Over the past 3 years, we’ve fallen in love with magical 30A on the Florida panhandle. Listen in to get our favorite areas of 30A and the things you can do there to have an incredible family vacation!
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Resources
- Blog Post: Where to Stay in 30A in Florida
- Our Airbnb in Gulf Place
- Our Airbnb in Blue Mountain Beach
Transcript
Rod: Welcome to the Jetsetting Family Travel Podcast. I’m Rod. And I’m Jess. And today we’re continuing our coverage of different US destinations. And as we were thinking of places, there’s a place that we visit constantly that we haven’t yet talked about much on this podcast. So, I know we want to dedicate that to today.
Jess: I was telling Rod, we were trying to think of a podcast episode for today, and I’m like, have we not talked about 30A ? What? I was like, we own two Airbnbs in 30A. That’s how much we fell in love with this area. And so let’s start off with where is 30A?
Rod: Yeah, what is 30A? What the heck is 30A? Why is it a number?
That’s, that was my first thought when I heard about the entire area. So just to give you some context, 30A is technically the city is called Santa Rosa Beach, and it’s a stretch of highway road along the Florida panhandle by the Gulf between Destin and Panama City in Florida. So Highway 30A, there’s, it’s this small road. I think it’s like between 18 and 25 miles long.
There’s a bunch of bike paths and a little like preserve areas. They built an entire community of different little towns that all have these different vibes, but they all have beautiful stretch of beach. And let me tell you, the Gulf area, the water color there is spectacular. I think. Personally, that that is some of the nicest, clearest, most like beautifully blue water that you can find in at least the continental US.
Jess: Yes, definitely the prettiest water I’ve seen in the US is along the Gulf, but especially this 30A region. And I think what makes it even more special is not only do you have crystal clear blue water that I only thought you could find in like The Bahamas or the Maldives or something, the sand there is like unlike any sand I’ve ever experienced.
It’s like snow, like sand. It reminds me of White Sands, New Mexico that we talked about last week. Yeah. It is like this white sand that sometimes blinds used to wear some sunglasses, but the way that the sand hits this crystal-clear blue water, it is absolutely breathtaking. And I think if you’ve been to Panama City or Destin, you’ve probably experienced this water and sand to some degree. But what makes 30A really special are the towns along this 20-24 mile stretch of Scenic Highway 30A because for whatever reason, on 30 A, every little town has, like Rod said, different vibe, a different charm, a different. Feel to it. So it almost feels like you can stay in one of the little towns, but you can easily explore the rest during your week’s stay.
So it feels like you’re getting to see a lot of different places, but with so much ease, like all in one vacation. And honestly, we never heard about 30A until we moved to Florida. Never heard of it in my life. We moved to Florida. We kept asking people, where do you vacation? Where do you vacation?
And everyone’s like, Disney or 30A? I’m like, 30A? What are you people talking about? And we went, and we, I think it was the first trip we went there, we put an offer in on a home.
Rod: Yeah, yeah. It was December of 2020.
Jess: We fell in love and I to this day am still just as in love. Every time I go back I discover new little places along 30A and I’m just in awe.
And honestly, I feel like I want to start using our rentals more because it is that magical and it is that special and it’s such a beautiful place. So let’s start giving you a breakdown of what you can expect when you visit this charming 24 stretched miles of the United States that you should not miss!
Rod: Yeah, I think most people that go either they’re driving in from Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida itself as well, but there’s an airport close. I guess the closest airport would be the Destin Airport or Panama City, or Panama City. I think both of those are about, 30 to 45 minutes, I would say from either side of 30A.
So for this episode, I think we’re going to break down 30A, starting really from like the west edge of the highway, and then go through the different communities there to give you like the different flavor of what’s different about this area and how does that compare to others. Because you can have very drastically different experiences depending on what it is that you’re looking for and where you decide to.
Jess: So, we’re going to start with Gulf Place. Yeah. So Gulf Place is where we bought our first Airbnb and Gulf place. It’s funny, the west side of 30A in these 20 some miles and the east side are so drastically different. Like they are very vastly different. So with Gulf Place, you can expect a more laid back Florida vibe.
