At the end of our month long vacation out to Colorado and Arizona we decided to spend a week in the Santa Rosa Beach, Dune Allen Beach area that is just about 30 minutes east of Destin Florida. The beaches up here in the panhandle of Florida are about as pristine as you can get with sugar white sand and the emerald green colored waters of the Gulf of Mexico. We choose to end our vacation this way (at the beach in a familiar area) because we needed some time to relax after spending more than 3 weeks of taking long drives every day to see some of the incredible geological treasures of the American Southwest.

While we normally like to spend lots of leisure time on vacation, we kind of broke our traditional mold as the relaxed traveler because there was just so much to see. Even though we spent 22 days in the Southwest it was really only long enough to make plans as to what we would do on our next vacation. There were many days that we wanted to do or see several things (like 5 or 6 things), but only had time to do a few. Even when you spend a month on the road, you still have to be somewhat choosy as to what you visit because you simply can’t do everything. That being the case, we really did need to relax a little and the beaches of South Walton County fits the bill like no other place in our home state.

After rolling into Rosemary Beach late in the afternoon of October 21, we thought it would be easy to quickly find a place to stay just by talking to a few vacation rental companies or calling around to the condos or vacation rental homes that had signs out in front of them and obviously weren’t occupied. By the end of October, the 30A strip along the Gulf of Mexico in South Walton County starts to slow down quite a bit and we thought we could get a super bargain being that we were willing renters with cash in hand. However, after a few phone calls and talks with rental agents we figured out that we underestimated our budget for 6 nights by quite a bit and we either had to decide to spend more money or decide to spend our last 6 nights in a hotel.

When you come to this area to vacation and you are this close to the beach, spending your nights in a hotel isn’t really an option. There really aren’t any hotels on the beach except up in Panama City Beach or near Interstate 10 which is 25 mile away. So, if you want to enjoy all that the beaches along 30A such as Seaside, Watercolor, Alys Beach, Seacrest Beach, Grayton Beach and more have to offer, you simply pay the price. The price we ended up paying was about 30% more than we budgeted, but it turned out that we had a beautiful 4 bedroom townhouse for 6 nights that was within about 150 yards from the beach, and it was actually the least amount we have paid to stay here in the 3 times we have been to the area.

The View From our Dune Allen Beach Townhouse Rental

While here in Dune Allen Beach we spent a lot of time catching up on finishing blog posts that had piled up because we were always out doing something while out west, and the rest of the time we relaxed on the beach or in our townhouse, or went to our favorite taco bar, or went to the boardwalk at Deer Lake State Park. While we did spend some time away from our vacation rental, we didn’t plan any excursions or drive any further than about 6 or 8 miles to get to where we wanted to go for the day.

Bud and Alley’s Taco Bar in Seaside

Whether you want to end your vacation in a relaxed manner or take your whole vacation and lounge on the beach and under the Florida sun, there is no better place to relax than the beaches along the famous 30A in South Walton County. You will probably fall in love with 30A just as we have.

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2 Responses to “Vacationing In Dune Allen Beach Near Destin Florida”

  1. Kiley Lenstrom says:

    Looks like we found our next vacation spot!

  2. Romeo says:

    We had a fantastic halidoy at Beachside during early September. The house was equipped with everything we needed a real home from home and was spotlessly clean. The location was perfect, being right on the beach but also a short walk to shops, cafes and a pub. The footbridge across the River Adur to Shoreham town is currently being replaced, but there is a regular shuttle bus in service. Thanks, Rae we can’t wait to go back! lablos

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