Hi everyone! So I know I’m a little delayed in writing this but figured better later than never! Two weeks ago Stephen and I flew to Destin for a vacation with my family – basically a chance to celebrate my sister getting her graduate degree and an opportunity for us to all to get together since that was obviously limited over the last couple years. We mostly just relaxed at the Airbnb and went to the beach but I had some of you ask if I could just recap my experience in a blog so you could reference it for later. So I’ll share whatever info I can even though it may not be a lot!

I will first say, I usually don’t have the best impression of Florida. I mean don’t get me wrong, I have friends who live there and love it and we all know Grandma Missy lives there and we love to go visit! But usually it’s not on the top of my places to visit (no offense to anyone living in FL – I know there are good and bad parts to every state. I mean the same thing goes for NC LOL)! But Destin was SO gorgeous and such a cute town. First off, the water is BLUE. Like Caribbean blue. I mean we were like, we should have come here instead of the Bahamas haha. So all that to say, if you are looking for a domestic trip that feels very tropical, Destin would be a great spot! You can also rent kayaks, paddle boards, go parasailing, etc. so it felt like there were also a good amount of options of things to do.

As fas as where we stayed, we went the Airbnb route. We typically stay in Airbnbs but especially when traveling in a bigger group I feel like it’s always the more cost efficient option vs. a hotel. Plus, this way you can actually hangout with everyone and spend time together more easily which is obviously harder to do if you have to retreat back to different hotel rooms. This is the Airbnb we stayed in. You could not beat the location – it was right across the street from the beach and you had wrap around balconies on all sides (10th floor) and one had a view of the ocean. It also came with 4 beach chairs and 2 umbrellas which was so nice to have. The sun there is INTENSE – like I didn’t even lay out and wore SPF and my face still burned so be careful! Haha. But yeah, needless to say having the chairs and umbrella set up was amazing. The condo also had tennis and pickle ball courts so we took advantage of those as well. They do have a pool but it wasn’t anything to “write home about” but it will still nice to have. Overall though the Airbnb was cute, clean, great location, etc. – would definitely recommend.

I wish I had some good restaurant recommendations but we didn’t go out a ton. But here is where we did go/order from:
-The Donut Hole (So there are two different Donut Holes but owned by the same person. We just went to the one closest to our Airbnb. You can eat there but we heard that there is always a wait so we just picked up an assortment to go).
-Fat Clamenza’s (Italian spot that was very good! We did takeout from here one night. Pizzas were deelish and we also got eggplant parm and rigatoni alla vodka which didn’t disappoint).
-Culvers (Picked up dinner from here one night. If anything, do yourself and favor and go get yourself a concrete from here if you’ve never had one!)
-Cantina Loredo (Went here for dinner one night and the food was pretty good but nothing so good where I’m like YOU HAVE TO GO haha. But it’s in a cute shopping center in Destin that has great stores, so it’s a fun area to grab dinner or drinks and walk around. Someone suggested La Paz for Mexican so probably worth checking out that spot if you’re looking for good Mexican food).

Overall if you’re looking for an easy to get to, warm/tropical vacay location that is also laid back and not $$$ (ie. Miami), I think Destin is such a great spot. I feel like it’s definitely family friendly too so if you have kids I feel like it’s a great option as well. Let me know if you have any other questions! xx