I’m sitting on our plane back from Florida right now, listening to my faith playlist and feeling extra grateful for the last week we just had at the beach. I honestly can’t believe the trip is over–the time went by so fast! It was such an amazing trip and I’m soooooo glad we went. My big goal this summer was to overcome my fear of flying so we could take our family on a much needed vacation. And you guys, I DID IT. Thank you, God! He helped me overcome that fear and I’m just so thankful. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share a few photos and also give a review of our stay at Sandestin in Miramar Beach.
The water in Florida is absolutely stunning. I still can’t get over how perfect the sand is–it’s like white sugar. And the water is emerald green. Plus it’s actually warm! We all LOOOOOVED it. It was hands down the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen.
Sandestin Review
We stayed at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Miramar Beach. The place is huge with a ton of room options, but we decided to stay in their Osprey Pointe condos. We went with a three bedroom condo, which was perfect. We had plenty of room to spread out, plus there was a huge wrap-around patio. And best of all, there was a full kitchen and washer + dryer, which we actually used a ton!
PS: this is not sponsored by Sandestin, we paid for 100% of everything on our trip!
What We Loved:
- Our condo was super clean and the place was beautiful.
- Close to good restaurants (Cantina Laredo was our favorite!) and only a few minute drive to a nice grocery store.
- Full kitchen, including dishes and pans.
- The condo had a washer and dryer, so we were able to do all our laundry and keep up with wet towels from the beach.
- It was really quiet in our condo (not like when you stay at a hotel and hear all the people walking above you/watching tv/talking loudly). We had no issues sleeping at night–we never heard anyone in the condos around us!
- Towels were included with our stay.
- Our condo was much affordable than renting a house in Seaside, which is what I originally tried to do when we booked our trip. (Seaside is about a 25 minute drive down the road.)
- Lots of last minute availability. I only booked our trip about 6 weeks in advance.
What We Didn’t Love:
- There really wasn’t anything about the condo we didn’t love. Honestly, our biggest issue was the distance to the beach–the condos aren’t on the beach side of the property, which is a bummer. Thankfully we had a rental car, so it was only a few minute drive (Sandestin also has a tram you can take) but it was still a hassle to load the kids up in the car and drive to the beach each day. Our car was covered with sand by the end of the week!
- The Sandestin beach was super crowded and very busy. The first two days weren’t too bad, but it got more and more crowded as the week went on. It was beautiful, but just way too many people for our liking. (Obviously we were there during peak season! We were told it’s less crowded in the fall.)
Getting to Sandestin
From Denver, we flew into Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP) airport and rented an SUV to drive to Sandestin. I gotta rave about that airport–we had a great experience there! It is small, but really well organized. The rental car check-in was directly in front of baggage claim, which was super convenient. On the way back, it only took us 30 minutes to get through check-in and security. The drive from the airport to Sandestin was about 45 minutes.
Well I hope that helps if you’re thinking about a trip to Florida or Sandestin! Let the know if you have any questions, I’m happy to help. xoxo
The aesthetics of this house are so inviting! 😌 Also, it is helpful to hear how to travel with kiddos; thanks for the tips!
I’m so glad y’all enjoyed your trip! I live in Jackson, MS so we are less than 6 hours from Destin and have been several times! It’s so interesting seeing yalls review of it being from the other side of the country! It makes me not want to take it for granted so much! I would love to hear where all y’all ate!
That’s so cool, I’d be driving down there all the time!
Cantina Laredo is one of my family’s favorites too!
Ohhhh it’s sooooo yummy!
I’ll be 50 this summer & we’ve vacationed in this part of FL my whole life. My parents started a tradition that still continues, we just got home last week! I think we got home the day before you went.
I can remember when 30a was a deserted county rode! I so enjoyed watching your sweet family experience the beach that we’ve enjoyed for a lifetime.
But our family also loves CO! We took a trip to Telluride several years ago & I was hooked. I can’t wait to go back someday. ❤️
ah so cool your parents started that tradition when you were a kid. I want to do that for my kiddos!
I love Sandestin golf and beach resort, our company does at yearly training for our customers at this resort. I look forward to this trip every year. We do it in the fall and the beach is not busy at all and still beautiful. The resort does have condos beachside if you ever go back. Seaside is one of my favorite little towns close by but I am so happy you mentioned Rosemary Beach it is going on my must do list this year on my trip! Thanks for sharing!!
That’s so cool your company does that, what a treat!
So happy to see this on your blog and that you had a wonderful trip 🙂 we are planning a trip there during my kids spring break next year. I’d love any other details on things to do in the area. We plan to stay in Miramar too.
Oh fun! We mostly just did the beach every day, then would head back to our room to let the kids rest mid-afternoon. We did do mini=-golf at Sandestin, the kids loved that.
