Eglin Beach Park — Attraction in Santa Rosa Island

We really enjoyed our visit to Eglin Beach Park. You MUST have a DOD ID to enter. The beach is wide, clean, and peaceful—plenty of room to spread out and enjoy the day without big crowds. The boardwalk makes it easy to get to the sand, and the large pavilion was a great bonus. It had a good amount of seating and offered some nice shade for relaxing or enjoying a meal. The bathrooms and outdoor showers were also a big plus for convenience and cleanup.

That said, there were a couple of surprises we wish we’d known ahead of time. Parking used to be free, but now costs $10. Not a huge deal, but their payment system was down when we visited, and they were only accepting cash. Thankfully we had cash but quite a few people had to leave because they didn’t bring any. This wasn’t mentioned anywhere on their Google listing, so a heads-up would have been helpful.

Also, the bathrooms close at 4:30pm and the beach closes at 5:00pm, which feels a bit early—especially during summer when it stays light much later. Again, not a dealbreaker, just something we would’ve planned around had we known in advance.

Overall, it’s a great spot if you have access—just make sure to bring cash and check for any updates before you go! The whole family...

My family loves this beach! To the ones complaining about 5.00 to park...it's better then having to go to an over crowded, and trashed beach with no bathrooms. This place is very well taken care of. And the fact that it is not back to back crowds of people makes it even better. Yes you have to have ID card but that's the best part. That means you can feel safer, it's better maintained, and you can actually find your family in the crowd. As for no drinking water... bring your own. You know your going to a beach and its hot. Thats common sense. The only issue I have is I wish they opened at 9am again instead of 10. Since we like to go earlier in the morning and leave before noon. This beach is great! I will say though if you go bring a 5 dollar bills it makes it easier on the person standing out in the heat so they don't have to constantly keep getting change. I felt sorry for the guy the last time he was trying to get people in quick but kept getting handed a 20. He got to me I gave him a 5 and I think it made...

My parents are retired army personnel. We have been coming to this beach access for years. We NEVER knew it closed at 5pm. When we came this time, we paid, parked, and enjoyed the beach. At 4:50PM, the gate person came up to my parents and said that they close at 5pm and we need to pack up. We had bags, tents, etc and we immediately started packing. We got to our cars by 5:10 pm and by then the gate was closed and LOCKED. We were locked in and had to call the cops to let us out. As a Black military family, we found it very, extremely disrespectful that they did this to us. They never told us when they closed and when they did, it was 4:50 PM. Why would you do that?? You should have come at 4:30 PM and let us know. I have NEVER left a bad review anywhere but this actually hurt my feelings. This was extremely disrespectful and the cops said that this has happened before....