Best Glamping near Westville, FL

Keep in mind, this is a Preserve. Good trails, coastal dunes with lakes, fishing, paddling, beach, cabins, and tent camping including Glamping!

A private, gated road leads to level, stamped concrete pads landscaped with red lava rock around 2 lakes with great fishing either on the water or newly renovated or rebuilt piers lighted for night fishing. They have, likely, the nicest shower rooms you'll encounter on the rv trail. A well equipped camp store has everything you need to get by and some things you didn't realize you need ( hello hammock seats that I had to drop $200 on). They have townhouse cabins and glamping yurts as well as a community center, pool, and laundry room. Full hookups and Wi-Fi. Sites not located on the waterfront are elevated so they still have a water view. Since buying this resort a few years ago, the new owners have poured their hearts and souls into updating this resort into a next level haven for the new generation of the rv lifestyle.

We had an awesome time at Camping on the Gulf (Camp Gulf). My husband and I took our 4 kids and they loved it there. They can’t stop talking about it and are ready to go back. The campground is right on the Gulf of Mexico with some sites right on the sand. We were in a pull through and it was a bit tight and small, but really that was my only complaint with the campground. The sites in the back of the park were roomier and had some shade, which I think made up for them not being as close to the ocean. The bath houses were awesome! They had individual bathrooms with a toilet, sink and fully tiled shower with glass enclosure. These were by far the best bathhouses I have ever seen. There is a large laundry in the middle of the campground and it was very clean with a huge table for folding clothes on and large rolling carts to put your laundry in when you take them out of the washer or dryer. There were also 2 pools, one of which was heated. This was great because it was still pretty cold at the beginning of April. There is a large water slide beside the main pool. They also had lots of activities for the kids. My kids made lots of friends and really hated to have to leave. In addition to campsites they also have glamping tents which looked really neat and cabins/tiny houses for rent. Additionally they offered golf cart rentals and had a food truck located inside that park. We ordered nachos from it one night and they were great.

Campground Review:

If you are ever in the Florida Panhandle, you have to stop at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. I have been coming here for years as a visitor and the past four volunteering in the campground because I love it so much. The campground used to be a private RV park so there are lots of amenities with really nice campsites but once you leave the campground there are over 1,600 acres to explore and 3.2 miles of pristine white sandy beaches to walk on. The park is divided into three sections: the RV park, a 22-site tent-only section, and 32 one and two-bedroom bungalows and cabins for rent.

There are 156 RV sites that are level and a mix of paved and crushed gravel with full hook-up and cable television (75+ channels). Park roads are paved and easy to navigate in any size RV. There are plenty of tall trees for shade and bushes that provide privacy. There are no fire pits but you are allowed to have a fire if you bring your own pit. The fair majority of sites are back-in but there are a handful of pull-thru sites and all are level. The water sewer and electric hook-ups are all well-placed at the site and there is a light at the end of each driveway. There are 22 tent sites with an elevated gravel tent pad, fire ring, water spigot, and 110 electric hook-ups. Most of the tents are set under tall pine trees while a few are more in the open and are sunny. A concessionaire offers “glamping tents” with beds, lamps, carpet, chairs and outdoor furniture. There are also one and two-bedroom cabins that can be rented year-round.

Within the park is a free wifi hotspot, a non-heated swimming pool, beach access with tram service, club house, camp store, bike/kayak/canoe rental, laundry, amphitheater, shuffle board, and a host of park activities and ranger-led tours. The restroom and laundry facilities (which are only $1.50 per wash/dry) are clean and seemed adequate to handle the crowds. The campground is located ¾ mile from the beach which is accessible via a walking/biking trail or a tram operated by the park. During the winter months the tram runs every two hours, but during peak season it runs once an hour. Once you are on the beach you have miles and miles of unspoiled white sand and blue water to enjoy. There are also numerous ponds and coastal dune lakes scattered throughout the campground for the fishing enthusiasts. The coastal dune lakes are a globally rare ecosystem occurring in only a handful of places around the world and definitely worth exploring (which you can do with watercraft rental).

