10 Best Things to do in Destin Florida

Are you looking for the top 10 things to do when visiting Destin or just living in Destin? Well, if that's what you're wondering, this is the video for you. We've got the top 10 plus a lot extra great information that you want to know about this area, so of course, stick around.

Okay. So, let's get into it, the top 10 things to do in Destin, Florida. And one of the things that people love about this area of course is the beautiful white sand beaches and the access to those beaches. The emerald-colored waters, abundance of outdoor things to do and activities. And it just attracts people from well, all over the world. It used to be a really good kept secret but not so much anymore. Alright. So, let's go down the list and we'll just go ahead and expand on that as we get going.

1. Visit Those Beautiful White Sandy Beaches

So, number one thing to do. Well, let's to visit those beautiful white sandy beaches. That's right, and to visit a lot of our different attractions. Destin has been known as one of the luckiest fishing villages out here. It's located, of course, on the Gulf of Mexico. You also have Choctaw Bay or Choctawhatchee. I think it's how you pronounce it. Opportunities, of course, for all sorts of different things that you'll be looking for, especially number one which is going to the beaches. What are some of the best beaches? Definitely check out one of our videos. Some of the best places to go when you are on the Destin area on the Emerald coast. Of course, it's going to Henderson Beach has been one of the most beautiful areas that you can go to in Destin to check out the beach. You also have Norreigo Point, which is on the Destin Harbor side. It's actually a state park that you can get out there. The only thing that kind of, you know, isn't very convenient is, a complete lack of parking out there for you to be able to get out to that place. But there's a ton of different places to go and of course other beaches that are either in Miramar, or out in Fort Walton Beach where you can go to Okaloosa Island. All those different places, there are miles and miles of beaches for you to enjoy.

2. Fishing

As we mentioned before, Destin is said, is the world's luckiest fishing villages. It's got world class boating all throughout this area. Absolutely tremendous for you to check out the Bay, go deep sea fishing. There are tons and tons of great fishing and boating in the area.

3. Destin HarborWalk Village

HarborWalk is just great to just go ahead and just walk down that entire area. Check out the different shops and the restaurants, and places to go enjoy some delicious libations. There's actually a place with a ton of food trucks if that's more your style. There's usually always some sort of live music happening somewhere, someplace. It's just a really great place to go hang out. It is a little pricey for parking. You don't necessarily have to park right down there by the Emerald Grand. There are some public parking places that you can get or just Uber there. You may be having a good time. For the kids, they also have kid games down there, as well for the whole family. And of course, this is where the docks are. So, if you're doing a tour, a dolphin tour or something like that, this is where you would go to pick that up.

4. Sunset Cruise

Alright. Number four is some of those sunset cruises that you can do on the bay. Now, if you go to Sandestin, this is one of those areas that you can check out. Of course, there's some from Destin Harbor for an array of different ways, different boats. But, the one that I'm familiar with actually came out of Sandestin from Baytowne Wharf, where we were able to go through half dinner on a sunset cruise which is really nice for a nice little date night thing.

5. Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park

Alright, number five, checking out the Gulfarium. Although the Gulfarium is technically in Fort Walton Beach, we're going to include it here. But you can check out a wild array of dolphin’s, sea lions, sea turtles, all sorts of different things out there for you to check out.

6. Parasailing

Number six on our list is to go parasailing. So, if you've never gone parasailing, what a beautiful place to go do this. Again, you can catch a boat out of Destin Harbor to go enjoy your parasailing. And just see what it looks like from the air just going around. And the good news here is that the water's nice and warm, it's almost like bath water. And of course, the air is typically pretty warm as well. So, you'll be pretty comfortable up there.

7. Dolphin Tours

Number seven as we mentioned a little bit earlier is the dolphin tours. This is a great place to go dolphin watching. When you want to go check some certain things out. And there's a ton of dolphin tours for you to check out around here. Heck, you could probably rent a pontoon boat and just go around the bay and catch them going in and out of different areas. Sometimes you'll be able to go depending if where you're staying. Maybe it's at one of those beachfront condos and watch them playing the waves as you're hanging out on the beach. So, it's actually really cool. Alright.

8. Dining

Number eight on our list, is, well, the dining. There are tons of great dining all throughout the Destin area. Destin has some of the best seafood restaurants, you know, in the country. Really, really fresh seafood, get taken out and everything from there. Some of the popular spots that the tourists really like are, like the Crab Trap, The Back Porch seafood, I personally like that one, the Oyster House. And even if you're looking for fine dining, of course, check out the Beach Walk Cafe, which boasts kind of elegant menu with oceanfront settings. And also know as well that, when you are looking at that, most of these places do have kids’ menus as well. So, if somebody's not big into seafood and you are, they can have the chicken fingers. Alright.

