April, 2025, two nights. Fort Pickens Campground (FL). This campground, administered by the National Park Service with reservations through recreation.gov, is situated on a barrier island (Santa Rosa Island) between the Gulf of America (formerly Gulf of Mexico) and Pensacola Bay. It's part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. The area features emerald coast water, magnificent white beaches, fertile marshes, historical sites, and a sanctuary for marine life. This is a place to "get away from it all", as the closest town and restaurants are about 8 miles away. The campground offers 137 family sites with electricity (20, 30, and 50 amp) and water hook-ups, as well as 40 non-electric sites. Wheelchair sites are available. Each site offers a fire pit, picnic table, and a paved pad. Note that many sites have restrictions from low limbs, and some have short driveways. Also, the sites are rather close together and offer little privacy or shade. Campground sites are designed around loops A-E, and there are heated showers, flush toilets, drinking water, and a dump,station. I *think* that there was also a pay laundry. The campground hosts were friendly and helpful, but not overbearing. The campground is a short (1/4-mile) walk to a pristine beach, with heading over for sunset a very popular activity among campers. Historic Fort Pickens, a pentagonal fort built in 1834 to defend Pensacola Bay, is about one mile down the road. The campground is also close to the northern terminus of the Florida National Scenic Trail, which stretches 1,300 miles from this western end of the Florida panhandle to the southern terminus at Big Cypress National Preserve. Walking and biking are popular activities both on this trail, or on designated lanes next to most of the slow-moving main road. Note that there are no boat ramps in the Fort Pickens area. Also, NO pets are allowed on any beaches within the Gulf Islands National Seashore. The campground is a good value, and supports the National Park Service (NPS). Our site, with electric and water hook-ups for two nights, was $40/night, less 50% discount for holders of the NPS' interagency Senior Pass. There is no reservation fee on recreation.gov. [Non-electric, tent sites are $26 before any discounts]. Admission to the park area also requires an entrance fee of $25, good for seven consecutive days. NPS passes are also accepted for admission. read more

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This is now one of our favorite campgrounds in Florida. It's like you have the Island all to yourself. The beach is a short walk from the campground. The host was so sweet and accommodating and always around. They have water and electricity, but they also have a dump station, dishwashing station, and laundry facility in Loop A. It was 8 miles to leave the park, and many seafood restaurants were outside the premises. Publix was a 20-minute drive. We toured the fort and enjoyed the trail. We stayed for under $25 a night! You can't beat that! read more

We really enjoyed this campground. Nice trails to walk, beautiful, white-sand beaches and the fort were easily explored. When you visit don't skip the self guided tour around the fort built in the 1800's to fortify our coastlands. Fascinating history. I also enjoyed its proximity to Pensacola as we were able to shop for souvenirs and experience some great local seafood. The only downside for me were the restrooms and showers. They could use some attention, not dirty just old and worn out. Could use a good sprucing up but don't let that stop you from visiting this great spot in our beautiful country. read more

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Price and location were great! Access and facilities not the greatest but wasn't a deal breaker. The beach was phenomenal compared to some beach we've been too in Florida. The history was a plus which we truly enjoyed. They have laundry on site costing $2 for washer and $2 for dryer. There is a $25 fee to enter the national park, where the campsite is located, that's valid for 7 days. We arrived at night when their office was closed so we didn't pay the fee. That was until we came back to the site from a grocery run the following day . read more

