Campground Review - Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, Santa Rosa Beach, FL
Rig: 2018 Vista 31BE Class A Motorhome, No Additional Vehicle
Site: 29 (W/E/S) - Utilities Placement & Location: Good / Power: Clean
Check-in: 3PM / Check-out: 1PM
Free WiFi at Camp Store; we had strong cellular service on both Verizon and T-Mobile throughout the park, except on parts of the remote Morris Lake Trail
Nightly Rate (Feb, 2025): $55.50 (includes taxes and fees)
THE PARK: Topsail Hill Preserve State Park is home to 3.2 miles of pristine beach along the Emerald Coast of Florida. Take the free park tram or walk about a mile from the campground on a paved road (accessible only to pedestrians, bikes, or the campground tram) to access a boardwalk that carries you across a sand dune up to 25’ tall in some spots. At the end of the boardwalk, you’ll find clear blue/green waters, an uncrowded and pristine white quartz beach, and plenty of shore wildlife. Deer can often be seen on the dunes at dusk as well.
The gorgeous beach is a gem in and of itself, but it’s not the only attraction offered at this beautiful park! You’ll find 15 miles of paved and natural paths weaving through old-growth pine forests, sandy scrubland, dunes and wetlands that are perfect for walking, biking and hiking. Most trails are relatively flat, and well-marked.
The Morris Lake trail was our favorite! It offers some minimal elevation change and traverses ancient dunes and scrub communities via a loose sand path that is also well marked. Grab your annotated trail map at the trailhead to learn about the landscape, fauna and history of the topography as you make your way around the loop. And remember sunscreen as well as water for yourself and your pets - this trail was sunny and hot, even in January.
Several lakes and ponds throughout the park are home to a variety of plant and animal life, including alligators, so be conscious of small pets and children when walking near lakes. We saw a school of dolphins swimming close to shore, as well several portuguese man-o-wars washed up on the beach.
Deer and winged wildlife are plentiful, as are squirrels who come right up on your campsite table to chat. On one of our walks, we rounded a bend in the road to encounter a roughly 5’ diamond head rattle snake waiting on the shoulder to cross the Campbell Lake bike path. One of our dogs was on a collision course and dangerously close before I noticed him camouflaged in the side brush, so from that point on we were extra vigilant and kept ourselves and your pups in the middle of the comfortably wide paved path!
Clean, well-tended bathroom facilities can be found at the beach (along with a hose to wash the sand off your feet), at Campbell Lake, and in the campground (for registered campers only). A new nature center with rest rooms is currently under construction near the ranger station.
The CAMPGROUND:
The campground has approximately 20 tent sites, 165 full hook-up RV sites, 18 bungalows, 16 cabins and some glamping sites as well. As is typical with most state parks, reservations are limited to 14 consecutive nights.
The campground is maintained by volunteer Camp Hosts and Park staff, who do an excellent job of preparing sites and maintaining facilities. We saw many improvement projects in process during our stay. Campground Hosts were all extremely friendly, as were other campers.
There are plenty of conveniently located trash receptacles, including aluminum can receptacles along the main road of the campground. Additional receptacles for recycling of plastic, aluminum and cardboard were located in the visitor parking lot, a short walk from the campground.
Bring your own above-ground fire pit, as this is the only way to enjoy a campfire at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park Campground.
The laundromat is is centrally located within the campground in a self-contained building, and is available to campers 24/7. At the time of our visit, there were four functioning washing machines and 2 functioning dryers. Each load was $3 per machine ($6 total), and machines accepted quarters only. $1’s and $5’s could be exchanged for quarters using a change machine located in the laundromat.
The small playground is located near the laundromat, across the campground road.
Two bathroom facilities serve the RV sites, and another serves the tent sites. At Site 29, we were closest to the new bathroom facility which was lovely. The other bathroom facility, closest to Palm Circle, Weeping Willow and Pine Cone Way campsites, was dated but had everything you need and a bit more capacity. Both bathrooms offered accessible shower and toilet facilities, and were well meticulously maintained and cleaned daily.