Nearby are thousands of acres managed by the state forestry department which have miles and miles of hiking trails. The park is located within a mile of a Walmart (with food), gas station, Subway and other restaurants. Within 5 miles are tons of shopping opportunities, movie theater, restaurants, grocery, etc.

What we really liked about this campground are the level, paved, full-hookup sites and the fact that it is in a state park so you have access to miles of hiking/biking and a gorgeous beach. The beach here is the most beautiful in Florida and can be completely empty in the winter. The not-so-good things about this park are the cost and how crowded it can be in the peak season. During peak season this park is very busy and you have to book very early. The cost is $42/night (unless you are a Florida senior resident and then it is half price) which is high for state parks . . . but compared to other private parks in the area that is reasonable.

Product Review:

As a Ranger for TheDyrt I occasionally get outdoor products to test and on this trip I was able to test a High Hopes Hammock. I was pretty excited to receive a hammock because I am one of the few people I know that does not own a hammock putting me a little behind the times. One cool feature of this company is that for every hammock purchased, they donate either a hammock, various survival supplies or money to organizations helping the homeless, impoverished countries or those affected by natural disasters.

High Hopes offers many different colors of hammocks many of which are bright and fun and the large selection made it hard for me to choose because I like so many of them. The hammock is lightweight at just 1 ½ pounds and tucks nicely into a pouch attached to the side of the hammock. The hammock fit perfectly into my small day pack so I took it with me on a long hike and set it up when I wanted a break. I chose the hammock and strap bundle which is $10 more than just a hammock but definitely worth it (bringing the total without tax to $59.99). The straps are 9 ½ feet long with 15 loop holes so you can make this fit in a lot of different locations where trees may be pretty far apart. The hammock is large at 9 ½ feet long and 6 ½ feet wide and easily fits two people or you and your furry friend. The capacity is a whopping 400 pounds so it is good that the tree straps and steel carabiners are heavy duty. The setup is super easy as you just wrap the straps around a tree or other supportive post and clip the carabiner into the loops on the strap. Then, in you go. Once inside you can use the attached Velcro to close the hammock so you feel like you are in a cocoon. This is also a nice feature if you want privacy. The Velcro closure may help keep some pesky insects out but not all as there are only three Velcro patches which leaves gaps.

Click here for my video review.

The downside of this company is their customer service. I was on a “live chat” with them and when I asked about a mix up with an order they went totally silent and I never got another response. I tried emails and those went unanswered. They offer various promotions online and discounts if you sign up for their email list. They were advertising free two-day shipping on orders over $50 which is great but keep in mind there is processing time which in my case was about five days.

In addition to hammocks they sell clothing, accessories and hats. There are a lot of hammocks of this type on the market but High Hopes sets themselves apart from the competition because of their involvement helping those less fortunate. Since I haven’t owned another hammock, I can’t attest to quality differences but this one seems to hold up well so far.

My wife and I are frequent campers in NW Florida and Alabama.  Topsail is certainly one of our favorites.  Excellent access to the beach, hiking, biking (many miles), lakes, great campground.  One of the best!

Brand new campground. Nice gravel sites. Some are waterfront. A little less “outdoor feeling” than other Florida state parks but very comfortable. The park itself is great with an amazing beach.

Absolutely beautiful campground. The sites are full hookup with cable. Wooded sites create privacy. So many hiking and biking trails on property you will be busy for days. 30A is right out front which has a great bike path to take you to many restaurants and seaside towns. The park rangers are knowledgeable and super helpful. There is a tram to take you to the most beautiful undeveloped beach in Florida. 3.5 miles of sand and sea, no condos, buildings or distractions.

I love this camp ground you can camp right on the waterway. It has a lagoon right over the dune from the beach. Areas great for fishing, snorkeling and swimming.most beautiful water ive ever been in and ive been to Hawaii so that says A lot. Right in Panama city beach Florida, our great secret. Has a big bath house and bathrooms paved roads very well kept and not as expensive as most camp grounds.

