We were in Jekyll Island in February 2022 as part of our Florida in January trip.

Jekyll Island is an enchanting place. It’s a former millionaires’ vacation paradise turned into a state park in 1948, and is home to miles of beaches, a resort, a cluster of “cottages” (historic vacation-home mansions of the richy rich), bike paths, restaurants, shops, and a campground. We had a blast exploring Jekyll!

Jekyll Island is in southeastern Georgia, an hour and a half north of Fort Clinch, our previous stop.

Campground

Jekyll Island Campground is huge and wooded, with lots of long-term winter residents, and activities and amenities to keep them happy. It’s an active, cheery place a ten-minute drive from the historic district and we liked it a lot.

Usually when you’re staying in a state park campground, your park admission is included in your campground fee. Not so at Jekyll. Park (that is, island) entry is $8/day, or $12 for RVs.

Things to do

Our first activity after dropping off the Airstream was to drive to the historic district and do a self-guided walking tour to give us an overview of the island’s glamorous history. The cottages are gorgeous and the history of the Jekyll Island Club is fascinating.

Next stop, after the humans got to do their thing, was to entertain the dog. Oceanview Beach Park is dog-friendly, wide, flat, and smooth, and Bugsy loved it. I loved it for all the sand dollars washed ashore, although I guess I should have been sad about their demise. On a chilly day, only a few other people were strolling on the beach.

You know we love a sunset cocktail, and we were on an island, so we hit The Wharf, part of Jekyll Island Club Resort. The sunset over the water was lovely, as advertised, and we appreciated that Bugsy could sit with us on the deck, but my cocktail tasted like cardboard and our oysters were awful. Despite not being able to finish the appetizer, we got dinner to go, since according to Google, food options on the island were limited. No surprise: it wasn’t very good.

In the morning, we visited what in our opinion is the coolest thing about Jekyll: Driftwood Beach. The beach is a graveyard for weathered, gnarly trees that became unable to survive as the beach has eroded–it’s eerie and beautiful and wonderful. Go early to beat the crowds; sunrise might be especially magical there.

Our last activity before moving on to Savannah was one last bike ride, after changing flat tire NUMBER 5 for the trip. To recap: #1 was in Key West, #2 was in Venice, #3 was in Dunedin, and #4 was in St Augustine. We ride fairly often in Virginia, and before this trip hadn’t had a flat in years. Go figure. Anyway, the loop around island was a very pleasant fourteen and a half miles. The island has 25 miles of paved bike paths for leisurely riding, but we chose the road for speed and felt totally safe.

We very much enjoyed our brief visit to Jekyll Island, but won’t rush to get back there. Next stop on the way home: Savannah, for our second visit with the Airstream.