Best Dog-Friendly Camping near St. Augustine, FL

I have stayed at Faver Dykes several times, very remote campground set deep in the woods. Lots of wild animals including deer, raccoons, possums, armadillos and tons of birds! Fishing and kayaking access on the Moultrie Creek, 30 minutes from St Augustine and even closer to the beach. Sand/dirt roads can get rough when rainy. Bring bug spray!!

For those of you who find yourself hauling your vacation behind you and / or looking to rent a cabin in a small corner (er, intersection, actually) in the country’s oldest city, and don’t mind a completely pre-fabricated outdoor experience in the midst of an otherwise strip mall environ, then look no further than St. Augustine KOA. While there’s a lot of qualifiers here, I understand, one of the huge upsides to this otherwise overcrowded 2-lane 115 slot filled faux campground RV-slanted outpost is that it places you closest to St. Augustine’s greatest treasure (and no, that wouldn’t be the fabled ‘Fountain of Youth’) – it’s beautiful Atlantic coastline with white powder sand and shark-tooth strewn beaches. 

As for this KOA campground itself, you’ll find this urban jungle outpost on the corner of Pope & AIA, which you’ll stumble across just a block south after taking Highway 312 from St. Augustine proper to Anastasia Island, which is separated from the mainland by the Matanzas River. But don’t worry, for any of you who break out in hives at the thought of leaving civilization when upgrading for a night underneath the stars (which BTW will be drowned out by the light pollution here at this KOA), you will be comfortably surrounded by all the creature comforts of the materialistic surrounding you (pretend) thought you were trying to escape, as there’s a CVS, McDonald’s, 7-Eleven and Domino’s Pizza in a single stone’s throw of where you are ‘camping out in nature’ here at St. Augustine KOA. 

Amenities? Well, it’s KOA, so get ready for the massive download on what this camping theme park has to offer: heated pool w/ neon color lounge chairs & umbrellas, 50 max amp back-in RV slots, cable TV, KampK9 (that’s a doggie park in KOA speak), laundr-O-mat, thin tree lines, tetherball, picnic tables, dilapidated wooden fence, fishing (don’t ask me where or how good), firewood (for sale, of course), BBQ, ticks, fire frills, WiFi, propane refilling station, gift shop, tour shuttle, playground, little moat, paddle boats, fleas, banana bikes, automatic key-card security gate, designated trash dumpsters, showers & restrooms (quite in need of some decent cleaning and refurbishment IMHO), micro-swamps, deluxe cabin rentals (a dozen or so) and (the ever so marked-up KOA) convenience store. 

Insider’s Tips? Here’s a few: (1) This is easily the most outdated, run-down KOA I have ever had the unfortunate experience to visit. While I would EASILY recommend MANY other places to ‘drop anchor for the night’ and to have a REAL outdoors camping experience (just drive 3 minutes away to Anastasia Island SP or 15 minutes away to North Beach Campground), if it’s late at night, you’re tired of looking around and are excited to be this close to the beaches, then check-in, grab a coozie and chill at the pool until sunrise when you can leave; (2) While you may be tempted by some of those pretty un-amazing fast food or ‘hole-in-the-wall’ local joints, I would encourage you to drive just a little bit for some otherwise excellent restaurants, including Fillin’ Station, Beachcomber, La Cocina or Sunset Grille; (3) If you’re a tent camper like myself, you’ll be incredibly disappointed by this place, although they do offer up 10 or so designated tent sites (inconveniently located right near all the swooshing car traffic and honking on Pope Road; (4) While you might be living the blues while staying at this KOA, you can actually just head up the street and listen to the blues at probably one of the coolest outdoor venues in the country at St. Augustine Ampitheater; and (5) Make the most out of the fact that you are literally only ¾ mile from St. Augustine Beaches, so while this KOA is not ideal (to say the absolute least), you will relish the fact that you can leave it as early and return as late as you want to experience one of the best white sand beaches in the Sunshine State. 

Happy Camping!

Love this park. Sites are pretty private. We walk to historic downtown. Our favorite restaurants are Osteens (cash only & can be 1hour wait). Columbia restaurant is very special and PET FRIENDLY. Enjoyed pizza at Mello-Mushroom. Mojo Tacos was real good. Anastasia Kitchen was also real good (cash or check only). St Augustine is our go out to eat camping trip.

Formerly known as Compass RV Resort, Sun Outdoors of St. Augustine is an RV mega-resort paradise in the midst of Old Florida, placing you in very close proximity to both the cobblestone streets of the touristy oldest city in the nation (a.k.a. Ancient City) as well as the amazing white powder sand beaches of northern Florida. Located just a stone’s throw from the busiest transport artery in all of Florida (I95), whether you’ve just come down from the north to grab some warmth and sunshine or heading further afield as part of a larger trip, Sun Outdoors makes both a good pit stop as well as a spot that you might want to drop anchor for several nights. 

