PARKS & OUTDOORS
Perdido Key State Park
Escambia County · Panhandle & Emerald Coast
White sand and rolling sea oat dunes on Perdido Key, with boardwalks over the dunes and an honor box at the gate.
ABOUT THIS PLACE
Perdido Key State Park is at 15301 Perdido Key Drive, southwest of Pensacola, and it is a beach park and little else, which is the point. The sand is white, the dunes behind it roll and are held together by sea oats, and boardwalks carry people from the parking area over the dunes to the water so the plants are not trampled flat. Surf fishing, shelling, swimming, birding and walking are what people do here. The dunes are working habitat rather than scenery. The Perdido Key beach mouse lives in them, shorebirds nest on the sand, and loggerhead turtles come ashore to lay from late March into August, with green, Kemp's ridley and hawksbill turtles all recorded as well. Hurricane Sally tore through the park in 2020 and the boardwalks took the worst of it, which meant years of rebuilding. Facilities are simple: covered picnic tables, restrooms, showers, drinking water, accessible access and one interpretive exhibit. The park opens at 8 in the morning and closes at sunset. There is a small charge per vehicle, paid into an honor box rather than to a ranger
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