Florida summer camping, reservations needed?

I would make reservations for Grayton Beach State Park. Actually probably anywhere on the gulf coast panhandle and especially a state park.

We will be staying at Grayton Beach and Topsail Hill SP's towards the end of June for 3 nights in each place. We made reservations back in early November and were limited. We wanted to do the whole week at Topsail, but could only get about 3 days of it there. So we had to split it up between the two state parks. And even Grayton Beach was limited. I would hate to drive that far and not have anything there when I got there. You got to remember that school gets out in june, so it will be a busy time there.

There are many, some of my favorites are Wekiwa state park and rainbow springs state park. Wekiwa has more shade.

Look up THIS website. You can chose your preferences to include campgrounds with springs.

Thanks for all of the replies. We will be doing the real Florida, not theme park Florida. First stop will likely be at Grayton Beach State Park. This summer we may be headed to Southern California, tent camping there and back. If so, we will do Florida next year, but it definitely will happen in the near future. This site is a great source of information, thanks yall. Some posters mentioned parks with springs, could yall list some? Might be a nice break from the Gulf and Atlantic. TIA...

weekends and the panhandle area is the only problems I've had getting a state park site in the summer months

I've been living here for 30 years. We camp all over south and central Florida all year. We usually make a reservation and then find the park mostly empty, except for park model types. Even near the beaches and springs. Reservations can't hurt, but I wouldn't consider them necessary at all.

Finding a site on a holiday like the 4th of July might be an issue. Or on any other holiday in the summer.

The state parks with swimming are often full and almost always on weekends.
There are many nice private CGs that do Passport in the summer and most have pools.

It really depends on which Florida you are visiting. If you are doing theme park Florida then it will be busy with Floridians and others like yourself who can only go in summer. Make a reservation to be sure you get what you want. If you are going to visit Real Florida then you won't have problems. Real Florida is anything and everything that nature put in the state and not some corporation.

Beulahwareagle.......... I spent june and july 2012 down here looking for a home and I spent a lot of time on the west coast at some nearly empty state parks. They are great and there are a lot of rv parks giving big discounts so I dont see you having any problem finding sites. Check out the sarasota area and ft.myers areas. Paul.....

Really depends on the area. All the campgrounds near springs will be booked as they are a refreshing time. All those real close to the ocean is the same. Those in the middle will just be very hot, so not many people will book. I would make reservations, if you are planning to just show up you most likely will not find a spot.