Getting Around: The park offers a free tram service, which completes a route stopping at various locations throughout the park. Pick-up times are posted on signs at each stop. We often rode the tram back from the beach after experiencing a magical sunset over the pristine waters. Here’s one of my favorites, and I’ll be posting more in my upcoming Travel Blog update, so be sure to subscribe to my blog if - like me - you’re obsessed with sunsets.
Bike rentals are available at the campground store for $20 for a half day, $40 for a 24-hour period, and an additional $20 per day after that. Kayaks are apparently also available for rent, but I have no details on that to share here. We saw one group of day visitors carting kayaks (one at a time) down the 1-mile road to the beach on a trailer, which seemed arduous to us Snowbirds but they were young and smiling, and I’m sure they had a wonderful day on the water!
Free wifi is also available at the campground store, which stocks mostly souvenirs. The store is connected to a cute little coffee shop with lounges, work tables and an outdoor, covered porch with additional seating. The coffee shop is open to the public, with a separate parking area for non-registered campers.
Camp Sites:
Sites at Topsail Hill are hard to come by. We were lucky to book a site for 10 consecutive days about 10 months out. Several campers we met during our stay were moving every couple of days to stay in the park for a week or more. Florida residents can book one month earlier than those from out of state. The campground also offers a nice senior discount for in-state residents, so be sure to present your Florida driver’s license for this discount if you qualify. Our nightly rate of $55.50 reflects full price for this season, including taxes and fees.
There is a lot of vegetation throughout the campground, mostly pine trees and palm trees. Our site backed up to a magnificent Southern Magnolia tree, which was absolutely lovely because our coach is named Maggie! One of several ponds bordered the back corner of our site, and the pond critters came alive at night to fill the air with their magical sounds. It was truly delightful! Our site was tight, but we had vegetation between us and our staggered neighbor to the front of our unit. Our neighbors behind us had no vegetation to give them privacy.
Access to the campground was along a paved road; backing into some spaces may require careful attention to trees and vegetation, especially in the interior roads. Campsites in the park vary quite a bit in size. Most exterior sites seemed ample in size and many had vegetation separating them from neighbors on both sides. Interior sites (like ours), tended to be smaller and didn’t always offer vegetation. The pull-through sites we noticed seemed to be pretty open. Most sites were paved, as was ours, but the concrete pad under our RV at Site 29 was in sorry shape. We were fortunate to have blocks on board to put under our jacks. All the RV sites in the campground have water, sewer and electric, and all facilities were well placed and fully operational. Our power supply was clean coming into our unit and we had no issues during our stay.
Of Note: Distant road noise and sirens were audible from the campground, and military exercises could also be heard (and felt!) at times. Personally, we did not find this to be of particular nuisance, but I wanted to include the information here for those who might be sensitive to sound and/or vibration.
Fun fact: Walking through the bungalow and cabin area felt like walking in our cul de sac community at home. The small, single story residences were charming, and situated along an oval at the opposite end of the campground road. A park volunteer informed me that the homes were indeed originally a neighborhood that had been purchased by the state for the park.
Activities: The park offers some regular programming including nature walks, geocaching, and guided bike rides. We met several surf fishers who had some nice catches, including one very happy camper who pulled in a huge red snapper. With three teenagers back at the site, he said it wouldn’t last more than a couple of days. For recreation in the campground, there’s a horseshoe pit and shuffle ball courts, as well as an unheated pool.
The clubhouse is situated next to the unheated swimming pool, and an amphitheater sits just beyond, where presumably they run educational programs in season. We also think they may offer additional in-season programming at the clubhouse, because we peaked in the windows and saw bins that seemed to store arts and crafts supplies, tables and chairs, and ample space for mid-sized groups. We did not notice any activities held in the building during our stay.
