Old Town Fernandina state park
Fort Clinch State Park has two campgrounds on Amelia Island's northern tip — one in maritime hammock on the Amelia River side, one behind the ocean dune — taking tents and RVs by reservation through Florida State Parks.
Camping inside Fort Clinch State Park is the best-value accommodation on Amelia Island by a wide margin, and it is the only way to be inside a state park at dawn on the island.
The river campground sits in maritime hammock on the Amelia River side, near the jetties and the fishing pier. Live oak canopy, shade, protection from wind, and short walks to the river beach and the pier. This is the one to choose in high summer, when shade stops being a preference.
The beach campground sits behind the ocean dune on the Atlantic side. Less shade, more wind, more sand, and the sound of surf. This is the one to choose in spring and autumn, and for anyone whose reason for camping is the ocean.
Both take tents and RVs. Site specifics — hookups, pad surfaces, which loops take which rigs, dump stations — are the park's to publish and change, so check the Florida State Parks page for the current position rather than trusting a figure here.
Through Florida State Parks, which handles reservations for the whole system. Book well ahead: this is a popular park on a popular island, and holiday weekends and the spring shoulder go early.
Fees are set by the state and change. We do not publish them.
The park after hours. Day visitors leave at sundown. Campers are inside the gate, which means the beach, the jetties, the pier and the oak-canopy road are effectively yours in the last light and at dawn.
Dawn on the pier. Amelia Island faces east and the pier looks out over the mouth of Cumberland Sound. On a clear morning this is the best twenty minutes available anywhere on the island.
The fort, twice. Being camped inside the park makes a second visit to the fort trivial, which matters because the ramparts at nine in the morning and at four in the afternoon are different places.
It is Florida. From spring through autumn, insect repellent is not optional, especially in the river campground's hammock. Summer heat and humidity are serious, and afternoon thunderstorms are near-daily from June to September.
No food in the park of any consequence. Downtown Fernandina Beach is ten minutes away with twenty restaurants; the supermarkets are across the bridge in Yulee.
Sea turtle nesting runs roughly May to October on the ocean side. Lighting discipline at the beach campground matters — shield or turn off anything visible from the beach after dark, because hatchlings orient toward the brightest horizon and a campsite lantern will send them the wrong way.
Bring water containers. Facilities exist but the walk from a site to a spigot is a walk.
The park entrance is on Atlantic Avenue at the edge of Old Town Fernandina, about ten minutes from downtown. The mile of live oak canopy on the entrance road is the park's introduction and it does not get old.
A 1,400-acre state park on Amelia Island's northern tip holding a well-preserved masonry fort begun in 1847, two beaches, a fishing pier, a mile-long oak-canopy entrance drive, campgrounds and trails. The island's single best half-day out.
Amelia Island offers surf fishing along thirteen miles of Atlantic beach, two long piers over moving water at the island's north and south tips, inshore charters into the marsh and sound, and offshore boats from the Fernandina Harbor Marina.
Details unconfirmed
Two beaches inside Fort Clinch State Park at Amelia Island's northern tip: Atlantic surf on the east side and calmer water by the jetties on the north, plus a fishing pier looking across Cumberland Sound to Georgia. Inside the park entry fee.
Details unconfirmed
Part of Fort Clinch State Park — our full guide to the complete amelia island, florida visitor guide.