We are staying at a condo that is right next to the beach. Last night we decided to go to the beach…read moreand watching the sunset. It is kind of cold at night during march. The sands were so soft and floury in texture. This place was not too busy at the evening time, which was nice, probably due to weather.

We drove over to Crystal Sands Beach after a track meet in Jacksonville, FL. This was the first…read morebeach I've been to in the Panhandle area. It was a great introduction. White sand, clear water and very peaceful. Definitely coming back soon!

A white sand public beach where you can have fun with family, friends, loved ones, or just your…read moresolo selves. The area is nice and clean. There are rinse off only shower stations and public baths facilities as well. If you get hungry, then there's the popular Crab Trap restaurant, right on the beach overlooking the Gulf Sea. A couple of other restaurants are within walking distance of the Crab Trap as well. Parking is available on the street or the adjacent parking lot. It's a popular spot to hang out, but the beach is not crowded, which is a plus.

Destin is OVER! The private beaches have taken over. The public beaches are terrible & few. Destin…read moreUSED to be nice. Its garbage now with huge areas of beaches roped off & no one is using them while most aren't allowed. We WASTED our vacation coming here this year. Do not come. If you want to be packed on a "private" resort beach on chairs for rent ONLY for $55 per day! This is FLORIDA not St Thomas. The mayor sold all the beaches. Its terrible, over priced & now for nothing but empty chair packed beach. Seriously do not come.

You have to try this spot! It is known to locals, as we were told to go visit this spot by a family…read morewe had visited with on the pier near Okaloosa Island. We were in search of dolphins and sharks, and the gal who told us about this local spot mentioned that she has always seen tons of wildlife in this area. It was not too difficult to find, but it took a little bit of looking at the map to locate. It is located right off Gulf Shores Drive. Know that this road dead ends, but it is located right before the dead end. You can pay to park on the street, and the small beach trail is located on the left.. Follow the path through a narrow opening, and it leads you to the bay. Crazy enough, this is where all the sunset dolphin tours go to search for the dolphins. You can't beat the location, as it only cost five dollars to park! You get the same view as the sunset dolphin cruise boats. Unfortunately, due to the hurricane, the bay was quite rough. We were not able to see anything, but I realize that is very uncharacteristic to this area. Due to the hurricane, the waters were rough and filled with dirt. The natural emerald like color was a replaced with dark, murky waters. It was still a wonderful spot to see the sunset! You could climb up onto the rocks and just watch the sun disappear beyond the bay. I definitely will go back! We met a nice local at the spot, and we were told that this is the perfect place to find decent size seashells. I think this would've been a completely different experience if the water were clear and the waves were not as rough. We were also told that around the rocks, around the perimeter of the bay, sharks are sometimes seen stocking their prey. I'm sure there were some in the water, but like I said, due to the hurricane, visibility was rough. It is definitely a hidden gem, and I cannot wait to go back!

Came down here for sunset. We walked down to the jetty and saw some dolphins. Really pretty. I…read moredidn't see any bathrooms. I think you are supposed to pay to park.

Great spot with usually a decently amount of parking if you time it right! I love that there are…read morebathrooms as well. Beautiful beaches as you'd expect in the area!

Very clean! Life guard on duty, bathrooms, rinse off station, down the way from the island is less…read morebusy. Great for kids

If you need a couple of chairs and an umbrella these guys do it right. 33 bucks gets you 2 chairs…read moreand an umbrella for the day. The staff is friendly and always willing to help. If your lucky you will run in to Sam, he's always willing to help.

Isaac, Gabe & Eric really hooked us up this week. Good group of guys, always super friendly and fun…read moreto be around. We'd come back just to see Isaac again.

My family and I had the best time - we had a few hours to kill on a drive down south. Stopped here…read moreoff a recommendation from friends! The springs are great and enjoyable and the paddling back to the livery is such a fun adventure! We took our kids (ages 10, 9 and 6) everyone had a wonderful time.

