Local Recommendations 2026

🌴 63 MEIGS BOOK OF RECOMMENDATIONS Emerald Coast — Fort Walton Beach & Destin, Florida 8 Categories · 30+ Top Spots · Curated by Your Hosts ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🏖 BEACHES Sugar-White Sand & Emerald Water Henderson Beach State Park ⭐ 4.8 (8.7k reviews) 📍 17000 Emerald Coast Pkwy, Destin The crown jewel of Destin beaches. Stunning sugar-white dunes, crystal-clear Gulf water, and 9.7 miles of nature trails. Worth the $6 parking fee — come early to snag a good spot. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Henderson+Beach+State+Park+Destin+FL John Beasley Park ⭐ 4.7 (3.0k reviews) 📍 1550 Miracle Strip Pkwy SE, Fort Walton Beach Free beach access with restrooms, outdoor showers, and a 'borrow me' bin of boogie boards and sand toys. Military jets often fly over — a bonus thrill! Good sandbars for kids. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=John+Beasley+Park+Fort+Walton+Beach+FL Okaloosa Island Beachwalk ⭐ 4.8 (920 reviews) 📍 600 Santa Rosa Blvd, Okaloosa Island Locals call this the best free beach in the Destin area. Massive uncrowded stretch of white sand with shallow water for kids. Free parking, showers, and a toy-share box at the entrance. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Okaloosa+Island+Beach+Access+Four+Fort+Walton+Beach+FL ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🚤 WATER SPORTS & ADVENTURES Jet Skis · Parasailing · Dolphins · Pontoons Boogies Watersports ⭐ 4.9 (4.7k reviews) 📍 16 Harbor Blvd, Destin Highest-rated watersports outfit on the Harbor. Jet ski rentals, dolphin cruises, parasailing and sunset tours. Incredible staff — known to offer birthday discounts on the spot. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Boogies+Watersports+Destin+FL Happy's Watersports ⭐ 4.9 (2.0k reviews) 📍 316 Harbor Blvd, Destin Smaller boats mean a more personal dolphin experience. Their sunset dolphin tours are legendary — pods everywhere and gorgeous Gulf views. Book the morning you arrive. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Happy%27s+Watersports+Destin+FL Destiny Water Adventures ⭐ 4.9 (3.9k reviews) 📍 322 Miracle Strip Pkwy SW, Fort Walton Beach FWB's best jet ski and pontoon rental spot. Less crowded than Destin Harbor, with beautiful backwater islands to explore. Great for families — pontoon rentals up to 8 hours. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Destiny+Water+Adventures+Fort+Walton+Beach+FL Wet-n-Wild Watersports ⭐ 4.7 (1.7k reviews) 📍 119 Calhoun Ave, Destin Jet ski tours to Crab Island and beyond. They provide parking — a huge bonus in busy Destin. Walk-ups welcome. Dolphins are practically guaranteed on their guided routes. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Wet-n-Wild+Watersports+Destin+FL ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎣 FISHING CHARTERS Deep Sea · Party Boats · Private Charters O Sea D Fishing Charters ⭐ 5.0 (462 reviews) 📍 214 Harbor Blvd, Destin Literally a perfect 5.0 rating. Private charters tailored to exactly what you want — bottom fishing, dolphin watching, whatever. Captain Jeff pre-coordinates the game plan the night before. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=O+Sea+D+Fishing+Charters+Destin+FL Destin Princess Party Boat ⭐ 4.8 (2.3k reviews) 📍 210 Harbor Blvd, Destin The classic Destin party boat experience. Half-day and full-day trips, deck hands clean your catch dockside, and nearby restaurants will cook it for you. Best value for groups. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Destin+Princess+Party+Boat+Destin+FL Destin Fishing Charters ⭐ 4.9 (171 reviews) 📍 314 Harbor Blvd, Destin Boutique private charter with standout captains. Captain Marshall is specifically requested again and again in reviews. Great with kids and beginners. Easy online booking through Hadley. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Destin+Fishing+Charters+Harbor+Blvd ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🍽 DINING Fresh Seafood · Waterfront Views · Local Flavor The Edge Seafood & SkyBar ⭐ 4.7 (5.4k reviews) 📍 302 Harbor Blvd, Destin Stunning harbor views from the upstairs SkyBar. Order the baked oysters — so good guests order a second dozen. Live music, fresh grouper, lobster mac & cheese. The full Destin waterfront experience. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=The+Edge+Seafood+Restaurant+Destin+FL McGuire's Irish Pub ⭐ 4.7 (23k reviews) 📍 33 US-98, Destin A Destin institution. Walls plastered with dollar bills, legendary steak, world-famous 18¢ bean soup, and the best filet in the Panhandle. Open until 2am. Don't miss the gift shop. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=McGuire%27s+Irish+Pub+Destin+FL The Back Porch ⭐ 4.5 (12k reviews) 📍 1740 Scenic Hwy 98, Destin Right on the beach with unbeatable views. 2x Destin Gumbo Cook-Off winner. Fresh blackened grouper sandwiches, local draft beers, and a casual porch vibe. Arrive early for happy hour. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=The+Back+Porch+Destin+FL The Gulf ⭐ 4.7 (5.5k reviews) 📍 1284 Marler Ave, Fort Walton Beach Unique shipping-container restaurant on the water with sand volleyball, cornhole, and an amazing outdoor vibe. Mahi mahi sandwich + surf and turf bowl are the move. Great for groups. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=The+Gulf+Fort+Walton+Beach+FL The Shack ⭐ 4.5 (4.7k reviews) 📍 104 Miracle Strip Pkwy SW, Fort Walton Beach FWB's beloved waterfront seafood shack. Order the crab legs, the Shack Dip Sampler, and anything with the strawberry butter hushpuppies. Casual, local, and delicious. