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Destin, Florida

Wakefan77

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Family and I are going there in August. If anyone on the boards has been there, would love to know your thoughts.
 
beautiful sand

beautiful water

a lot of freaking people

lots of kid friendly activities - and lots of people

given your avatar, you may be interested in spending a morning driving ~60 miles west to check out a Blue Angels practice session
 
ah, the redneck riviera. it's like north myrtle with whiter sand and whiter people
 
Wonderful places to eat down there! Hot as fuck in summer, beautiful in the fall.
 
Was just down at Seaside over the weekend. Heat index was about 110 every day. It’s usually hotter in August often with no breeze on the beach.
 
77 have you picked a place to stay? Do you mean Destin proper or sort of the whole of 30A?

My fam does a week at Rosemary Beach every summer. We usually try for late May or early June since as mentioned, it is hot AF now.

Rosemary is expensive, but it is all houses/condos/cottages so much better imo if you have kids since you will have a kitchen and dont have to rent multiple hotels. They also have a central on site rental agency/property management company, so if something goes wrong they can address it immediately, which you dont always get with a LL on VRBO.

Here is their rental site:

https://rosemarybeach.com/rentals/


Destin proper is super busy, we actually stayed in downtown Destin for 1 night before our week in May. Again, I like renting properties managed by property management companies rather than going straight to owner via VRBO, much less risk involved. This is a rental broker I have had good results with that has places in downtown Destin.

https://www.destinvacation.com/

If you want to go the hotel route, there is a Hilton San Destin that is this giant resort with restos golf etc, but it gets booked up for the summer pretty quickly.

Other places on 30A that are fine, but that I like less than Rosemary, is Watercolor, Alys Beach, and Seaside.

Good luck
 
77 have you picked a place to stay? Do you mean Destin proper or sort of the whole of 30A?

My fam does a week at Rosemary Beach every summer. We usually try for late May or early June since as mentioned, it is hot AF now.

Rosemary is expensive, but it is all houses/condos/cottages so much better imo if you have kids since you will have a kitchen and dont have to rent multiple hotels. They also have a central on site rental agency/property management company, so if something goes wrong they can address it immediately, which you dont always get with a LL on VRBO.

Here is their rental site:

https://rosemarybeach.com/rentals/


Destin proper is super busy, we actually stayed in downtown Destin for 1 night before our week in May. Again, I like renting properties managed by property management companies rather than going straight to owner via VRBO, much less risk involved. This is a rental broker I have had good results with that has places in downtown Destin.

https://www.destinvacation.com/

If you want to go the hotel route, there is a Hilton San Destin that is this giant resort with restos golf etc, but it gets booked up for the summer pretty quickly.

Other places on 30A that are fine, but that I like less than Rosemary, is Watercolor, Alys Beach, and Seaside.

Good luck

Awesome thanks for posting. We already have a place. It's just west of Destin more toward Fort Walton Beach. Never been to the panhandle of Florida so we are excited. Thanks again for the info.
 
We used to go to Seagrove Beach growing up - it was great. Those beaches are beautiful, but don't expect too many big waves. It can be like a lake on a quiet day.
 
I love the Panhandle. We were there in mid May and it was beautiful. The temp was perfect and the water even better. Buy/rent umbrella. Buy tons of sunscreen. You will take a bath in it everyday! Seriously. Cooler that keeps drinks cold as ice melts fast! This year I ordered my groceries online so I didn’t spend my vacation time in a grocery store. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? I am so jealous. Wish I could go back tomorrow! Hope you have a wonderful time!
 
There's an app called Shipt you can use for grocery delivery. They have a free trial we used while at the beach. It works with Publix and Target, among others.
 
We used to go to Seagrove Beach growing up - it was great. Those beaches are beautiful, but don't expect too many big waves. It can be like a lake on a quiet day.

That is one thing I'll proably miss. I am very much a beach/ocean person and riding waves is fun for me.


Btw, we are driving (I know it's long as hell) so if anyone has any recommended stops along the way, send them my way.
 
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I am assuming you are coming from NC, so you will be going through Atlanta.

There are two ways to go from there, when 75/85 split south of the city, you can go 75 south which takes you down to Columbus GA, and then to Dothan AL. Dont go that way.

Go 85 S to Montgomery AL. Just short of Montgomery you will go south on 231.

Also remember Destin is central time.
 
I am assuming you are coming from NC, so you will be going through Atlanta.

There are two ways to go from there, when 75/85 split south of the city, you can go 75 south which takes you down to Columbus GA, and then to Dothan AL. Dont go that way.

Go 85 S to Montgomery AL. Just short of Montgomery you will go south on 231.

Also remember Destin is central time.

yeah this is the way we always go. once you get to Troy, AL it's two lane roads until the beach. then I assume for Destin you hook up with the Mid-Bay Bridge (toll). for Seaside and Watercolor you get on 331 in DeFuniak Springs which they've thankfully finished the extension to make it four lanes all the way to the beach. but that road can be a parking lot on Saturdays with people coming to/leaving the beach heading back to Atlanta and elsewhere.
 
Yes bring $$ for toll.

The roads are smaller sometimes but way less crowded. Everyone from ATL goes the 75 route, which leads to tons of speed traps in places like Eufala, AL. And being stuck in traffic trying to get through Dothan AL is like the 3rd circle of hell.
 
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