I am looking for ideas for camping during the period after Christmas to New Years in Florida. I am off for that time and want to go camping in our new 5th wheel. We just finished a 2 week trip Home2 Denver2Houston& Home, had a great time. I was pleasantly surprized that the 2 year old stayed happy in the truck for 6-8 hours a day when traveling. We had a great tourist week in Denver. I was thinking of staying in several State Parks in Florida and would like to hear some ideas/experiences from others. I am avoiding the Disney and Florida Keys experiences for now, maybe next year. Any help will be appreciated.
Check the parks and areas you would like to visit. We found that the snowbirds have them booked up to 11 months in advance and it is almost impossible to get into one for more than one or two nights without reservations well in advance.
The Florida panhandle is very nice - we stayed at Topsail Hill Preserve State park near Destin - excellent campground...also can recommend Henderson Beach SP in Destin...we actually have friends from here that spend Christmas and New Year's there. I think the other state park in the region is Grayton Beach (don't quote me on that), but we've heard nice things about that one too...
You can reserve those via recreation.gov and book specific sites with the amenities you need/want...
Agree - The beaches and State Parks in Destin area are delightful but it is getting so developed. Give the Ocala National Forest a look. Alexander Spring, Juniper Springs, and Salt Springs campgrounds have showers and natural springs for swimming and more (more details available at www.forestcamping.com). And than there is the relatively undiscovered Osceola NF. Its Ocean Pond campground is wonderful and, execpt during the Olustee Battle re-enactment.
Destin is still actually a prime location to vaction, though I have not ever stay there in an RV or even camped there, but I did live there for a few years. I noticed there are times of the year when the city does get fairly crowded, mainly summer. A trip after X-mas would be a prime time to go...prices would be reasonable for shopping, dining and other accomidations. The beaches would still be a pleasent place to relax, though the water will still be fairly cold
Seems many Snowbirds travel to South Florida during that time of the year, so opting for a trip to an area in the Panhandle is ideal. A morjority of the development in that area is much further East near Panama City. The Destin/Ft. Walton area has a lot of untouched areas that are great for a relaxing vaction, especially if you are staying in an RV park/campground on/near the beach.
Destin would be a great place to stop. Henderson, then Grayton, then Topsail would be the beach places to stay if you wanted beach front close to Destin. Another nice park is Rocky Bayou SP. Its in Niceville, just over hte bridge from Destin. Its a toll bridge, but its as close to everything as Henderson is and closer than the other two.
St Andrews SP is nice as well, but is in Panama City Beach and I think you would enjoy Destin over PC.
There are a lot of other nice parks in the area as well. But they are out more. Falling Waters in Chipley is very small but close to the interstate. Florida Caverns is really nice (formally Marianna Caverns) and not to far from the interstate. But Chipley and Marianna are small, rural areas.
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