So Gulf Place, you’re going to see a lot of people in swimsuits headed to the beach. Super casual, super laid back. It’s really cool because Gulf Place is one of the communities on 30A that has like a hub. So if you get a rental property, in Gulf Place, you can pretty much not use a car the entire week you’re there, to get to anything you actually needed.
Now, if you wanted to go up and down 30A, I’d recommend biking. You can bike the whole thing. There’s an entire bike trail to get from the west to the east end. If you’re not a biker, you will need a car, but okay. In Gulf Place itself, you have several restaurants. Some of the more popular ones are Shunks Gulley is like an oyster bar, and they have just really great seafood and they have live music.
You have the, the Perfect pig. The Perfect Pig is a barbecue spot. They’re pizza by the sea. Pizzas by the sea are kids love going to for pizza. There’s an incredible, incredible ice cream store there that you cannot miss. Yep., Pecan Jack’s, the name of it. It is incredible. Sunrise Coffee is there.
There’s little shops you can rent easily. A bike or a paddleboard from yellows. It’s in that little town center. There’s a liquor store, so you can literally park your car. Be steps from the beach and you can walk to dinner, ice cream shops, liquor stores, pretty much anything you need is right there.
The only thing maybe not is a grocery store, right. But besides that, you have everything at your fingertips. And then they have like a giant community park, which in the summers they do live concerts. They have an artist, little gallery square where they do little crafts with the kids in the summer.
And this, cute picturesque little like green space. So it’s like all the apartments are nestled around this green space and then it’s directly across the street from the beach. And this part of 30A is where like your laid back vibes are. It’s just chill.
Rod: Yeah. Yeah, it is. And there’s few events there.
I mean, the dining is good and all of that, but the proximity to the beach, it’s very easy to get to. Literally, you’re crossing the street. I mean, 30A is just one lane going in each direction. So yes, it does get busy in the summers where there might be some traffic, but generally it’s pretty simple to just walk across the street.
There’s a public beach there, but also if you’re staying in the Gulf Place development itself, you’re most likely going to be given a code because there’s a like private entrance to it’s still the same beach, but it’s less, less crowded populated. Yeah, less crowded. Part of it. And it makes it really easy to go like to and far for your different wherever you’re staying.
Jess: I will say Gulf Place. One of the things I love about Gulf Place is one, the laid back vibes, but two, the beaches are less crowded. I feel like the east side of 30A, you’re going to get a lot more crowds. So I think that’s something beautiful about that site is you can really enjoy the beach.
Rod: Yeah, and I think one of the interesting things about 30A in general is you’re not going to find a lot of like big chain hotels there.
Most of the waterfront property there, there’s maybe a few high rise buildings might more into the central area. Closer to the east side, but generally it’s like condominium buildings or short-term rentals that are maybe three to four stories max. And that lends itself to, it doesn’t look like a, like massive getaway, right.
Or a super touristy place. It’s very laid back like we’ve been describing, and I think that that’s something that you’ll find throughout the stretch of 30A that we’re going to talk about.
Jess: The next town over is actually the other town that we have a property in, and that is called Blue Mountain Beach. Blue Mountain Beach is absolutely beautiful as well, but Blue Mountain Beach is different from Gulf Place in that it doesn’t have like a central hub, I would say the same as Gulf Place does.
So, right. There’s not this giant green space. You’re not going to find the concert. It’s a little bit more spread out. I think people love Blue Mountain Beach because it does give you more of a community feel. So a lot of the rentals there are homes or there’s, I think we’re one of the, there’s not many apartment complexes like, in the inner parts of Blue Mountain Beach, but they are tree-lined. It feels like you’re kind of in a neighborhood, like you would be in a suburb somewhere, but it’s still very easy beach access. There are restaurants there, so it’s not like there aren’t any restaurants there. Right next to our condo, they just opened up this incredible Italian restaurant.
