St Andrew State Park
 

Hello all! I'm taking the family to St Andrews State Park in April for a week of camping. I have read many wonderful things about this park. It appears to be only a few miles from the Panama City Beach area. Although we plan to spend the majority of the time in the park away from all the t-shirt shops, etc. we may want to go explore that area for a day. We are bringing our bikes along to get around once our camper is set up. Does anyone know if there is a bike path from the park to the Panama City Beach area? Or is there a safe way for family to bike the stretch of beach?

Thanks!

Perhaps if you contacted the park direct you may find the answer to all your questions.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/standrews/

The state park is in unincorporated Bay County, but as far as you will know, it is actually in PCB. In fact, you cannot get to or from the park except by going through PCB, unless you travel to the park by boat.
You can safely bike WITHIN the park, but as soon as you leave the park, you will be on Thomas Drive, a high traffic four lane. While there are some bicycle lanes, it is a very dangerous area for biking. I am not aware of any safe way for a family to bike any stretch of the beach. There are a few roads that go directly along the gulf, such as Surf Drive and Gulf Drive, but there are not "through" streets and you will have to ride on Thomas Drive to get from point A to point B.

Thanks, RedRock. I know I could contact the park directly, but I thought I'd check here first. Lots of good people and good information on this site.

Gracie, that's exactly the information I was hoping someone would share. Thanks so much!

It's Highway 98, a busy commercial tourist road ... depending on the childrens' ages, I see no reason why you can't ride your bikes out of the Park and into the commercial area, if you're careful. It's not a highway by any means ... often the traffic crawls.