In Destin we hit the Boat House usually twice a trip. The guys will go fishing then come back there and have dozens and dozens of oysters and pitchers. Then we usually come back one evening with ladies. Always a good time.

Check out Saltwater Grill in Panama City Beach. Stare at the huge fish tank while eating.

Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi makes a great stopping point.

bigfoot10s said:

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We are partial to Pompano Joes and Crab Trap with Donut Hole for breakfast

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Also good choices. Get your bacon "extra crispy" at the hole and take a key lime pie to go for dessert. Both locations really get crowded after 8am.

Most food in the area is going to be tourist trap places, comes with the territory. Most of the places aren't going to be bad, but they aren't going to be overly spectacular either. A few solid gems though:

Breakfast - Donut Hole as mentioned. Place is nails. Also good is Another Broken Egg cafe, but Donut Hole is better IMO.

Lunch - Crust Pizza isn't bad at all, Fudpucker's is actually pretty good (touristy, but not bad food), Beach Walk Cafe (more upscale, but great views and better than average food), Camille's is supposed to be pretty good (haven't been there, but a few folks have recommended it to me),

Dinner - McGuires for steak and whiskey (crowded, but worth it), Bijoux, Acme Oyster House, Marlin Grill (meh, but nice atmosphere), Bay Cafe over in Ft. Walton Beach for soemthing different. More casual, but good food.

Several locals have recommended Dewey Destin as a place to go, but we always end up finding somewhere else and haven't tried it. Supposedly they buy stuff daily from the fishermen there and it is pretty good.

We were just there for 3 nights. Got back yesterday. We ate at the Back Porch in Destin. Awesome food. Can be a long wait. We stayed in Ft. Walton Beach and had a great time. The Alvin's Beach Shops have boogie boards super cheap ($14).

We always leave at 5am and drive straight thru. We stopped in Hattiesburg, MS for lunch and to stop by my buddy's liquor store on this trip. Traffic wasn't bad until we got to Mobile on down to FWB. Rolled into the hotel at 5pm. Beaches are nice. Enjoy!

I drive from Houston to NOLA and back every week for work. It's a **** drive. Get all the way through Louisiana before before you stop.

Also not sure why anyone is recommending NOLA as a place to stop? Take 12 straight across and GTFO of Louisiana as quick as you can.

It's amazing how the road conditions change once you cross into Louisiana.

No one has mentioned Ruth's Chris in destin.

Went there once. Never again.

We were in Seacrest week before last. Sixteen hour trip for us from West Texas. We drove half way to Monroe on Friday on in to Seacrest on Saturday. I told my wife this wouldn't be a bad trip if not for the construction down 49 from Jackson and the stretch once you leave Mississippi on 98 in to Mobile. It took us 2 hours to get through Mobile with rain and traffic. It rained everyday we were there. Didn't mind that at all. We went fishing out of Panama City. We ate out more this trip than trips in the past. We ate at Great Southern in Seaside for dinner. We had dinner at George's in Seagrove one nite. We had lunch at Bud and Allie's in Seaside one day. On the recommendation of the captain on our fishing trip, my wife and I went in to Panama City one night for dinner. We tried Hunt's Seafood and Oyster Bar but the wait was 2 hours. We stayed about 30 minutes and no one was seated so we opted for Captain's Table down the street. Captain's Table was good. Fresh seafood. Good service. Both Hunt's and Captain's are "Old Florida" places being just holes in the wall. Had interesting conversations with SEC fans at both places. Had a great time all week as usual.

Growing up my family went to Destin every year (still do) from Houston and made the drive. We always left Friday early afternoon (or whenever my dad could get out of the office). High tailed it out of Texas as fast we could but always ended up hitting 5 o clock traffic in BR. Definitely a cluster as mentioned before.

We stayed in Slidell LA every year. Never had a problem. Plenty of hotels and nothing too expensive and the suburb area of the town has grown to a pretty decent middle class neighborhood. And that was 5 years ago. From Slidell we'd leave in the am on Saturday and make the drive into destin (about 4-5 hours). I10 through Louisiana is a **** show. Just no getting around it without heading pretty far north. Leave as early as possible to avoid it. If you can't, just buckle up and prepare to sit in traffic.

Heading out from Slidell, Ya there's traffic at the mobile tunnel but it never held up that long and it's cool to drive in the tunnel, at least I thought/think so.

Stop at the Florida welcome center for a pit stop and get some fresh squeezed orange juice.

The drive in to destin on 98 is really pretty awesome in terms of views, however on a Saturday the traffic is terrible. If your staying on the west side of destin, 98 in is really the only option, but if you're on the east side towards Sandestin there's a toll road that runs south and hits 98 a few miles west of destin and gets you through the worst of it. Miss the view coming over the bay bridge but definitely is a time saver.

