My fiance and I went to a destination wedding at this location, which is around a half hour west of Panama City Beach.

We stayed in a rental condo that we found online, and we were pleasently surprised with how nice it was. The photos online did not do it justice, and clearly they had upgraded some of the rooms after the photos were taken.

We went the first weekend of May and generally the place was very quiet - no lines, and few if any patrons in the restaurants. This made the couple of days very relaxing. We were a short walk from the Gulf beach, and the beaches were sparsely attended as well.

We made some jaunts along 30-A which is the road that runs parallel to the Gulf. We went into Seaside and Grayton Beach, and both trips were successful - we found food and a nice new place to walk around.

I am certain we would have had a different experience entirely if this was the busy season. As it was - it was relaxing, pretty, and exactly what we needed.

Tufnel

My husband and 2 daughters travelled to Carillon Beach, FL and enjoyed one of our best vacations ever! Carillon is a private beach community, just east of the lovely 30-A area. It has a secured entry and a neighborhood of quaint and colorful beach houses. Several houses in the community have been featured in Southern Living and Coastal Living.

Carillon has 3 pools, a big park, private beach and its own downtown area. You can rent bikes (highly recommended), buy souvenirs, grab a cup of coffee or an ice cream cone in the downtown area. They host a "Concerts on the Lawn" series in the Spring and Summer that is fantastic.

You'll find mostly families who are there for a week at a time and want to slip away to a very safe, private and quality beach experience.

The beach itself is a private beach and all beach homes come with their own beach chairs. An attendant has fresh chair cushions and umbrella ready each morning. Because it is a private beach, most families left sand buckets and boogie boards at their chairs each night.

We rented a superb house named Bikini Bottoms. It was so cute and fun...the house is lime green and purple. The upstairs features a living room and open kitchen. There is also a huge upstairs open deck that can't be missed for dinner and sunsets. Downstairs are two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master has a queen sized bed and the kids room has 2 twins with a trundle (making it sleep up to 3) and another bathroom (tub/shower). There is also a screened in porch with adirondack chairs and a swing-lounger that was perfect for afternoon naps.
The owners of Bikini Bottoms provide beach toys and have a convenient shower outdoors that is perfect for rinsing the sand off.

There is a Winn Dixie and several restaurants conveniently located around the corner from the community. There is also a rare dune lake next to the property which is great if you like to fish.

We are going back this summer with another family and renting a house directly on the beach! We can't wait...it is definitely worth the 45 minute drive from Destin.

Beautiful, Key West style resort. We chose this area because it's west of PCB and we love the beaches. This area is about as close as you will get to the caribbean w/out leaving the states. We stayed in "New Roads", a 2 bedroom home close to the end of the development. The location was great because there wasn't any through traffic and we had 2 pools on either side of us. The beach access was only a few minutes down the street. The house provided two beach chairs and an umbrella also. Carillon is just a few minutes from scenic 30 which takes you to Seaside and Watercolor. Its also right beside Alt 98 which takes you into PCB. Margaritaville is just 10 minutes away next to Pier Park. Conveniently, there is also a Publix and a Win Dixie right outside the gate. We loved it so much there that were seriously thinking of going back next June!!