We had a reservation for one night and on the reservation I specifically said we would be arriving after hours. The website said to call a number the day of before 5 to get the gate code. No problem, normally. BUT, I called multiple times that day and nobody ever answered. Then I called the general Florida Park number and the lady tried to help. She also could not get anyone to answer and said she didn’t have any other number to use. So, we just hoped to arrive and maybe someone would be there. Nope!! Arrived, gates closed, nobody there to help, slept in the local Walmart parking lot. 😡.

Great spot! Cool shorter hiking trails to take you to lakes or the gulf, or as we call it Lake Florida now. For hammock campers the tent camping spots are okay for hammock camping. I made due but I was in spot 21 and there are no trees accessible enough to hang a hammock up how you would want, BUT they had a couple 4x4s in the ground so I used one of those and a tree, everything went up properly. It was windy, rainy and around 30° and I was extremely comfortable.

Fire pits are great, it looks like all spots have a picnic table.

All in all great spot. I’ll be back soon!

The campground and park were beautiful and clean. There is room to ride bikes and walk/hike on the trails. The trip to the beach is a bit hilly for Florida standards and the walk down the boardwalk is a bit long, but the beauty of the almost untouched dunes and coast is worth it all. Typically there is a trolley from the campground but it was closed due to COVID while we were there, but we would have taken our bikes either way. There is a pool, which was also closed due to COVID. We suggest bringing your bikes and a light beach rig you can pull down to the sand. Topsail is one of our favorites so far and we look forward to going back!

PROS 

Security gate that closes at sunset and requires code for entry. 

Site 81- level; gravel parking pad; 8x30 ft concrete patio; moveable picnic table; partial shade 

Very nice beach 

Hourly tram to the beach 

Good bike paths 

Very nice Campbell Lake 

Bathhouse very clean and cleaning hours were clearly posted 

Loved the in-park coffee shop and their cruffins 

CONS 

Fee charged for making my own on-line reservation 

No veteran or senior discount 

Arrived to a large pile of dog poop in our site 

Site 81- no firepit 

Site 81- absolutely no privacy from neighbors 

Military jet noise from 3 nearby military installations 

Roads tight

Don’t Miss In park coffee shop, Kith& Kim, cruffin pastry 

Fish On Restaurant Destin 

Old Florida Fish House Seaside 

Acme oyster House Sandestin

We stopped here for one night on our way from Alabama to Florida and were pleasantly surprised how much we liked this part of southern Alabama and how nice the park was. After a long days drive it was a perfect place to take our dog for a walk to stretch our legs and settle in to a great campsite. The lake adjacent to our campsite made for a beautiful backdrop for our evening campfire. 

Turns out this 2,050-acre park is a hot spot for anglers which cruise the 1,000-acre Lake Jackson looking for hungry fish. The ranger told us the lake is stocked bass, bream, crappie and catfish and holds numerous tournaments. We really liked the setting of the campground with many sites being directly on the lake. Our gravel site was a long back-in right on the water and perfectly level for our RV. The park recently added primitive tent sites which offer more privacy and a nice setting away from RVs. Our campsite was set under large trees and we had nice privacy on one side by the other side had a neighbor pretty close. Luckily for us when we were there the park was not crowded and the lack of campers made for a quiet setting.  (Tip: Site #1 has a great view of the water and set off by itself and is probably the best in the park.) 

For a state park this differs from many in that it has lots of modern features. The 32 RV sites have electric, sewer, water and Wi-Fi and cable! You can even stay for a whole season, if you want. Prices vary widely depending on whether you want a primitive tent site, site on water, or off water. Additional fees of a reservation fee ($4), 3% resort fee, and 12% lodging tax are added to the cost and really add up.

Amenities include a large playground, swim beach, boat launch, laundry, and restrooms with showers. There are miles of hiking trails winding through the woods and a boardwalk that takes you over to trails on an island. You know you are in the south when the swim beach has a sign that says “Beware of alligators and snakes, Swim at your own risk.”

During our stay the park was hosting its annual “Scarecrows in the Park” function.  For this event, walking trails are lined with decorative scarecrows made by local individuals, businesses, organizations and school groups.  The scarecrows and scenes they depict are quite creative but some are a little creepy.

