We are Ryan and Monica Hoffmann, proud parents of special needs children. It took a long time to get here, but we have been to 33 US states in the past 4 years and we are just warming up.
Florida panhandle beaches run for 80 miles between the towns of Pensacola and Panama City. These perfect, powdery shores rival any beaches on earth with their pristine waters and sumptuous sand.
The next time you’re looking to rotisserie yourself in paradise, leave the passport in the safe and ease your troubles in the salubrious USA.
There are four significant Florida panhandle beach towns (from west to east): Pensacola, Fort Walton, Destin, and Panama City. This incredible region is known as The Emerald Coast.
Here is a map of the 12 best Florida panhandle beaches:
Our preference is Destin, one of our favorite places in the country.
Between Destin and Panama City is a vacation hot spot called “The 30A Highway”, which you can read about here.
Pensacola and Panama City have incredible beaches as well and give the option of Florida panhandle beach towns on your vacation.
Regardless of where you anchor your holiday, you cannot go wrong with the Florida panhandle beaches. Each of them have similar sand and water and differences are those of personal preference.
The following are what we consider to be the absolute best, in the order we prefer them. We hope you enjoy reading!
This is our favorite beach in the continental USA and therefore the best Florida panhandle beach.
The underwater topography in the area around Destin keeps the Tennessee quartzite sand fluffy and free of shells. And furthermore, the water is impossibly turquoise.
The only downside is the beach is private. Camping on the Gulf ($125/night), has a heroic beachfront plot for RV owners.
Any number of Florida panhandle beaches could be viewed as the best overall beach, so you really can’t go wrong.
With that in mind, Grayton Beach State Park has everything going for it, including unrestricted access (beyond the $5/car State Park fee), a quiet location on the 30-A highway, and miles of shoreline to spread your blanket in solitude.
This might be the best public beach in the United States of America.
Related Article: 30A Beaches and Towns
The scratchpad of sand they call a “public beach” in downtown Destin is a bad joke, and most every inch of oceanfront property from Destin to Miramar is privately owned. At a glance it would seem that Destin is for resort vacationers only.
Enter Henderson Beach State Park, a public use stretch of sand smack in the middle of the Destin strip. At $6 a carload this is an incredible value for Florida panhandle beaches.
Related Article: The 12 Best Things to do in Destin
On the north side of St. Andrews Bay at the end of a beachy prominence is where you’ll find one of Florida’s best state parks (site).
Moreover, St. Andrews is considered by some to be one of the best beaches in the USA.
The breakwater (photo above) creates a wonderful locus for snorkeling and fishing at one end of the beach, where the rest of the beach is active (see top photo), with an elevated sandy bluff. The backside has a mother’s beach.
The rest of the state park is impressive with a wide array of nature to explore.
The three-miles of quartz-white sand and aquamarine waters in Topsail Hill Preserve are as good as anywhere else on the coast (and less crowded).
The downside is you have to walk 20 minutes, wait for a tram, or ride your bike down a giant hill (and back up), to get to the beach. Its worth it, but its a pain in the butt, honestly.
Hiking trails wind through the park. There are a few lakes to enjoy and lots of wildlife. If you want to camp here — and we recommend that you do — be sure to book in advance!
Fort Walton is the nearest town to Destin, eight miles to the west. At the edge of Ft. Walton is a public beach complex called Okaloosa Island.
Set against a backdrop of touristy restaurants and bars, Okaloosa Island Beach is home to 3 miles of public shorefront with emerald green water.
This is the most active beach in the Destin area. Great for boogie boarding and even better for checking out co-eds, Okaloosa Island Beach isn’t your grandfather’s Florida panhandle beach.
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Ed Walline Beach is one of the lesser known Florida panhandle beaches. Found along the 30A highway, it is best to arrive early in the day because parking is limited.
We would sit on this beach 100 times before paying $160 to gain admission to a slightly nicer beach down the road in Seaside (see next beach on the list).
