St. Andrews – My Favorite State Park camping in Florida

Aside from the Florida keys, which has state parks nearly impossible to camp in without reserving months in advance (and they’re also a long way from everything), my favorite state park in Florida is, without a doubt, St. Andrews State Park close to Panama City Beach. For starters, it’s easily accessible from almost anywhere in the southeast (as compared to the keys). But convenience aside, the park is an adventurous playground perfect for all ages! And if you’re wondering, yes they have wifi (free for low speed, or pay extra for fast).

While the park itself is easy to get to, there is a little bit of a hiccup in your plans if you want to book more than a night or two in the near future. Just like other beach parks, sites are in demand. I happened to snag 6 days (I attribute that to school starting back and families are finished with summer vacations) at St. Andrews and had a ball… mostly. The biggest drawback, and it’s no fault of their own, is the heat! August in Florida is a formidable foe. People fainting, dog paws burning, clothes dripping in sweat, all part of my experience on the recent trip so because of that, I’d recommend the following: sun block, hydrate like your life depends on it, be mindful of the hot pavement when walking your pops (early morning or late afternoon for the longer walks), and if you can rent a golf cart or bring an e-bike or scooter, do it. There isn’t much shade on any of the sites, except for a few older sites tucked away in the woods. The new sites (rebuilt after Hurricane Michael) are basically shadeless so keep that in mind. I got a spot where the shade was cast toward the awning side of my camper in the afternoon so I liked that a lot. It was site #10 if you look at the park on a map. On the other side of the road, you get awning-side shade in the morning and the afternoon you’ll be dealing with the sun going down and baking you, even under your awnings.

With that out of the way, the attractions of the park is incredible. Even on the busiest beach day, there were just a few dozen people on the gigantic ocean side of the beach. I say “ocean side” because there’s a lagoon side which features a great little tidal pool, perfect for young kids, new swimmers, snorkelers, etc. Many times this area had people lounging on tubes, snorkeling by the jetty, a few skim boarding kids. In fact, you might find that this part of the beach is more crowded than the ocean side. The ocean side is where you can boogie board (if there are any waves whatsoever), swim, snorkel, collect shells, fish (off the jetty or pier), etc.

During my stay, I wanted to focus on open water swimming (for triathlon training purposes), running, and cycling. Unfortunately, I didn’t find a super safe place to ride my bike outside of the park, so I ended up doing running and swimming only. But also… the snorkeling! You can’t go to St. Andrews and NOT snorkel, so be sure to bring a mask. Whether you’re by the jetties or paddling around the pier, you’re bound to see incredible underwater creatures. I have a few pictures I’ll post below but I didn’t get a photo of the manta rays, which were really neat to see. Can you see the turtle in the last picture? I barely saw it in time to get the photo, had no idea they could swim so fast! Take a look and then at the end is a little video of my snorkeling experience. Just be sure to bring a dive flag, as I learned from a FWC officer. 👮