You can’t call an otherwise RV parking lot a ‘resort’ without throwing down a number of amenities and Sun Outdoors – a chain of RV pit stops throughout the country with dizzying amounts of distractions and add-ons – will deliver on this front easily. From offering the basics like back-in and pull-through well-paved, flat RV slots (there’s more than 160 spots to choose from) with gravel pads and all the full hook-ups (20 / 30 / 50 amp electric, sewage and water) offering solo, patio and buddy sites. There’s 3 different sections to this park each offering up a slightly different experience, including: The Grove, The Pond and The Oasis. In addition to standard pet-friendly hook-ups, all sites provide complimentary cable and WiFi, fire ring with foldable BBQ rack and picnic tables as well as full access to spartan cleaned restroom and shower facilities as well as other community amenities (see more below). 

Additional amenities include: spacious dog park, heated in-ground swimming pool, nature trails that encircle the resort, fitness center, coin-operated laundr-O-mat, on-site storage, corn hole, gazebo / picnic area, clubhouse as well as catch & release fishing in the small pond on-site. And if you don’t have an RV, don’t worry, the good folks here at Sun Outdoors will rent you one of two versions of newly fabricated 1BR mobile homes. Bonus points additionally as Sun Outdoors is protected by a remote-control operated entrance gate, along with a main office (where you’ll check-in) that is fully staffed around the clock adding extra layers of security. 

Insider’s tips? (1) If you’re a golfing fanatic (and admittedly, I am not), then you are in luck as just a bit further up north on I95 you’ll come across World Golf Village, where in addition to offering up Buccee’s and CostCo for all your camping and shopping needs (where a Home Depot and Bass Pro Fishing will be installed shortly), there’s also World Golf Hall of Fame featuring exhibits and displays of the sport; (2) For the history buffs, there’s Castille de San Marcos National Monument, which is one of the oldest stone masonry fortifications in the western hemisphere (let alone the US) originally founded by the Spanish way; (3) While you might be living the blues inside your RV or simply want to replace the sound of highway traffic with something more pleasant, you can actually just head up the street and listen to the blues at probably one of the coolest outdoor venues in the country at St. Augustine Ampitheater; (4) If you are looking for a decent place to do some great hiking, then look no further than due south of Sun Outdoors where you can check out Matanzas State Park, that has miles and miles of unspoiled hiking trails with virtually the entire place to yourself (save the deer and gators that you might come across); (5) If you’ve forgot anything, while there’s an on-site market here at Sun Outdoors, there’s also a Dollar General Store and slightly further down the road, a Publix; (6) Carrying watercraft and looking for a nice spot to hit the water? Then I HIGHLY recommend Princess Place Preserve that offers access to the Matanzas and Tolomato Rivers as well as Pellicer Creek; and (7) Lastly, if you are craving some great local fare and too tired to figure out what that next meal is, then I highly recommend these local favorite joints: Scoop for ice cream, Sunday for brunch, Munch for an assortment of food trucks and St. Augustine Fish House& Oyster Company for amazing fresh seafood with great Intracoastal water views overlooking St. Augustine. 

Happy Camping!

North Beach Camp Resort is located on Vilano Beach approximately 20 minutes from historic St. Augustine. We stayed for 3 nights in January. Reservations were not available online at the time we booked, we had to contact the resort via phone and they had advised us only 1 space was available and was 50amp with water. The fee was $82 each night before the AAA discount. We’re a married couple in our forties traveling with two dogs and a cat in our 37 foot motorhome with slideouts on both sides. This campground is pet friendly and we were allowed to take our dogs to the beach with us. The site had trees with tall bushes on both sides providing adequate privacy from other resort guests. The water faucet had a significant leak and sprayed water throughout the stay. We opted to not call for maintenance as the workers servicing another site nearby were smoking cigarettes and we have allergies. A map publication is provided at checkin and the staff provided good directions to the site. All roads throughout the park are compacted sand, we had good traction throughout in both our Class A and MINI Cooper. The signs directing traffic throughout the resort are dark and may be difficult to see at night or by people with poor eyesight. The main building seems to have been built in the 1970’s. It is old, very worn and in disrepair with visible ceiling stains from leaks. The laundry facilities and restrooms vary in age from the 70’s to more recent and most are clean but in need of repair and updates. We opted not to utilize it because they were over used and dirty in appearance. The staff kept the grounds clean of debris and trash, there are multiple receptacles for doggy waste collection. The noise levels were relatively low from the highway. You can hear the waves from the beach at night. However there is significant noise from the Northeast Florida Regional Airport. We were able to hear private jets flying over every 5 minutes all day. The beach access is what brought us to this campground. To get to the ocean you must cross over A1A with traffic speeding up to 50mph. There are no crosswalks or caution signs alerting traffic to pedestrians. There is a restaurant nearby we did not visit as most of our time was at the restaurants in St. Augustine. The Tolomato river provides beautiful views of the sunset. This is a popular evening activity, plan to arrive early to secure your favorite spot.