Across the street from the Ed Walline parking lot are a few nice restaurants, a pizza place, an ice cream shop, and a candy store.
Pensacola Beach is a lovely jaunt and absolutely one of the best Florida panhandle beaches. Millions of people visit every year and spend day after day having the time of their lives at the shore.
The beach is free, the sand is white, the water blue… Yet it’s in Pensacola, which is busy and far from the rest of the Emerald Coast attractions.
We aren’t in love with the town. The town and location aren’t exactly knocks on the beach. It’s a good beach, just not good enough to overcome the deficiencies.
Related Article: A Complete Guide to the Emerald Coast
Pensacola Beach is a beautiful place to relax and get yourself wet. It is the most touristy beach on the list, crowded, but with plenty of parking. It’s like Okaloosa Island without the central location.
The city of Pensacola Beach is popular, and touristy, and isn’t our favorite. There’s substantial traffic on the surrounding highways, and the shore can get trampled by the crowds.
It is a lovely beach when compared to other shores around the United States.
Panama City has almost 500K residents, ten times the size of Pensacola, making it the most significant panhandle city.
Here you will find 27-miles of white sand, tourist attractions, and condominiums. Outdoor shopping malls, waterparks, and Ripley’s Believe it or Not bring a schmucky tourist vibe.
The water is dazzling, but the beach gets worked over and feels busy. A glorious beach by most standards, just not when compared to other Florida panhandle beaches.
The sand gets no whiter, the ocean bluer, the families richer, the town more sublime… Seaside, Florida is having it all.
However, this “public” beach no longer allows the public — You must rent housing in the vicinity to visit the beach. They even fenced it off and hired frat boys to check hotel keys. This is how they keep the riff-raff out.
For those who’ve rented a $600/night room across the street, you’re still paying $160 for chairs and an umbrella. If you bring your own chairs they’ll show you to your “area” down the beach, where you can sit with the other wealthy cheapskates.
Related Article: The Redneck Riviera — Florida vs. Alabama
The Florida panhandle beaches have no shortage of fancy towns with posh housing and overpriced stuff.
Rosemary Beach is the major installation on the southern end of the 30A highway. Like Seaside Beach on the 30A, Rosemary Beach disallows the proletariat from darkening its shores. They also require the confiscatory tribute of $170/day for a chair/umbrella.
Not our kind of place, but undeniably exquisite.
Blue Mountain Beach: A perfect free beach on the 30A Highway with not else around.
Dune Allen Beach: Same as Blue Mountain Beach, but less serene.
Navarre Beach: An isolated beach community east of Pensacola that makes for an excellent couples or family getaway. We would consider staying here.
This is our happy place. Our preference is to stay at Camping on the Gulf in Miramar Beach, but we have considered Henderson Beach, Grayton Beach, or Topsail Hill Preserve in the past. Unfortunately, their campsites are always booked out.
I doubt we would ever anchor ourselves in Pensacola or Panama City because we love Destin and the 30A Highway so much.
We haven’t found anything in the USA that compares to Florida panhandle beaches (outside of Hawaii). California, the Carolinas, Texas, Georgia, Oregon, and Washington have undeniably lovely coastlines, but their sand, water, and weather are no match for the best Florida panhandle beaches.
We mean no disrespect to Oregon Beaches — they are magnificent — just not for sunbathing and throwing the frisbee in the surf. They are more of the “windbreaker” beach variety.
When we gush about this region we typically find most folks have never heard of it! It is somewhat surprising, but most folks have never heard of a lot of things.
We give the Florida panhandle a five star recommend, and consider it one of the very best places to visit in the United States.
Thank you for stopping by our website! We are the Hoffmann family, a full-time RV family that has split residence in Seattle, Washington and San Antonio, Texas. We have special needs children that we homeschool, and work travel assignments for the Veteran Affairs Hospital. If you would like to learn more about us, check out our Start Here and Biography pages. In the meantime, God bless and travel happy!
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