Destin, FL City Guide

We spent the past week in Destin, FL with our family! Our house was actually in Miramar Beach, but we got to see a lot of the area! This was our first time in this area and we had a blast! Today I am sharing some highlights from our trip. If you have a trip planned to this area soon, let us know!

Dining

Auston’s on 98 // Our first night in town, we got takeout from Auston’s! Tiff went and picked it up and said it was quite the little “hole in the wall” if you will. But the food was delicious and perfect for our first night of getting settled in the house.

The Surf Hut // We ate at the Surf Hut the next night and got there right at 5:00pm. We had a large party and this dinner time was ideal for us if we wanted to get a table with little to no wait. If we weren’t there by at least 5:00pm, it was at least an hour wait- anywhere we went. The Surf Hut had a great patio out back that was right on the beach. Peyton wanted to hang out back there the whole time!

The Crab Trap // I think this was the crowd favorite. Their parking lot is a bit of a challenge and we did wait an hour to eat here, but it was worth it! Everyone got crab legs and said they were the best of the entire trip. Before I get any further in this post, I feel like I need to mention that I don’t like seafood. I know, it’s weird. I will occasionally eat the smallest popcorn shrimp that you’ve ever seen, but that’s it. I’ve tried it all, and I think that breaking apart crab legs are so cool, but I just don’t like the taste. Anyways, I basically ate chicken everywhere we went, but I can most definitely share the opinions of the rest of our family about seafood.

The Village Door // We found this place for lunch one day and it was the PERFECT time to eat there. It was empty, they had plenty of tables opened on the patio which overlooked the marina and inter-coastal waterway. They even had live music at lunch time! Andrew got the sweet and spicy shrimp and I basically ate his whole meal. I don’t know what came over me, but those shrimp were delicious. This was probably my favorite restaurant of the trip!

Slick Lips // We also stopped by here for lunch one day and I can’t stress enough how nice and peaceful it was at lunch time. We are not people that can sit on the beach all day long, so we would usually get out early in the morning and go out on the beach, come in for lunch and then either do activities or the pool in the afternoon. If there’s a restaurant that you really want to do at the beach and you know that it is a madhouse at dinner time, then you really should go at lunch time. It is so low key and you are guaranteed to get in. This restaurant was also in the Baytowne Wharf area!

The Crazy Lobster // This was the only restaurant that I was able to find that took reservations. For a big party like we had, I jumped at the chance for a reservation. They had a great menu and I had a really good pasta dish. Andrew also ordered crab legs here and said they were overcooked so they were tough to get out of their shell.

The Back Porch // Another fan favorite! This place had a great menu and even had a cute little gift shop! Our service was super fast. Again, we arrived right at 5:00pm and was out by 5:45PM.

Capt. Dave’s on the Gulf // This place was very low key. We got there at about 5:00pm and were seated immediately. It almost had more of a local seafood restaurant vibe. Like one you would find in your own hometown. Good food, but not at the top of our list.

Parlor Doughnuts // We were near two locations of Parlor Doughnuts. We had these for breakfast one morning. The doughnuts were almost overly sweet, but I had the BEST cup of coffee there and Andrew had a great breakfast sandwich.

Cantina Laredo // We ate this for lunch on our last day in town. This is a very fancy cantina that is located in the Grand Boulevard shopping center with all upscale shops. We shopped at Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Lilly Pulitzer, and the new location of Sunset Shoes. This place wasn’t overly busy at lunch time and had the best queso! I also really appreciated that we sat inside in the air conditioning because most of the other restaurants we went to were all open air. A great pick!

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Activities

Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park // One morning, we took Peyton to the Gulfarium! In our opinion, it is a little pricey (coming in at $22.50 for an adult) for what they have to offer. It is a small attraction and the best thing they had to offer was the dolphin show. We just spent the morning there and it was plenty of time to see everything.

Silver Sands Outlets // We may or may not have visited the outlets about 5 times…. They may look very old and outdated, but the stores are amazing and the sales are even better. They had a whole store dedicated to Crew Cuts (the kids J. Crew line)! They also had a Kate Spade and Tory Burch! And of course, we had to make a stop by the Disney store for P!

Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream // I know, this should be on the dining list, but we went so many times and it was a great after dinner activity. It was so close to our house and also in a great shopping center with cute stores.

Crab Island // On Wednesday, we rented a boat and drove through the inter-coastal waterway out to Crab Island. Don’t be fooled, it’s an underwater island. There’s nothing there except for a bunch of boats all parked together. They also have boats there that sell floats, drinks and snacks! The water is really shallow so you can stand up in the water and hangout all day if you want. We just rented the boat for half a day and that was plenty of time for Peyton.

Putt-Putt // We played Putt-Putt one night after dinner and we went to a smaller off the map course and it wasn’t in the best shape. But because of that, it wasn’t crowded and we got to play right through which was perfect for Peyton. They even had kids clubs and she got to play too!

HarborWalk Village // One night after dinner we drove down to the end of Destin and walked around the HarborWalk Village. It was SO crowded but had lots of activities. Tiff, Peyton and I rode the kids train all around the boardwalk and Peyton loved it so much. They also had some shops!

Baytowne Wharf // This was my favorite area! It is a gated area, but they let anyone in if you say you’re going to dinner. It was not crowded at all, had kids activities, lots of shopping and great restaurants! We visited this area three times for different meals. Such a great find!

Lastly, here is a link to the house we stayed in! We found it on VRBO and then booked directly through the company. They were so great to work with!