SEASIDE, Florida — It’s hardly a hidden gem, this stretch of beachfront in Walton County on the Florida panhandle. It’s one of the fastest growing regions in the state.
And yet, in all my years of traveling to Florida, I’d never ventured here, didn’t know much about it — until last month, when I was shopping for an easy-to-reach, drivable destination in Florida, closer than the southwest corner of the state where I usually vacation.
Texans, Georgians and Alabamans have been descending for years on this stretch of the Emerald Coast, so-called because of the Gulf of Mexico’s gorgeous green hue here.
In 2020, when the pandemic was depressing tourism almost everywhere, Walton County actually saw an increase in visitors, to 4.5 million, up 4% over the year before.
Despite its growing popularity, the area remains relatively unknown to many of us in the Midwest.
Indeed, when I walked into Modica Market, a small, gourmet grocery story in Seaside, wearing a “Cleveland, Bad to the Bone” sweatshirt, the woman behind the register said to me, “I love Cleveland, Tennessee.”
Come again?
That has never happened to me in Fort Myers, where it seems that half of all visitors are decked out in Ohio State gear.
One of the reasons the area isn’t more popular with Northerners is the weather, which is highly variable in the winter, when Clevelanders most need warmth and sunshine. Peak season here is April through October.
During my recent four-day visit, the temperature swung widely, from the low 30s to the mid 60s. Even so, the weather in northern Florida in February almost always beats the weather in northern Ohio.
And the beach was still beautiful, even when I was wearing my winter coat.
Playing in the surf near Seagrove, Florida in February.
Sunset on the beach in Seagrove, Florida.
Touring 30A
The target of my affection was a 26-mile stretch of Florida coast known as 30A, named after a two-lane county road that parallels the beach in South Walton County, roughly between Destin to the west and Panama City Beach to the east.
Along the way: quaint towns, rugged state parks and miles and miles of some of the most gorgeous beaches I’ve seen anywhere.
The dozen or so towns that dot the coast along 30A are an interesting mix, all unincorporated, most privately developed, some with restricted access.
Each has its own personality, from laid back and liberal (Grayton Beach) to wealthy and formal (Alys Beach).
The best known destination here is the town of Seaside, founded in the early 1980s as a model of New Urbanism, a city planning movement that promotes pedestrian-friendly, densely-developed communities.
It’s a stunning, inviting place with a small downtown, lots of eateries and unique boutiques.
Cars are prohibited in the town’s Central Square, organized around a large amphitheater, which hosts movies, concerts and other performances during the season.
Though designed by different architects, the buildings here have a uniform, integrated feel, a cross between classic cottage and neoclassical, embellished with porches, pillars and picket fences. Most are painted white, with an occasional pastel blue or yellow providing a splash of color.
It all seems a little too perfect. So it makes sense that the 1998 movie “The Truman Show,” about a man unaware he’s living in a made-up town, was filmed here.
Seaside features nine unique pavilions that serve as gathering places and decorative entrances to the beach. This one is the East Ruskin Beach Pavilion.
Porches and picket fences in Seaside, Florida, a walkable community developed in the early 1980s.
Rooftops in Seaside, Florida.
The bike-friendly Timpoochee Trail crosses Western Lake in South Walton County, Florida.
Grayton Beach State Park features three rare coastal dune lakes, including Western Lake, shown here.
Rental prices in Seaside are high, so I booked a condo about 2 miles east, in the area known as Seagrove. On our first morning in town, we rented bikes, which we used as a central mode of transportation during our visit.
The paved 18-mile Timpoochee Trail is a mixed-use path that runs alongside most of 30A, making cycling an easy way to get around.
It’s not the most scenic bike trail, given that it parallels the roadway most of the time, sometimes forcing cyclists to dodge cars in driveways and cross the highway. But it was accessible, well maintained and gloriously flat.
Energized by a pimento cheese and bacon sandwich purchased from one of the Airstream food trucks in Seaside, we biked a couple of miles west of town to Grayton Beach State Park. It’s one of several state parks in the area and home to three rare coastal dune lakes.
These lakes – there are 15 throughout the county — exist only in a handful of places in the world, including Oregon, Australia, New Zealand and Madagascar. Created by wind and separated from the Gulf by a narrow berm of sand, these brackish waterways are home to a wide variety of fresh and saltwater species.
On a nicer day, I might have been tempted to rent a kayak or standup paddleboard on Western Lake, beware-of-alligator signs notwithstanding.
