St. Andrews State Park

The campground was completely redone after massive damage from Hurricane Michael; in fact, a good chunk of it is still under construction. The rate shown includes the camp site rate and the mandatory $7 utility fee now being charged in Florida state parks.

THE GOOD: The shiny & new campground does have full hook-ups and the sites are level and filled with clean gravel. The comfort stations are nice and clean and there are pay washers and dryers available. Given how close it is to the city, the AT&T cell signal is excellent and data throughput is great. There are many restaurants and grocery stores in easy driving distance.

THE BAD: It's a sardine can compared to the old campground. The sites are packed in there, to maximize the number of sites. Sites which aren't directly on the lagoon won't have much of a water view; all we saw was the sides of travel trailers. The road through the campground is narrow, and the campsites have split rail fences in front of them, causing maneuverability problems for larger units when trying to back into sites. If you're in the main part of the campground, unless you're in the back row, there is no vegetation and no trees, which means no shade at all. This will be brutal in August.

We'll be back, but this has dropped off our "must stay" list.

ETA: Don't believe Google Earth's pictures of a heavily shaded campground - the satellite imagery is pre-hurricane.

Camped here 14 days with a family of 4 (2kids 6-9) and a dog. We’ve been wandering Florida mostly since October and I was able to get a reservation to SASP as soon as the reservations for the first half of the newly opened campground reopened. Otherwise I couldn’t imagine being able to get 14 days here.

We didn’t camp here before Hurricane Michael so I can’t compare that. This is an amazing state park campground. No it is not shaded and no there is not vegetation between sites like I guess there used to be. But the state park can’t really help that. Duh. This place will be brutally hot in the middle of summer we stayed early May and it was already getting miserable in the middle of the day.

Great internet; we were able to do live webinars and video calls and the kids could do school work online. Hookups worked really well although electricity went out a couple times for a few minutes early in our stay (and it’s been 10 days and has been fine ever since; maybe it was due to construction of the second set of campsites).

The visitors center is one of the best we’ve been to in a Florida State Park.

We went during low tide out to the water in the lagoon (just wading, we didn’t swim). We here were dozens and dozens of hermit crabs and we all loved watching them.

The first two sites to the west of the boat drop (just a walking path for kayaks/SUPs with gravel and a fence) are the best if you want direct water access. Further west on the lagoon side of the road you’re actually right at a marsh (we were there at site 117). The road through the campground is one way only and when someone is backing into their spot, be prepared to wait. Spots are easy enough to get in but they’re at a 90 degree angle from the road so you do sometimes need some wiggle room to back in. Someone across from us asked us to move our truck so it would be easier to back in (and we are all the way on our site by about 9 feet). The sites are level and wide enough. There are some sites that are narrower and pull through spots. Bathrooms are clean. One washer and dryer for $2 each.

The noseeums are awful. Like crazy bad. We found a spray that’s geranium, citronella, and lemongrass and water mix and literally covered ourselves in it to keep from getting eaten alive (which we did the first couple nights). Someone at the pizza joint down the street looked at my son’s legs and said “you must be camping at the state park”.

If you’ve ever camped somewhere like Pennekamp, you’d know these sites are not right on top of each other.

The beach is great.

The first access point (first parking lot, go all the way left) goes to the lagoon side where kids can swim without waves. We had no T-Mobile signal here. The second access point (same parking lot but by the store and bathrooms) has a GIANT hill down to the water. If you have accessibility issues and want to get to the water, don’t go this way. The water is shallow for quite a ways (especially at low tide). This store has all the rentals like kayaks and SUPs. The furthest drive gets you to the beach next to the pier. No hill to get to the water here and the sand isn’t as shelly.

We’ve only left the park like 3 times. Once to go to the pizza joint a few minutes away (it was pretty empty of people and was delicious ). A few times to go to Publix.

The kids loved it and we could get work done and also have beach days with or without waves. Would absolutely stay here again.

While St. Andrews SP is a really beautiful state park the ‘new’ campground is appalling! It’s no longer a beautiful campground but an RV lot. Side by side, no vegetation, mostly gravel, NO privacy. While I agree the campground was in need of an upgrade, what they did to this place is a travesty. What a shame to strip away all it’s natural beauty. “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot…”

As you may know, the campground here has been redone after Hurricane Michael ravaged things and recently has reopened part of the sites. It is not like it was formerly we've been told. Many of the sites no longer have vegetation between them, but on the plus side, the road is perfect (unlike the other roads in the park), the sites are full hook up and it is a beautiful place to be close to all sorts of attractions, restaurants, and the like but still enjoy nature and that "state park" vibe.

The nightly price above reflects the site $28 a night and the $7 utility fee pr night (which is mandatory). There is a jetty, a pier, a marina, and trails you can hike as well as just look for wildlife in the dune lakes and marsh areas. And of course there is the beautiful emerald coast!!

Our campsite backed to the bay (the campground is on the bay side of the park) and we loved the view. We saw dolphins a couple of times, turtles, deer, tons of water birds and even a large shark in the bay our first evening there.

Beautiful campground, sites 93-154 now open after renovation following Hurricane Michael. Sites 1-92 still closed for repairs. Our site had great views of Grand Lagoon on St Andrews Bay. During our stay we saw deer, eagles, osprey, wading birds and dolphins. During a hike around Gator Lake, we saw several pairs of herons on nests. Wonderful place for bird watching. The beaches on the other side of the island are pristine with white sand and large dunes.

The campground is still being repaired after Hurricane Michael so only part of the campground is open. Also the road through the park to the campground has some really big dips. The portion that is open appears to be a bit rundown. We were able to get a canceled site right on the water which turned out to be beautiful! All the waterfront sites were nice. We used ATT the whole time were were there. I forgot to do a speed test, but we were able to stream without a problem.

Here's a fun fact- Get there before 5pm or you are SCREWED. There is no number, no email, nobody to help you whatsoever. There is a number listed but you will not actually speak to a human who will help you. There is a gate with a code that they will NOT give you unless you CALL the day of (before 5pm) and are given a code by someone that is VERY SMALL PRINT on your confirmation booking. You're welcome.

Oh, and the seasoned regulars that are leaving will NOT HELP YOU AND WILL NOT GIVE YOU THE CODE. They will 100% leave you stranded even is you offer anything to help find you a spot you already paid for the night. There are cameras but trust me, no one watches them. They left is stranded at 5:30pm and all the other RV parks were booked. We almost stayed in their parking lot but found a KOA close, thankfully. I would never attempt to give this place money or stay here again.

St. Andrews State Park with its spectacular beaches and close proximity to the best of Panama City Beach is truly a gem. Join us on a video tour of St. Andrews State Park in Florida; video uploaded here on Campendium for your immediate reference. We visit the RV campground, the park’s fishing pier on the Gulf of Mexico, the jetty overlook, Gator Lake, and of course the stunning white sand beaches. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 116 Mbps download speed and 52.9 Mbps upload speed. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 87.1 Mbps download speed and 64.3 Mbps upload speed. T-Mobile cellular service clocked in at 49.5 Mbps download speed and 5.09 Mbps upload speed.