Hi friends!
As many of you know, I traveled to 30a, FL a couple of weeks ago in early September, and had a BLAST. I hadn’t been to Florida in years (other than my bach trip to Miami) and also had never heard of the area “30a”. If you’re unfamiliar with what 30a is or you’re looking for things to do, places to eat, or where to stay, I’ve got ya covered and will be sharing everything below!
30a is an adorable area off the coast in between Destin & Panama City. It’s full of the cutest neighborhoods and the beach is beautiful! I’m talking white sand, turquoise water & pink sunsets. The neighborhoods I visited and would recommend when in 30a would be Rosemary Beach, Alys Beach, Watersound, and Seaside! I’d also recommend renting a car if you’re flying in because although each neighborhood is just minutes away, it still may be a bit too much for a bike ride. Now when you’re in a neighborhood, definitely rent a bike! It’s worth it, especially when in that Florida heat.
Rosemary Beach
Such a cute and quaint area! Some people say it reminds them of New Orleans but for me, I kinda felt like I was in France. Just a little! Here you’ll find The Pearl RB Hotel. Whether you’re staying there or sitting on the patio for lunch, you have to take a photo in front of the hotel. It’s too cute to pass up!
Alys Beach
Okay, when planning this trip, I read in someone’s blog post that Alys Beach reminded them of Greece & I swear I busted out laughing bc I was like ha, yeah ok! WELL friends, I stand corrected. The architect with the blue skies behind… beautiful. I swear every home and business is white. It must be a rule or something LOL but I highly recommend walking around and taking in the views.
Watersound
This is where we stayed and we have ZERO regrets. We stayed in a gated neighborhood that was SO charming & cute. What sold me was the walk from our neighborhood to the beach. Less than a 5 min walk and it’s so DREAMY no matter the time of the day. 10/10
Seaside
We came to this area a lot because they have a ton of restaurants! You’ll find everything from food trucks to restaurants off the beach to even a couple of patio bars. This is the perfect area for kids, in my opinion, but Henry & I loved it. We even found public access to the beach! OH & super clean public restrooms. They’re behind the post office!
Public Beach Access: We found public beach access right before you pass the “Watercolor” sign. Drive past Shrimp Shack & all of the food trucks and you’ll eventually see the Watercolor sign on your right. Park on the street & across you’ll see homes but just walk past them! You’ll eventually see signs and then the big yellow & purple flags. This came in handy for us when being in Seaside for lunch and not wanting to drive back to Watersound to go to our beach! I can only imagine how packed that tiny area can get so again, try to go to whatever beach you have access to unless you plan to spend the day in Seaside!
Pro tip: When staying in a specific neighborhood, it usually comes with access to that beach and bikes to use. If your hotel/home does not come with this, ASK! The reason why you’re going to 30a after all is for the beach and finding public access can be challenging (& also crowded)!
Where To Stay:
If you follow me on IG then you know I was having a hard time finding a cute place to stay in Florida. Everything looked so ugly and outdated. That was until I started looking at places in 30a rather then Destin. Just an FYI!
- Rental Home – Whether its Airbnb, VRBO, 30a escapes, Vacasa, or the tons of different rental home websites, this would be my top pick! We stayed at this house and we went through VRBO but!!! it would have been cheaper to go through the original listing website, 30A Luxury Vacations. You avoid the VRBO fee’s and VRBO was ZERO help when it came to rescheduling my trip although I purchased the travel insurance. Shoutout to Hurricane Laura! A quick call to 30A Luxury Vacations and they were able to reschedule my trip at no cost.
- Hotel – The Pearl RB, located in Rosemary beach is so freaking cute and chic. We wanted to stay there so badly but unfortunately, they were all booked (not shocked). If you’re traveling with kids, I would not recommend this hotel as they do not allow kids in their pool!
- Hotel – WaterColor Inn & Resort, located in Santa Rosa beach. Although I’ve never been here, I’ve read great reviews. Each floor has a “treat room” filled with all types of snacks for free and that’s honestly what sold me, lol.
