Must-see attractions in Gulf Coast

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…

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…

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…

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

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…

This sub-section of gorgeous Gulf Islands National Seashore includes parking, beach access and a picnic area.

This peaceful 1260-acre park is graced with nature trails, swimming beaches and wildlife, including foxes, coyotes, snakes, seabirds and alligators (fear…

Just over an hour from Tallahassee or Panama City, on Hwy 166, the 1300-acre Florida Caverns State Park on the Chipola River has fascinating caves unique…

One of the most sacred sites for local Native American culture to this day, the 17ft-tall, 223ft-wide ceremonial and political temple mound, built with…

Inland from 30A on a peninsula jutting into Choctawhatchee Bay, manicured gardens and lawns front the 1800s estate home of the Wesleys, a wealthy Florida…

On a dramatic bluff overlooking Pensacola Bay, 19th-century Fort Barrancas was built by slaves atop an abandoned 18th-century Spanish fort. The fort, now…