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We travelled from northwest Arkansas with 3 kids ages 13, 4 and 1 to camp at Fort Pickens for 2 days in May of 2022. I read many reviews before visiting and after staying there ourselves, most of these reviews were lacking helpful information. So here I am, trying to pass on some more helpful information. We are tent campers who love camping and stayed at site B-12, just for reference. I'll start with the bad: THE SITES ARE SO CLOSE. I cannot believe they set up the sites this way. Horrible, horrible design. I've never seen camp sites this close and I've stayed at a lot of campgrounds. Whoever designed the layout of this campground should be fired. It felt like we had to whisper to each other because everyone around you can hear everything, not very fun when you're a family of 5 on vacation and just want to relax and let your kids be kids. Everyone in the loop was very respectful and very quiet, but that's not the point. I don't want to be constantly shushing my kids when we're outside enjoying ourselves. Felt like we were staying at a motel 6 with no walls, that's the best way to describe it. The best sites we saw were sites B6, B5 and B2. Those are the only sites we'd stay at if we visited again. They offer a lot more privacy and aren't nearly as close to other sites. The bathrooms aren't necessarily clean, but I've definitely seen worse at campgrounds. The showers are downright gross and poorly designed, but this wouldn't be a factor in us returning. They're bad but usable. They got the job done. Our teenager was thrilled to find an outlet in the bathroom to charge her phone. Now for the good: This is an island, so you can go to the beach on the bay side, which is perfect for little kids because the water is very calm. Or you can go to the other side and there are big waves to play in. We stayed on the bay side and our kids had a wonderful time. The water on the other side looked way too rough to enjoy and we only saw people fishing there, never actually swimming. At the main beach there are signs posted for undercurrents and that stuff scares me, along with the fact that there are no lifeguards anywhere. On the bay side, we had the beach all to ourselves both days, it was incredible. To get to this beach, we drove to Loop E, parked in the overflow parking and walked a little ways on a short sandy trail. There is very little information about what beaches to go to or how to get to them, this was so frustrating and annoying and I'm grateful we were able to figure it out for ourselves but this should be posted somewhere! I know there were other beach access points, we saw people walking to different places, but not sure where the access points were or what they led to. If we were staying longer we would've explored more, we didn't have time. The reviews I'd read before visiting made it sound like it was very isolated and you wouldn't be able to get to a store or buy anything without a long drive. THIS IS INCORRECT. The town of Pensacola Beach is 20 minutes away, the drive is beautiful, and it's not that far mileage wise, it's just that the speed limit is 25mph so it takes a little longer BUT the drive is beautiful!! We drove into town both days!! Our kids love getting ice cream cones after a long day in the sun and we put the windows down and turned the music up and looked out at the beautiful scenery. Driving into town was a highlight of our visit. We packed all our food thinking we'd be on this island for away from restaurants, I wish we had known because we would rather eat at restaurants than cook at the campsite. Ugh. There is a mini mart exactly 20 minutes from the campsite called Tom Thumb and it has anything you could possibly need. They had large iced coffee for .99 cents!!! Wish I had known this!! I'd have driven there every morning with the little kids and let my husband sleep in!! Random information: There's a toll bridge you have to cross, not sure how much toll is because they mail you a bill, but we stayed on the other side of the toll bridge because we didn't want to pay it twice. There's an entrance fee to the park, on top of the campsite fee. I believe it's 25$. I don't know if there are tent sites with electric, but next time we would pay a few extra bucks and get a site with electricity if they have it, for the purpose of being able to run an extension cord with a fan in the tent. That first night was almost unbearable it was so hot. The next 2 nights the temps lowered and there was more of a breeze so it was fine. .99 cent iced coffee was everything at Tom Thumb. All my other suburban basic moms who miss their Starbucks while camping, you're welcome. Bring lots of bug spray and sun block and apply before getting out of the car! Our daughter got bitten by something within seconds of arriving, like she literally stepped on the ground and was bitten immediately and her foot was very swollen the whole trip. read more

Fort Pickens Campground - Campgrounds Near Me - Gulf Breeze, Florida

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Un lugar realmente recomendable para compartir en familia.. lo tienen todo Baños, agua, Luz la playa está a unos pasos y el lugar lo mantienen realmente limpio si quieren disfrutar en familia de un lindo lugar tranquilo y familiar este es uno de ellos. Atrévanse a compartir momentos únicos con la familia read more

