Need an escape? This getaway in the Gulf of Mexico—a barrier island just south of Pensacola—might be calling your name.

With 13 kilometres of sugar-white sand (thanks to its high quartz content), Pensacola Beach and Santa Rosa Island offer the ideal location to gather with family and friends, whether you choose to stay in a luxury resort or a family-friendly hotel or condo. Here, you’re surrounded by emerald-green water. You can relax in the gentle warm waves. You can hunt for seashells on the unspoiled beaches. You can walk for miles and see only a few other people. With superb local seafood and stunning sunsets, the evenings feed you—body and soul.

During the day, watch for Atlantic bottlenose dolphins off the coast. They’re the most common mammal at Gulf Islands National Seashore, of which two-thirds is water. Then head over to Fort Pickens. It’s a pre-Civil War fortress where Apache chief Geronimo was held captive in 1886–87 and became what some say was the city’s first tourist attraction.

Travel Planner

For more information, check out VisitPensacolaBeach.com or call 1-800-635-4803. You’ll know
you’re almost there when you see the giant sailfish sign in neighbouring Gulf Breeze. The iconic neon sign originally went up
in Pensacola around 1960 and was moved a few years later to its current location.