Cumberland Island National Seashore Camping Permits
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:48 UTC
- A night
- $12–$22Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 4731 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Whether you are looking to spend a night with family and friends around a campfire under the moss covered branches of the live oak trees, or looking for the rugged challenges and solitude of the wilderness, you will find it on Cumberland Island National Seashore. The park includes a designated Wilderness area, undeveloped beaches, historic sites, cultural ruins, critical habitat and nesting areas, as well as numerous plant and animal communities. The national seashore also offers a wide variety of camping opportunities. Keep reading
Watch the "Camping on Cumberland Island" video for information to help you plan an d prepare for your trip. Campgrounds Cumberland Island offers five campgrounds , which include designated campsites at Sea Camp and Stafford Beach; and Wilderness campsites at: Hickory Hill, Yankee Paradise and Brickhill Bluff. Camping is only permitted in these five campgrounds. A permit is required to camp in any of these five camping areas. Getting There Visitors must take a boat to the island. Most visitors arrive via the Cumberland Island Ferry from St. Marys, Georgia (see Park Concessioner Services below). The ferry does not transport automobiles or RVs. Check the ferry schedule prior to reserving your Cumberland Island National Seashore Camping Permit unless you are traveling by private boat. The ferry does not operate on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from December through February. Island Information Cumberland Island is 18 miles (29 km) long and .5 miles (.8 km) to 3 miles (5 km) wide. Bring your cell phone if possible. Use airplane mode to reserve battery power. There is electricity at the Sea Camp Ranger Station, Sea Camp Campground, and Stafford Beach Campground for recharging devices. Dial 911 to report emergencies and disturbances. There are no stores, restaurants or other amenities on the island. After arriving on the island, campers must hike, walk or bike from the dock to the campgrounds and transport all gear. There is no transporation service. The distance ranges from .5 miles (.8 km) to Sea Camp to 10.5 miles (17 km) to Brickhill Bluff. Carts of any kind and wheeled coolers are not allowed north of Sea Camp Campground. Hammocks permitted only with hammock stands. New for 2021. See Superintendent's Compendium Be prepared for extreme weather, sun exposure, and a variety of insects. Ticks, no see-ums, and mosquitoes are prevalent during summer months; protect yourself accordingly. Understand your limitations; the island has no conveniences; be prepared for a remote setting and a harsh environment. Bicycle and Carts For information on using carts and camping with bicycles visit the Cumberland Island Camping Page For information on bicycle and cart rentals, as well as transporting your bike to the island visit Cumberland Island Ferry webpage . Ferry Reservations, Bicycle and Cart Rental, and Tour Reservations - Contact: Cumberland Island Ferry at www.cumberlandislandferry.com or call (877) 860-6787. Cumberland Island Ferry passengers must check-in at the Cumberland Island Mainland Visitor Center in Saint Marys at least 30 minutes prior to their ferry departure time: https://www.nps.gov/cuis/planyourvisit/be-ready.htm Campers must deboard the ferry at the Sea Camp Dock (not at the Dungeness Dock).
Recreation
There are over 50 miles of trails and roads as well as 18 miles of beach. Hiking, biking, camping, birdwatching, and beachcombing are popular activities on the island.
Facilities
There are no amenities on the island beyond the restrooms and water fountains. You should bring lunch and water bottles to refill. Be Ready!
Natural Features
The island is home to more than 17 miles of undeveloped beach, a maritime forest of oak hammock and long leaf pine, tidal creeks, and marshland. Visitors can see an abundance of wildlife from deer, turkey, alligators, and bobcats, to snakes, tortoises, lizards, and hundreds of migratory birds.