At the time, I’m unable to tell you about other hotels due to the fact that I haven’t stayed in any, hence my first trip to 30a, lol. But, we enjoyed our road trip there so much that we would love to make this an annual thing! So, I’m excited to hopefully share more hotels & homes in the future.
Where We Stayed:
We stayed here and would recommend to everyone! It’s located in WaterSound and is in the cutest neighborhood. It’s a guest house that sleeps 2 comfortably but could fit 3 adults. There’s also a couch and enough room for an air mattress if you’re trying to packhouse! As mentioned above, what sold me was the walkway from the neighborhood to the beach. Just so gorgeous. I did a timelapse on my ’30a, FL’ IG Stories to prove just how quick and close the beach was from our home. I promise it was less than 5 minutes & that’s with us aka Henry pulling a cart full of beach stuff. The house was the most expensive part of the trip (due to VRBO fee’s & the extra cleaning fee thanks to coronavirus) but again worth it because well 2020 sucks and its okay to splurge a little. Also, as mentioned above, I wouldn’t recommend booking via VRBO. Just book via 30A Luxury Vacations. The house came with 2 bikes to use which came in handy because The Hub was about a 4-minute bike ride away & at The Hub, there are tons of restaurants! With our house, you also get access to the neighborhood pool which we did not use but could have. Another win was, the beach was EMPTY. We rarely saw people & I don’t know if that’s because COVID is around or because it’s a private area of the beach that people in our neighborhood weren’t taking advantage of? Either way, it was a win!
Pro tip: You can rent beach chairs & an umbrella with a table but it’s about $50 a day. Do what we did & go to your local Target/Walmart (about a 20-minute drive from WaterSound) & purchase them yourself! Our beach chairs were $5 each, tiki umbrella was $25 (unable to find online so I linked a similar product) & we can use it over & over again. I’d also recommend investing in a wagon. It’ll be your best friend when walking to the beach. It held our chairs, umbrella, beach bag, towels, mini cooler, snacks, sunscreen & much more. Our wagon was $50 again, worth every penny + can be used back home.
Where To Eat:
First I’ll list where we ate & where I’d recommend to eat after reading reviews & what not!
- The Hub, located in WaterSound – Perfect for lunch or early dinner. This place is great because it’s full of different restaurants with indoor & lots of outdoor seating. This was about a 4-minute bike ride from our house in WaterSound and not only can you eat here but you can also shop, watch sports or a movie, depending on what’s on the big screen. There are also clean public restrooms! We ate at Duo’s All American Eats & Sauce It. We really enjoyed Duos! We had a burger, smoked wings, chili cheese fries & 2 alcoholic drinks. The burger was a bit sad. I think adding another patty & making it a double would have helped big time. The buffalo smoked wings were large & good. The chili cheese fries were AMAZING, omg. It was topped with brisket & we tore it up basically. 🙂 Our mojito & frozen strawberry daiquiri were good but we couldn’t really taste the alcohol if I’m being honest. Overall 7/10. Another night we had pizza from Sauce It & I would not recommend lol. The price was decent, $25 for a box of pizza but it just was not that good. Pizza is not hard to make people, lol. 4/10
- Bud & Alleys, located in Seaside – Perfect spot for lunch. Highly recommend to go upstairs and request to sit on the patio. It comes with a view of the beach! We had the infamous crab cake that was very hyped up & grilled fish of the day (salmon). Both entrees were good but not sure if it was worth the price. My crab cake did not fill me up and I obviously knew that at the moment but later regretted not getting something bigger. Service though was amazing! Overall 6/10.
- BFF, located in Seaside – Perfect for any time you want to drink, lol. This “bar” is right next to the Great Southern Cafe and a great place to get some drinks before dinner next door. We had 2 frozen drinks and they were good! Also, it’s not a bar you can go into. You walk up, order, receive, then walk away with your drink. Overall 9/10.