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Campground right near the beach was beautiful. White sand beaches with clear water. The campground has water and electric hookups at each site, but only one dump for the sites. Naturally if everyone leaves the same time then there is a line. They do have laundry facilities which are $1.75 per task(really $3.50 per load since it's $1.75 for wash and then another $1.75 for dryer). We found these weren't occupies much so mostly avail e when needed. The campground has no playgrounds if you travel with kids who want one. There is also no walking path to the beach from the campground. You have to use the main road with no shoulder to get to the sandy part that then has a walkway to the water area. Bringing kids or even walking there at dusk is a bit dangerous because of lack of walkway. Will also say this lack of walkway or shoulder on the main road is not ideal for biking or running/walking. It's a small two lane road that gets shared with pedestrians and cars/trucks/campers/RV's so it gets crowded quick. read more

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Quite and fantastic area great promote spot with electric hookups great walks and nice people easy check in

We've been coming here for years, but this year we were sorely disappointed. Bathrooms on E loop were beyond filthy and showers on C loop were just as bad. The last two days of our trip we had no bathrooms or showers due to a broken sewer pipe. No communication from anyone at the campground, we had to find out through Facebook. Grass hasn't been cut for weeks and our campsite was totally overgrown. Boardwalk to beach was inaccessible due to storm damage from Hurricane Sally, seven months ago. I hope they can improve things for our trip next year. read more

Would not recommend camping here! It's cheap for a reason! They have an ungodly amount of rules and regulations. If you value your privacy, there is none here. When you are offsite, the park rangers will go through all your stuff in your tent to make sure you're not in violation of one of their ridiculous rules. They ripped the stakes up from tent, tossed everything that was inside on the ground without a care, breaking some of my belongings. Do not camp here! If I could give zero stars, I would! read more

At the Fort Pickens Campground, the proximity to the beach and bay can't be beat, and that's the real selling point of this campground. Some sites actually back up to the bay with white sand and calm water. All sites are just a short walk across the road and boardwalk to the beach and the beautiful teal waters of the Gulf of Mexico. You basically get a beach front lodging for $25 a night. That said, I can understand how this campground *could* be a really crappy experience because most sites are tiny and close together without any shade trees, there are no dedicated tent-only sites, and the campground is packed full of RVing families of 6+. But fortunately for me, I have access to advanced satellite imaging technology (Google Earth) to help me choose the best campsites. We stayed one night in site C-12 in our tent with our dog. And -- not exaggerating -- C-12 is by far the best site in the campground. So if you go, RESERVE SITE C-12 on recreation.gov beforehand. When we arrived the ranger said "You must have been here before, you picked the best site!" We'd never been before, but I was happy to hear that, and even happier that it turned out to be true. Site C-12 is very large and has neighbors only to one side and across the road. There are trees on 2 sides. For tent campers, there is a PERFECT elevated place for your tent on the soft sand in between two live oaks that provide great shade and cross breezes. There were many nesting Osprey that we enjoyed watching from our site. For even more privacy, you could set your tent even farther back in the woods. The site has water and electricity, and is steps away from the bathroom. The bathroom isn't super clean, but has everything you need. The bathrooms near the center of the campground are a little better than the ones on loop C. We were here on Memorial Day, and the campground was full, but noise wasn't an issue. There is a camp store that's open until at least 6 with firewood, ice, beach gear, snacks and other essentials. I'd happily come back on the condition that I will only stay in site C-12. Did I mention site C-12 is wonderful? read more

Fort Pickens Campground - Site C-12. Behind my husband there is about 50 feet of grass (with the fire pit and picnic table) until the road. - Campgrounds Near Me - Gulf Breeze, Florida

I would not recommend this place unless you are just tent camping for the night. All the sites are WAY to small for a real travel trailer or rv and any type of vehicle. The so called camp hostesses are more like camp nazis in my opinion. They are VERY selective in the enforcement of rules. It almost seemed that you could put a tent anywhere and cover up all the grass you wanted but if your vehicles touched the grass by inches you were scolded. The online service is about as clear as mud and if you get a human they will tell you something different from the folks at the park. It is a beautiful area but not very user friendly for the public and this is from a rule follower.. there is a reason it is so cheap. read more

2nd trip to Pensacola and Fort Pickens Campground. This may be my new favorite place on the gulf (that includes Grayton Beaxh and Topsail) read more

