Luxury Hotels In Destin

It is the bay on the inland side of this part of the coast, creating a different waterfront setting from the open Gulf shore. Recognizing the distinction helps when comparing hotel outlooks and choosing the type of boating experience you want.

Sea oats and beach grasses help hold the sand in place with their roots. Behind the dunes, coastal scrub includes myrtle oaks, sand live oaks and Choctawhatchee sand pines. This gives a nature-focused visit two linked subjects: the low plants that build dunes and the trees of the scrub habitat beyond them.

The Indian Temple Mound Museum in Fort Walton Beach interprets the Indigenous history of northwest Florida. Its shell, stone and ceramic objects provide evidence of the people who lived here before European settlement. Choose it for archaeology and material culture, a different historical subject from the later boats and fishing equipment associated with Destin Harbor.

Eden Gardens State Park at Point Washington surrounds the 1897 Wesley House with lawns, moss-draped live oaks, camellias and azaleas. The house’s antique collection and the reflection pool add different interests within the former homestead. Choose it for domestic history and a designed garden landscape, treating Point Washington as a separate regional outing from the beach at your hotel.

The lakes receive fresh water from rain, groundwater and streams. When rising water breaches a sand berm, an outfall can connect a lake with the Gulf and allow salt water to mix into it. Western Lake, Alligator Lake and Little Redfish Lake belong to Grayton Beach State Park. Their changing water balance makes them a distinct landscape interest from the open Gulf shore or Choctawhatchee Bay.