Instead, we hiked the 1-mile nature trail that winds around a portion of the lake, up and down modest dunes and through a stand of long-leaf pine trees. Afterward, we found a perfect spot on the sand to rest our legs.
The beaches here are wide, flat and almost devoid of shells. The sand is primarily made of quartz, giving it a bright white color and soft texture. I could walk for miles on this sand (and I did).
After exploring the park, we pedaled into the next-door community of Grayton Beach, one of the older towns along 30A, with a more relaxed vibe than its coastal neighbors. The outdoor Grayt Wall of Art features a selection of public paintings, plus a sign with the town’s unofficial slogan: “Grayton Beach, Nice dogs, Strange people.”
We had a drink and some smoked tuna dip at the beloved Red Bar, destroyed by fire in 2019 and rebuilt a year later.
(A note about dining in Florida, where there is no statewide mask mandate: It was alarming to see the wait staff at the Red Bar, among other places, without face coverings. I never ate inside, so didn’t feel personally at risk, but it did upset me enough to mention it here.)
The Grayt Art Wall in Grayton Beach, Florida.
Exploring the community of Rosemary Beach in South Walton County.
Rosemary Beach, Florida.
Alys Beach, Florida.
Exploring Rosemary Beach
On our second full day in town, we traveled 8 miles east to Rosemary Beach, another planned community developed by the same Miami architecture firm, DPZ CoDesign, that designed Seaside.
It offers a similar vibe, but with a different style and color palette – neutral browns and greens, instead of bright whites and pastels, with wood boardwalks instead of brick pathways. Cars are deemphasized here, too, with scenic walking routes winding through town.
Rosemary Beach is home to one of the region’s few traditional hotels, the 55-room, high-end Pearl Hotel, where we had a terrific lunch on the porch. Afterward, we took a long walk on the beach.
At both Rosemary Beach and Seaside, the issue of beach access has become a controversial topic. While the beach is open to the public, beach access is often restricted to residents or overnight guests. In downtown Rosemary Beach, we needed a code to open a gate to get to the beach. I went back to our lunch spot and asked the valet for the code; he gave it to me, although I’m not sure he was supposed to.
In Seaside, visitors are required to make reservations for beach access, and rent pricey beach chairs, a controversial policy that was put in place last year to combat overcrowding during the pandemic. The policy wasn’t enforced during my stay in February, but I can imagine it might make some feel unwelcome. (The county does maintain numerous public access points along 30A.)
Just west of Rosemary Beach is a third community developed by DPZ, Alys Beach, which has a look and feel completely different from Seaside and Rosemary Beach – featuring all-white architecture and a more modern, Mediterranean style. Alys Beach is described on its website as a “luxury beach community” and it very much looks the part.
This is not your grandfather’s Redneck Riviera. If anything, the area at times felt too wealthy and exclusive, albeit with a strong Southern accent. This part of Florida felt far more southern than any other region of the state, evidenced in language, architecture and food choices.
On our last afternoon in town, we dodged the raindrops and biked back to Seaside for one more taste of 30A – shrimp and grits at the Great Southern Café, plus a giant slice of coconut cake to go from Modica Market.
We returned our bikes the next morning, then took one final stroll on the beach, certain that this new-to-us coastal paradise would soon become an old favorite.
If you go: Seaside, Rosemary Beach and Walton County’s 30A
Getting there: We drove from Cleveland, 950 miles via interstates 71, 75, 65 and U.S. 331, through Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. The closest airports are Destin-Fort Walton Beach and Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in Panama City. Allegiant Air is scheduled to resume nonstop service from Cleveland Hopkins to Destin in late May.
Where to stay: A majority of visitors to the 30A region stay in rented condos or houses. I rented a one-bedroom unit in Seagrove, located across the street from the beach. It cost about $150 per night in mid-February, which is the off-season for northern Florida. There are a few high-end hotels in the area, as well, including the Pearl, the WaterColor Inn and the WaterSound Inn.
Where to eat: We enjoyed meals at the Great Southern Café in Seaside, the Seagrove Village Market in Seagrove and the Havana Beach Bar & Grill in Rosemary Beach. We also bought a pound of shrimp at Goatfeathers Seafood Market and prepared it in our condo. And don’t miss the collection of Airstream eateries in Seaside, including Meltdown on 30A, with gourmet grilled cheese.
More information: visitsouthwalton.com, rosemarybeach.com, seasidefl.com
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Footsteps on the sand at sunset in Seagrove, Florida.