It’s so, so good called Mimmo’s. That we absolutely love, and we’re grateful that that opened. There’s several other restaurants there.
Rod: Yeah, there’s the Blue Mabel, there’s an Irish bar and restaurant there. You’ve got the Redfish Taco shop that is really charming, really good food. There’s music there and events and really good ice cream as well as coffee shops.
So what you’ll find in each of these little towns along 30A is they’re all going to have their own set of amenities. They’re going to have their bike rental shop, their paddle board. Some places, you can rent golf carts as well. And that will make it easier for you to go along 30A to visit the different little towns along there.
Yeah, blue Mountain Beach. I think it’s the, the place in the community where our Airbnb is, is a little bit more removed from the beach itself. So it’s about a half mile, so I’d say 10 to 15 minute walk to get there.
Jess: But I love it because, It’s a gated community and like the kids can skateboard and bike ride to like, we’re literally steps to the pool in that area.
But like the communities in Blue Mountain, unlike Gulf Place, it’s not as highly trafficked. So like the kids can ride their bikes and skate and they have a little bit more freedom. Cause it’s not such a tourist hub. It’s definitely feels like you are in a community. Yeah. Rather than like an actual.
High traffic
Rod: forest, like a vacation spot, rental
Jess: place. Yeah. That’s cool. What is cool about Blue Mountain Beach is if you’re into parks, it’s right next to the Point Washington State Park, and it’s also really close to the great and Beach State Park. Last time I was in 30A, we rented bikes and we actually biked through both state parks and it was really, really cool.
I mean, we were there in minutes. At the Grayton Beach State Park, we’re about to talk about Grayton Beach next you can see the sand dunes, and it was just really, really cool to be able to have access to those. I mean, Blue Mountain is literally steps away from the state park. So if that’s something that interests you, that is a really great location, and it’s also a calmer location on 30A, you’re not going to see the crowds, you’re not going to see the huge hustle and bustle. So if you’re looking for more of a laid back vibe, definitely recommend Blue Mountain Beach.
Next up we have Grayton. So Grayton is, Grayton Beach is surrounded by the Grayton Beach State Park, the Grayton Dunes, which are really famous.
And it’s literally not a hard bike ride at all from Blue Mountain Beach. So if you’re in Blue Mountain, you can easily take a five 10 minute bike ride to Grayton. So they’re really close together. Grayton is a little, it’s different. It’s funny because they, they, they sound kind of similar. They’re going to get more drastic as we go.
Grayton is a very charming, what I think of as old, old Florida. Like this is like sandy roads. Bare feet. Yeah. In the trees. Like, I don’t know. The dunes are there. You see the, where the, The river meets, like where the dune lakes flow into the ocean. Right. And so it’s a very different atmosphere. We haven’t ever stayed in Grayton, so I feel like we… yeah. Need to.
Rod: And from what I’ve heard too, Grayton Beach also has a very local living, type of flavor. I think there’s still a big local population that lives in Grayton Beach, so it might be harder to find short-term rentals. I’m sure they’re going to be available there, but that’s my take on it. I mean, the bar there has been there forever.
It’s a local staple in the community.
Jess: It’s called the Red Bar. And you should, as a tourist, if you make it to Grayton, go to the red bar. It’s super, super cool. Yeah. It’s not what you’d expect at a beach town at all. And it’s. I don’t know. It’s just fun. And you do see a lot of locals at the Red Bar, but Grayton, I would love to stay there, but we are so close to it.
Staying in Blue Mountain, it’s Grayton’s just kind of a place we’ll bike to and go to the Red Bar, kind of check out the dunes and then head home. But it is really, I don’t know. It’s different. It’s beautiful. Yep. The next town is drastically different. Oh yeah. Than the previous three. So your next town is actually what is like 30A is most famous for?
I would say it’s like when you see pictures of 30A, you typically see the town of Seaside. It is drastically different. And that Seaside is this pristine, perfect town. It’s like if you pictured the town that the Stepford wives was in, this is Little Seaside and it is so cute and just so perfect and it just looks like it’s out of a book and they actually film this show.
