Must-see attractions in Florida Panhandle

Glowing an otherworldly aqua and overhung with Spanish moss, the natural spring at the center of this 6000-acre state park feels like something from the…

A visit to Pensacola is not complete without a trip to this enormous collection of military aircraft muscle and artifacts. Adults and children alike will…

Offshore from St Andrews State Park, this sandy 'desert' island is fantastic for sunbathing, swimming and snorkeling. There are neither facilities nor…

This lovely park, a quilt of beach and pine forest, brackish bays and fuzzy salt marsh, is a fine slice of increasingly rare Gulf Coast wilderness…

The highlight of the Florida Panhandle, this 150-mile stretch of mostly undeveloped white-sand beach is a prime example of what the Gulf Coast looked like…

This park is worth a stop for a dip into the 72˚F crystalline waters of the beautiful eponymous spring. On dry land – a spongy combo of sand and limestone…

An 1133-acre stretch of marble-colored dunes rolling down to the water's edge, this state park's beauty is genuinely mind-blowing. The park sits nestled…

St George island at its undeveloped best is found here, in the 9 miles of glorious beach and sand dunes that make up this pristine park. A 2.5-mile nature…

Occupying 52 acres of pristine manicured gardens and wilderness on the outskirts of Tallahassee, near the airport, this wonderful natural-history museum…

This park features one of Florida's loveliest and least touristed springs. The spring has clear, almost luminescent waters, like something from a fairy…

Just a few minutes from Apalachicola, but accessible only by boat, lies this pristine island. Its pearly dunes reveal 5000-year-old geological records,…

There's some 1640 acres of natural beauty to discover at Topsail, including quiet white-sand beaches, sun-battered wetlands, sand pine scrub forest, a 2.5…

Get a taste of the wilds on the Panhandle at Big Lagoon, a quilt of salt marshes, pine forest, bays, ponds and beaches, all interconnected by boardwalks…

About 25 miles southeast of Tallahassee you'll find the St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1931 to provide a winter habitat for migratory…

You'll find over half a million acres of longleaf pine, bottom land forest, blackwater streams, cypress hammock, lakes, rivers, woody swamps, wiregrass,…

This fascinating park preserves ecosystems that run from wet prairie to sandy shoreline to the eponymous Tarkiln Bayou, an eerie, alluring spill of dark…

Home to 250 species of bird (including ibises, pelicans, egrets, herons and double-crested cormorants), 10 species of reptile and one romantic lighthouse,…

This alluring coastal state park protects the 247-acre barrier island of the same name, a windblown, sand-strewn landscape of rolling dunes, tufts of…

Our favorite beach area in Destin is this state park, which includes a 0.8-mile nature trail. There are also some excellent beachside campsites ($30),…

Although all of Destin's beaches are family-friendly, this beach is maybe a little more family-friendly, given the presence of restrooms, a picnic area…