Topsail Hill Preserve State Park — Attraction in Santa Rosa Beach

This is a really nice park but had a couple of issues which hurt our experience. Here they are with a couple of tips to prevent them from happening yourself:

#1 - The map they give you is helpful, but not 100% reliable. Thankfully the trails are marked very well - if you use the map and it doesn't seem to match the signs, follow the signs instead. Not sure what the disconnect is here but the signs are right, trust them instead...the map can be misleading...and I'm not directionally challenged. #2 - When you look at the map and see the trail lengths it doesn't look like much, but trust me they are, especially when added together and coupled with the amount of sand you have to trudge through it really makes it feel longer than it is. If you're older or have little kids there is little chance you'll cover it all. My suggestion is something we didn't do: take the tram to the back of the park (runs every 30 minutes - trust me worth the wait) and do all of the trails in the back of the park first, then if you have the energy still and want to you can walk back to the front of the park. That way you can make sure and cover the trails you want to get to. There is no need to walk the cement path to the back of the park twice...which leads me to #3. #3 - Not sure why they don't do this but what made our time there worse was that one of the trails in the back in the park was completely washed out with literally no way to get around it...and no one told us nor were there any signs warning us beforehand. So on the way back when we were completely exhausted we came back down one trail (after wasting at least 20 mins hiking in sand going one way with the aforementioned map problem) and came up to this wasting another 20+ minutes of hiking only to half to turn around and go completely back to where we started when we decided to head back to the front of the park. VERY frustrating when you're tired. Makes me think no one there checks the trails on a daily (or even weekly) basis, since there's no way that happened the two days before we got there on our vacation, it didn't rain. My suggestion if it has rained lately - ask, they may not know, as the tram drivers didn't when we told them after-the-fact, but at least you tried and made an attempt to be more prepared.

Everyone here was nice and it certainly is a beautiful park, just take my suggestions to save yourself some possible...

2025 Update - We are somewhat local and have stayed at TopSail a few times. Happy to say, during this stay we saw quite a few nice improvements. First, the bathhouse that services the front section of the Park is complete and it's nice. All of the front section sites have been redone - gravel on the parking pads, new picnic tables, and the power outlets look new. I would say the one negative is they installed posts about 4' high with the site number. Saw several rigs backing into sites almost crush these. Can't see them lasting long. WIFI is still limited to the coffee shop/store. They are in the process of building a new Visitor's Center which should be awesome.

We live locally and whenever we have time and there are vacancies, we try and camp at Topsail Hill State Preserve. The RV sites are in two areas separated by a road that leads to the cabins and tent area. In our opinion, the best RV area is the back section. On this stay we were in the front section. There are three bath-houses at the park but only two are operational. One near the back RV section and the other at the tent camp area. Our site was asphalt, level, with a picnic table but not much shade. There are no fire pits, but you can bring your own. Our site had a cable hookup but wifi is only available at the Park Store/Coffee Shop. There are a number of HOST couples who were working hard to keep the park looking nice. The shuttle to the beach is operational again and that's great if you didn't bring a bike. Full hookups at each site. Given the popularity of this park, WIFI should be available and the lack of is the reason for our...

The park is wonderful. We had a very nice site with friends in adjoining lots. A glorious weekend, for sure.

Some things we wish we'd known: You have to take a tram to the beach (or walk or ride a bike the .7 mile just to the tram drop off, then another hike to the beach itself). The tram station is in a great location within the park. It runs every hour on the hour from 9:00AM to maybe 6:00PM - you'll have to check daily. The walk from where the tram drops you off is still a bit of a hike. As my husband has difficulty walking, this was a bit of an inconvenience. NO ALOCHOL ON THIS PRIVATE BEACH. NONE, ZILCH, NADA!! I think the fine is about $150; there are signs posted. So, no excuses. And the patrol is watching. We drove down to public access (approximately 2 miles toward Santa Rosa). The walk to the beach was much closer! And alcohol is permitted there. There are no fire pits in the campsite area. However, you can bring an above-ground fire-resistant container. Bring your own wood or it can be purchased at the camp store.

Speaking of the camp store: Oh my gosh! The cruffins (croissant muffins) are delicious!!! Husband had the banana bread. He said it, too, was wonderful. I didn't go through so I don't know what all the store offers. We were leaving to go home and stopped in just to get a couple of coffees.

The staff was super kind and helpful. The park is kept in great condition and very clean. Plenty of shade which is great during those super warm summers.

There is tent camping. There are cabins available. Ponds for fishing - must have Florida...