space and privacy are often a choice. If you want distance from neighbors, you can find it.
In the Keys, space is limited. Even in nice campgrounds, sites are often close together, and outdoor living tends to be compact and carefully arranged.
The cost reality: where the two really separate
Cost plays a huge role in how people experience each destination.
One cost that often gets overlooked is simply getting to either destination. Quartzsite and the Florida Keys are far apart, and depending on where you live, reaching either one can mean multiple campground stops and significant fuel costs along the way.
Those travel days add up — nightly stays, diesel, tolls in some regions, and even wear and tear on the rig. For some RVers, the journey itself becomes part of the winter experience; for others, it’s an important budget consideration before committing to a long seasonal stay.
Quartzsite: maximum flexibility at almost any budget
Quartzsite is one of the few winter RV destinations where you truly control your costs.
Some RVers camp for free on BLM land.
Short-term permits run about $40 for 14 days.
Long-term permits cost around $180 for the entire season (mid-September through mid-April).
Because of this, many people stay in Quartzsite for months at a time, and we know quite a few RVers who spend the entire winter there on a very small budget.
Our take: Quartzsite gives you unmatched flexibility — from bare-bones boondocking to camping closer to amenities — without locking you into high nightly rates. It’s also one of the easiest places we’ve found to reconnect with people. We meet up with dozens of fellow HDTers, spend time around campfires, share meals, ride ATVs into the mountains and catch up with friends we may not see for years. And once you’ve paid for your stay, there are no dump fees, which makes longer stays even easier and more affordable.
The Florida Keys: premium location, premium pricing
Camping in the Keys comes with a very different price structure.
State parks (if you can get in) are the most affordable option, but they’re difficult to book and not always big-rig friendly. Private RV resorts and parks are far more common — and significantly more expensive.
For our stays, we choose a full-service resort that includes:
a pool and hot tub
a restaurant and live entertainment
planned social activities
That experience can run upward to $200 per night, which is fairly typical for resort-style stays in the Keys during winter. For many RVers, including us, it’s a planned splurge and a shorter stay, especially compared to Quartzsite, where the affordability makes longer winter stays much more realistic.
Daily life also costs more in the Keys. Groceries, dining out, and activities add up quickly — but that’s part of what you’re paying for.
Our take: In the Keys, you’re paying for the location and the experience. The aqua-blue water, warm breezes, seafood restaurants, breweries and bars overlooking the water are a huge part of the appeal.
How cost shapes the experience
Because Quartzsite is so affordable, people tend to slow down. They stay longer, settle into routines, and really live there for the winter.
In the Keys, the higher cost often puts people into vacation mode. You’re more likely to be out exploring, site seeing, eating out, and making the most of every day.
Neither approach is better — they’re just very different styles of winter RVing.
So which one should you choose?
Choose Quartzsite if you want:
flexibility and freedom
more space and privacy
strong RV community and meetups
the ability to stay for weeks or months affordably
camping to be part of the experience
Choose the Florida Keys if you want:
tropical scenery and island vibes
water activities and coastal exploring
seafood, shopping, breweries, and distilleries
resort amenities and full hookups
a destination-focused winter trip
Quartzsite for the long, relaxed stay — and the Keys as a shorter, bucket-list adventure.
Final thought
Both Quartzsite and the Florida Keys deliver warm winter weather — but they offer completely different camping experiences.
Quartzsite is about freedom, flexibility, and community.The Keys are about scenery, experiences, and island living.
If you’ve camped in either place, we’d love to hear: Which one is your winter favorite — and why?
Roll, Camp, Play
Dave and Karen Watts
Watts on Wheels
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