Camping and RV Parks near St. George Island

The Big One

Saint George Island State Campground sits at the east end of the island, inside Dr. Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park. That park began with an 1,800-acre state purchase in 1973. It is the reason most people bring a tent.

The campground carries a 4.8 rating from 23 reviews at 1900 E Gulf Beach Dr. That rating is not a fluke. You are backed against the park’s dunes, which Dr. Beach rated the number one beach in the United States in 2023. Forbes had it third a decade earlier. We mention that once. Then we move on.

What the reviews do not tell you: the park is also the only place on the island where the Gulf and the bay are both within walking distance. You get the surf in front, the flats behind. For a camper, that is the whole island in one site.

The Other Campground

Youth Camp is listed at E Gulf Beach Dr, further west, with a 4.4 rating from 18 reviews. It is a campground, not a resort. The rating says what it says: solid, workable, and quieter for the smaller crowd. Do not come here expecting the park’s scale. Come here expecting a place to sleep after a day on the water.

Neither campground will feed you. That is fine. The island’s real food is Apalachicola Bay seafood—oysters above all, with scallops, grouper, flounder, redfish, snapper, trout, and mullet following close behind. You will drive to town for that.

The Beach Accesses

The rest of the list is not camping at all. It is a row of public beach access points, and for the RV crowd they matter more than any campground. If you are in a rig that cannot fit the state park’s narrower loops, these are your shoreline.

12th Street West-Beach Access Point and 10th St Beach Access both hold perfect 5.0 ratings, albeit from a single review each. They sit on W Gorrie Dr, west of the commercial strip. 9th Street West- Beach Access, West 6th Street- Public Beach Access, and 5th Street- Public Beach Access round out the west side. On the east, East 7th Street- Public Beach Access, 6th Street East - Public Beach Access, and 5th Street East- Public Beach Access do the same on E Gorrie Dr.

The pattern is plain: every few blocks, the island gives you a path to the sand. For a self-contained RV, that is your campground. Park legally on the street, walk the access, and you have the Gulf without the reservation.

The Town Behind It All

St. George Island is not a big place. The census counts 1,218 people, with a median age of 60.9. Of 1,815 housing units, 1,246 sit vacant most of the year. Over half of the homes—534 units—are seasonal or recreational. You are not moving here. You are passing through, and the island knows it.

The working population is essentially zero on unemployment, and median household income runs $96,250. The median home value is $628,500. What that means for a camper: this is not a cheap beach town, but the camping is. The state park is the affordable way in.

If you time it right, you can catch the St. George Island Chili Cook-Off, which started over forty years ago as a small fundraiser for the volunteer fire department. Proceeds still go to local emergency services. It has grown into an International Chili Society competition drawing cooks from across the country, with a silent auction and the Red Pepper 5K. The campgrounds fill up that weekend. Plan backwards from there.

The History You Can See

The island takes its name from the cape at its western end, Cape St. George, where the light was first built in 1833. It was rebuilt two miles away in 1847-48, then again after an 1851 hurricane. The Cape St. George Light was decommissioned in 1994, and its foundation collapsed in 2005. It was reconstructed after that.

The point: this island has always been about getting to the water, and the water has always pushed back. Until 1960, you could only reach it by ferry. The four-mile St. George Island Bridge to Eastpoint came in the mid-1960s. That bridge is why you can drive here with a camper at all.

The Bottom Line

Book Saint George Island State Campground if you can. Use the beach accesses if you cannot. Either way, you are on a barrier island that does not owe you anything, and the Gulf is right there. That is the whole deal.