By Car in Florida Panhandle

By Car

The main east-west arteries across the top of the state are Interstate 10 and U.S. 90. Pensacola is about an hour's drive east of Mobile. Tallahassee is 3 1/2 hours west of Jacksonville. It takes about four hours to drive from Pensacola to Tallahassee. Driving along Interstate 10 can be monotonous, but U.S. 90 piques your interest by routing you along the main streets of several county seats. U.S. 98 snakes eastward along the coast, splitting into 98 and 98A at Inlet Beach before rejoining at Panama City and continuing on to Port St. Joe and Apalachicola. The view of the gulf from U.S. 98 can be breathtaking, especially at sunset, but ongoing construction projects make it slow going most of the time. If you need to get from one end of the Panhandle to the other in a timely manner, you're better off driving inland to Interstate 10, where the speed limit runs as high as 70 mph in places. Even with the extra time it takes to drive inland, you'll wind up getting where you need to go much more quickly. Route 399 between Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach was completely destroyed by Hurricane Ivan and, as of this writing, was not open. Major north-south highways that weave through the Panhandle are (from east to west) U.S. 231, U.S. 331, Route 85, and U.S. 29. From U.S. 331, which runs over a causeway at the east end of Choctawhatchee Bay between Route 20 and U.S. 98, the panorama of barge traffic and cabin cruisers on the twinkling waters of the Intracoastal Waterway will get your attention.

Car Rental

Contacts

Alamo (800/462-5266). Avis (800/331-1212). Budget (800/527-7000). Hertz (800/654-3131). National (800/227-7368).