Ever fantasized about parking your RV so near the ocean that you could feel the salt spray coming off those Atlantic ‘white caps’? Well, look no further than Bryn Mawr Ocean Resort, which depending upon the specific RV slot you are fortunate enough to book here, you too could be kicking back and living life in the 'slow lane’ right in front of idyllic white sand beaches against a backdrop of an endless aquatic blue horizon. Located just 8 miles / 20 minutes south of St. Augustine (a.k.a. Ancient City), Bryn Mawr Ocean Resort resides on the famous A1A, but down in this neck of the woods, you will find that you have escaped the whir of traffic, busyness of everyday life and won’t have to put up with the touristy side of this northernmost Floridian outpost.

As for this location itself, Bryn Mawr boasts the largest family pool in the county (which I cannot independently verify here), although there are actually 2 swimming pools, along with a spa and private walkways with beach access to some of the finest ocean views along the eastern seaboard. Boasting some 236 RV slots, Bryn Mawr Ocean Resort is a massive RV oceanfront wonderland, hidden in the shades of the palms, wherein you’ll enter the compound through a very well appointed security gate after first being greeted by the good folks at the main office building. Once inside, you’ll swerve a bit around the bend to the right before heading straight, wherein on both sides of this RV ‘main street’ you’ll intersect four different perpendicular lanes (Sea Bird, followed by Sea Coast, then Sea Dog and finally Sea Eagle) before reaching a T intersection (at Sea Eagle) where you’ll have to either turn left or right in order to access the 9 (yes, count ‘em, 9) vertical RV slotted lanes (and unfortunately, yes, all of them also begin with the word ‘Sea’, making it very difficult to remember which ‘Sea’ lane you are in) that from north to south are called: Sea Fan, Sea Gull, Sea Horse, Sea Jetty, Sea Anchor, Sea King, Sea Ladder, Sea Millie and Sea Nettle. 

Nomenclature aside, it all doesn’t really matter if you are looking for simply the best, which are the oceanfront RV slots (that run parallel to the beach along Sea Otter lane), whose numbered sites are #219– 238. Trust me, whatever the premium is to pay and park in one of these 20 RV slots is ABSOLUTELY worth it, given the proximity to the beach, as well as the additional distance from traffic that you’ll have back here in the furthest reaches of Bryn Mawr Ocean Resort.  Oh, and then there's the priceless oceanfront views you'll have - but to be clear, that really only works out if your particular RV has a rear-facing panoramic view, otherwise, you'll have to get outside your vehicle and post a few picnic chairs to enjoy the view.

Amenities: dog park / pet walking area, basketball court, lighted tennis / pickle-ball courts, shuffleboard, complimentary WiFi and cable, main office with marketplace store, spartan showers & restroom facilities (there are multiple units spread throughout the RV campus), laundr-O-mat, activity center, horseshoe pitch, propane refill station and children’s playground. Of course, all RV sites come with full hook-ups (30 / 50 amp electric along with water and sewage) and concrete pads. There’s also scattered picnic tables, BBQ grills and fire rings.

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) While I’ve already HIGHLY recommended the oceanfront slots of #219– 238, I would also recommend the following locations (if being near the ocean is important to you): 82, 96, 110, 123, 135, 249, 143, 154, 167, 168, 250, 181, 195, 209 and 218; (2) This place is one of the most pet-friendly RV outposts I’ve come across, so don’t be shy about bringing all your pets – I couldn’t find a single RV’er who didn’t have at least 1 dog, if not an entire entourage of cats, iguanas, fish and even an alpaca en towe!; (3) While next to the ocean is great, you will feel a substantial lack of privacy with the spaces being quite close to one another, so if that bothers you (and let’s be honest, it should), then when booking, ask for what available spots there are to determine which of those offer up the most amount of either space or privacy; (4) When you get tired of trying to figure out what that next meal is going to be when staring down at your mini-fridge or Cordova roto-molded cooler, then check out some local haunts, like Salt Water Cowboy (where anything from the Land, Sea and Swamp section like fried Alligator is pretty amazing), World Famous Oasis Restaurant or Connolly’s Shore Grill for fresh caught seafood; (5) If you are looking for a decent place to do some great hiking, then look no further than due southwest of Bryn Mawr where you can check out Matanzas State Park, that has miles and miles of unspoiled hiking trails with virtually the entire place to yourself (save the deer and gators that you might come across); and (6) Carrying watercraft and looking for a nice spot to hit the water? Then I HIGHLY recommend Princess Place Preserve AND Faver-Dyke SP that offers access to the Matanzas and Tolomato Rivers as well as Pellicer Creek.

