Beach camping near Panama City Beach with climbing
These Panama City Beach campsites are your ticket to white-sand beaches.
- Panama City Beach
Popular camping styles for Panama City Beach
Top beach campgrounds near panama city beach with climbing
Beach camping near Panama City Beach with climbing guide
Overview
No one is going to blame you if your itinerary for Panama City Beach is beach, beach, and more beach. PCB, as the locals call it, has world-famous beaches with soft white sand and crystal-clear blue-green waters that are swimmable year-round. But there’s more to Panama City Beach than its Gulf shore. It’s located near a few of the Florida Panhandle’s most geologically and ecologically unique areas, like the Blackwater River State Forest and the Apalachicola National Forest. You can access it all from Panama City Beach, which has a large supply of comfortable Hipcamps, campgrounds, and RV resorts.
Where to go
Panama City Beach Surrounds
Panama City Beach has everything you need for family-friendly beach action. There are miles of white sand beaches with restaurants and services close by. You can rent kayaks, paddleboards, and jet skis from local outfitters, and there are numerous fishing shops and charters catering to anglers. There are several RV parks with full hookups right in town.
St. Andrews State Park
St. Andrews State Park is a pristine beach park just east of Panama City Beach. With the Gulf of Mexico on one side and St. Andrews Bay on the other, St. Andrews State Park is a prime location to swim, surf, snorkel, scuba dive, and kayak. Its campgrounds have grills, picnic tables and electric hookups, and there is day-use access too.
Point Washington State Forest
For a change of scenery from the beach, check out the Point Washington State Forest just west of Panama City Beach. This 15,000+ acre park has over 10 miles of hiking trails through sandhills, flatwoods, and cypress swamp.
Apalachicola National Forest
The Apalachicola National Forest preserves 567,000 acres of forest and wetlands full of pine, magnolia, tupelo, and cypress trees. It contains spring-fed lakes with swimming areas, numerous trails for hiking, mountain biking, and backpacking, and a mix of developed and primitive campgrounds. The forest is two hours east of Panama City Beach.
Blackwater River
The Blackwater River is a sand-bottom river with tannic waters that winds through a forest of longleaf pines and cedar trees two hours west of Panama City Beach. You can stay at the Blackwater River State Park campground here, where sites come fire rings, picnic tables, and full hookups.
When to go
You can camp at Panama City Beach year-round. Winters are mild and calm, while summers run hot and have higher humidity (summer campers may be more comfortable in an RV or lodging with a fan/AC). Summer is Florida’s rainy season, when you may need to plan your activities around afternoon thunderstorms and rain showers. Summer and fall are also hurricane season, when storm monitoring precautions via the National Hurricane Center are a must. Late February to mid-April is spring break in Florida, when top spots like Panama City Beach tend to fill up with college students and book out early.