The Donut Hole is a must and yes their key lime pie is awesome. McGuires is awesome too. Back Porch is a favorite on the beach and so is Fisherman's Wharf restaurant if I remember the name right. Both are touristy though. To be honest we never went out to each much just cooked dinner at the house most every night. The broken egg is also good breakfast.

Enjoy your time there! I have a ton of great memories there, even met my wife there. This year will be my families 25th year to go I think.

Oh and driving back we just drove straight through from destin home. Left about 7am and usually made it back about 6-7pm after stopping for lunch and gas etc.

Leaving from Houston you should really do Destin in one day rather than overnighting it. You don't have to leave in the middle of the night, just hit the road by 5am. You will miss the traffic getting out of Houston, wife and kids will likely go right back to sleep and not wake up until Baton Rouge. Fuel up and grab some gas station breakfast in Baton Rouge and hit the road again. BR to destin is only about 5 hrs....maybe slightly longer depending on the traffic situation. You can easily get to Destin early enough to hit the beach on day 1, hit Publix to stock up on food/beverages and then rest easy that night knowing you don't have any driving left to do.

On the return trip I like to stop at the flight museum in Pensacola.....really cool and completely free. It does make for a longer return trip though.

Edit to add - have the crab claw appetizer at the Crab trap.

f burg ag said:

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A couple other Rosemary observations:

DO NOT go to Bayou Bill's Crab House. It is the most bland seafood I have ever had. My assumption is that they have to cater to folks above the Mason Dixon line that can't handle spices.

The larger/public beaches have chairs and umbrellas that go 5 deep on the beach and seem more populated than the beach in Jaws. There are places like High Point were this is not the case. But if you are not at High Point, you need to reserve your chairs/umbrellas NOW.

The speed limit on 30A is 25 MPH, but go slower and keep your eyes peeled. People randomly cross the road without any attention to the oncoming traffic.

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I had to look again since I'm not handling the bookings, and we're actually staying just West of Seacrest and Rosemary Beach at a condo complex. I think the beach at Deer Lake SP is the closest public beach.

Just taking 10 down to NOLA, versus bypassing on 12, is going to add significant time to your drive. Seems like a weird choice to go out of your way to a hotel. With kids, don't add more time than you have to.

We drive straight through normally. Biloxi exit has hotels right off I10. Slidell would be closer to TX.

drive it straight - not that far. If you stop in mobile, you might as well just get er done.

Warning Destin traffic is terrible. Just got back on Sunday.

Watch out for the sea lice Pensacola Sea Lice. Not really what we were wanting to see as we were planning our trip in a few months.

The Wonderer said:

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Leave Houston at 10pm and drive through the night. You'll get to Destin about 6-7am. Zero traffic until possibly Mobile. Kids can play the first day while you nap.

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This. I just got back from Destin on Sunday. When we left, we left BCS right after work around 5:45. Drove through the night and made it to Okaloosa Island at 4 am. No traffic at all. Pretty strange actually. The drive back on Sunday was different. Kids were awake, stopped every couple of hours. Left the condo at 9 AM and made it home around 9:30 PM... If I were to do it again, I would stop. Baton Rouge was about half way from here.

It's bad and getting worse. Went last summer. Just getting to the store is a beating. And if you get stuck trying to get on the island, you can sit there in that line of traffic for hours. So many friends have switched to Gulf Shores. Think we're going to give it a try and compare.

Biloxi is a good stop if you just want to get off I10 stay in a Holiday Inn have a good dinner (someplace - we ate at Emiril's in the Casino) then get back on I10 the next morning.

We have driven straight through both ways when I was vacation limited. No fun!

We have taken a B&B on Dauphin Island then taken the ferry and explored the redneck riviera all the way into Destin. Fun and relaxing - reminded me of going to Gslveston when I was a kid. If you have time, getting off I10 is always best in this old man's HO.

Have not stayed in Mobile ... that is next. Understand that Old Mobile is great!

Dewey Destins is great ... sitting on a pier over the bay eating shrimp and drinking cold beer is more than acceptable.
Crab Shack I also found to be a good place to eat ... getting fried crab claws by the pound also rated high ( if they still serve it that way)

Have fun!

Yep. I started going to Destin about 35 years ago. Back then there were 4 main condos (Inlet Reef, Jetty East, the Islander and one i can't remember) and a small grocery store. The beach and the roads were never very crowded. Slowly but surely we have been pushed further and further east. We were at San Destin until a few years ago, but that is also a zoo. So we tried Rosemary this year. It is better, but I can see this area becoming a clustereff in a matter of a few years.

We went from Austin to Panama City Beach 2 weeks ago. Stopped for the night in Baton Rouge at a Holiday Inn. It was a dump. The next morning getting back on the road we passed a pretty nice looking Holiday Inn Express in Slidel right off the highway. We made a mental note that when/if we make that trip again to stay there instead of BR.

