Grayton Beach State Park

Grayton Beach is our family's favorite camping destination. We've gone in March, May, July, October and December and we can honestly say every season has its perks. I can't pick a favorite time of the year to visit so I'm endorsing all the times any time to go to Grayton.

The campground is nice and flat and easy to bike. Sites are level for most part but vary greatly in depth and width so be sure to check the details and dimensions for each camp spot under the blue "See Details" box on the campground reservation page. We prefer to stay in the upper loop which has larger, level gravel sites with full hookups. The lower loop is more scenic (several of the sites back up to Western Lake for easy kayak/canoe access) and those sites are more private for the most part, however, if you pull a bigger rig like we do (34 feet), the lower loop is kind of tight though squeeze-in-able, but a little cramped for our indulgent needs (we have slides on both sides). We have good friends who much prefer the lower loop with its privacy and proximity to the lake so don't omit that loop from your radar on our account.
The bath houses are fine, great even. I prefer to shower in our camper so I don't personally use the bath house, but our son prefers the bathhouse showers to ours and he's pretty high maintenance and very much in to cleanliness (he sometimes showers 3 times a day while at the beach). The laundry facilities are located in the bathhouse area (there are 2 washers and 1 dryer, all coin operated) and there is a utility sink and a coke machine as well. The restroom is maintained and cleaned every morning around 10 o'clock by volunteers who trade work like this for a their campsite fees. These volunteer workers are usually full of amazingly insightful information about RVing, camping, campgrounds, national parks and full time camping. I highly suggest engaging in conversation with them if you cross paths.
Half of the sites on the upper loop have shade some or most of the time but half of them are out in the open with little to no shade at all. If you get stuck with one of these spots (and yes it is still TOTALLY worth it to go if you get one of these spots) bring a source or two of shade with you to set up around camp. Also be weary of running the AC all day at too low of a temperature and freezing up the system while you're at the beach.
Speaking of the beach, that's why we're here! We've stayed in vacation rentals on 30A in Rosemary Beach, Seacrest Beach, Seagrove Beach and Seaside and I can tell you that any vacation time of year (Spring Break, Memorial Day, Summer in general but most especially July 4th week, Labor Day, and Fall Break) you will have to wake up early and I mean 6 a.m. to go set up chairs and your designated area or you will not get front row seats at the beach. Furthermore, if you don't get some representative to go man the designated area by 9:30 or so then your space gets encroached upon more and more from all sides until you are boxed in to a little plot listening to multiple conversations going on all around you all day. Thankfully, the state park beach at Grayton is not like that. The check-in office charges $5 per car to use the beach daily (campers use the beach for free). This minimal cost somehow cuts back on the traffic that comes to Grayton State Park and leaves it significantly less crowded than all the other beaches on 30A that I've visited. Memorial Day this year was crazy busy at the park so we went to set up chairs around 9 or 10 each morning and only once when we went back had someone encroached upon us because it was so busy that day. Even on the very busiest of days Grayton Beach State Park beach is not as busy as the other ones around because they stop letting people in when they run out of parking spaces and there just aren't that many parking spaces to crowd the beach too badly. On a normal week you shouldn't feel the need to go set up early unless you're like me and you just can't relax until you know you've got a spot semi close to the long wooden walkway that leads back to the beach bathhouse, the parking lot/bike rack and the road back to the campground. 
We usually take our truck loaded down with our daily beach provisions first thing in the morning with our bikes also loaded so we can leave the truck in the parking lot and bike back and forth to our site because while getting a parking spot early in the day is very easy, keeping one throughout the day in busy times is not. When we are ready for our big load up of the day (usually a couple hours before sunset) we load the truck back up and take everything to the camper. Then when we go back for sunset there is usually ample parking like in the mornings. 
Sunsets are pretty magical on 30A beaches. You will see weddings, engagements, families decked in their white and khakis for family photographs and you'll see children playing and fishermen casting until dark. We take just our beach chairs and cocktails and our son takes his shovel and a towel and we aim our chairs at the sun like everyone else and watch it slowly drop. Most times, as its last sliver melts into the ocean, we people of the beach cheer and clap and whistle and feel very special for getting to witness a sunset as great as that. Sometimes we take our truck, sometimes we ride our bikes. The bike rides to and from the beach are some of our most lasting memories once we get back to nonvacation life.
Bikes are also great for traveling 30A and exploring the different beach communities. Traffic gets kind of crazy in and around Seaside from everyone coming from different beaches to shop and explore there, but from Grayton Beach State Park it is just a short bike ride and there are many places to park your bike but very limited car parking. In Seaside there are food trucks, Sundog Books and Records, Modica Market, an awesome Saturday morning farmer's market and many restaurants and clothing and surf shops.
The Grayton Beach community is also very cool and an even closer bike ride away. Take a left out of the state park and very shortly you will come upon Bad Ass Coffee, a favorite spot of ours for coffee and good wi-fi (which currently Grayton Beach State Park lacks). We go have a coffee here if we want to download a movie to watch that night. Hurricane Oyster Bar is a family favorite as well, we love the fried crab claws, the oysters and their coconut hushpuppies. Grayton Beer Brewpub is really good and very close and they do a fun Trivia Night on Thursdays. My favorites there are the collard greens, the mashed potatoes and the burgers. Chanticleer's is a great lunch spot. Everything is good there but most especially their cookies. I suggest taking at least a half dozen back to the campground with you for later (hide them from everyone else).
As far as golf goes, it's a haven down there for us golfers. Santa Rosa Golf Club is very close and extremely beautiful but pricey. For cheaper golf a little further away I highly recommend using an app like GolfNow to book a tee time. There are so many courses and they all compete on those booking sites and you can find pretty incredible deals on the daily there. Kelly Plantation is my personal favorite for under $100 a round in the area.  
One thing to consider: lately (like the last two years) October and Fall Break have been kind of crazy down on the Panhandle. Last year was the worst Red Tide I had ever seen in the area and I've been going there for 30 years. Our son even picked up a respiratory infection from the Red Tide that lasted several weeks. We also had to evacuate the campground five days early because of Hurricane Michael. That wouldn't be so bad if the year before the exact same thing hadn't happened with Hurricane Nate. This year for Fall Break we got a vacation rental in Sea Grove with some family. We're throwing in the white towel on October beach camping for now because Florida closes all of its coastal state parks if there's even a threat of a hurricane hundreds of miles away (understandably so). Also, October used to be one of the very best times to visit because it wasn't so busy but now it's gotten even busier than Spring Break weeks because everyone's figured out it's much warmer (both air and water) in the fall. That and I think Fall Breaks are more common now than they used to be (I never got a fall break in school! What's up with that?)
The rangers and office workers at Grayton Beach are great. Many of them have been there for a long time and really know their stuff. When trying to book a spot at Grayton Beach State Park it is important to know it is very competitive. Most of the time, unless you get lucky and stumble across a site that was cancelled, you are going to need to book the site 11 months out...to the day. If at first you don't succeed try, try again. Have a game plan, book early and commit. Getting a site is tough but the pay off is extremely rewarding. Good luck and happy beach camping!

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