Big Lagoon State Park

This campground is in close proximity to the Pensacola Naval Air Station home of the Navy’s Blue Angels and Naval Air Museum, Gulf Islands National Seashore at Perdido Key, and an easy and scenic drive to Orange Beach, Alabama and Gulf State Park, the latter having many miles of newly constructed hiking/biking trails. The campground has a mix of campsites that will accommodate everything from tents to big rigs, but select your site wisely. Many have soft sand and are not level. There were lots of pop-up campers in this campground. I explored the hiking trails within the park which offer a variety of landscapes in the pine scrub habitat. Kayak rentals are available to explore Big Lagoon and the intracoastal waterway. The free astronomy program on Saturday night during my visit was outstanding. The local astronomy club setup telescopes and gave impromptu orientations of the night sky, stars, and planets. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 21.1 Mbps download speed and 9.05 upload speed. Verizon clocked in at 1.88 Mbps download speed and 8.53 upload speed.

First off I know there has been hurricanes and inclement weather but I really think some grounds and site work were needed. It was the smallest site I have ever had, I cant remember which one. Picnic table had to be pushed on the hill there was no room. Was a little rougher shape than what I would expect from a state park. Also leaving it seemed someone had just tried to dump their portable septic without a hose, it was a mess and was glad I had my boots on. On the good side. There were a few good trails and boardwalks, I brought my dog out the the beach no problem, didn't see many people out. Some of the sites towards the water(the side with the trails) would definitely flood in big rain so lookout. Had no problems here, just wish the sites were better.

Some spots are paved, others are packed sand . Great privacy between RVs, trees and bushes provide privacy. October 2018 I paid $22 per night. Includes electric and water, and there are dump stations. Great Verizon 4G. There does seem to be an unusual amount of vehicle traffic. Also, as the afternoon wore on I heard military jets flying overhead, as there is a base close by. I happen to love planes, but this could really annoy some people.

Lets start with the very soft sandy sites making it difficult to get rv level without digging in. Theres no place to do laundry, Closest laundromat is 10 miles away. No wifi.
Beach wasn't that great either (even the ranger said so). Signs warning about alligators, another one saying "no swimming due to toxic water conditions".
Campground store is closed (we came in Sept) untill March. Fortunately Walmart is 5 miles away. A LOT of sites are full sun...super HOT.
I regret booking for 2 weeks. I don't recommend, and I wont be back.

We had no trouble maneuvering in our site, plenty of space. Thankful we had a bit of shade, sites 1 and 2 seemed to have direct sun most of the day, although with electric (and water) hookups, we still ran the AC a couple times.
I say it was "mostly peaceful" because the Blue Angels practice a couple days per week and it is definitely loud. Like, really really loud. The hubby works from the RV and the jets were flying during his morning video meeting so it wasn't necessarily ideal. You can actually watch their practices for free at the Naval Museum on certain days, and I thought that would have been fun if the timing had worked.
Lots of raised boardwalks take you around the park and over the lagoons. Never found the beach access for swimming but didn't try too hard.
We took the dogs over to Pensacola Beach (what a cute town!) -- there is a small area where dogs can be on the sand (on-leash). The sand is gorgeous and super soft, and we caught a phenomenal sunset that night. It costs a $1 toll to enter the peninsula, free parking at the dog beach (and many other beach areas). We originally booked our stay at Fort Pickens but it got cancelled due to storm damage at that campground. That would have been a great location...much much closer to Pensacola and the dog beach. Still had a nice stay at Big Lagoon, would likely camp there again, but would prefer something closer to Pensacola.

What a wonderful little park on the intercoastal waterway between Period Key and on the outskirts of Pensacola. Unfortunately progress is pushing on the boundaries of the park. You can see some high rises off in the distance and a bit of road noise during rush hour, otherwise it is a very peaceful park. You can hear the birds chirp and the insects sing at night. As other people have mentionned, pick your site carefully because they vary in width and length, as well as slope and material - some have pads and others are sand. There are still large trailers and rvs in here as well as smaller campers. Some are more shaded than others. The bathrooms are centrally located and well cared for. The roads in the park are good for bikes and you really should have one if you want to go to the beach and not take your car. You can rent a kayak or put in with yours at the kayak launch for the lagoon or try the larger body of water and cross over to the national seashore - watch the wind and boat traffic. Check out on the web where to put in at Bayou Grande, which is nearby. There is also the naval museum nearby at the base that people say is wonderful, but we didn't have time to get there. There are two large groceries stores within a few miles. Dinner at Fisherman's Corner rounded out a delightful time here and it is on the list to come back to.

We enjoyed our stay here. The sites are a tight squeeze, but we had room to take our our slide, so we can't complain too much. There's a boardwalk that takes you to the beach, but it's not a typical Florida ocean beach. Don't plan on doing much swimming here.

The Salt Marsh trail was worth doing. It's mostly on sand dunes and it's a relaxing way to spend an afternoon exploring the lagoon and woods around the park. We saw lots of deer here and luckily, not too many mosquitoes. Definitely walk to the observation tower to watch a sunset.

The cell service was good. We got 11.26 MBPS down/3.55 MBPS up with our Verizon Jetpack, unboosted.

While you're here, take a drive to the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Pensacola is also a great little town to walk around and get dinner.

I had understood that this campground was close to the beach (that you could walk to the beach on the ocean from your site), but it is not the case. There are nice trails that lead to a lagoon where you can swim, but it is very shallow. Beautiful beaches are only 10 min drive away (we loved The Gulf Islands National Seashore on Johnson Rd; free with our National Park Pass or $15 for the week) or Perdido Key Beach Access #3 (free). The other downside is that there is not laundry facility in the park and the only laudromat is 20 minutes drive away (not so great with all the sand, 3 kids and a dog!). Some sites are pretty small and/or sandy, whereas others are big and have cement slabs for big rigs (but it's not indicated on Reserve America...). It seems like most of the nicer sites are not reservable (first come, first serve basis).

There is a really nice Pavillion on the main waterfront area with a built-in BBQ area. We brought our charcoal and burgers there one night and watched the sunset. It was beautiful. The shower building are nice and clean (hot water, great pressure).