Rod:
It was the movie, The Truman Show.
Jess: The Truman Show was filmed in, in Seaside on 30A, but in Seaside, everything’s all white. It almost kind of reminds me of like miniature white houses. Yeah. Like smashed together. Oh, yeah. It has the most photographed post office in the United States. It’s the cutest little white building.
Seaside is one that has in a giant, kind of like golf place, but it’s fancier and way bigger. Yeah, way bigger. A giant amphitheater area. So there’s a huge grass field in the center of Seaside where the kids can run and play and they, have concerts and right in front of that they have this like Airstream food truck set up where you can go to different Airstreams, our favorites, the grilled cheese one.
Oh.
Rod: Santi loves his grilled cheese there, they have barbecue ones there. There’s a coffee one. So…
Jess: seaside has a much bigger hub. So to list off all the places you can eat and grab drinks, they do little Frose. You can walk up and get like a Frose to walk around with. There’s this amazing outdoor shopping area that’s pretty small.
It’s like a boutique I’d say, but it’s right by the beach. All of these locations we’re saying are beachfront. Just so that you know. I’d say some of the most famous places at Seaside to eat are Bud & Alley’s Waterfront Restaurant and Bar. There’s like a rooftop you can watch Sunset. I did that last time in Highly, highly, highly recommend it.
There’s the Great Southern Cafe.
Rod: There’s the Ducky’s Toy Shop there, that our kids love going to. I think one of the, the, I, I don’t call this a downside to Seaside, but something to expect is that area is so popular that getting in and out of there and finding parking if you’re driving in, is going to be a lot more difficult, particularly in spring break and summer months and short-term rental prices.
There are also going to be more on the higher end. Just because there is so much demand and it very much feels like Seaside is very central when it comes to 30A, it, it feels like it’s in the middle of that entire stretch of beach. So a lot of people will be visiting there. It is going to be pretty crowded, but it’s crowded and popular because it is beautiful.
Jess: It’s beautiful and it. More of a luxurious vibe. So like in Blue Mountain and Gulf Place, you’ll, I, it’s just more casual. I mean, it’s not uncommon to see people in flip flops in their board shorts, and that’s about it. I’d say in Seaside you’re going to have, it’s more of a preppy vibe, you know, it’s more.
It’s just people are preppier, people are a little bit more put together, it seems. So yeah, I mean it’s still a beach town, so don’t think, you can’t be pretty casual, but Right. It’s just the vibe there is a little bit more put together. Yeah. And it’s beautiful. It’s. It’s truly, if you are staying anywhere on 30A, you should take time one day. The two days if you aren’t staying in Seaside, I do not recommend driving. There are Saturdays and Sundays, and that’s because 30 a, a lot of homes rent their homes on a seven-day system, so you have to rent Saturday to Saturday or Sunday to Sunday. Not every Airbnb, but that’s most common in that area. Yeah. In summer months.
And so Saturday and Sunday are super, super high traffic areas for people to be leaving or entering their Airbnb homes. And so 30 days even more packed. So I’d suggest going during the week if you can. Yeah. Definitely. We also need to talk about Watercolor. So watercolor is directly after Grayton Beach.
You’re going to hit watercolor. Watercolor is actually it’s beautiful lined streets of these gorgeous homes. It is one of the more expensive areas on 30A. You can find really good deals, on the west side in that Gulf Place and Grayton and Blue Mountain we just talked about when you hit Watercolor, your prices are probably going to double or triple, at least.
At least. A lot of the places in watercolor are enormous. There are giant homes where you can have multiple families stay in them. And one of the big draws of staying in Watercolor is the Watercolor Beach Club. It is the most famous beach club. You can only access it if you were staying at a Watercolor home.
This beach club has an enormous pool. It’s extremely, it’s like right beachfront. So you have access to your pool, you can walk to the beach. They have food and drinks there, and I think it’s just one of those places everyone wants to go to the beach Club. And in order to do that, you have to rent a home in Watercolor.
