Hi friends!
We spent the most amazing week in Seaside in August! I have traveled to the 30a area for years and each little beach town is so special! I truly love them ALL! I had so many requests for a 30a travel guide/ what we did each day with the girls.
For this trip, we really wanted to stay close to the beach. We planned this trip pretty last minute and there weren’t many options that were close to the beach. I absolutely loved the house we found and would definitely stay there again. The walk to the beach was so easy with the kids and the closeness to the main restaurants/shopping in Seaside was amazing.
Where to Stay
It can be pretty overwhelming trying to find a house along 30a, as there are SO many choices. This trip we used Sandpiper Beach Vacations and they were amazing and very responsive. We also love 360 blue. I just use the filters as much as possible to get exactly what I am looking for!
If you want to stay in a hotel, the Pearl is a beautiful option in Rosemary Beach!
Where to Eat
Cafe 30a – Quite possibly my favorite restaurant on 30a. The name “cafe” makes it sound casual, but it’s a nice place. Great for a date night with your spouse or for a special family dinner. *Reservations are required!!*
The Great Southern – Also a favorite. Love their salads for lunch, Lee loves the fish sandwich. Their sweet potato fries are fab and their mojitos are the BEST
We would make mojito runs and bring them back to the house after the kids were asleep!
The Perfect Pig – their quiche is so yum! I hate to say this but I think their Seagrove location is better than the Watercolor location….
Bud & Alley’s – directly on the beach with an awesome view of the ocean in Seaside. It’s a perfect spot to take an Instagram worthy pic. The food and drinks are both great, I love their frozen bellini.
Cowgirl Kitchen – our favorite for breakfast. They have multiple locations across 30a. You won’t regret ordering the “All-American” and for a healthier option we love their avocado toast!
George’s – family friendly but perfect for a date night if you can sneak away! The food and atmosphere are both fantastic! They don’t take reservations so go early if you can!
For quick and easy to go dinners: we love to grab pizza from “The Wine Bar” in Watercolor or Bud & Alley’s Pizza Bar.
Seaside also has a bunch of food trucks that have great options for kids and would be an easy dinner for one night of your trip!
What to Do
Shopping: for kids go to Duckie’s (the cutest toy store), Gigi’s, & Bump + Baby (my absolute favorite). For women’s clothing/accessories: Ophelia & Willow Boutique have multiple locations across 30a. Cabana & The Seaside Style are in Seaside along the beach next to Bud & Alley’s. I would definitely check them out, so many cute things!
The Hub – a great spot for kids to get their energy out. They have live music or a DJ at night with a huge lawn for the kids to run, play and dance. There are tons of different restaurants, an ice cream shop, and a bar for the parents. The food is honestly pretty over-priced /mediocre. I would go after dinner and let the kids get ice cream and play while you enjoy a cocktail on the lawn!
Seaside Amphitheater – check the schedule for what’s happening. There is a huge lawn for kids to run and play on.
Explore each town along 30a. Each one has a different feel, and I love them all for different reasons! My favorites are Seaside, Rosemary Beach, Aly’s Beach and Watercolor.
Random Tips
There is a beach chair service that will setup chairs for you each day called “The Cabana Man”. We typically setup our chairs as soon as we book a trip so you can make sure you will be on the front row. In the peak of summer, there can be as many as 3-4 rows of chairs and I prefer to be on the first row with an unblocked view of the ocean!
There are a ton of photographers in the 30a area if you want to book family photos. We used Erica Lambert and loved her. She was very professional, so sweet and I love how the photos turned out!
Planning an Itinerary
I had a lot of questions about planning a trip with little ones/what to do each day so here are some ideas! When we go on a beach trip, we try to spend as much time at the beach since that’s what we are there for. We typically went to the beach each morning after breakfast, came home for lunch/nap time and then either went back out to the beach or to the pool in the afternoon.
Since my parents and brother’s family were with us, we had plenty of people at the house at any given time so we would usually do something during nap time. Go check out the shops, grab lunch out, etc! Lee loves to nap so he would nap during the day with the kids (I joke that he is my 3rd child). My mom and I would run shop or go to the grocery store during nap time, too.
Lee & my dad typically pick a day or two to play golf. My parents went one morning to the shops in Sandestin, they love to shop! In the past, we have chartered a boat for deep sea fishing. There are SO many things to do.
Here is an example of what we do during a week at the beach!
Day 1: Arrival day: afternoon check-in. Immediately went to the grocery store for breakfast/lunch food. Grab an early dinner at the Great Southern. Go check out the beach at sunset with the kids. Head back to the house to unpack and settle in!
Day 2: Breakfast at the house and then straight out to the beach! We spent as much time as we could before the girls got too tired/over it. Back to the house for lunch and nap time. During nap: check out the shops! After nap: back to the beach! Grab pizza to go for dinner after a tiring first full day.
Day 3: Breakfast at home, straight to the beach, home for nap time, go out to lunch during nap somewhere fun like Bud & Alley’s. When kids wake up: spend afternoon at the pool. Wander around Seaside at night, let the kids play on the lawn and get food at the food trucks. The Seaside Amphitheater has children’s music once a week so check the schedule for that, it’s super cute and a fun outdoor activity. There’s an ice cream shop for dessert or snow cone food truck.
Day 4: Breakfast out to change things up! Beach time and then come in early to get ready for family photos! Grab dinner out while you’re already all dressed up!
Day 5: Beach in the morning, home for lunch/nap! Go to The Hub for a fun night out with the kids. Wear them out so you can sneak away for a date night after bedtime with your spouse 🙂 We love Cafe 30a for date night!
Day 6: LAST DAY 🙁 Play at the beach as much as possible! Dinner out early! Start packing up.
I hope that is helpful for y’all! I truly don’t know how people travel with little ones without other family there to help. If y’all do… you are BRAVE! 🙂
If you have any questions I am happy to answer! Just leave them in the comments or send me an email!
xo,
Laura
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