Jetty Park Beach, Campground, and Fishing Pier — Attraction in Cape Canaveral

Definitely recommend for a beach day.

I gave four stars only due to a near death experience (see hauling beach supplies section)

PARK ENTRY/TICKETS: The park sells out quickly on weekends. It is worth purchasing entry tickets online and ahead of the planned visit date for guaranteed entrance. Do not wait until the morning of if not open to another beach access location. Website tickets have an option to add to your iPhone wallet for quick access to scan at the guarded gate. (I appreciated this option as I frequently utilize the wallet app—a convenient feature to skip pulling up or searching through emails/screenshots or printing of tickets).

PARK FEATURES-

PARKING/GRILLING AND FIELD AREA/CAMPING & RV GROUNDS: Plenty of parking areas and accessibility ramps are available. Large grass field allowing for tents and cookouts. Though not explored, there is a campground with RVs permitted and is “hidden” for aesthetics by a perimeter of tall privacy foliage.

RESTROOMS/ACCESSIBILITY/SHOWER AREA: Park restrooms are available, located on the rear side of the park office building (the park’s only building) and are as clean as the crowd allows for that day. Park staff do a good job with upkeep. A shower area is available to rinse off on the far left of the wooden walkway located behind the park office building.

BEACH ACCESS-

HAULING BEACH SUPPLIES TO OCEANFRONT:

The walkway offers 3 pathways down to the beach. There is a great view of rocket launches and cruise boats traveling to or out of the port on the boardwalk— cannot access boardwalk from beachside— only from parking lot area, on left of park office building.

If you’re involved in CrossFit or powerlifting, skip ahead to the next part; the following doesn’t apply to you.

Skipped your morning workout? You’ll be able to get one in with your beach access. There is a decent stretch of dune sand to walk along from the end of the pathway to the oceanfront area to set up. Wagons are helpful with toting beach necessities, but it’s not easy breezy to the beach. Instead, pulling a wagon through the dune sand is similar to competing in one of those military-inspired obstacle course races. I didn’t see anyone else struggling as much, but then again I lost partial vision for a moment due to low blood pressure from heavy breathing and sweating under the bitter desert sun.

When heading from the beach to the parking lot, there is an intimidating hill of dune sand, aka quicksand, right before the wooden walkway begins its own upward trek. Absolute evil, & obvious that the constructor was having a very bad day.

While I hope they’re doing better now, the struggles of their past still remain and require a plan to carry things/helping hands/a rescue inhaler. A kind beachgoer helped me to the beach after I declined twice due to my own delusion of my abilities/embarrassment. Wish I could thank her for saving my life.

JETTYS/CARS/TRASH: The beach is clean and safe for the kids to run around without worry of traffic safety, as no cars are allowed on the sand. You won’t have the energy to chase after them after doing the dune dash military course anyway, so this is a win-win. Not the best waves for the surfers, but waves can be decent/surf-friendly.

VISITING WITH CHILDREN- The park no longer has a kids’ playground; however, I was advised by park staff that they are rebuilding a new one to be completed...

Some friends of ours love going to Jetty Park. We booked a one week stay in September to give it a try. We have been camping at another campground and decided to ride over and check it out while in the area. We made our reservations and decided to purchase a day pass to check it out. We pulled up to gate and were told we could not enter because we had dogs in the car. We stated we would not let the dogs out of car, we just wanted to drive around, see the campground and leave. We were told we could not check out the campground even though we had a reservation for in upcoming trip. Then we were not allowed to drive in because we had two 12lb. dogs in the car, despite having paid for a pass. We turned around and canceled our reservation which resulted in all but $46 being refunded due to cancellation policies…we didn’t even get a tshirt. Someone needs to have the authority to grant permission to allow people to ride in and look if they have a confirmed reservation. They could take a photo of driver’s licenses, set a time limit on the time allowed in the park, something. It is a shame they have lost the ability to be reasonable. We have been looking for a fun place to visit for future trips. I am sorry Jetty Park will not...

We have watched the slow decline of Jetty Park campground. Online reservation and did not pay the extra fee to confirm site number. We were given the site we reserved. Arrived to small site with concrete pad labeled tent/rv. Trash was littered about the site. A large tree limb hung very low to the site, impossible to park a vehicle next to your trailer. Suspicious activity at the nearby tent site. Our “neighbor” had trash strewn about (including a mattress). No quiet hours enforced. Neighboring hotel started pool side DJ music around 8 lasting into the night. The check in process seemed questionable.. tried to exit the north gate into jetty park only to find the door handle has been ripped off and broken. Returned to registration to inform her as was told that she already knew one door was broken. I believe many people live among their litter here. Did not visit the restrooms or use the dump station. Access to Jetty Park beach nice but do not appreciate the crowds that gather at this beach with loud music and trash. Only good from this trip was access to good restaurants at the port and walkable to our oceanfront condo #4749786...