Watercolor itself has other amenities like little clubhouses. They have the Watercolor bloat House, but it’s more of like a residential town with the perk of this beach club. And then the other perk is right east of it is Seaside and Watercolor and seaside are so close together. If you’re staying in Watercolor, you easily walk to Seaside in five minutes.
Rod: The next destination that we want to talk about is called The Big Chill. So after Seaside there’s, I’d say there’s a couple of miles of stretch between Seaside and The Big Chill, which also used to be called The Hub, that’s called Sea Grove.
And that area, I’d say it’s more, just rental properties and a couple of condo buildings, but I wouldn’t say there’s like a distinguishing community or a central area for that portion of 30A. So that’s why we’re going to move on to this area called The Big Chill. And the Big Chill is between Seaside and the Eastern Edge of 30A, which is Rosemary Beach.
And there I, I’d say the Big Chill is kind of a combination of a lot of different communities that we’ve talked about. So the Big Chill will have a central area that is a smaller in scale version of what Seaside offers. Right? So it’s this big open area. Well, not, maybe not as big, definitely not as big.
But there’s a bar. There’s different food stalls in areas. There’s different shopping around there, and there’s this like turfed lawn area where you can watch movies they put on live sporting events and they have different activities in the area. And I think the other combination piece is it does have a more of a suburban type of feel to it, similar to how Blue Mountain Beach does.
So there are communities of kind of homes and condos there where if you’re staying in that area, you know that you’re going to have pretty much walking distance proximity to get to the big chill. And I think one of the downsides there is the, the beach access is a little bit more difficult, so there’s no direct beach access from there.
You’d have to take a shuttle, which I think the Big Chill provides a shuttle bus that will take you to the nearest beach there. But that is the downside. The, the big chill itself, we’ve been there several times. It’s great. You’re always going to be trying something different there. There might be different, pop-up shops that come up and new things and new events are being added all the time, so, That’s a, that’s a place where if you want a combination of like a lot of the communities that we’ve already talked about, then it would be a good place to check out.
Jess: Yeah. The Big Chill for me, when I go, I think what I see is it’s a great place for a lot of young families.
For me, the biggest, like Rod said, downfall is the beach. I like to walk to the beach, so I don’t want to take a tram to the beach. But when you go to the Big Chill, you’re going to see a ton, a ton, a ton of young families with little kids, from babies to, I’d say about, I mean all ages, but I notice a lot of like babies to eight years old.
And it seems like the kids are always playing in that little screen area. And they also, most of the rentals in that area, are part of that community that has like a giant pool. So even though you can’t walk to the beach, you do have the pool. It’s a beautiful area. We love to get dinner there, but, the beach access is hard for me.
Rod: Yeah. Especially when it’s such an amazing beach.
Jess: So the next big area we’re going to talk about is Alice Beach. So between the Big Chill and Alice Beach, you have Seacrest Beach. So it’s another little stretch of more affordable homes because they’re not really in a hub community, but they’re still beachfront and they’re beautiful.
But when you get to Alice Beach, this is where you notice a drastic difference.
Rod: Oh yeah, if you think Seaside was high end. So Alice Beach is, I would say higher, higher end.
Jess: Alice Beach is like millionaire’s paradise. Yeah. So Alice Beach is Greece in Florida, like everything in Alice Beach is white. It’s like white architecture, but it’s like gorgeous, super high end’.
I mean, you want to, I mean, if you thought like you could make Architectural Digest come to life and spew out a city of beautiful white and woods and metals and everything gorgeous in these million dollar homes and put them beachfront. That is Alice Beach. It’s a very, very small community. I mean, you can walk through the entire town of Alice Beach in 30 minutes, but yeah, it is gorgeous.
And you notice the difference when you’re driving 30A cause it’s like, Highway 30A, the road. It’s like this one lane highway. It’s beautiful to some degree, but it’s bland. And then you hit Alice Beach and it’s like Beverly Hills Rodeo Drive. I mean these palm trees meticulously lined. The bushes are absolutely pillar perfect.
