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Posts Tagged ‘Grayton Beach State Park’

Florida beach camping can be a wonderful experience, especially if you find the right campgound for your needs.  Here are some of the beautiful Florida State Park campgounds next to beaches.

Grayton Beach State Park

The first stop is in the Florida Panhandle and Grayton Beach State Park.  With a total of 37 sites plus 28 cabins, there are quite a few camping options here.  All sites have electricity and water, and the cabins have (ahhh) air conditioning.  (As well as a fireplace for the winter.)

The beach is a short walk over some dunes.  Facilities include hot showers, trails, fishing, a (small) grocery store and of course, the glorious beach on the Gulf of Mexico.

Anastasia State Park

Over in Northeast Florida Atlantic coast lies Anastasia State Park, just south of St. Augustine.  And seeing St. Augustine is known for both its tourism and history, it can make for a very fun trip!

Anastasia is a beachfront park, and the campgrounds in the park have names like Coquina, Sand Dollar and Sea Bean. There are 137 sites, all with water and electricity.  Both tents and RVs are welcome.

Amenities include grills, hot showers, hiking trails, swimming, fishing, boating, snack bar, canoe rentals, bike rentals and a dump station.  Whew!

Canaveral National Seashore

Not for the faint of heart, this is roughing it.  You’ll need a backcountry permit to camp, and there are no facilities — it’s primitive camping.  But the advantage is that you are very close to nature and the beach.  Since they only assign up to a certain number of permits (depending on time of year), you’re likely to have a quiet time of it.

Canaveral National Seashore is located in Central Florida, on the Atlantic Ocean.  It’s Florida beach camping at its most natural!

Cayo Costa State Park

Over on the Florida west central cost, on the Gulf of Mexico lies Cayo Costa State Park.  It’s somewhat primitive camping, as there is no electricity or hot showers.  There are cold-water showers and a restroom, though.

Cayo Costa is an island, so you either need to get to it with your own boat (dockage is included with your camping reservation), or you need to take the ferry over.  And that also means that you’ll have to haul your gear around, so pack light.  The trade-off is a glorious Florida island.

There are 25 tent sites available, as well as 12 rustic cabins.

More Florida Beach Camping

There’s a book that is my bible when I want to go camping on Florida beaches, and it’s called (originally enough) Beach and Coastal Camping in Florida.  It’s by Johnny Molloy, and he goes into amazing detail as to the sites in each park (and which sites in a park you might not care to have…). 

If you plan on doing any Florida beach camping, I highly recommend the book. Run out to your local bookstore or buy it here online.