AgBass01 said:

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We went from Austin to Panama City Beach 2 weeks ago. Stopped for the night in Baton Rouge at a Holiday Inn. It was a dump. The next morning getting back on the road we passed a pretty nice looking Holiday Inn Express in Slidel right off the highway. We made a mental note that when/if we make that trip again to stay there instead of BR.

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It's a nice hotel, especially for a 1 nighter. My wife usually schedules our stops, that's where we generally end up on leg 1 of the trip.

schmellba99 said:

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AgBass01 said:

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We went from Austin to Panama City Beach 2 weeks ago. Stopped for the night in Baton Rouge at a Holiday Inn. It was a dump. The next morning getting back on the road we passed a pretty nice looking Holiday Inn Express in Slidel right off the highway. We made a mental note that when/if we make that trip again to stay there instead of BR.

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It's a nice hotel, especially for a 1 nighter. My wife usually schedules our stops, that's where we generally end up on leg 1 of the trip.

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Looked like a nice area as well, several spots to eat and get gas and an easy on off ramp to the highway.

Made it to destin around lunch.

The traffic in mobile was light today. Went straight through, that's never happened to us before.

The traffic here is what it usually is and with road construction now. Oh well, sitting on the beach with a yuengling.

NM

We've taken a family trip to Florida every year since 2011, and we've stayed in Mobile on our way in each time.

We love Mobile and look forward to it every year! Take some time to walk around the square while you're there - it's a really charming city.

I recommend staying at the Renaissance Riverview, The Admiral Hotel or the Battle House.

Loda Bier Garten has some killer burgers and a huge beer selection. A couple of other great spots are The Brick Pit and Royal Scam. For breakfast, try Spot of Tea.

Also ... the beach we go to allows fireworks, so we always hit Shelton when we leave Mobile - it's about 20 minutes east on I-10. You can really load up on some fireworks there ...

One other thing ... on your way through Mississippi, if you have time for lunch, try The Shed in Ocean Springs.

Have a great trip!

WhoHe said:

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One other thing ... on your way through Mississippi, if you have time for lunch, try The Shed in Ocean Springs.

Have a great trip!

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WTF is wrong with you?

Seriously, the Shed??

We go every year. I like to leave at 8 pm. Drive through the night without traffic and arrive in San Destin around 5:30 am. Sun it out and go straight to the beach. Check in to the condo at 9 and relax at the beach. Beats all the traffic, no stress on the roads, and you save money. Eat at Baytown Wharf, Bud and Ally, ship at Publix. One the way back to Houston, I like to stop at Steam Boat Bills.

RM1993 said:

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WhoHe said:

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One other thing ... on your way through Mississippi, if you have time for lunch, try The Shed in Ocean Springs.

Have a great trip!

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WTF is wrong with you?

Seriously, the Shed??

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What's wrong with The Shed? And where would one go that is better?

Cracker Barrel

Theres only 20 on the way






And I'm being sarcastic

RM1993 said:

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WhoHe said:

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One other thing ... on your way through Mississippi, if you have time for lunch, try The Shed in Ocean Springs.

Have a great trip!

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WTF is wrong with you?

Seriously, the Shed??

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To each his own I guess ... but I am curious what you don't like about it, because my family and everyone we've ever dragged there or sent there has absolutely loved it.

We have stopped over in Ocean Springs, MS many times at a newer Holiday Inn Express there. Also, the drive down to the beach from the interstate there, has some nice scenery.

We are leaving in Mid-July for Seacrest. We have an event for my daughter one evening outside Austin, and I would love to be in FL by the next sunrise, so the suggestions of leaving at 7pm and driving straight through appeal to me. One night on the road, with little traffic, beats the hell outta two split days fighting the traffic, for sure!

Let's hear it for the roadhounds! Driving straight through to Vail, Co, was no sweat, and I have done the return trip from Gulf Shores many many times without stopping. I am pumped now!

And for the record, I have never understood anyone choosing to go to NOLA. That place has been a cesspool since the dawn of time, and Katrina didn't do it any favors. I am of the same mindset as most of ya....get the hell through Louisiana and across the Atchafalaya Basin ASAFP!!!!

n_touch said:

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Watch out for the sea lice Pensacola Sea Lice. Not really what we were wanting to see as we were planning our trip in a few months.

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90% sure my 3 year old son got this while we visited about a month ago.

He broke out all over. My family assumed sunscreen allergies, but my vote was sea lice or swimmers itch (another parasite). Seeing this notice solidifies my assumption.

His didn't look at bad as photo, but was concentrated near his rash guard and shorts netting as mentioned.

Follow all the recs in article. Rest of us were fine.

Another recommendation for Best Stop in Scott, La. Just a mile or so off the highway. Mmm...