With beautiful sugar-white beaches, northwest Florida has been a secret well-kept by locals for years, although Panama City, Destin and Pensacola cater to tourists. All three cities have beach-side amusements with places to rent jet skis, charter fishing boats, go on a dinner cruise or learn how to scuba dive. If you're a fisher, check for contests such as the Hog's Breath Cobia Tournament in Destin that awards up to $100,000 prize money.
High festival season begins in the Florida panhandle once fall hits. In September, Pensacola hosts the popular Pensacola Seafood Festival at historic Seville Square downtown. Revelers can enjoy shopping for arts and crafts, live musical performances, cooking demonstrations, a 5K run/walk, a children's area, a fishing tournament and enough seafood to please any gourmet. The next month in Panama City Beach at Frank Brown Park you can enjoy a three-day festival known as the Seafood, Wine and Music Festival featuring top country-music headliners, wine tasting and more seafood. Formerly known as the Indian Summer Festival, it's been updated to include events like a classic car show, arts, crafts and antiques as well.
Right next to Fort Walton Beach's Gulfarium lies "Howl at the Moon," atop a boardwalk of stores and restaurants overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Here you will find drinks, a dueling piano show and national comedy acts on Sunday evenings. Seville Quarter is Pensacola's downtown nighttime entertainment center in the historic district. The restored antique complex with New Orleans-style wrought-iron balconies contains a dance club, various eating venues and bars with live entertainment from jazz to country, plus a billiard parlor with electronic games. In Panama City, both Schooners and Club La Vela on the beach are hot dancing spots. La Vela bills itself as the largest nightclub in the U.S., with 11 theme rooms and space for more than 6,000 people.
For splashy fun, try Big Kahuna's Water Park in Destin or Shipwreck Island Water Park in Panama City. At both, you can swoop down water slides or relax on a lazy river. Panama City's Cobra Adventure Park and Destin's Track Recreation Center offer kiddie rides, go-cart racing, mini golf, game arcades and extreme rides.
Fort Walton Beach, next to Destin, and Panama City Beach both have marine parks with dolphin, sea otter, seal and other live shows. Panama City's Gulf World Marine Park also offers swimming with the dolphins, while Fort Walton's Gulfarium features a meet-and-greet dolphin program.
