Grayton Beach State Park, FL

Our last stop in Florida was a relaxing 2 weeks at Grayton Beach State Park, located on the panhandle’s Emerald Coast. The park’s campground is a 1/2 mile walk to the beach and has full hookups earning it a spot in our top 5, though there are at least a dozen campgrounds in our top 5.

The park had a really nice nature walk featuring dunes, forest canopy, and Western Lake, a rare ecosystem known as a coastal dune lake.

Of course, the popular spot is the beach! This stretch of coastline is known for its white sugar sand and greenish-blue water. I found the beach hard to photograph because it was so bright.

We went to the beach as much as we could but some days were quite overcast and cold. There was also Portuguese man o’ war which we’d never seen before.

Grayton Beach is part of a string of charming small beach communities along Florida highway 30A, between the better-known destinations of Panama City and Destin. Some operate as resort towns and their beaches are private. There are no highrises and no chains, just boutiques and very expensive beach houses for weekly rental. It had a laid-back feel and didn’t have the heavy traffic that all the other coastal locations we’ve been in lately have had.

We were within biking distance of the town of Seaside and visited a couple of times. Seaside is an upscale planned community built in the 80s that is so ‘perfect’ it is a bit odd. The Truman Show was even filmed there, where the Jim Carrey character is unknowingly on the set of a reality show that takes place in a perfect town.

All the campgrounds we stayed at in Florida exceeded our expectations and staying at Grayton Beach makes us excited to try other Florida State Parks in the future.

Next, we spend a week near New Orleans as we head west!