Nearby Attractions
City of St. Marys, GA - St. Marys, Georgia, the gateway to Cumberland Island National Seashore, a small coastal village located in southeast Georgia remains one of Georgia's best kept secrets, a place rich in history, natural beauty and Southern hospitality. St. Marys and Cumberland Island National Seashore provide a perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge - In southern Georgia and northern Florida there is a very special place, one of the oldest and best preserved freshwater systems in America. Native Americans called it Okefenoka, meaning “Land of the Trembling Earth”. Now this place, where earth, air, fire and water continuously reform the landscape, is preserved within the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, created in 1937 to protect wildlife and for you to explore. St. Marys Submarine Museum - This museum is a great place to learn about the "Silent Service". A wide variety of Submarine artifacts, memorabilia and information are available for viewing, and you can view the beautiful St Marys waterfront through a real periscope. Crooked River State Park - Located on Georgia's Colonial Coast, this park offers cozy facilities in a beautiful setting. Campsites are surrounded by Spanish moss-draped oaks, while most cottages overlook the river. Hikers can explore the nature trail, which winds through a maritime forest and salt marsh. A boat ramp is popular with anglers who often take to the water before sunrise. Fort Frederica National Monument Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve City of Jacksonville, FL Charges & Cancellations Refund and Cancellation Policy Cancellations 10 days or more before the start date of the reservation will result in a refund of the permit cost minus a 25% cancellation fee. Cancellations less than 10 days from the start date of the reservation will result in a refund of the permit cost minus a 50% cancellation fee. No refunds will be granted for cancellations one day prior to the start date of the reservation. When a reservation is cancelled, those dates will be made available for other campers at a random time within 24 hours. Changes Before Permit is Printed: The Refund and Cancellation Policy will be applied to all changes to the reservation. The start date of the reservation cannot be changed without cancelling the reservation. A new reservation must be made. Cancellation fees apply and fees associated with making a new reservation apply. Changes may be made to the number of people (maximum 6 per site) with the same dates and trip itinerary. Changes can be made by logging accessing your reservation on recreation.gov or by contacting the Call Center. Reservations are non-transferable. After Permit is Printed: Changes cannot be made to permit once it is printed. Changes will require a cancellation of the permit and reserving a new permit, if space is available. All cancellation fees and new reservation fees apply. Permits can only be printed within 10 days of the arrival date. You cannot change your site assignment. All permits must be honored as they are. Ensure every person on the camping permit has reserved a round-trip ferry ticket or has transportation via private boat. No-Show Policy If you do not cancel and decide not to use your reservation, no fees will be refunded. Please cancel your reservation if you are unable to use it as this opens space for others. Park Closures The Park reserves the right to cancel reservations during periods of inclement weather, based on forecasts of inclement weather or due to other hazardous conditions that will impact the safety of our visitors. In the event of an emergency closure, the Recreation.gov team or facility manager will refund all fees for the nights of the closure and will attempt to notify you using the contact information within the Recreation.gov visitor profile and through media notifications as well as signs. Other refund requests can be processed through their Recreation.gov profile within 7 days of the end date of their reservation. Visitors may also initiate a refund request through the call center at any time after their reservation ends
What the agency tells you
Park entrance fees can be paid when checking in at the Mainland Visitor Center or prepay your at Pay.Gov . Digital and paper copies of the entrance fees are accepted. Interagency Passes will admit pass holder and three adults, in lieu of park entrance fee. Private boaters may pay entrance fee at the mainland visitor center or by visiting Pay.Gov . Visit the fees and passes page for fee rates.
December 1st - February 28th: There are NO ferry operations on Tuesday or Wednesday. If you are traveling to/from the island via ferry, please ensure your reservation does not arrive or depart on Tuesday/Wednesday during this time frame.
The camping permittee must print and retain one copy of the camping permit at all times during the stay. Please bring camping permit when checking in.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
A person cannot hold more than one permit for the same date. That permit holder must occupy the site.
Overnight vehicle parking is available at the visitor parking lot, one block west of the Cumberland Island Mainland Visitor Center . Do not leave valuables in your vehicle.
Propane Cylinders: Propane cylinders over 1 gallon are not permitted on the ferry.
Stay Limit: 7 consecutive nights. Maximum campers and equipment: The individual site maximum is six persons. The Sea Camp Group Campground maximum is 20 people. Children two years of age and under do not count toward the maximum.
Gear Transport: Campers are responsible for transporting gear from the dock to the campgrounds. Carts of any kind and wheeled coolers are not permitted North of the Sea Camp area. Campers with reservations at Stafford Beach, Hickory Hill, Yankee Paradise, or Brickhill Bluff campgrounds should plan on backpacking all gear to those sites. Hammocks are permitted only with proper stands.
Campfires: Use designated fire rings only. You may gather dead and down wood or purchase bundles of firewood on the ferry. A fire may be lit and maintained only by using fuel sources designed and commonly used for warmth or the preparation of food, such as charcoal briquettes or natural firewood
Check out time: 10:00 a.m. Quiet hours: 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
Food and Trash Storage: Store or hang all food and trash. Raccoons are common. Follow Leave No Trace principles
Drinking Water: Available at Plum Orchard and all areas south of Stafford Beach. Treat water at all other areas of the island.
No Pets: Only service animals are permitted in campgrounds.
All animals on the island - including horses - are wild! Do not approach within 50 feet of horses; they may bite or kick.