Overall, this is a good place to stay in southern Alabama if you are looking for a nice full hook-up site that is in a pretty setting. The price was on the high side because of all the added fees but it was the perfect location for us to stop on our route.

As far as the campground goes, the ground is nice and even with fire pits and trees. But the bathrooms and showers are dirty and gross. The staff is lazy and rude. The grounds are rundown. The slides look dirty and unsafe. Over it was over priced for the experience offered.

After reserving a"pull-through" site eight weeks in advance, we were told that we had been moved to an adjacent site upon arrival. No explanation was offered but after telephoning the owner in Chicago, the guy at the gate said we could have our original site after all and led us to it. One day later, neighbor campers arrived and we learned that they had also been booked into the site that we were in, however they had only booked four weeks earlier. Double booking is common apparently, and we learned that during a busy Halloween weekend, several guests had to be shuffled around to the permanent residents due to lack of space...including sleeping in cars. Although the site we booked was marked as a pull-through on the website, due to the location of the trees and the length of our pull-behind(28 ft), it was impossible to actually pull through, and we backed out of the site when it was time to leave. The tree cover is nice and shady, however several low hanging limbs make maneuvering difficult. We could not extend our awning fully without hitting a tree. Some sites have sewer hook-ups but the community dump station was closed. We were told to find an empty site that had sewer and just dump there. We had to move to two different sites to find a sewer hookup that worked. Many of the sewer ports are located on elevated ground when compared to the campsite, so the sewage is forced to flow up hill. Maneuvering this campsite is not easy. The map on the website is misleading and no in/out loop exists. What is marked as an outer road on the map is an overgrown dirt path now. Coupled with week cell service the available wi-fi only works inside of the clubhouse. Also, our 30 amp camp site could not support AC and a microwave for 30 seconds without tripping the breaker. With that said, the people we met were very nice, but we will never return.

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE:  I made reservations back in August of 2022 for the July 4th, 2023, weekend (11 Months in advance). On my day of arrival, June 29th, I pull into the campground to check in and come to find out, the owner, Matt Fox, had lost my reservation. Matt works from home outside of Chicago. My card had been fully charged for the full stay 11 months prior. I traveled with my truck and 33-foot bumper pull camper for approx. 450 miles to be told I have no camp site. This is a unique campground. I had no other options. Instead of them realizing their mistake and assigning me a site and then making calls to cancel a reservation that was made after mine, they simply turned me away. The onsite managers tried to figure something out by trying to fit a square into a round hole. LOL. Meaning force my 33-foot camper attached to my 4-door truck around a 90 degree turn to then hit the overhang of an adjacent camp site roof over and over an eroded trail. There was no way it would fit is my point. That made me question their knowledge of the camping world. The owners operate off site near Chicago. They micromanage the reservations and local managers have no control over it. This business model is a joke. And this is a clear example of how it does not work. And from what I heard; matt makes mistakes all the time on reservations. They don't keep good records, or they would have never lost my paid in full reservation. This cost me the customer and they don't care. So here I sit, 450 miles from home with the cost to get there, pissed off and agitated knowing that I have an 8-hour drive back home because I have no other options. And a Holiday Weekend! They said they would give me a full refund and I had to ask for 100.00 for gas assistance. But they gave me no confirmation number of the refund. That had to come from Matt! The total trip was around 18 hours and approximately 900 miles which cost me around$400.00 in gas plus a lost vacation day from work. The drive home was very frustrating. I could not believe the way I had been treated. I honestly was in disbelief. It was the owner's fault and not the camp host/managers as the owners in Chicago run the show. And not a very good job at it from my experience. I sent the owners a text and picture of my odometer showing the average mpg and how many miles traveled and the time and ask for a$900 reimbursement. But they refused. How would you feel if you drove that many miles and for that length of time and spent that amount of money for nothing? They do not know what customer service all is about. They got their camp full for the July 4th weekend with over booking so I did not matter. I was nothing to them. They even required full payment up front. They are just looking out for themselves and are struggling apparently. Please, for those reading this, stay away. Its not worth what I went through to walk around naked and have man on man sex in the woods. This place disgusts me from a customer service standpoint.