Fort Pickens Campground - Almost perfect! - Campgrounds Near Me - Gulf Breeze, Florida

Grew up here, many summer memories best camp ground and full of history as well as fun with out spending A city fortune. read more

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Just got back from a wonderful spring break camping trip. We were on site D22 which is right across from the restrooms. The restrooms in the D loop are very old and we are hoping by our next trip to the campground they will have built a new facility as they have with the other two loops. The birds were amazing here. We were treated to Cardinals, osprey, Bald eagle, hummingbirds and many others. Bring your bikes as this campground is very bike friendly and there are many trails to explore here. We loved the forts and my kids loved the little museum. One of the highlights of our trip was watching the blue angels practice over the bay on Tuesday and Wednesday. The camp store was nice, a little pricy. Jacques, who works here, is a super nice guy. Gave us great service during our stay. We definitely plan to come back to this campground. read more

GOVERNMENT FUNDING SHUTDOWN - JANUARY, 2019 This campground is closed. I could not get online information--conflicting. No one answers the onsite phone. I met a friend at the gate. Closed! It's a beautiful place. Wish I could have camped there. Had a two week reservation. read more

Fort Pickens campsite cannot be beat. When we arrived, the road to the campground was washed out due to rains and high surf. We drove our camper in on a very dicey road (the next day the road was plow and clear). They plow sugar white sand here instead of snow. Nice! Our campsite was spotless , the bathrooms were clean and the showers were well designed, complete with blowers. Every evening we walked across the street, kicked off our shoes and watched the sunset. The trails behind our campsite were well maintained and interesting as many plants and trees were labeled. If you are into bird watching, this is the place to go. The campsite is very quiet as most older folks in the giant RV's are inside watching TV when the sun goes down. I am definitely coming back. read more

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We have camped at Fort Pickens campground since 1999. It used to be our favorite campground. The last few years have been absolutely terrible. The biggest problem we have is other campers walking through our campsite. Some with dogs not picking up after. We travel 800 miles to camp here. We follow the rules. Very rude fellow campers. The only reason we continue to camp here is our grandchildren love it. If not for them we would not return. read more

We stayed in site B6, and our friends stayed in B7 across from us, for the New Year holiday weekend. We generally enjoyed our visit, even though we attracted a lot of rather annoying attention with our Turtleback trailer and rooftop tent. There was a lot of stopping and staring, along with many, many questions, over the course of 4 days. Some people were friendly, and some were just flat out rude. One couple actually walked into our site early Saturday morning, while we were still sleeping, to take pictures right outside of our window. The annoying camera click sound on their phones woke my husband and me up. Another lady walked by and loudly announced how ugly she thought our set-up was - which was more amusing than anything and probably says a lot about who she is as a person. The typical camper here appears to be the retiree in an RV. There were some families with children, and there definitely did not appear to be many, if any, other childless 30-somethings with multiple dogs here, as we are. Most of the sites in the campground are extremely close together with little privacy, though there are a few more secluded ones peppered throughout. Most of them also will not accommodate both a camper and vehicle, which is an inconvenience; however, there are parking areas very nearby. There are no full hook-ups, just electric and water, and the bathhouses were cleaned regularly and well-maintained during our visit. Would I recommend this campground? Depends on what kind of camper you are. If you're an RVer, you'll probably be happy with whatever site the check-in office assigns you. If you're more of a backwoods tent camper, I'd probably advise taking a look at the campground map first and requesting a site on one of the outerloops. It was definitely too crowded for me, which may have been due to the time of year, but based on its proximity to the beach, its aesthetics, and its historical value, it was a nice place to camp. read more