The Wilderness area and associated campsites are CLOSED during managed hunts on the island. Hunts are held October through January each year. If you camp during these times you will not be able to hike into the wilderness area or to Plum Orchard. Check the managed hunts page to see if this may impact your visit.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 47 · 43 walk-in, 2 group
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Not allowed
- Campfires
- 28 of 39 sites
- Shade
- 36 of 41 sites
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 28 of 46 campsite records
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- SHOWERS on 28 of 46 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 28 of 46 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek, Beach, Coast
- Backpacking
- Beachcombing
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Ranger programs
- Kayaking
- Motor Boat
- Ranger Station
- Sailing
- Swimming
- Water access
- Wildlife viewing
2 of 58 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:48 UTC
recreation.gov lists 31 of the 47 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $12–$22 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“Refund and Cancellation Policy - Cancellations 10 days or more before the start date of the reservation will result in a refund of the permit cost minus a 25% cancellation fee. - Cancellations less than 10 days from the start date of the reservation will result in a refund of the permit cost minus a 50% cancellation…” · this campground’s own no-show terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 16:48 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
47 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 43 mapped sites15 sites share one published coordinate and are left out of the rankings.
All 47 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 19 of the 47 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| Brickhill Bluff | 1 | hike to | |||
| Brickhill Bluff | 2 | hike to | |||
| Brickhill Bluff | 3 | hike to | |||
| Brickhill Bluff | 4 | hike to | |||
| Brickhill Bluff | Brickhill Bluff - Wilderness | hike to | |||
| Cumberland Island National Seashore Camping Permits | 16 | designated campsite | |||
| Hickory Hill | 1 | hike to | 2,404 ft | ||
| Hickory Hill | 2 | hike to | 2,404 ft | ||
| Hickory Hill | 3 | hike to | 2,404 ft | ||
| Hickory Hill | 4 | hike to | 2,404 ft | ||
| Hickory Hill | Hickory Hill - Wilderness | hike to | 2,404 ft | ||
| Sea Camp | 001 | walk to | 84 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 002 | walk to | 103 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 003 | walk to | 117 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 004 | walk to | 85 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 005 | walk to | 103 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 006 | walk to | 85 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 007 | walk to | 116 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 008 | walk to | 75 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 009 | walk to | 75 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 010 | walk to | 86 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 011 | walk to | 86 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 012 | walk to | 88 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 013 | walk to | 45 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 014 | walk to | 56 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 015 | walk to | 45 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | 016 | walk to | 68 ft | $9 | |
| Sea Camp | A | type not stated | $40 | ||
| Sea Camp | B | type not stated | $40 | ||
| Sea Camp | C | type not stated | $40 | ||
| Sea Camp | GN | group walk to | 202 ft | ||
| Sea Camp | GS | group walk to | 84 ft | ||
| Stafford Beach | 001 | hike to | 60 ft | 2,810 ft | |
| Stafford Beach | 002 | hike to | 55 ft | 2,753 ft | |
| Stafford Beach | 003 | hike to | 55 ft | 2,700 ft | |
| Stafford Beach | 004 | hike to | 88 ft | 2,629 ft | |
| Stafford Beach | 005 | hike to | 93 ft | 2,553 ft | |
| Stafford Beach | 006 | hike to | 142 ft | 2,385 ft | |
| Stafford Beach | 007 | hike to | 78 ft | 2,265 ft | |
| Stafford Beach | 008 | hike to | 78 ft | 2,205 ft | |
| Stafford Beach | 009 | hike to | 41 ft | 2,140 ft | |
| Stafford Beach | 010 | hike to | 41 ft | 2,122 ft | |
| Yankee Paradise | 1 | hike to | |||
| Yankee Paradise | 2 | hike to | |||
| Yankee Paradise | 3 | hike to | |||
| Yankee Paradise | 4 | hike to | |||
| Yankee Paradise | Yankee Paradise - Wilderness | hike to |
25 of 47 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Sea Camp Campground5.9 mi
Stafford Beach CampgroundCumberland Island National Seashore · 8.3 mi
Hickory Hill Wilderness CampsiteCumberland Island National Seashore · 9.7 mi
Yankee Paradise Wilderness CampsiteCumberland Island National Seashore · 11 mi
Brickhill Bluff Wilderness CampsiteCumberland Island National Seashore · 14 mi
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Overnight Camping PermitOkefenokee National Wildlife Refuge · 45 miNPS VISITOR CENTER/FERRY CHECK-IN:
- Take Exit 3 from Interstate 95. At the exit stop light turn east on to Highway 40.
- Follow the signs traveling east into Historic St. Marys. Highway 40 East will become Osborne St.
- Once you reach the waterfront, turn right at the stop sign onto St Marys Street.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for St. Marys, GA
Typical weather
Typical October night 65°F, day 80°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 45°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Cumberland Island National Seashore Camping Permits is in Georgia’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Buddy Carter (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →