Hi there!
So you want to go camping in the Florida Panhandle!
The list below of the Florida Panhandle campgrounds includes campgrounds that are a part of state parks, a national seashore park, and a national forest.
It also includes campgrounds that are near some of the best beaches in the Florida Panhandle.
These campgrounds can make for a perfect base to do things in and around places like Panama City Beach, Destin, and Pensacola.
There is tent camping and RV camping available.
This list will basically take you from west to east in the Florida Panhandle.
You can make it a great Florida Panhandle road trip!
I did a Florida Panhandle road trip and stayed at a number of campgrounds! Here are the Florida Panhandle camping spots to know about!
Where can you go camping to see the best of the Florida Panhandle?
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1. Big Lagoon State Park Campground
Explore the map: Big Lagoon State Park campground
Proximity to the best of the Florida Panhandle
Perdido Key is a small barrier island that’s the furthest west of Florida’s Gulf Coast. This is at the Florida Alabama border.
From Big Lagoon State Park, you’ll drive about 5 minutes to get across the bridge to get onto Perdido Key.
There, you can go to one of the Perdido Key beaches, including at Perdido Key State Park.
See more for planning your Florida Panhandle camping trip:
Read the Florida Panhandle campground reviews: Big Lagoon State Park
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2. Fort Pickens Campground, Gulf Islands National Seashore
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Proximity to the best of the Florida Panhandle
A “national seashore” is a type of national park.
By staying at the Fort Pickens Campground, you will be staying in Gulf Islands National Seashore!
So for national park camping in the Florida Panhandle, Fort Pickens is where to go!
From the Fort Pickens Campground, it’s a 5 minute drive to Langdon Beach, which is the main beach of Gulf Island National Seashore in the Fort Pickens area. (There are many “areas” within Gulf Islands National Seashore.)
It will be a 5 minute drive to get to the ruins of the actual Fort Pickens where you can explore the history of the Florida Panhandle.
Along the way, you can also explore more ruins from the times of the operating fort.
Pensacola Beach FL is one of the beach towns in the Florida Panhandle.
From the Fort Pickens Campground, it’s about a 20 minute drive to get to the Pensacola Beach Pier.
See more for planning your Florida Panhandle camping trip:
- Gulf Islands National Seashore
- Langdon Beach near Fort Pickens campground
- Driving from Pensacola to Orlando (or to Disney World)
Read the Florida Panhandle campground reviews: Gulf Islands National Seashore Fort Pickens
3. Henderson Beach State Park campground
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Proximity to the best of the Florida Panhandle
Destin FL is one of the popular beach towns in the Florida Panhandle.
Henderson Beach State Park is one of the best beaches in Destin.
From the Henderson Beach State Park campground, you can walk 5-10 minutes to get to the beach.
There’s a path directly from the campground, and it will be like a private camper’s beach, as it’s a bit away from the main beach parking lot!
Otherwise, you can drive 1-2 minutes and you will be at the main beach area of Henderson Beach State Park.
See more for planning your Florida Panhandle camping trip:
- Henderson Beach State Park campground
- Henderson Beach State Park beach
- Destin beaches
- Driving from Destin to Orlando (or to Disney World)
Read the Florida Panhandle campground reviews: Henderson Beach State Park
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4. Topsail Hill Preserve State Park Campground
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Proximity to the best of the Florida Panhandle
Getting to the Topsail Hill State Park beach requires a little bit of extra time… and/or possibly a little bit of extra effort.
There is a paved road of a little less than a mile to get to the beach, but you can’t drive your own car there.
You can walk this road to get to the beach.
If you are bringing your bike along on your Florida Panhandle camping trip, then the way you can get to the beach is by biking there. It might be a 10 minute bike ride on a paved road from the Topsail Hill State Park campground.
Otherwise, if you don’t want to walk or bike, there is the Topsail Hill State Park tram that you can take to get to the beach.
There is a tram stop a few minutes walk from the Topsail Hill State Park campground.
Read the Florida Panhandle campground reviews: Topsail Hill Preserve State Park
5. Grayton Beach State Park Campground
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Proximity to the best of the Florida Panhandle
The Florida 30A Scenic Highway is where you can find a number of smaller beach towns in the Florida Panhandle, located between Destin and Panama City Beach.
You’ll drive the 30A to get to Grayton Beach State Park.
Grayton Beach State Park has one of the best beaches in Florida.
From the Grayton Beach State Park campground, you can drive 1-2 minutes and you will be at the main beach area of Grayton Beach State Park.
If you are a confident swimmer and the waters are calm, then you can swim out to one of the Florida Panhandle’s artificial reefs off the shores of Grayton Beach.
This is considered the snorkeling spot of Grayton Beach State Park.
For safety, it’s best to only go out snorkeling if you see a green flag at the beach, though!
See more for planning your Florida Panhandle camping trip:
Read the Florida Panhandle campground reviews: Grayton Beach State Park
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6. St Andrews State Park Campground
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Proximity to the best of the Florida Panhandle
Panama City Beach FL is one of the popular beach towns in the Florida Panhandle, possibly the most popular.
St Andrews State Park is another one of the Florida state parks with a beach that’s directly along the Gulf Coast.
It’s one of the best beaches near Panama City Beach.
