Which area is better Fort Walton Beach or SGI?
 

We are planning a trip to the Panhandle and have heard good things about Fort WAlton Beach and SGI. Which area is better and why? I prefer the old Florida feel. We are a family with 12/15 yr olds. Plan on doing many outdoor activities. WE love to run and ride bikes. Is any one area better for this?Any help would be appreciated.

I think RVN is the best choice.

SGI

Waldo what is Rvn and can you tell me why?

Ft. Walton:
Pros: Lots to do for teenagers. Plenty of restaurants, shopping etc. Right accross the bridge from Destin. Georgous beaches. Plenty of accomodations to choose from.

Cons: Crowded. Traffic. Not as upscale as Destin (but still perfectly nice.) Not a great place for biking but there might be biking trails I don't know about.

SGI:
Pros: Beautiful, secluded, uncrowded, no traffic, good place to bike, nice state park

Cons: No activities for teenagers (if the beach and biking is not enough to keep them happy). Beach is pretty but not as nice as Ft. Walton. Very few restaurants on the island (but more accross the bridge in Apalachicola).

OK having said all that, may I make a suggestion? Consider the Beaches of South Walton.

http://beachesofsouthwalton.com/

http://sowal.com/
(Click on "photos")

The BSW are a string of beach communities runing along highway 30A between Panama City and Destin. These beaches are uncrowded and georgous. There is a biking/running/walking trail that runs the length of 30A (twenty or so miles). My husband and I ride every morning when we are there then stop for coffee or breakfast. We usually don't even get in the car except to go out to dinner.

http://www.discover30a.com/tour/tour.html

I realize you didn't ask about other beaches but it sounds like you are not real familiar with the panhandle and, as a long time panhandle resident, I thought I would suggest my favorite area.

I still like RVN

A 2nd vote for South Walton. Sounds exactly what you are looking for.

Each year, my brother in law spends a week at a beach with two or three other families. They have vacationed in Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach, Fort Walton, Panama City Beach (where inlaws own two condos) and St George Island, to name a few. They spent a week at SGI this past Sept and were bored to death. The children, ages 10-14, said there was nothing to do but spend time on the beach. They would not go back.

What and where is RVN?? What's it like?

Sunshinesue: How bad is it to cross A30 when staying on the far side from the beach near where Hwy 395 comes in?
We will have a toddler with us.

Lisariley,

I agree with the suggestions of the 30A beaches. They are fantastic. Beautiful beaches, lots of restaurants and shops nearby, easy to get around from one to the other, especially on bike. Personally, I do not care for Ft. Walton or Destin anymore, as they are too crowded.

My favorite is Seagrove. Rent a house in Seagrove, rent bikes and ride to Seaside. Seagrove has that old Florida feel, is less expensive than Seaside or Watercolor, but you can ride your bikes there. Grayton beach is also good.

Somebody asked a similar question a few weeks ago to which I posted several links and more detailed information. I'll find that link and post it here shortly.

Forgot to mention - the week of Memorial Day.

Here's the link to that other thread. It has lots of great info.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35097072

Here is some more info on South Walton, which is a much better choice than Ft. Walton for a less developed (tourist) vacation.

http://floridabeachblog.com/content/section/23/97/

NGail,
Don't feel badly, I live in Pensacola (PNS) and don't have the foggiest idea what SGI OR RVN are...
It's a mystery.

hey zelphiacat,

I'm at Pensacola Beach and I'm with you on the initial thing. However, I wonder if Waldo may have been teasing lisa a bit for using SGI which really is a mystery acronym for most of us.

lisa,

While I agree that the beaches of South Walton are great, give a thought to Pensacola Beach as well. In addition to our great beach we have other things to do which your 12/15 year olds might enjoy. The Museum of Naval Aviation on the base is a great place and the museum itself is free. They do charge for the IMAX theater, though. Also a lot of great history in our area.

What time of year are you planning for?

Fran

I'm assuming SGI is St. George Island. Perfect for hanging out at the beach, biking with restaurants to choose from. I'd pick it for running and biking.

