Florida Beach Locations

[CoonStalker]

Clearwater beach

[Chad C]

Florida Beach Locations

Destin is too dang busy for me. Fort Walton on the West side of Destin or PCB on the East. We go every year and have stayed in and from West to East... Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Pensacola Beach, Navarre, Fort Walton, Destin and PCB.


PCB

[Lost Arra]

Gulf side: My favorite place is Little Gasparilla Island (Charlotte county) but if your family needs restaurants, high rises, cars or some other amenities then forget it. You are shuttled to the island by boat and you take all your groceries.

Atlantic side: South Melbourne beach is a nice area. Honest John's Fish Camp has kayak rentals and great fishing in the Indian River Lagoon. Nearby is Sebastian Inlet with some pretty decent fishing also. A nice day trip especially if it's raining and keeping you off the beach is driving up to the Space Center.

[tipps]

We went to Marco Island this past summer, stayed at Marriott. I won’t go back, think I’m done with crowded resorts.

[CaptainDave]

Anything East of Destin along 30A

X2

If you are dead set on Florida and want to avoid some of the crowds, find somewhere on 30A between Destin and Panama City. Areas like Santa Rosa, Seaside, Grayton Beach, etc. Honestly, Destin and SanDestin aren't all that bad if you just preplan a bit on traffic.

I've also stayed on the Atlantic Coast at Cocoa Beach; which is just south of Cape Canaveral. Night and day difference on crowds from Destin. Very laid back, more locals than anything. Beaches are nice, but not nearly as nice as Destin. Water is blue, but sand is brown. We enjoyed the area for a change, but Florida panhandle easily has it beat on white sand and blue water.

[RockTippedStick]

Watercolor

[Fishcat91]

Been to destin a couple times. It was fun, nice clear blue waters, and good places to eat.

[White Falcon]

I lived in the keys. Clear water on the Atlantic starts at Key Largo. The gulf from there down looks like Galveston, dirty!!!! Homestead is where the reef start. Water clears from there South. John Penney Camp Park is a nice dive or snorkel. It has an under water park!!!

[White Falcon]

Locals in the keys say: Everything North of Key Largo is Southern Georgia!

[Grayson]

Ft Walton. 1/2 crowd as destin and 5-10 min away. Same beach and you can go to destin for more non beach options

This!

[Acameron52]

Use to do Destin every Spring/Summer for years. Beautiful area with lots to do and great food; however, it comes with a cost. Tons of people, insane traffic at times, and more expensive than other smaller beach communities.

Gulf Shores/Orange Beach is 2 hrs West of Destin with many of the same family amenities ... food, restaurants, kids stuff, Putt Putt Golf, fishing, animal petting zoo, etc... It's been my experience the cost of vacationing in GS is probably 25% cheaper than Destin. If you're a TBH Baller and money is no object, then go do Destin. If the sugar white sands in Destin are rated as a 10, the beaches 80 miles East in GS are a solid 8.5 ~ 9 .

Keep doing research and make sure you go where "mama" wants to go

This right here. We went to Destin for a week every summer my entire child hood. One summer we waited a little too long to book and had to “settle” for Orange Beach... and never went back to destin. Cheaper, calmer and every bit as nice.

[TB80]

Santa Rosa in Fl is near Rosemary beach but not as crowded. We loved it.

[timoub007]

We have a couple of condos in Phoenix 5 in Orange Beach, AL that we rent out. If anyone on TBH wants info on them send me a PM. Both are enjoying bedroom and 2 bathroom units.

T

[Nate Riley]

St. George Island, way laid back and not crowded

This will be my next Florida beach destination. I have family who have been and they highly recommend it. Destin is way too crowded for me.

We went to Panama City a few years ago for my sons baseball tournament and spent our beach time at the St. Andrews State Park. There were very few people there and we loved it. My son and I fished off the jetty at the park while the girls paddle boarded.

I grew up in the area. Anywhere between Panama City (the eastern side) and St. George Island is going to have less of a "tourist" appeal and more white rubber boots. The challenge is, it's hard to get to from here. Eastern PCB, Mexico Beach, Port St. Joe, Apalachicola, St. George Island are the notable map dots there. My best friend owns a bar/restaurant on SGI, so we spend quite a bit of time there. If you go here later in the summer, it would be worth the time to do some scalloping in Port St. Joe.

These days we stay on Pensacola Beach for a couple of days before and after visiting the grandparents over there. Clearly, the beaches between Pensacola and PCB (Destin, Fort Walton, Navarre), live up to the hype (beautiful beaches, great restaurants, high end shopping, nice sterile environment, lots of Texans).

[DaveC]

I have never been to South Padre Island and feel the urge to head that way this summer, but also realize drive time wise some of these destinations are just about the same distance.

Which Direction do y'all recommend for a family friendly vacation -
South or East?

Agenda would be site see and relax, but got have stuff to do to keep 15yo from getting too bored. He stayed a week in the Keys last year with some friends so I'm not sure ~7 hr drive from Houston blue water can impress him anymore.