Yep. I mean, it drastically changes so, If you’re driving 30A and you notice like, oh my gosh, all of a sudden, where am I? You’re probably in Alice Beach area. I absolutely love going to a place for breakfast called Raw and Juicy. It’s like a, it’s a very healthy, natural place, but they have great avo toast, great coffee.
They have a playground there for the kids to play. They usually have live music on the patio. Yep. My favorite thing is to have breakfast there, get a to-go coffee, and then the second I’m done eating breakfast and the kids that I’m playing, I love to walk the streets of Alice Beach, their beachfront gorgeous homes and admire the architecture.
One thing about Alice Beach to know is as much as it’s beautiful to hang out in and walkthrough. There’s really not a ton of Airbnbs there. It’s a harder place to stay at, one due to cost. And two, it, I believe a lot of the people who own those homes, they don’t rent them out. They don’t have the need to rent them out for extra income.
So yeah, but it is absolutely beautiful and really, really, really cool to walk through. The next little neighborhood through there is I said Seacrest Beach earlier, which Seacrest Beach, Seacrest kind of has a stretch, and then you hit Alice Beach and then there’s this Seacrest Beach area in between.
Alice Beach and Rosemary Beach. Well, this Seacrest Beach area is where a ton, a ton of people rent homes because it has, I think, the largest pool on 30A. It’s enormous. Yeah. And there’s a huge mix of apartments and homes that you can rent there. And, they have to walk a little bit for beach access, but not, it’s doable.
There’s also a tram available. To me, the reason people rent so much in Seacrest is Seacrest, that particular area is right in between Alice Beach and Rosemary, which are two of the more popular destinations on 30A. Since they’re not in Alice Beach or Rosemary. You can get them at more of an affordable price.
Yeah. So it allows people to be right in between two and like from Seacrest Beach, some of those homes you can. Either way in the very easily in 10 15, yeah,
Rod: five to 10 minutes you’re at either side to Alice or Rosemary,
Jess: But they’re lower in price. And so I think that’s why Seacrest Beach is such a hotspot for rentals because it’s, you can actually get in there without paying crazy fees, but I do think there are perks of staying, like in the actual hubs themselves. Right? The one big negative for me for Seacrest Beach, even though I love it, and I think it’s a great destination for people to stay, is due to the popularity, based on affordability and location, the beaches there get packed.
So I highly re recommend staying in Sea Crest area. If you are going during off season in like, June July, spring break timeframe. It’s not a bad option, but you need to set your expectations accordingly. That area will be a lot more crowded, beachfront wise. I mean, you might have to sit four rows back from the beach compared to the opposite side of 30A.
But it is great for affordability. It’s great for families. Most of the people who stay in Seacrest walk over to, there’s this little Seacrest hub. That you’ll see a ton of bikes there to rent. Yeah. And then they have little different food stands. Once again, they do have their hub. The hub is in more of a trafficky area, so…
Rod: Right. And it’s, yeah, there’s a lot more condensed apartments there, so you will hit some more traffic. You might hit some crowds in lines at the restaurants there, especially in the busy season. And, yeah. And after that it’s our last area or community, which is Rosemary Beach and feel like we’ve saved the best for last, at least from Jess’s perspective.
Jess: I love Rosemary. I know everyone loves Seaside, but like Rosemary to me is where my heart was. I give Rod crap because we looked at getting an Airbnb there and we decided not to, and now it’s gone up so much in price in that area. Forget it. Maybe, maybe in 10 years when this podcast takes off. I’m just kidding.
Yeah. Rosemary, unlike Alice Beach, where I said Greece meets the sea. Rosemary’s where, Germany, to me, meets the sea. It’s a very different architecture. It’s European in general, European, and you have the main road there in Rosemary Beach. It’s like you’re walking down this alleyway of these tall European architecture buildings that’s just so quaint and picturesque, and you Honestly, whenever I’m there, I just think.
