Destin Vacation Tips

[Husker]

We went in August and first day went across the road where the beach hotels are. Crowded and most roped off and presented as "private". A local said ignore them. Any way next day we went to Henderson beach. It was much better than any of the "private" beaches. easy parking and hauling stuff to and fro. covered areas, restrooms and showers to. We spent the following 5 days there and thoroughly enjoyed.
The bass pro restaurant was pretty good. Really liked their margaritas. We also did a night bowling there that was fun.

[Graysonhogs]

One more bump

[Graysonhogs]

Do not go on the Sea Blaster boat ride

Forgot to ask.... Bad experience?

[Texas8point]

My advice...... go in the off season. No crowds and great weather. We went middle May. We pulled the boy out of school and boogied !













Port A sand dollars are the little ones.......

[Randy]

Captain Delynn Sigler for offshore fishing charters. You will catch all you can handle. 8507582165. Book as early as you can, his trips fill up fast. Tell him I sent you and he'll charge you extra.

Great fishing guide. Puts you on big fish. He books up fast though.

[Graysonhogs]

My advice...... go in the off season. No crowds and great weather. We went middle May. We pulled the boy out of school and boogied !



























Port A sand dollars are the little ones.......

That would be ideal. But with the fiancées job, when it's time for everyone to put in for vacation, it's like a cage fight to get the weeks you want. So it looks like July for us.

[ACook]

I second the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola Naval Air Station. Amazing museum and experience if you are into that kind of stuff.

[BLAKJAX]

Look up Gulf Shores , Alabama ... just 10 miles from Florida and same Beach as Destin . Clean white sand and blue water , Much Cheaper Condo rates , Right on the Beach , I use GulfshoresRentals.com . Lots of Good Dinning and Nightlife and Family Places and Site Seeing .. They have it all and not as crowded and better $$ .

[CaptainDave]

As stated, if you want to avoid the crowds a little, book a place further down the road in Santa Rosa, which is still only about a 20-30 minute drive from Destin. We generally stay in San Destin, which is about halfway between Destin and Santa Rosa.

If you play golf, bring your clubs. There are tons of courses in the area and pricing is competitive. It works great for us as there also is an outlet mall shopping area in San Destin, so the girls go shopping and the guys play golf.

Also, as stated, be prepared to handle crowds and some traffic from time to time. It's not that bad if you plan accordingly.

Also as already mentioned, a great family activity is renting a pontoon boat at the harbor and hanging out at crab island by the pass.

[Nate C]

Keeping a eye on this. I will also be on my first trip there in July.

[Mambajeep]

Forgot to ask.... Bad experience?

Started out with bad weather, we were told that if the boat couldn't go out we would not get a refund, only a voucher for later which we would be unable to use. Weather cleared and we headed out to snorkel. I kid you not, they took us less than 100 yards and set the anchor. I thought it was a joke, we were still in the marina. Then out to look at dolphins. As soon as the 18 year old captain saw the school, he would haul tail right at them. In return, the dolphin would go down and reappear a couple hundred yards away, then he would scare then again. They were running for their life. I left a negative review on their site that was removed less than an hour later. As someone has said, look into gulf shores, even more, Orange Beach. It is between Gulf Shores and Destin. Fresh seafood, same beaches, less than half the crowd (mostly from Texas), but very close to Destin if you wanted to go there for a day. Hope this helps.