We enjoy San Destin so much!! We have always stayed on the Bayside and we take our golf cart to the beach. We found out this year, if you park in the Westwind’s area (there is a small gravel parking lot) and walk a little bit, that beach area is not crowded!!! It is still part of the resort but not many know!! That’s my suggestion for next time you go there. I’m glad you enjoyed it!! 🙂
oh dang, I wish we had known about that!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed your trip. I’m from St. Louis and we’ve been going to the Destin area for many years since it’s “just” a 12-hour drive. The last few years we’ve been staying in Santa Rosa which is just east of Seaside. We stay in an area called Watersound and it is incredible. They have a private beach so it’s not nearly as crowded as Sandestin and Seaside. You may want to check it out if you plan on going back. There are tons of rentals on 360blue.com if you want to take a look. (Also love your ig page…I’m so glad I found you!)
We drove through Watersound, it looked so nice!
PS: thanks so much for being here, I really appreciate it!!
I’ve lived about a 3 hour drive from Panama City and Destin beaches all my like, and it was so interesting to hear a perspective from someone from another part of the country. The crowds are insane in the summer, so we steer away now that our children are grown. I’ve traveled all over the world and agree that the gulf coast beaches are the prettiest anywhere. Next time check our Alabama beaches on the same gulf coast. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach aren’t quite as crowded as Destin, but still very busy in the summer. I loved your pictures!
Totally agree Charlotte, those beaches are the prettiest! We used to go down to Cozumel and Cancun a lot in high school and the Florida beaches are better!
The gulf side of Florida has much prettier water/sand than the Atlantic side(of the places I’ve been). The Atlantic side has more waves in the ocean than the gulf side.
I’m so happy you guys had an incredible time and a great experience. Hearing about everyone’s visits brings me great joy. I love living in the Florida panhandle and our beaches are beautiful.
you are so lucky, such a beautiful place to live!
Oh I didn’t realize that, good to know!
Jetty East is in Destin and right on the beach…and October/fall break is the PERFECT time and temperature to go with kids…still in the high eighties a s warm water! (Just tips
from the things that weren’t so great). So glad you enjoyed it and got away!
I’ve heard from so many that October is the best time to go. We definitely want to visit then!
Sarah, I just love reading your blog and watching your videos on FB. You have a beautiful family, thank you for sharing your adventures with us.
💕
Thank you Shannon, I am so grateful to have you here!
Thank you so much for your summer vacation recap! Sounds like the place was incredible!! And your photos are so beautiful!! Thank you again for all your stories and post and for keeping it real!! You are awesome!!! ❤️
We just returned from the same resort. We stayed in a different building though, Bahia. The 2 washing machines for the entire building were out the whole time. So I had to haul laundry back & forth to another building. That really cut into family fun time. I’ll never rent a place without it’s own laundry again! But we did love that we were just a few minutes walk from the Baytowne Wharf in the resort. We spent a lot of lazy/tired times just wandering around there. We went to 5 different beaches during our stay. They weren’t as crowded as I thought they would be. There were people next to our setup but not RIGHT on each other. Everyone had plenty of room. We ate at a lot of places, and I was disappointed by many I had been looking forward to from reading reviews & blogs. The best thing I had the entire week was the pulled pork sandwich from Lulu’s! (And I had the same thing from 2 other places for comparison!) It was a dream trip for me & I can’t wait to go back!
Oh no, what a bummer and hassle to do all your laundry in another building. Also we wanted to go to Lulu’s but never made it down. I’ve heard it’s SO good!
ah thank you Kim, I really appreciate that so much!
We live in Alabama so we go to Orange Beach all the time. It also has the white beaches and emerald waters. We have rented a condo at FOUR SEASONS in Orange Beach for the month of November. The weather is still shorts weather and the prices are much better. We rented for the month what it cost to stay a week in July. It is beachfront,also has a private fishing pier.
So cool, I’d love to be there for a whole month. Enjoy!!
We are planning a couples vacation down there over labor day(I know it will be SO busy!) but I am REALLY looking forward to the beach!! This just made me more excited! Any advise on beach rentals and others places to eat near the resort? Thanks!! Also local Colorado girl here 🙂
Hi! Heading to Seaside for Labor Day on a girls weekend. What were your favorite restaurants? Rosemary Beach included? Thanks!
We travel to Sandestin a good bit. I suggest your next visit you rent a condo with a golf cart. This makes travel to and from the residence to the beach, restaurants and grocery very easy and fun. – Robert
When did you go?
we went in July!
Thank you for sharing your time in Sandestin.
We just booked a 2 month winter stay.
I hope our time is as wonderful and yours was…
Were from Canada and driving down end of December.
Thanks again. Bonnie