we usually vacation in sandestin area but heard good things about the 30A area from this board and other places. to me, the water/beach is pretty much all the same from pensacola to panama city so there's got to be other activities external to the beach that would interest me in driving an additional hour or more to the 30A area. i understand there are a number of towns/beaches in the 30A area...is there one town that is considered better than the other? what other activities are available outside of the beach in this area? TIA!

I know traffic can get bad in the summer, but it's never been anywhere near an hour in my experience. I've stayed in Sandestin and Santa Rosa Beach. It's maybe 10 minutes from Sandestin to the nearest point of Santa Rosa Beach. All of the other 30a communities are within an additional 10-20 minutes assuming low/normal traffic. I don't have a preference.

I believe Panama City Beach is only 30-35 miles from Sandestin.

Seagrove beach

Bachelor99 the water/beach is pretty much all the same from pensacola to panama city [/quote said:

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If you are a water's water guy then I guess that's right but to me it's clearer water with sugar white beaches on 30a.

We like Rosemary a lot

I would agree that the water is pretty much the same from Panama City to Pensacola. However, the beaches are wider along 30A than they are in Destin because they don't let you build so close to the water there. And the crowds are smaller along 30A, in general, because you don't have huge high rises that can hold tons and tons of people. The dunes are preserved in WaterSound and, to a lesser degree, at Grayton Beach. It's a shame what they let developers get away with in Destin, in my opinion. Personally, I love the look and the feel of the town of Seaside. Watch The Truman Show for a glimpse of it.

The dynamics are different in each area.

i've been to Rosemary a few times. my brother's family goes almost every year. it's definitely country clubbing on the beach. it's very nice for families. definitely not a party destination.

I'm heading down Friday headed to Watercolor.
I 10 at Alabama - Florida line will have a checkpoint.
If your from Louisiana, you won't be allowed in.
Its recommended that people from Texas do not stop in Louisiana.

Shiner79 said:

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I'm heading down Friday headed to Watercolor.
I 10 at Alabama - Florida line will have a checkpoint.
If your from Louisiana, you won't be allowed in.
Its recommended that people from Texas do not stop in Louisiana.

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Curious, where are you reading this?

Love 30A but other than Crabby Steve's in Rosemary there is a lack of your typical beach bar. Beach is great.

I listened to the Walton County Commissioners meeting yesterday after the Gov. allowed short term rentals.
People from Louisiana will not be allowed in.
People from Texas were advised to not stop in Louisiana.
Multiple news sources have info on the checkpoints on I 10

Shiner79 said:

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I'm heading down Friday headed to Watercolor.
I 10 at Alabama - Florida line will have a checkpoint.
If your from Louisiana, you won't be allowed in.
Its recommended that people from Texas do not stop in Louisiana.

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interesting....mobile is already a cluster going through the tunnel....we usually make our first pit stop in baton rouge....how will they know if you stopped in LA?

I don't know the answer. From the call they implied you may be subject to additional questions, possible quarantine if they discovered you stopped in La. Hence the recommendation to not stop if at all possible.
We'll gas up in Orange and drive straight across to MS.

they won't know a damn thing. Just tell em you took a piss in Orange and another one in Biloxi.

Also, every current guidance will only ease up with each passing day and week.

Been going to 30A for a decade. It's got just the right mix of not too busy but still have nice places to go at night. Rosemary for smaller groups and seaside for larger groups imo.

Grayton is the value location. Though it's alot more expensive as well since 2016.

Only place I've ever been where they pick you up off the beach to go fish for snapper. (Grayton).

Bachelor99 said:

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Shiner79 said:

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I'm heading down Friday headed to Watercolor.
I 10 at Alabama - Florida line will have a checkpoint.
If your from Louisiana, you won't be allowed in.
Its recommended that people from Texas do not stop in Louisiana.

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interesting....mobile is already a cluster going through the tunnel....we usually make our first pit stop in baton rouge....how will they know if you stopped in LA?

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Yeah lol. We drove around it officer. Honest. Gfy.

I've been watching Waze this morning. There is activity at the north border near Jax, but not at the Bama border.

They gave up pretty fast.

This is from our condo on Seacrest Beach - which is in Rosemary Beach.
This area was great because food is there and live music every night just outside your window. we'd go down and grab tables and chairs they had set up

https://sowal.com/destination/seacrest-village

Aired up our bike tires there and did some shopping. Needed the bike ride after the massive omelettes at the Donut Hole.

Would you provide a landmark or intersection to identify this area on a map? Thanks.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/30%C2%B016'53.2%22N+86%C2%B001'08.7%22W/@30.2814392,-86.0196162,260m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m14!1m7!3m6!1s0x8893f1fc09006dd9:0xce2205b07291800!2sRosemary+Beach,+FL+32413!3b1!8m2!3d30.2806316!4d-86.0177921!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d30.2814377!4d-86.0190689?hl=en

I grabbed some pizzas from Ticheli's on the Monday that the area was starting to shut down in March. At 8 o'clock they stopped taking orders because they were like 250 orders behind as most of the restaurants were closed.

There's a Publix and a Piggly Wiggly 5-10 minutes away in Panama city beach that is no where near as crowded as the ones near Rosemary, Seaside and Watercolor

https://seasidefl.com/news/seaside-commercial-beach-access

Curious if anyone else has seen this? I can't imagine they can shut down the beach and only give access to people who agree to pay $500-$1000 to sit on a chair for the week but that's how this reads...

I emailed our rental agency to try and seek clarification on this.

That's where we normally stay. Guess I'll be walking a couple blocks east to get on the beach if need be.

SoupNazi2001 said:

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sawemoff07 said:

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https://seasidefl.com/news/seaside-commercial-beach-access

Curious if anyone else has seen this? I can't imagine they can shut down the beach and only give access to people who agree to pay $500-$1000 to sit on a chair for the week but that's how this reads...

I emailed our rental agency to try and seek clarification on this.

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This is why you stay next door in Seagrove. These dumb regulations need to stop. People aren't giving each other COVID on the beach.

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The issue is the public bathrooms they provide there. They I suppose don't have the capacity or desire to clean the heads enough.

sawemoff07 said:

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That's where we normally stay. Guess I'll be walking a couple blocks east to get on the beach if need be.

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If going after May 29th none of that will still be in place.

There are going to be some real disappointed folks next week just walking out to the beach with their stuff as they normally do clueless to all this.......wow!

2wealfth Man said:

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There are going to be some real disappointed folks next week just walking out to the beach with their stuff as they normally do clueless to all this.......wow!

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I doubt that. It's pretty well documented on all the websites what the rules are.

Anybody have any rental companies they would recommend? I've always used VacationsbyPlatinum and they've always been very well priced for condo's. Just looking for different options since I would like to reserve a house this year.