We had a family road trip to Pensacola Beach and camping here was one of the best parts. Thanks to a previous review we decided to stay at campsite C-12 and it was definitely the best choice for a tent! It's also just a quick walk to the restrooms (no showers). We set up beneath the trees, locked up our belongings and went out to the beach by Fort Pickens. The water was absolutely beautiful and the beaches were clean and white! Since we were here on a weekday it wasn't busy at all and it felt like we had the beach all to ourselves! We found lots of sea creatures to include: hermit crabs, sand dollars (live ones!), crabs, flounder, and even saw two clear jelly fish wash onto shore. We carefully got them back into the ocean :) my son had a blast out here. Make sure you reapply your sunscreen often! There wasn't shade where we were and we spent alllllll day out here! You tend to lose track of time when you're having so much fun! Also... Fort Picken is about 10-15 min away from the rest of Pensacola but there was a cool looking restaurant nearby that I wanted to try out. Unfortunately our trip was short and we wanted to eat at Flounders and Crabs first. Hopefully we can make trips to Pensacola every year :) read more

Absolutely beautiful. My husband and I go every August for our anniversary and always have a wonderful time. Beach is breathtaking. This is our little paradise getaway. We do wish the campground had full hook-up and the camp store was open again for ice etc. We hope to visit for many years to come. read more

Fort Pickens Campground - Campgrounds Near Me - Gulf Breeze, Florida

We have looked forward to and stayed at Ft. Pickens several times over the last several years although it has been difficult to schedule recently due to volume. We were a little disappointed in the general maintenance of the park this time and seems to be slipping. Picnic table was rotted, warped and basically unusable although it does appear they are trying to replace the older ones but not fast enough. Grass around signs and fixtures not trimmed. read more

I had heard so many great recommendations for this park and was quite disappointed when we arrived. We arrived on the tail end of a 14 day vacation out to Yellowstone/Grand Canyon and had stayed at 9 previous campgrounds. We hoped this one would make us proud of our home state. Needless to say, the sites were the size of postage stamps, there was no ranger to enforce the quiet hours (and we had noisy neighbors on all sides) and the bathrooms were disgusting! The beach is beautiful and the front gate staff was very nice. We booked a 2 day stay and left after one night. I would like to try again someday in the hopes that they clean up their act. read more

Awesome campground but make sure if you're a tent camper to get a site with good shade, there aren't many since the hurricanes wiped a lot of trees out. Awesome camp store, great trails and beach/bay access, had a wonderful 3 day trip and will definitely be making this an annual getaway!! read more

This was our first visit to Pensacola and when I booked online the family was so excited to be staying on an island! We booked for three nights because I knew my kids would want to be at the beach for every single minute we were there! We're from AZ so we don't have many beaches near us. The campground had several loops, we were in C-17 but it took a while to find since we came in late and it was dark. BTW: BE SURE to call ahead and get a gate code during business hours so you can get in after hours. I forgot and we almost didn't get in- there was a ph# posted at the closed office so we called that and they gave it to us. The sites had some good spacing but the road through out was really narrow and windy. We stayed pretty close to the bath house which I liked cuz the kids could just run over whenever they needed to. HOWEVER the bathrooms were indeed gross. They had hours posted for Cleaning but I don't think anyone actually came. I think they just picked up the trash and that's it. We were pretty surprised that the campground store was not full- shelves and fridges were empty and they jus had a bare minimum of necessities. This doesn't help since it takes about a 20 minute drive or more to get to the nearest grocery store: Publix in Gulf Breeze. Overall an average campground, good price but what made it good for us was the easy access to the beaches. read more

Spent 2 days at this background. Agee that the bathrooms are outdated but they are clean and have hot water. Most campsites have trees with nice shades. Did notice that some campsites can get flooded. Remember you have to pay 15 USD for your car permit for entering the campsites but that is good for up to 1 week. Had a hard time trying to find parking spots at the beaches in fort Pickens as they only have a limited number of parking spots and you can not park anywhere else. So go early or plan to ride your bike from the campground to the beach (too long to walk) which is what most people seemed to be doing. The actual fort was also very nice. They have a Guided tour every day around 2pm I think so be sure to check it out. It is much more enjoyable to have somebody explaining everything about the fort. The campground itself is very family friendly. We went in spring break and they were 90% families with kids and not crazy college spring breakers. Would definitely return. read more