We wrapped up Summer 2022 with a quick trip to Destin, Florida. We vacationed here with my husband's family for many years before we had kids, but we had never taken our kids there. The water is gorgeous and there are lots of family friendly things to do in Destin. It's about 9.5 hours from where we live which is a huge perk for us. We love heading further south - Naples and Ft Meyers - but those are double the distance at least 18 hour drives.
Destin is gorgeous and also more crowded since it's a much more driveable location for many. We avoided the crowds by running errands in the mornings, eating early dinners and eating in the condo. It also felt less crowded than years past because we went July July 27-Aug 2 when many kids were already heading back to school. We picked restaurants that were very close to us so that we didn't really have to deal with any traffic.
We love the east side of Destin and really enjoyed staying at Tops'L. I'll post more about that tomorrow!
I'm excited to share some really family friendly to dos in the Destin area. I hope they'll be helpful if you ever find yourself planning a trip to Destin. The Silversands outlet mall is a great place to shop for your whole family.
We LOVE the Grande Boulevard at Sandestin. There are so many free things (fountains to play in and murals to spot) to do here along with some really nice shopping. Many were closed when we were there, but we still enjoyed walking around and window shopping.
Tommy Bahama // It's our favorite restaurant ever. We love the location in Naples and the location in Destin is amazing as well. Their drinks, apps, food and desserts are all worth the splurge. It's a kid friendly place that we'd recommend making reservations for. I think it would be your best meal of the trip! Vacation Kev is my favorite.
Stay tuned for me to create this mango chicken salad. I almost licked my plate. We love everything we've ever ordered - seafood, crab cakes, coconut shrimp, steak, salads, grilled chicken and all the kids meals are so good. You get free star fish shaped bread with dinner.
The world's best Key Lime Pie. Every person in our family tried it this year and loved it.
Best meal of the trip!
These pretty murals are all over the place! We had a great time finding them and snapping pics. We didn't realize there were fountains to play in otherwise we would have brought towels/dry clothes for the kids. We saw that they also have free movie nights and free games on the lawn throughout the Summer.
Donut Hole Donuts // Amazing donuts! My FIL would wake up early and go get in line for donuts for us. They were all really good. We usually get donuts a couple times and then I cook breakfast in the condo the other days.
Barnes & Noble // It was HOT when we were in Destin. Not terrible and not really any hotter than it would have been at home, but we wanted to find a few things to do in the condo during the hottest part of the day. A trip to the bookstore was fun for all of us. Each kid picked out a couple new books for the week. We'd all spend time reading during the day.
Romeo's Pizza // The guys picked up pizza and bread sticks on their way home from golfing one day. It was delicious!
Louis Louis //
We tried a new restaurant that was really cool. The walls are plastered with fun things to look at - like a giant I Spy for kids. We all enjoyed our food, but likely wouldn't return. They have a pretty small menu and all of the kids meal options were pretty messy. So be sure and look at the menu ahead of time! There is an axe throwing place nearby if that's something you're interested in doing.
Well now I'm hungry! Destin is a fun place :)
Destin was one of the beaches we visited a lot when we lived in Alabama. It's a fun town.
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