As someone who travels a lot, people often ask me my favorite places to go. It’s a tricky question to say the least, and I often ask for clarification. I mean how do you even compare the jungles of the Amazon to the wilds of the Galapagos to the seas of the Great Barrier Reef to the architecture of Barcelona to the food in Rome to the museums in Paris to the beaches in Bora Bora?
The short answer? You can’t.
But one place that I always find myself recommending is South Walton, Fla., specifically the area affectionately referred to as 30A.
I was thinking about why 30A always comes to mind, and I realized it combines all the things I love in all the places I love to go: nature, water, architecture, food, art, the beach and people who welcome me with open arms.
South Walton — which is the southern half of South Walton county, of course — is made up of 26 miles of the sugariest white sand beaches and the bluest waters I’ve ever seen in Florida. It has 16 unique beach neighborhoods, each of which has a ton of shops and restaurants and activities, as well as its own sunny disposition.
It feels really different in 30A, different from other parts of Florida, for sure. But equally different from, say, the Caribbean or the beaches of Spain or Italy or Australia even. Some call it the Hamptons of the South. I’ve never been to the Hamptons, so I can’t say.
It is fancy in a good way. But it’s also artsy and welcoming and whatever you call beyond inclusive. No one seemed to care who I love. They were much more interested in what lights my fire.
dining options
I stayed at Camp Creek Inn, which I fell in love with the moment I arrived. It is only three stories tall and has only 75 rooms, all of which are super well-appointed and feel more like you’re staying at a friend’s fancy golf course guest home than a hotel.
And — get this — each floor has a treat suite! And, yes, it’s exactly what you think it is, and it is all included. The pantry-like room is filled with drinks and snacks and full-size ice cream treats. I may or may not have had an ice cream sandwich every night before bed …
The inn has two restaurants, 1936 and ANR (both delicious!), a pool complex (including poolside dining), amazing wellness and fitness facilities, pickleball courts, tennis courts and a golf academy. And guests also have access to the Watersound Club located not far from the inn, and all the amenities there, including Watersound Beach Club, Shark’s Tooth Golf Course and Camp Creek Golf course.
Access to Watersound Beach Club alone is worth staying at the inn, which will happily shuttle you to the club with its restaurants, pools and an amazing beach. When you walk across the bridge that takes you safely over the dunes to the beach, an attendant will set up a chair and umbrella and you can grab a drink before you settle in.
To my mind, it doesn’t get much better than that.
My wanderings during my long weekend in town included so many fun spots — coffee at Amavida Coffee (with the best breakfast tacos), window shopping and sightseeing in Seaside (with the coolest vintage record store), lunch at Bud & Alley’s (with fresh seafood and ocean views), a clay mug workshop at the Cultural Arts Alliance Bayou Arts (luckily the one I made works better than it looks), dinner at Havana Beach Bar & Grill (where I learned that a twist of lemon takes the bite out of espresso) and yoga class and sunbathing at the chic Kaiya Beach Resort (which is also home to the region’s first fine art gallery O MAIRE).
I also had the chance to take the Inlet Beach Underpass mural tour (with fantabulous murals by 10 local artists in the underpass created for the safety of pedestrian and cyclists), have dinner at Idyll Hound Proper (with beer from Idyll Hounds Brewing Company and an impressively eclectic menu), and, for the grand finale, spend the evening the Alys Beach Digital Graffiti art festival (with 70 digital works that absolutely blew me away all projected onto the exterior walls and architectural features, pathways, and landscape of the all-white dwellings).
Side note: Although I did not get to visit Cowgirl Kitchen Market & Café, it is on my list, and I have to give her a shout out here because the founder and owner, Nikki Nickerson, is a Texan, naturally. Rumor has it she brought her roots and her boots to 30A. I will say, I have tried her bottle dressing, and you can count me in.
The wandering girl in me constantly feels compelled to share not just the places I love, but also the places that feel like home to me, as a gay girl, as a mushy girl, as a spiritual girl, as a beach girl, as an artsy girl. In other words, places that sing to all the many parts of me. 30A hit me like a symphony.
Sure, part of the weekend joy was the gaggle of girls with whom I traveled. But the magic was also 30A herself. And in a time when we have to support those who support us, you can feel good about leaving your tourist dollars in the sunny sanctuary that is 30A, where the glimmers upon which we all thrive abound.