Happy Camping!

We stayed here during Spring Break as it was the only thing available in Saint Augustine when we booked. However, we really enjoyed the park. It was close to the beaches and all major attractions. The pool was nice and there was a basket ball court, corn hole and table tennis as well as a small playground. Since we booked late we were in what was considered a buddy site which was a little different since we had a neighbor facing our site who we didn’t know but still we had a great time and my kids made several new friends. The bathrooms were clean and there was a laundry area with a separate laundry for washing pet bedding. The park was almost separated into 2 sections with the sites in the back having mixed paved pads while the ones in the front were gravel. There were several trails through the campground and there was an off leash dog park as well. All in all we really enjoyed our visit and would definitely return in the future.

Great location & in close proximity to St. Augustine. One of my favorite places to visit in Florida. If you've never been to St. Augustine, I highly suggest checking out this cute, historic city along the coast in Florida. Amazing ocean views and sandy beaches. Some of the best restaurants and shops found among the streets of St. Augustine. There is a location to rent bikes, kayaks, SUP, & canoes. Tent rate seemed higher compared to what I've paid at other locations and states for tent only rates. However, very economical way to see and stay near St. Augustine versus paying high hotel rates. I traveled by car from Gainesville & tented a couple nights while visiting friends that live in Florida. Great area! A+ to Florida State Parks!

Our site was short walk through the woods to St Augustine Amphitheater and St Augustine Farmer’s Market, a bike ride away from the beach, and a quick drive to downtown St. Augustine. The sites are wooded and private. We could hear the concert at the Amphitheater that Saturday night. It was practically like being at the concert. We enjoyed the music from around the campfire. We will definitely be back.

This is the type of campground that wants to get as much as they can out of ever square inch. Roads are narrow, turns are sharp and sites are small. We were in the back, by the dog park and leech field, the smell of sewer was noticeable.

We have camped at this beautiful park in St. Augustine many times in the past. It’s on the ocean with a beautiful beach. The park has lots of mature magnolia trees. You will need to bring outdoor rugs as the sites are mostly dirt. Loads of things to do and see in the town of old St. Augustine!

Anastasia State Park near St. Augustine Florida is a true gem. Immaculately kept, it is clean and well managed. The sites are big and spacious. Most of the ones we saw were very level and all are shaded. The amount of vegetation between many of the sites make you feel as if you are all alone in a pristine Florida maritime forest. The nature trail is very beautiful, easy to walk, and very interesting. At the beach, the boardwalk leads over the dunes to a wide, pristine, undeveloped Atlantic beach. There is a small camp store and snack bar at the end of the parking lot at the beach. You can bike to the lighthouse from the campground, and the old city of St. Augustine is a few miles away. We stayed in site 139 at the end of the Coquina loop. The pictures show three sides of the rv to give you an idea of how secluded the site felt. Wonderful place!

Beautiful campground in St Augustine. Very shady spots.

Beautiful beaches and easy access to St Augustine.

Nice state park close to St Augustine. Large campsite with privacy.

This spot has a ton of sites and since it is situated near an Amphitheatre if you plan ahead you can camp here and walk to the show! If you are looking for quiet, check the show schedule at The St. Augustine Amphitheatre though. 

The park offers the beach and a nice area of water known as Salt Run (good for paddle boarding or kayaking) there are hiking trails in the dunes and Downtown St. Augustine is about ten minutes away.

Beautiful beach, nice sites, bathrooms are decent, and close to St Augustine.

This is a great park on a barrier island just on the other side of St. Augustine, Florida. I went to college in St. Augustine and spent time at this state park during the day while there. I camped there once while in college but recently revisited the area and stayed here once again.

The park is relatively large and full of people most of the year. I had to wait quite a while to check in, as there was a long line of RVs in front of me. That being said, the sites are nicely spread out and wooded (set back a bit from the beach itself). The beach is a short walk from the sites and is a great place to watch the sunrise.

The facilities are clean and there's a lot happening there. There's a rather large camp store and there was a night of live music happening at one of the pavilions while we stayed there. The campground is also close to the amphitheater and we got to fall asleep to an O.A.R. concert which was actually quite awesome. We got a free concert!

We visited in the fall and the temperature and mosquitos were tolerable. As others have said, the town of St. Augustine is close by (just a short drive over the historic Bridge of Lions) but you can also find everything you need just down the road on the island itself.