- Great Southern Cafe, located in Seaside – Perfect for any time of the day but we went for dinner. This place came highly recommended from people we knew & didn’t know and honestly……… 4.5/10. Overpriced. The wait was FOREVER. The food was OK but just not worth the price or wait time AT ALL. I had the grilled gulf white shrimp with fries & mashed potatoes and it was literally ok. Like I really think I could’ve done better. Henry had the bacon-wrapped filet mignon and again… it was ok. Overall not worth the price and it took almost an hour to get our food. We were frustrated and although we totally understand that a lot of restaurants are extending their patios due to COVID & social distancing, it would have been nice to actually sit in their patio and not outside of the restaurant in the middle of a walkway under a white tent lol. 4.5/10
- The Perfect Pig, located in WaterColor – Perfect for breakfast. I hate to sound like I’m hating on all the restaurants but I just was not crazy about the menu here. 😩 I had the parmesean crusted grilled cheese sandwich & Henry had the Breakfast skillet (he replaced the grits with potatoes). Both of our meals were ok (hahaha take a shot every time I say our meal was ok LOL). My meal was way too cheesy BUT what was I expecting??? & the flavor in Henry’s was just not our jam. Also, there were several flies that bugged the heck out of us. We did enjoy that there was no wait though. Overall 4/10.
- Shrimp Shack, located in Seaside – Perfect for lunch. Cute little shack (literally) off the beach. I had the steamed shrimp & Henry had their infamous lobster roll. Lol, okay… don’t get that lobster roll. For the price, it should have been WAY bigger and WAY better. It sucked, I said it. It was also tiny. #thatswhatshesaid My shrimp was delicious but that place was so expensive. If you’re gonna go, just get a basket of shrimp!!! Their lemonade was good but yet again.. pricey lol. Overall 6/10.
- Frost Bites, located in Seaside – Perfect anytime because who doesn’t love snowcones! Loved this little food truck. The serving is HUGE and worth it because again, Florida heat is no joke. This place reminds me of Bahama Bucks. Not as good but still would recommend! I had a cherry snowcone with vanilla icecream in the middle.
I know I sound like I’m hating on a lot of the restaurants we went to but I’m just being honest! I totally get that in touristy area’s the price will always be more. I’m happy to may a little more as long as the food is worth it and in this case, that was the problem with a lot of the restaurants we went to. The food was OK. We still ate it though and things definitely could have been worse! 🙂
- Havana Beach Rooftop, located in Rosemary beach – We didn’t get to eat here but wish we would have! This place looks perfect for lunch as it has a great view of The Pearl Hotel. Pro tip: it opens at noon!
- La Crema, located in Rosemary beach – This place came highly recommended but tapas aren’t really our thing so we skipped out on it. The food looks good though!
- Caliza, located in Alys beach – Oh my gosh the pics of this place look like a great time. I am SO bummed we didn’t get to eat here. They were booked every day we were there. Definitely call in advance of your trip to book a reservation! I’d recommend you to go for an early dinner.
- Pescado, located in Rosemary beach – EVERYONE goes here and highly recommends. Definitely a place you need to make reservations for prior to your trip. It has a great view and I’d recommend an early dinner to watch the sunset!
- Black Bear Bread Company, located in Santa Rosa Beach – This place looks cute & aesthetically pleasing lol. The carbs look delicious as well! I’d recommend going for breakfast.
If I’m being honest with you, I’d say do not spend a lot on food. There’s no point! I’d say eat from the food trucks that are quick & most likely cheaper. Pack your own food for breakfast or go to the nearest grocery store & eat out maybe for a nice dinner or fun lunch. If we ever go again. that’s most likely what we’d do!
