we need a clean, quiet, and inexpensive place to stay for three days in Port St. Joe Florida. Any ideas? Does anyone know about Dixie Belle or Surfside Inn or any others? Thanks!

Are you looking for a beach location? I've driven into Port St. Joe to go to the grocery store while I'm staying at a rental on a beach, but it's not the best town for a beach hotel.

I could be completely off base here and someone will correct me if I am. For a hotel on the beach, I'd head a bit further west. There are great beaches on the east side, but there are only rental houses, etc. or the cabins at Cape San Blas.

This puzzled me, so I googled to try to find out more. Dixie Belle says it's 1/4 mile from a beach, but then talks about the beaches of Cape San Blas 20 miles away.

The only hotel I could find on tripadvisor was the Gulf View Hotel. Check out tripadvisor for two positive reviews. One did note that it had a Port St. Joe address but really is in Mexico Beach.

If you don't need to be in PSJ, Mexico Beach has a lot of inexpensive hotel choices.

Hopefully, someone will have more/ better info than I. I LOVE the beaches east of PSJ, but just can't visualize a section of PSJ itself with beaches I'd want to stay on.

thanks so much for the answers. We are staying on the cape for a week following but wanted to spend a couple of days before renting kayaks and a boat. The beach is not neccessary, since we hope to get plenty of that in later. Just need a place to stay while we do other stuff.

That should work then. There are also some places in Apalachicola you may want to check into as well.

Don't remember when scallop season is, but friends enjoyed scalloping in the bay too.

Are you planning to rent a pontoon off CSB? Friends have done that and had a blast. Loved the dolphins swimming alongside the boat.

Have a great trip - and be sure to eat at Indian Pass Raw Bar (if it's still open. I don't know if it was damaged during last year's hurricanes).

I have stayed at the Dixie Belle several times. In fact, my office rents the entire complex for a weekend of fishing & scalloping the bay flats and grass beds. The Dixie Belle is a small, 1950's style strip motel with 15 rooms. While it is quite old, it is very quaint, extremely clean and well kept. The couple who manage it live next door to the office and are very friendly and helpful. A couple of the rooms have kitchenettes.

The motel is on the outskirts of Port St. Joe. If approaching from the west on Hwy 98 you will reach the Dixie Belle before getting into town...if you blink, you will miss it. There really isn't anything around the motel. You have to go into Port St. Joe or back toward Mexico Beach for stores, resturants, etc. There is another, newer motel in St. Joe proper, but I have not stayed there and can not recall the name. Looks nice enough, but more expensive and without the "personality" of the Dixie Belle.

Port St. Joe is primarily a fishing town and does not offer "beach" access. There is a nice little park in town which has bay access. The draw to this little town is the grass beds and flats in the bay, and the spectacular fishing. Hubby and I wade the flats and fish for trout, red fish, flounder, etc. There's a terrific little marina, Presnell's, on the east side of the town which rents pontoons and skiffs by the day and half-day. The bay is full of sand dollars, sea urchens, stingray, etc. Scallop season opens July 1 and hotel and boat rentals will be virtually nonexistent. If your interested I can provide the telephone number for Presnell's Marina.