I’m in Europe, like I transport, it’s like I’m on vacation in Europe or something. Yeah. And you can walk down and at the end of the street you hit a little grass field the kids like to play on and the beach is right there. And Rosemary is beautiful. They have gorgeous farmer’s markets. On the weekends it’s just, I don’t know. It’s beautiful, the whole town to, if you rent in Rosemary, there are a few apartment options. My favorite area is High Point because they’re apartments that are also beachfront, which is rare to find. But it’s a lot of homes. Like I think if you want the ultimate Rosemary experience, you’re going to get one of these beautiful homes with a little carriage house.
Rod: Yeah, it’s going to be a little bit pricier, but going to be pricey. You are going to have that beautiful vibe with the European look. And I think in, in Rosemary itself, there’s a lot more food and shopping options and some of these other communities, so it’s a lot more walkable. There’s more events there. Like Jess mentioned, the farmer’s market.
I think, there’s like a grassy stretch on 30A itself in Rosemary Beach where tons of people, they set up all of their booth and you can check out some of the like local stands and flavors that they have there every week.
Jess: Yeah, it’s truly my favorite area and I think that’s why Seacrest isn’t a bad option because you can easily, you can find something more affordable and still truly experience Rosemary. My favorite place in Rosemary to go grab bites to eat is Pescados.
They have an amazing selection of food, but they also have really cool night events with live music. I went to a piano bar event there for Mardi Gras and had the best time. It was absolutely amazing. So definitely be sure to check that out. It was so much fun. But there’s the Pearl. It’s a hotel. It’s one of the few hotels on 30A is gorgeous.
It kind of looks like a French hotel. It’s on the corner of that beautiful street I told you about Main Street. They have a really cool rooftop bar there and their right beachfront. So the Pearl, if you’re looking for a hotel rather than Airbnb, would be the number one place I’d recommend on 30A to get a hotel.
It is absolutely beautiful and it’s right, I mean, steps away from all of the restaurants that you could possibly need. But there’s just a ton of cool, cool places. I think, either Seacrest, Rosemary, or Alice Beach. If you stay in any of those, you can easily walk to different places and get different vibes.
Some of the places Rosemary’s a lot longer of a neighborhood, so depending on where you get your home, just know you might have a further walk from the beach.
Rod: Yeah, and there’s a whole separate area on the other side of like the northern side of 30A, so you might have to cross 30A and yep. Get to that kind of private beach area that Rosemary has.
Jess: But yes, I think every area, it’s so hard cause I want to show you guys pictures through this podcast and I need to just describe it with my words. But I think the main hubs, like my two favorite places on 30A are Seaside and Rosemary. So why don’t we own a home there, well cost, it’s, it’s very, very expensive.
I think right now to get into Rosemary, you need at least 1.5 million to 2 million probably. Oh yeah. To be in the back and that’s like a thousand square feet. So since that’s not where we are at in life, we have a place in Gulf Place and Blue Mountain, and we can easily do day trips to these gorgeous towns.
Yep. But Seaside and Rosemary are, to me, the highlights that I think you should definitely prioritize. But the whole area is beautiful. I think I love about 30A is you get multiple vacations into one. I’m going to throw in one last place. If you go to 30A, I think you should visit, it is not on 30A.
But it’s not that far. Especially if you’re staying on the west side. Yep. Of 30A, it’s like a 15 minute drive. And that is a place called Baytowne Wharf. And Baytowne Wharf is a highlight for the kids. They love going there. I think it’s an amazing day trip that you shouldn’t miss out if you’re in the area.
Baytown Wharf is not by the ocean, it’s inland. It’s almost where you’ll see, there’s a pier where a lot of catamarans and boats dock and stuff. Yeah. But, it is a family fun adventure zone essentially. There is a huge, huge free playground that the kids love to go to, but then the Baytown Wharf is like, I don’t, it’s like a city, like not a city.
It’s a small type of town along this little lake, but they have different activities along it. So there’s like an arcade, there’s zip lining, there’s a carousel. They have like little, you know, arcade.