9. Shopping

Shopping's great in Destin. It's where the rest of the locals that don't live in Destin end up going to go do their shopping. But Destin Commons is an outdoor mall which hosts a lot of great, just a lot of great shopping. And there's eateries, there's a heck, I think there's a bowling lane that's in there too. Little theme bowling alley that's there. But checking out the Commons is the best way to go for that for shopping in our area.

10. Golf

There's year-round golfing throughout the state of Florida, especially here up on the Emerald coast. And there's a ton of different golf courses, some world class golf courses that you're going to find here in the Destin area. So, definitely going around and getting that if you're a really good golfer or a pretend golfer like me. There's plenty of places to go check out.

Some other things I wanted to add to this too, what are some of the prettiest beaches in Destin. As I mentioned before, Henderson State Beach Park is probably going to be the prettiest one out there. It's actually got the secluded stretch of short line. Which of course has the same sort of that white sand beaches, emerald color water. They've got natural dunes out there. Now, you're not supposed to get on those. You got to like walk over them. But they look real pretty, of course. And it just really makes kind of a peaceful escape from the crowds and all the other beaches that you're going to go to. If you like crowds, don’t go to that one.

So, what do the locals like to do? I know some people have been asking us that. There's hiking, there's biking, throughout the areas in the state parks. Of course, this is one of those great areas where you have white sand beaches that are flanked by lush forests. Whether you're going down to 30A. I know my wife and I like to go do that on occasion, do a little staycation down there or anywhere else. There are just beautiful places for you to go out. Of course, kayaking, we have paddle boarding. Also, very popular activities out here.

And of course, Crab Island is another big one in the summer for you to go out and check out. And of course, shopping in the local boutiques and this is just a great kind of place to go, kind of spend the day just checking it out.

So, a lot of people have been asking, when's the best time to actually go and visit Destin? So, if you haven't checked that out, we have a whole video on this but I'll give it to you now. The best time really is going to be sometime in late April to early June. And if it's not then, it's late August to October. Why? Because it's going to be that time where the crowd’s kind of filter out. The weather's not brutally hot. It's kind of like somewhere in the flux and it's when most of the festivals are happening in our area too. So, it's a great time to get here and the rents aren't going to be high if you're visiting. And personally, one of our favorites that we have here. And if you're looking for the cheapest time to come here, of course, consider traveling during our winter months where there's really not a whole lot of people in this area. And of course, you'll still be able to enjoy a lot of the amenities, except it's a little bit colder, the water is definitely colder. But, you still have access to all those other things. We don't necessarily shut down like some tourist towns do in the off season. Everything stays pretty much open.

Alright. And, a couple of things to mention as well, some pros and cons of moving to Destin.  Just know that some of the top 3 cons for moving to the Destin area, if this is a place that you want to stay.

Traffic

Of course, it's the traffic. Especially during our tourist season. Anytime between March is when it kind of kicks up all the way and the worst time is in July. You know, in the peak summer months. And then you get into August where it starts to kind of dip down again, but the traffic is horrendous. I suggest that you use Google Map or Waze when you're trying to plan to go anywhere to make sure that you're good to go there.

Jet Noise

Second part is that if you're not used to jet noise, we do have military bases that are around here and there's a lot of jets and military aircraft flying all around. But if you want to go out there and wave the American flag on the beach, you could totally do that. I love that, I know I used to love that when we used to fly. But, yeah, you can, just know that though that could be something that you'll be subjected to.

Humid and Hot

And of course, it's number three con is it can get really humid and hot at the same time. It feels like you have to run into the AC from one place to another because it could get dreadfully hot. Right?

Now, some of the pros of moving to this area is, well, the community is going to be my number one pro.

Community

The reason I still live here. You got a mix of a Florida beach town, a tourist town. We've got tons of military, ex military here. And it's kind of like a southern atmosphere that all gets thrown into one and it just creates this great absolutely great environment. Right?

Access to the Beaches

Another pro for this area as well, is the access to the beaches. Right? You have access to these beaches year round. A lot of this is public access where you'd be able to go over. When you live here, you kind of know the back ways to get around different places. So, that's really advantageous.

Investment Oportunities

And number three, I'm going to say is the investment opportunities out here as well. If you do own a property here, because of the stability of our market, because of the military presence that's in town, a lot of these things when the market makes big fluctuations, it's kind of held together. If you're looking to get an investment property to do short term rentals or long term rentals or what have you or just buy and hold a property and then cash out later. There's a very secure investments when it comes to our area.

Alright. Well, that's all I have for the top 10 things to do in the Destin, Florida and more. If you have any questions about anything that we mentioned here, please feel free to call/text us at 850.320.7757 or email us at Admin@WhittemoreGroupRE.com