From the St Andrews State Park campground, you can drive 1-2 minutes and you will be at either of the main beach areas of St Andrews State Park.
There is the Jetty beach area.
And there is the Gulf Pier beach area.
See more for planning your Florida Panhandle camping trip:
Read the Florida Panhandle campground reviews: St Andrews State Park
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7. Falling Waters State Park Campground
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Proximity to the best of the Florida Panhandle
Located inland in the Florida Panhandle, Falling Waters State Park is where you will find unique Florida waterfalls.
The Falling Waters waterfalls flow into a sinkhole.
It’s also said to be the tallest waterfalls in Florida.
Water flow does vary, so there is also a chance that it might just be a trickle when you go! (Did you even notice the waterfalls in the picture above?! 😜😂)
From the Falling Waters State Park campground, you’ll drive a few minutes to get to the waterfalls overlook trail.
See more for planning your Florida Panhandle camping trip:
Read the Florida Panhandle campground reviews: Falling Waters State Park
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8. Florida Caverns State Park Campground
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Proximity to the best of the Florida Panhandle
Located inland in the Florida Panhandle, Florida Caverns State Park is where you will find a national natural landmark, as designated by the National Park Service and U.S. Department of Interior.
You can walk through the Florida Caverns Natural Area by taking a Florida Caverns cave tour.
From the Florida Caverns State Park campground, you’ll drive a few minutes to get to the Florida Caverns Visitor Center, which is where you’ll start the tour.
See more for planning your Florida Panhandle camping trip:
Read the Florida Panhandle campground reviews: Florida Caverns State Park
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9. Three Rivers State Park campground
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Proximity to the best of the Florida Panhandle
Three Rivers State Park campground seems to have more camping availability.
So if you’re interested in the Florida Caverns but can’t find availability at the Florida Caverns State Park campground or at Falling Waters State Park campground, then you might try the Three Rivers State Park campground.
From Three Rivers State Park to Florida Caverns State Park is around a 30 minute drive.
From Three Rivers State Park to Tallahassee is around a 1 hour drive.
The campground is along Lake Seminole, and just across the lake is Georgia.
See more for your Florida Panhandle camping trip:
- Wakulla Springs State Park alligators (1+ hour away near Tallahassee – no camping, just a day trip!)
Read the Florida Panhandle campground reviews: Three Rivers State Park
10. Camel Lake campground, Apalachicola National Forest
Explore the map: Camel Lake campground in Apalachicola National Forest
Proximity to the best of the Florida Panhandle
By staying at Camel Lake Campground, you will be staying in one of the national forests in Florida!
Read the Florida Panhandle campground reviews: Apalachicola National Forest Camel Lake
More Florida state parks in the Florida Panhandle that look amazing and have campgrounds that you need to look at:
Going to either of these Florida state park campgrounds along the “forgotten coast” of Florida will require a detour.
I haven’t been to either of these state parks, but it’s on my list!
St George Island State Park campground and St Joseph Peninsula State Park campground both seem difficult to find camping availability.
Good luck!
Florida Panhandle map
👆 Map of where the Florida Panhandle is located in Florida. You can make it a perfect Florida Panhandle road trip along the gulf coast by stopping by campgrounds between St Andrews State Park and Big Lagoon State Park! Explore the map. Explore more things to do in the Florida Panhandle!
Florida Panhandle campground availability
In short… good luck! 😜
Many, if not most, of the best campgrounds in the Florida Panhandle are notoriously difficult to find campground availability.
As it goes for Florida state park camping in general, some campgrounds get completely booked up 11 months in advance, right when the campsites become available for booking.
But don’t worry, all hope is not lost if you are not capable of planning so far in advance.
Most especially if you are looking for camping 1 or 2 nights at a time. (Which is what I did.)
People cancel their camping reservations. More cancellations will start to occur the closer you get to your date.
My Florida Panhandle camping trip was by planning a few weeks in advance.
Basically all campgrounds when I first checked I think were all booked.
My actual Florida Panhandle trip planning started around finding availability at one state park. And actually it was a state park bungalow!
But once I made that one booking, I started searching for other campground availability and made a plan around those dates.
It took (more than) a few times of searching for campground availability, but I was able to find enough campgrounds open to make it a (mostly) 2 week camping trip, from Orlando to Pensacola to Orlando.
A few days before I started driving to the Florida Panhandle, I gave up on trying to find camping availability on a Saturday night at one of the state parks along the coast. I stayed at an airbnb in Fort Walton Beach FL instead.
Friday nights and Saturday nights will generally be the hardest to find availability. But, all it takes is ONE person to make a cancellation shortly before you look! So, it really is about luck. 😜
So other than the Fort Walton airbnb, I stayed in Florida state parks, a national seashore park, and a national forest during my time in the Florida Panhandle!
These options are listed below!
There are links to these Florida Panhandle campground reviews that you can also read. You might need to filter out for “campground” or “camping.”
How to make Florida Panhandle camping reservations
- Florida state parks camping reservations
- Florida national parks camping reservations
- Florida national forest camping reservations
More camping in Florida
- Florida Panhandle to Orlando
- Camping in Southwest Florida
- Camping in the Florida Keys
- Ocala National Forest
- Miami to Key West
HAPPY CAMPING IN THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE!
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