There were plenty of four-legged campers at Topsail Hill during our stay. Dog waste bags (but no disposal containers) are found throughout the campground, but not so much on the trails. We found that most people picked up after their dogs, and everyone kept their pets on leash, something we appreciate as parents of a sometimes reactive pup.
Local Attractions: The main highway in Santa Rosa Beach offers a host of shopping and dining experiences, and the WalMart is about a mile from the campground. Destin and Miramar Beach are a short drive away in opposite directions on the main road.
OUR RATING & SUMMARY:
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ + 1/4 ⭐️’s
We give Topsail Hill Preserve State Park 4 and 1/4 stars. Overall, Topsail Hill Preserve was a beautiful campground, well maintained, and did not disappoint! The pristine, white sand beach and emerald waters are a BIG plus, as are the wonderfully maintained trails. Vegetation throughout the campground provides some privacy, but note that interior loop sites tend to be rather tight. Sewer, water and electric facilities are well placed, and bath houses are clean and well appointed (although one feels dated in comparison to other, which is brand new). Wifi is only offered at the camp store and adjoining coffee shop, although we had adequate T-Mobile and Verizon cellular reception without hooking up our external antenna to boost our service. Besides the pristine beach (1 mile away on foot or via tram) and wonderful hiking / walking / biking trails, recreational in-campground activities are limited to shuffleboard, a horseshoes pit, an unheated pool, and a small playground. Campers and Camp Hosts are all extremely friendly. WalMart is about a mile away and the towns of Destin and Miramar Beach are a short drive in either direction. We deducted points for the condition of our concrete pad on Site 29, and for the low capacity of facilities like bath houses, the pool, the playground, and the laundromat relative to the total number of campsites. With the exception of the laundromat, we never found any of these facilities to be crowded during our stay, but we stayed in January when the campground draws mostly retired couples; during peak season when families are camping, I imagine these facilities would be crowded (not to mention hard to maintain). The nightly rate for this park was not a consideration in our rating because we feel the value of the location was a fair trade for the $55.50 per night, even if it’s higher than our $40/night budget. If you’re looking for something less expensive in the region, we have camped twice at Fort Pickens in Pensacola and we love that campground, although they only offer electric and water hook-ups. Our favorite sites are on Loop A, which is quieter, closer to the equally pristine beach, and has a nicer bath house. Fort Pickens is a National Park, so you can take advantage of the America the Beautiful pass discounts if you qualify. We wanted to try a new location, so we splurged for Topsail and then offset the cost by staying at Eastbank Campground using our America the Beautiful pass to get a discount for the next ten nights. It was definitely a fair trade-off!
We made some great memories at Topsail Hill Preserve! Here are some of our favorites:
HELPFUL TIP - Pull into the campground at the main entrance, proceed to the ranger station, and then circle around to the campground. Our RV Life map directed us to enter at the coffee shop and camp store, where there is no vehicular access to the campground and a turnaround would not be ideal (if possible at all, depending on your rig and the number of cars parked in the lot).
ABOUT US: We are snowbirds who escape our Southeastern Pennsylvania’s chilly winters in our Class A Winnebago Vista 31BE motorhome with our two pups, Bandit & Oakley, for 4 to 6 months at a time. Our pups love the outdoors, but don’t always love each other, so we spend most of our time in the campground with them. For that reason, and because they generally suit our $40/night budget, we favor state and national parks with plenty of outdoor space to explore and keep the pups sufficiently tuckered. Steve is recently retired and Susan is a full-time Ceramic Artist and Teacher who creates colored porcelain ceramic designs and beads and ceramic art jewelry inspired by our travels while living on the road. . We blog about our adventures, provide honest campground reviews from our unique perspective, and share lots of inspiring photos of all the beauty our state and national parks have to offer. Join our journey by following #PotterOnWheels on social media, or by subscribing to our blog. See you on the road!
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