St, George Island is so small and really,I was not impressed

Good thing I didn't suggest Indian Pass then! LOL! :-))

Starrs,

:-d

Anyone who does not know what SGI stands for would not be able to answer the question anyway.

oldsouthernbelle,

I have never had any trouble crossing 30A. The traffic moves very slowly in the more congested areas and there are also stop signs for the cars.

Hey, SSS!
I suppose the good news is that my piece of the old Forgotten Coast will remain forgotten for a while longer :-)

This year we WILL meet at the IPRB - or at least in Tallahassee. I'll give you a shout when I head to the border.

starrs: DH & I did print out your TR last year & drove down to Turtle Beach Inn & SGI - just poking about on Saturday (or was it Sunday?)

I like the looks of the Inn & the beach & hope to stay there this summer & go scalloping for the first time.

So, maybe it's just a little bit less forgotten, due to you. ;)

I was really amazed at the lack of traffic on the hwy down there!

I forgot to say thank you SSS for the response. I have a couple places scoped out & plan to drive down & take a look see this weekend.

Traffic? There is NO traffic - unless it's the migration to the Indian Pass Raw Bar at mealtimes.

I'm going to bike it next time - and MAY see one or two cars on the way :-)

Seriously, I've stayed at Indian Pass and San Blas for a week (in a house rental) and MAYBE saw 10 other people on the beach at the same time - cumulatively all week :-)

Bike it??? You mean rent one while there or take one with you?

osb, the inn is MAYBE a 1/2 mile to the Raw Bar :-)
Take it with me!

I didn't catch you meant to bike it to the Raw Bar. They closed the day we were there (vacation for a couple weeks). Missed it by one night - or day.

This reminds me SSS, DS wants to rent bikes when we go to Seagrove this summer. Any particular place you recommend to rent from? He also wants to do some kayaking.

osb, we kayaked a river between Indian Pass and SGI and the afternoon was magical. We saw ONE other boat on the water and the rest of the time it was like going back in time to (truly) old Florida. It felt like being in a Tarzan movie - without any chimps or crocodiles :-)

...just a bunch of clams. :)

OSB,

We always take our bikes (husband has a truck) so I really can't recommend a rental.

But if I were renting, I would probably look in Seagrove, Grayton or Blue Mountain and not Seaside. Everything seems to cost more in Seaside! I have seen a rental place in Blue Mountain that looks nice. It is right on 30A (gulf side) and I think they have kayaks too.

Starrs,

Let me know when you will be here. Maybe OSB can drive over and meet us for a mini GTG!

I'd love to meet you guys, if the time can be worked out. Thank you for the invitation!

Actually, I have met starrs, but it was in a busy restaurant, at a long table with her at one end & me at the other - so we really didn't get the opportunity to talk.

There seem to be several fodorites in the panhandle area - if you're interested in widening the net?

Dana_M, I think it may have been your links that led me to the houses we are considering for this summer.
They were good links. Thanks!

SSS: Thanks also for the bike/kayak rental tips.

We drove down yesterday & found a rental for the days we wanted. It doesn't have a pool but has access to a really beautiful beach.

Some of the homes we looked at in the Magnolia Bay area were really new, crowded ( similiar to Seaside ) & had a community pool (which I would also imagine would be crowded in the summer) but the beach access looked like an accident waiting to happen!

The dunes were still cliffs as you stated above, & you had to go down something like 5 very steep flights of stairs, straight down. That would be very scary even without the toddler we expect to have in tow, so we passed up on those nicely, newly decorated homes.

I'm glad we went to see for ourselves, as I had had my heart somewhat 'set' on one of these homes I'd found online prior to going down. At $200/nt., they are tempting! They do require a week's rental though, not just a long weekend, which is what we preferred.

We ate at lunch at Yianni's Seagrove Grille & Stinky's for dinner (both pricey but good), before heading back home.

osb, where? when are you coming down?

sss, what about you? Is hdm headed that way?

Depending on the timeframe and the TBInn's availablity, I'd love to schedule some "toes in the sand" time and meet up with Fodorites. I haven't been to the Seaside area in a couple of years so I'll enjoy the drive over to see what has changed. I haven't been there since Watercolor was brand new.

