How to Plan a Trip to Destin Florida

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

dates you are aiming for
budget for lodging, travel, food and activities
internet

Step 1

WHERE: Select your Florida Panhandle vacation location! Fort Walton Beach is famous for its sugar-white sands and sparkling turquoise waters. Conveniently located only a short drive from the Pensacola airport and less than 7 miles from Destin, Fort Walton Beach offers the natural beauty of the Emerald Coast with lodging prices that tend to be less expensive than its neighbors to the east and west. Whether looking for a day of watersports and sun tanning or a cozy dinner served with southern hospitality, there is a little bit of something for everyone at Fort Walton Beach.

Destin Florida is often referred to as the jewel of the Emerald Coast, due to the natural beauty of this magnificent stretch of coastline. Whether its diving or snorkeling on the natural reefs, wrecks and barges in Destin's emerald green waters, or playing golf at one of the area's pictureseque golf courses, visitors will find Destin to be a recreational paradise. Also known as "The World's Luckiest Fishing Village", Destin is home to the largest fishing fleet in the state of Florida. The area also offers a variety of shopping venues, from national outlets to exclusive local specialty shops, many locally owned restaurants featuring fresh seafood and a number of theme parks. Destin Florida lodging choices are plenty, with condos, hotels and beach rental houses to suit it both the elite and budget conscious vacationer.
Step 2

WHEN: Select when you are planning to go. Try to plan at least a month in advance. Last minute condos are available. But planning ahead gives you more lodging availability.
Step 3

COST: Start to look online for prices of condos/hotels and travel costs. This way you can plan your budget. Overspending is easy to do on vacation. Planning ahead will help keep you in check.
Step 4

Determine if you prefer a condo to a hotel. Families seem to prefer condos in the area. You get the option of bringing in food and many have washers and dryers on hand. These are some great money saving items for families watching their budget.
Step 5

LODGING: After you choose between the amenities of a hotel or condo start considering the size you need for your group. Many 1 bedroom condos have sleeper sofas along with bunk beds. When you look at listings you will see how many people per unit and what type of beds the condo has. Most listings have photos of the actual unit, to give you a great idea of what you are getting. One bedroom two bathroom units generally can sleep up to 6 and will cost you around 2,000.00 for the week.
Step 6

If you are looking for kids activities then a hotel will offer more for you. In the area the Holiday Inn is a popular option.
Step 7

Research the properties you are considering. Several travel sites have recommendations, tripadvisor.com has various online referrals and comments. Be sure to view the date on comments. You could be reading information about local construction that happened in 2007.
Step 8

We have stayed at the Destin West, located on Okaloosa Island. We have also stayed the the Pelican Beach Resort in Destin. We were pleased with both locations and would recommend them to anyone. The Destin West condos location is a little away from the traffic stretch of hwy 98, but you will be traveling that way anyway, so staying on Okaloosa Island or in Destin would be pleasing to you either way.
Step 9

The Sandestin resort comes highly recommended. Sandestin is a very large The Sandestin resort is located mid-way between Pensacola and Panama City Beach Florida. The resort has two sides. The Ocean View side consists of several high-rise condominium buildings as well the Hilton Sandestin. The Bay View side of the resort has low-rise rental units along with the Bayside Inn, is about 5 stories tall and located across from one of the championship golf courses and next to the beautiful bay. Also, there is the Grand Sandestin, a spectacular hotel located near the Village of Baytowne Warf. The Village has a great number of shops and restaurants to choose from.

Activities include golf, tennis, bicycles, casual boats, shops, entertainment, restaurants and nightclubs.

The sand on the Gulf of Mexico is almost pure white with a soft, powdery feel to it.
Step 10

HOW TO GET THERE: Determine if you are going to fly or drive. We prefer to fly non-stop from Houston, when we can plan in advance. Due to Hurricane Dolly hitting South Padre Island we ended up driving to Florida this year. It was a 9 hour drive on I-10.
Step 11

If driving considering stopping half way and spending the night. Find out where half way is for your city and check out the destination. We ended up going past our half way point because it was a gambling city with no vacancies. Hotels.com is a great place to make your booking in advance at a good rate.
Step 12

Located at the heart of the Destin resort area, The Resorts of Pelican Beach overlooks the world-famous white-sand beaches and the Gulf of Mexico. The Terrace at the Pelican is off from the beach with a longer walk and different views.
Step 13

Select your lodging and get it booked early. You'll have a deposit to pay immediately, but the remainder will be paid upon arrival. Then it's time to pack.
Step 14

Links for condo rentals.
www.resortquest.com
www.destinwest.com
www.pelican-beach.com
www.sandestin.com/