Had an amazing time. Rented the kayak and took a 2 hour float through the beautiful scenery. Saw…read moreyellow humming birds, turtles, cranes and lots of fish. Beautiful blue spring.

What a lovely stroll the Okaloosa Island Pier afforded us on our recent trip to the Fort Walton…read moreBeach area. For a nominal fee of a couple dollars per person, you can enjoy a walk out on this wonderfully maintained pier, affording you beautiful views of the water and beach. Seriously, what's not to love? There are folks who fish from the pier and you may do so but the pier charge is a bit more for that. It was fun to see the anglers wetting their lines while we strolled by. I believe you can even rent fishing gear right on the spot if you're traveling and don't have it with you. For us, we just enjoyed the peace and serenity of strolling down the pier and then doing a little ocean gazing. Get to it!

We saw the pier while on the beach and decided to go the next day. It's $2 to walk and $8 to fish,…read moreand we really should've realized while in line that it was primarily a fishing spot. People walked by with all their catches and everything. We each paid the $2 to walk anyway, and the entire pier is lined with people fishing! We did go during Memorial Day weekend, so I understand this is a busier time, but wow. It made for a smelly walk. Only the area near the shore had space for taking photos, so we were off the pier in like 10 minutes. Going for the sunset seemed great until actually being there, but we did learn from the signs on the pier that they would have a firework show, which we came back for. The firework show was about 5-ish minutes long, but it was great! They go all out at the end, so there's a lot of fireworks going off.

Destin, Florida is a city in NW Florida located in the Panhandle. They have gained notoriety as the…read morebeaches are magical with Emerald Waters and Powdery White Sand. Interesting fact, the sand is that way from granite deposits that flow from North GA and beyond all the way down into the Gulf as silt. Because of the beaches, the area attracts more and more tourist every year and IMO is getting more luxurious as the years go by. I've noticed better restaurants, more aesthetically pleasing looking buildings and just a more upscale feel with each visit. I'm writing this here because I noticed many of the beaches along the 6 mile coast are PRIVATE. I'm not sure which beach to actually post this review but I find that simply horrible, ridiculous, backwards and restrictive! Who adds gates with Codes to a beach?!?! I can understand a handful of properties and major resorts but to secure majority of the coastline with Controlled Access? In my particular visit I stayed at a resort and had the codes for entry/exit but found many people having difficulty simply getting to the beach! I don't think they knew the beaches would have controlled Access! Even to exit, you need a code! That's shameful! It was frustrating to see people struggle with umbrellas/coolers and chairs only to have to find the Public Beach and have to walk back to their car. May I add the city also doesn't have any form of boardwalk to enjoy a long walk down the coast or some form of transportation to maneuver the public/private beaches! You're basically on your own! I'm curious Who/When/How that got approved because that's definitely some backwards N. Florida, My Property, ME, ME, ME planning! I'm not a resident but I believe some things on this planet are public and Imo a beach is one of them! Plus their has to be better ways to protect and maintain these beaches than blocking them off from the general public. Any who, for anybody planning a Trip to Destin, Please do your homework! Visit the website below which has hyperlinks for all the beaches which explains access points/fees/sizes of the beach and more details. I'll also attach a picture which shows a few of the main Public Beaches. It does appear the largest beach is Henderson Beach with1.22 miles of shoreline. Seems like the general "Dump the masses" area. The others are significantly smaller! smh. Any who I hope this helps! One Last detail, We had many umbrellas and chairs however this was literally the 1st beach that didn't have Umbrellas for sale on the beach. It's just very restrictive down there and is worthy of a review! https://www.cityofdestin.com/281/Beach-Information

Great beach there's a restaurant at the park The Crab Trap. Very expensive one drink was $19, the…read morebeach is very nice has very fine soft white sand great place for kids the water is calm 50 yards of shore still waste deep. There is also a restroom and cloth changing station.