If you are looking for a family beach vacation destination in Florida, Destin is an amazing choice. The white sand and turquoise water look like you could be in the Caribbean, but there is no need to pack your passport! If you are able to pull yourself away from the gorgeous beach, there are so many other fun things to do there, especially with kids! My family and I love to stay in Sandestin Resort, which is a gated community in Miramar Beach. Our favorite part of this vacation is having a golf cart to ride down to Baytowne Wharf, which is an adorable little shopping and dining area built around a lagoon. There are also 4 championship golf courses on the property, a marina, tennis courts, watersports, complimentary bike rentals, and so much more!
The location is also great because there are huge shopping and dining complexes right outside the gate if you get tired of eating on the resort. Grand Boulevard has an Emeril’s restaurant and Fleming’s steakhouse as well as tons of upscale shopping options. Silver Sands Premium Outlets is also right down the road with tons of discounted shops. There’s definitely something for everyone when it comes to shopping and dining in this area.
When traveling to Destin, we fly into Destin-Fort Walton Beach airport. The drive from the airport to the resort is about 40 minutes. Sandestin resort is actually in Miramar Beach, which is west of Destin proper. The actual town of Destin has older hotels and is much more crowded, so we find Sandestin to be the perfect location since everything you need is right in your own little community. We typically like to stay at the Westwinds property, which is an oceanfront building with direct beach access. We typically book this through VRBO, and I highly recommend choosing a unit that comes with a golf cart! There is also an oceanfront pool with a tiki bar and a quick-service restaurant. The beach also has chairs and umbrellas available for rent, so you can truly be on vacation without having to lift a finger.
My favorite restaurant in Sandestin is The Beach House. It is right on the beach and has an oceanfront patio with live music. The food here is great with lots of fresh seafood options. We like to come here on our first night to kick off our vacation with a tropical drink, some great seafood, and a gorgeous view. The condos at Westwinds come with full kitchens, so I order groceries on Instacart on our 40-minute drive, and when we get there we have fresh food and drinks stocked by the time we are unpacked! We love to have simple breakfast foods available like cereal, yogurt, and granola bars along with some fun treats like donuts and muffins. For lunches, we often pack a cooler for a beach picnic with sandwiches, chips, fresh fruit, and cookies. The kids also have lunchables at least one of the days and we also stock some mac and cheese for a rainy day or if they just need a break from the sun.
For dinners, we love to take the golf cart down to Baytowne Wharf for a night of family fun. Slick Lips Seafood & Oyster House is a great choice. They have great char-grilled oysters, my husband’s favorite, and a full menu with lots of great seafood options and even steak and pasta dishes. Roberto’s Pizzaria is another great family-friendly option with great pizza, pasta, and wings. A lot of the restaurants in Baytowne are outdoors, which I found surprising since it gets so hot there, but these options I mentioned above are both indoors with AC (you're welcome!). There have been a lot of new restaurants added since the last time we were there, including Landshark Bar & Grill which is sure to be amazing, a new Italian restaurant, Dude and Meatball’s, another seafood restaurant, Reel ‘Em In (which offers delivery), and even a sushi & hibachi restaurant, Yaki, which I am very excited to try! Check back in August for an updated post on these new restaurants.
After dinner, the girls love to play at the playground. It is really fun for them and is of course located right next door to the Moo La La ice cream shop. There’s also Tony Laurie’s snow cones and cotton candy across the way, so a sugar rush is definitely in the cards for any family. Baytowne also has so many other fun activities for kids like their adorable carousel, an arcade, and even an Adventure Zone which includes a ropes course, rock climbing, and even zip-lining for older kids. This area is also a playground for adults. During the daytime, there are tons of adorable little shops to browse, and once the sun goes down, the bars come alive with so many fun options like Fat Tuesday & Rum Runners. On Tuesday nights, they have a DJ in the square starting at 6:30 followed by a fireworks show at 8:30. I'm very excited to check this out this year since my kids are both finally old enough to stay up that late ;)
If the kids still have some energy after all of the fun at Baytowne, night swimming is also so much fun! Westwinds has a beautiful waterfall and it is so relaxing to sit out by the pool or in the hot tub under the stars and unwind after a long day. We absolutely love this resort and I highly recommend it for your future travels. There is just so much fun to be had without having to go very far, so you can stay in “vacation mode” the entire trip. There is so much more to do and see here than I could ever describe in a blog post, so I highly recommend checking it out for yourself. If you do, tag me in your travel pics and let me know how you like it!