Rod: There’s a huge playground. Yeah. There’s a doll shop. So it’s very family friendly there. Lot of different food options.
Jess: There’s a ropes course the kids can do and so it’s almost like going to a family fun center, but it’s outside and it doesn’t really feel commercial like that. Yeah. The cool thing there is they have tons of restaurants and bars and you can actually grab a drink if you drink like a daiquiri and walk around with it throughout all of Baytowne Wharf.
So sometimes Rod and I’ll go grab a drink, he’ll grab a beer, I’ll grab a mojito, and then we walk around and let the kids do the arcades and the playground. and it’s just a really, really, really laid back, but fun day. Yeah. As a a family, it’s one of my highlights cause I feel like, I don’t know, the kids always have fun when we go there and it doesn’t feel crazy or stressed.
I will mention though, Rod and I only go to 30A in off season, so. I’m not sure what Baytown is like in the peak of summer. Maybe it’ll be a Disney in Yeah, the panhandle maybe.
Rod: And that, that’s a good topic too, because a lot of the questions that we get is, why should I go to 30A or kind of that area instead of going to Destin or Panama City Beach.
And I think a couple of years ago, the answer to that was because you get a more intimate, charming vibe in 30A and I think 30A has become more popular. There’s been, you know, a lot of coverage, a lot of growth in that area where yes, there it, it is going to be more crowded there during the peak seasons. It’s not, still not as commercialized as Destin and Panama City Beach are.
Right. So you’re still going to have a very much small town feel in these different pockets of 30A, but I wouldn’t, I can’t guarantee right, that you’re going to show up there and you’re going to have the place to yourself. It is a very popular destination now. So do your research. Make sure that you, you understand that driving in the peak season is going to take you longer because 30A itself is a very small highway and it can get backed up. I think the speed limit for that whole area is 25 to 30 miles an hour. So just be prepared to, to be having some traffic, if particularly, if you’re going out to dinner and you’re going to that central area in Seaside, there’s only a couple of entries and exit, roads from 30A to the main, state highway there. So just, yeah, take a look at the map and see where you’re booking in relation to all the other places that we talked about. So you know what to expect.
Jess: Yeah. So with that being said, I think the nice thing about I’d say Rosemary and Blue Mountain more than the other towns is they’re on the edges of 30A.
So you don’t have to drive down 30A highway necessarily to get to them. Correct. It’s like a straight shut off the main highway. Seaside’s the one that’s a little trickier cause it’s like right in the middle, but yep. 30A is magical. I don’t know if we could really put into words how magical I think it is.
I think something to know in case we haven’t, is that all of 30A is connected with this really long bike path. So if you’re athletic or your kids love that a lot of 30A can use golf carts as well, you see quite a bit, although they are starting to hunker down on that. I know like Rosemary, you can no longer park a golf cart in Rosemary.
So something you need to look for. Those rules and regulations are changing often, but it’s a beautiful, beautiful place to paddleboard to enjoy the beach, and to really, really have a great, great vacation. I think it’s a favorite for me. It’s nicknamed currently amongst the South as it’s the Hamptons of the South
So you need to go and let me know if you think that’s fair. Yeah.
Rod: And we do have a lot of resources on 30A on our website, so we’re going to link it on our show notes. You’ll be able to access our show notes by going to thejetsettingfamily.com/episode46. So we have a blog post that kind of gives you the rundown of the different destinations.
We’ll link our, our different Airbnbs there so you can get a sense of to as to um, what the kind of vibes are in Gulf Place and Blue Mountain Beach, where we have Airbnbs. And we’ll also put a couple of other different resources for you to check out there just to make sure that you have the information that you need to make a, a good decision on where to stay.
Jess: Definitely check out the blog post though. Cause there’s photos, and I feel like you need to see photos to really picture how different the towns are. Oh, yeah. So yeah, absolutely. I hope you guys check out 30A I hope if you go, you give us a shout. Maybe we’ll cross paths and be there at the same time.
Yeah. You never know. So, until next week, Happy Jetsetting!