Hey Starrs. I am down there all the time. I was just there Thursday. We are finishing up a beach house in Watersound so I have been back and forth a lot working on interiors, furnishings etc. I should be finished soon. I am planning to put it on VRBO and manage it myself.

I am also going to start managing (with the other owner) our Cape San Blas house. I have never managed any beach property myself before but I have come to the conclusion that it ain't rocket science and why pay a middle man.

Unfortunately, it ended up hdm couldn't make it over Christmas when she hoped to come.

Sorry, we drove to Seagrove, Magnolia Bay & through Seaside to Destin. We passed Watersound, so I know the gated community you're speaking of - very nice!

Though I didn't stop at Silver Sands (that would take me the better part of day at least), DH had heard about the Bass Pro Shop there & just HAD to see it.

I also wanted to just check out a couple of house locations - but I agree, it seemed might 'busy' there.

Seaside - though a neat idea, seemed really busy too.

We won't be staying too far from Seaside, so we will check it out a little more when we're down there with our family for a long Memorial Day weekend.

Sue: "I have come to the conclusion that it ain't rocket science and why pay a middle man."

Funny, I thought so too, but two phone calls & as many emails to the owner just got me no where! Funny, cause he wouldn't give me a rental company number, yet he couldn't answer any of the routine questions.
Said he'd 'find out' but just didn't.

When I told him I wanted to see the house, he said "I don't believe they do that."
We drove down there, saw a rental sign out front & called the # - 'No problem - just come back up to the office & give us a copy of your driver's license'.

They were only a mile or so away & VERY cooperative & informative. Misty was the person we dealt with & I really liked her. www.beachseekers.com

OSB,

I was refering to managing MY rental properties. Management companies charge anywhere from 20 to 40 percent for mananging rentals and it really isn't that hard. I think the key is to have a very good cleaning service that will make sure nothing is broken and nothing has disappeared.

It is really odd that the owner was so uncooperative. You would think he would be eager to help you. Strange.

My husband loves Bass Pro as well. And you are absolutely right. Silver Sands requires at least a few hours!

I ran into two new (to me) things with this rental:

1) They offer a travel insurance package that covers medical emergency should you need to cancel. That way you aren't responsible for the costs of the rental. Otherwise, you are.
Anyone have experience with this as a package with the rental agreement?

2) They have an almost $40 credit card fee. Check or cash, no fee.
I've never seen this before. I do understand the benefits of putting it on the CC in case there are problems, but never heard of this charge?

Any comments/experience? Is this the norm?

When I got home this evening, I had a message on the machine from the rental agent for the beach house we'd reserved at the first of this month. They said they 'no longer handle this property' & want to give me a substitute home - supposedly 'nicer' & 'lesser' which I think she meant to be less $$, but am not sure.

I am bummed & stunned. I had spent quite a few hours pouring over vrbo & other sites trying to find a suitable house for our family GTG for a long Memorial Day weekend.

In addtion, pages in hand, we drove down there (2&3/4hrs.one way) one day & physically checked out the places to make sure it had what we needed - 3BR/3BA,plenty of parking, good beach access & such.

We signed a contract on this place & paid half the price in advance. Also, sold us a travel insurance package saying we'd be charged the whole rental amount if we had to cancel if we didn't have this ins.- even if it was an emergency or death (which were the only reasons I could foresee we'd need to cancel).

So, why is it so easy for them to weasel out of the contract? I thought a deal was a deal.

For me to agree to a 'substitute property' I will again feel the need to drive down there & check it out personally.
DH says they should have to reimburse us for that.

I'm not sure we have a leg to stand on. I paid by check ( I know all the reasons of paying by cc, but was trying to cheap out - as they also had a $39.40 cc fee if you used a card). Has anyone heard of this charge for use of a cc before?

OSB,

I am sure the rental company is completely covered legally (check the fine print of your contract for something about substituting comparable property) so you probably have no recourse other than find another property through them.

When you find some possibilities post a question about them on TA and on SoWal.com. Many times you can find someone who knows the property (or has even stayed there) and can give you the scoop.

I hate it for you but hopefully they will have something else that will work.