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=The+Shack+Fort+Walton+Beach+FL ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 👨‍👩‍👧 FAMILY FUN Marine Life · Mini Golf · Ziplines & More Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park ⭐ 4.4 (9.1k reviews) 📍 1010 Miracle Strip Pkwy SE, Fort Walton Beach The OG Panhandle aquarium — right on the Gulf shore. Dolphin and sea lion shows multiple times daily. Sea turtle rehab program, manatees, and the option to swim with sea lions. Perfect half-day stop. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Gulfarium+Marine+Adventure+Park+Fort+Walton+Beach Wild Willy's Adventure Zone ⭐ 4.3 (2.2k reviews) 📍 1306 Miracle Strip Pkwy SE, Fort Walton Beach Multi-theme mini golf with interactive dino animatronics, laser tag, ropes course, go-karts, and a massive arcade. The T-Rex putt putt course alone is worth the trip. Best after 5pm to avoid summer heat. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Wild+Willy%27s+Adventure+Zone+Fort+Walton+Beach+FL HarborWalk Adventures ⭐ 4.8 (749 reviews) 📍 10 Harbor Blvd, Destin Zipline right over HarborWalk Village — kids and adults both love it. Staff is phenomenal at helping nervous first-timers. Book tickets online to skip the line. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=HarborWalk+Adventures+Destin+FL HarborWalk Village ⭐ 4.5 (7.6k reviews) 📍 34 Harbor Blvd, Destin The hub of Destin's waterfront. Restaurants, shops, live entertainment, boat tours, and evening music. Stroll the boardwalk, watch charter boats come in, and catch a sunset. Free parking. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=HarborWalk+Village+Destin+FL ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌙 NIGHTLIFE Bars · Live Music · Harbor Views McGuire's Irish Pub (Late Night) ⭐ 4.7 (23k reviews) 📍 33 US-98, Destin Also the best late-night spot in Destin. Open until 2am every night. Live music, a massive bar, full menu all night, and an atmosphere that just gets better after 9pm. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=McGuire%27s+Irish+Pub+Destin+FL The Red Door Saloon ⭐ 4.3 (1.0k reviews) 📍 240 Harbor Blvd, Destin Outdoor tiki bar vibes right on the harbor water. Best nachos in Destin, strong pours, and squirrel-feeding regulars. Loud and fun, especially when the sun goes down over the marina. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=The+Red+Door+Saloon+Destin+FL The Edge SkyBar (Evening) ⭐ 4.7 (5.4k reviews) 📍 302 Harbor Blvd, Destin The rooftop SkyBar transforms after dark into one of Destin's best cocktail spots with live music and harbor views. Arrive by 7pm on weekends to get a table with a good view. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=The+Edge+Seafood+Restaurant+Destin+FL ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛍 SHOPPING Outlets · Open-Air Malls · Boutiques Destin Commons ⭐ 4.6 (8.4k reviews) 📍 4100 Legendary Dr, Destin Beautiful open-air lifestyle center with 90+ stores, restaurants, and an AMC theater. Saturday morning pop-up markets in the commons square. Dog-friendly green space. Kilwins for the best ice cream. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Destin+Commons+FL Silver Sands Premium Outlets ⭐ 4.5 (8.4k reviews) 📍 10562 Emerald Coast Pkwy W, Miramar Beach Florida's largest premium outlet mall with 110+ stores. Coach, Kate Spade, Polo, Nike and dozens more at outlet prices. Come early in the season for the best selection. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Silver+Sands+Premium+Outlets+Miramar+Beach+FL ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⛳ GOLF Championship Courses · Scenic Fairways Fort Walton Beach Golf Club ⭐ 4.1 (389 reviews) 📍 1955 Lewis Turner Blvd, Fort Walton Beach Recently renovated municipal gem — The Pines course is now exceptional with resprogged greens and 30 Trackman monitors on the range. Two 18-hole courses with great variety. Staff are top-notch. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Fort+Walton+Beach+Golf+Club+FL Emerald Bay Golf Club ⭐ 4.3 (694 reviews) 📍 4781 Clubhouse Dr, Destin Championship layout with plenty of water and sand hazards — challenging but fair for all skill levels. Great practice area and driving range. Reservations recommended in peak season. 🗺 https://maps.google.com/?q=Emerald+Bay+Golf+Club+Destin+FL ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🤙 INSIDER TIPS FROM YOUR HOSTS 🅿️ PARK SMART — HarborWalk Village has free parking. Arrive before 9am in summer or expect to circle for 20+ mins. 🌅 BEST SUNRISE — Henderson Beach State Park at dawn. Almost no one there, and the light on the dunes is stunning. 🏖 BEACH FLAGS — Yellow = caution, Red = danger, Double Red = STAY OUT. Always check before swimming. 🎣 BOOK EARLY — Premium charters and dolphin tours sell out days in advance June–August. Book the morning you arrive. 🍺 18¢ BEAN SOUP — McGuire's Irish Pub still serves their Senate Bean Soup for 18 cents. It's a Destin institution. 🌊 CRAB ISLAND — Not an island — it's a shallow sandbar in Destin Harbor. Rent a pontoon and anchor up for the quintessential local experience. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Curated by your hosts at 63 Meigs · Shalimar, FL All ratings from Google Reviews · Tap any map link to get directions Not affiliated with any business listed — just our honest picks.