What To Do:
- Beach – I mean duh, that’s what you’re there for! Remember to stay somewhere that gives you access to the beach or look up public access prior to going. Don’t forget to bring your own beach chairs & umbrella rather than renting, you’ll save SO much. PACK BUG SPRAY. OFF unfortunately is NOT good enough because Florida apparently has biting flies??? I talk about that later in this post.
- Bike – Rent a bike and ride around! 30a is full of cute areas and its great for photo op’s!
- Explore – Explore the neighborhoods! Whether it’s by car or bike, we spend half a day checking out Rosemary & Aly’s beach. I really wish I would have found the neighborhood with the cute colored homes but nonetheless, each neighborhood is so unique & charming!
- Shop – I saw tons of shops in Seaside, Rosemary & WaterSound. Some stores I’d like to check out next time are: Disco, Pish Posh Patchouli’s, and Tribe Kelley Surf Post
- Spa – I so badly wanted to have a couples massage at The Pearl RB but those prices were steep so I passed lol 😅
- Bonfire – There are tons of companies that will host a bonfire for you & whoever you’re with. We saw a family do so on the beach during sunset & I’m sure they stayed there all night. Looked fun!
Biting Flies
If there’s anything you’ll take with you from this post, please let it be this. BE AWARE OF BITING FLIES. They will literally RUIN your trip of they’re around. TRUST ME. Ok, I’ve never ever everrr heard of a fly that bites but apparently its a thing! It can happen one day and be gone the next, it just depends on what way the wind is blowing. Literally, I’m not making this up lol. On our third day in Florida, we went to the beach and immediately were swarmed with what we thought were mosquitos until we realized how big they were and saw that they were flies! We were trying to take pictures on the beach and literally could not even take ONE photo because the flies were THAT bad. We went back to the house and got our OFF spray. We came back after drowning in OFF and it changed absolutely nothing for us. I’m telling you, we couldn’t sit still for more than 1 second before being bit. We left the beach and asked locals how to get rid of them. They recommended “cactus juice” so we drove around for an hour looking for that and it was either sold out or at ACE Hardware which was way too far. Finally, we meet a local who shares with us that its impossible to get rid of those even with cactus juice. 😕 I then went to google and read lemon/lime juice, eucalyptus/lavender oil, avocado/coconut oil, & a ton of other things that may work. We settled and purchased the cooking oil. We tested it out and it did work but just a bit. We had to go pretty far in the ocean to get away from those suckers & even then, one would be flying around us. It truly was the worst as it kept us away from the beach for honestly maybe 3 hours and for lunch that day, we could not eat outdoors. I’ll never go to the beach again without some type of repellent that is made specifically for biting flies. Oh, & we didn’t just get bit from those when at the beach. It was even when in a neighborhood. Keep in mind that biting flies don’t leave you itching the way a mosquito does BUT their bite HURTS and it does itch for a a while. I’d choose mosquitos any day over a biting fly & that’s because I’m allergic to mosquitos. No joke!
Roadtrip from Houston to Florida
The road trip from Houston to 30a is about 9 hours but with stops and traffic, it can add a little more time. Due to COVID we chose to drive rather than fly but honestly, we’d do it again even when COVID is gone! My only advice is to try to not stop when in the beginning parts of Louisiana. We went 1 week after Hurricane Laura and it was tough finding a spot to that was either open or had running water for a quick potty break. Another place I wouldn’t recommend stopping at is Alabama. Henry & I felt sooo uncomfortable and were ready to get out of that gas station ASAP. Put gas in Houston or Florida and again in Louisiana (away from any hurricane damage). This is a GREAT vacation to take during these crazy quarantine times or even when things are better!
If you’ve made it this far, THANK YOU. I put a lot of effort and details into this post so I hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like my day to day 30a itinerary, let me know! I promise it’ll be shorter than this post. I also have another post coming up where I share all of the outfits I wore on this trip. Until then, keep up with me on the LIKEtoKNOW.it app! Have you been to 30a? If so, is there something you’d like to recommend? Let me know in the comments down below. Until next time!
Xx, Es <3
