6 Reasons Panama City, Florida Will Be Your New Favorite Beach Town
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Panama City, Florida probably isn’t on your list of must-visit beach towns, but it should be! It’s the chill little sister of the more well-known party animal, Panama City Beach. And don’t get me wrong, PCB is fun! But if you like a more relaxed, local vibe, with less crowds and super dog-friendly, you need to check out Panama City!
What are the 6 Reasons?
Beautiful Beaches
Cute Downtown with Less Crowds
Amazing Food
So Dog Friendly
Great Places to Stay
Excellent In-Shore Fishing
We love it so much, we bought a vacation home there that we turned into a short-term rental. Read on to learn more about why you need to plan your trip to Panama City, Florida!
What’s the Difference Between Panama City and Panama City Beach?
If you drive the famous 30A highway along the Florida Gulf Coast, you come to Panama City Beach first. PCB has a party vibe – tons of people, sits right on the beautiful white sand beach, can be pretty pricey, lots of chain restaurants, shopping, tons of traffic but lots to do.
Drive just 20 minutes East (depending on the time of day, you can see here it says 27 minutes), and you hit Panama City. Panama City sits on Saint Andrews Bay, versus the Gulf. It’s protected by that row of barrier islands. So what does this mean?
The bay is not turquoise blue water and there aren’t as many traditional “beaches” to just lay out on. It’s still super accessible to wade in the water and walk in the sand, it’s just not a “sit on the beach all day” kind of place.
But because of that, you get less crowds, much more affordable, local mom & pop places, it’s super dog-friendly and still really easy to access that gorgeous turquoise water. Read on to learn why this will be your new favorite beach town!
1. Beautiful Beaches
This might sound like I’m going back on everything I just said, haha! But hear me out. First, Panama City is still waterfront and the bay is still pretty. We walk our dogs in the bay every morning and usually every night. The sand is still pretty. You get to see all kinds of weird little sea life.
But our favorite thing to do is to rent a boat - we love Beachy Boat Rentals, owned by the friendliest husband and wife - and drive across the bay to Shell Island and the Spanish Ante. You can anchor up and get out and spend the day in the stunning turquoise water. You can walk across the island to the Gulf side – the sand is pristine and blindingly white. It’s hands-down our favorite thing to do. The dogs love it too.
And if you don’t want to rent a boat yourself, you can take the Shell Island Ferry. It runs Tuesday thru Saturday from 10am-2pm and the last island departure is at 4pm. The cost is $20-$27. It is NOT dog-friendly.
Another option is the Shell Island Shuttle. They also offer boat rentals. I’ve never used them but it looks like they might have longer operating hours than the first ferry.
Shell Island is part of St. Andrews State Park. It’s a nature preserve – there are no bathrooms or amenities. Boats do come by and sell drinks, ice cream and snacks, but you need to bring a cooler with your drinks and food – drink plenty of water and electrolytes! Obviously, a boat with a canopy is the best option because you’ll want to get out of the sun and take breaks.
Many times we see dolphins on our ride out to the island. Tyndall Air Force Base is in Panama City so you’ll see lots of planes and flight exercises. And the Blue Angels are based just down the road in Pensacola so if you’re lucky, you might get to see an Air Show from the water. It’s pretty neat to see!
2. Cute Downtown with Less Crowds
If you know me at all, you know I try to avoid crowds and big cities. And if you travel with your dogs, you’re probably the same. Because Panama City isn’t right on the Gulf beach, it attracts less people – which is a win for me!
Don’t get me wrong, it still gets busy in the summer. But nothing like PCB or other towns on 30A. You will wait for a table on weekend nights and busy times during the day. But you can still get in.
And the interesting thing about Panama City is that it has two downtowns. There is downtown Panama City – it’s farther East and it’s really cute and a little more upscale. Nice coffee shops, restaurants and shops.
And then there’s downtown St. Andrew’s Bay. This is the historic downtown and where we mostly hang out. It’s motto is “Stay Salty” and that describes it pretty well. There are so many good restaurants and divey beach bars on this little strip. It’s where the marina is and where we walk on the bay.
3. Amazing Food – The Best Restaurants in Panama City, FL
As I just mentioned, Panama City has amazing food. Here are some of our favorite places to eat and what we recommend there:
The Copper Tap Grille – the smoked tuna dip is out of this world – and I’m picky about smoked fish and tuna. It’s incredible. Other things we’ve tried and loved: the wings, caprese chicken, the pasta, scallops and the oil and bread they bring out is so good. Dogs are welcome on the outdoor, covered patio.
Hunt’s Oyster Bar and Seafood – they have the best outdoor seating area upstairs. You can see the bay, see downtown and it’s a super fun vibe with live music on the weekends. The oysters are delicious, of course. But any of their seafood is great. It’s our favorite place to get a beer or margarita and grab a casual bite to eat. Dogs are not allowed, just FYI.
The Captain’s Table – this is our usual go-to for dinner. They have a big dog-friendly outdoor patio. You have to get their hushpuppies with tartar sauce, it sounds so simple but it’s amazing. Their fried shrimp basket is so good! Jess loves their stuffed grouper and snapper. They have awesome oysters too – and fun drinks. You really can’t go wrong here.
Uncle Ernie’s – this is a go-to staple for a reason. It’s a little nicer vibe but not fancy. This is the best place to watch the sunset – their upstairs deck sits right overlooking the water. We love their coconut shrimp and their scallop and shrimp imperial – anything imperial is delish. They have fun drinks and dogs are welcome on the deck!
The Grocery Kitchen & Taproom – ok, this place is so friendly, and dog-friendly, inside and out. They let us eat inside with our dogs when it was too cold on the patio. They have good wings, burgers, but the best thing was their fried strawberries. Oh my gosh, yum! They even have a dog food menu – they loved the bacon!
Amavida is our go-to spot for coffee every morning. Their chocolate croissants, plain croissants and breakfast sandwiches are delicious too.
St. Andrew’s Slice House – get the Philly slice, thank me later. They have a cute outdoor patio that’s dog-friendly and great selection of beer and pizza by the slice. It’s the perfect spot!
We have honestly not had anything we didn’t like. Finn’s Island Style Grub has awesome fish and shrimp tacos, Alice’s on the Bay is a great brunch spot, Luna Muna Cafebar had great breakfast, Brine on the Bay has good BBQ. You can’t go wrong!
4. Panama City is So Dog Friendly
This place is the epitome of dog friendly. My definition of dog friendly is having enough space for them to run off leash and places to explore without crowds. We go to Oaks by the Bay park every morning and let the dogs chase squirrels and then wade in the bay while Bo goes “fishing”.
They love just going for drives, finding a stretch of beach to run around on or just going for a stroll downtown. It’s so nice they can go to dinner with us so many places. And of course, our favorite is going on a boat ride and running around on Shell Island. Your pups will love it too!
5. Great Places to Stay
I might be a little biased, but our furnished rental, Reel Time Retreat, is our favorite place to stay here. It’s the cutest 3-bedroom, 2 bath house – fully renovated with 2 Kings and a Queen. It has a fully fenced in yard – perfect for dogs! The screened in front porch is the best spot to enjoy coffee in the morning or play games in the evening. And it’s just 6 blocks from the bay and downtown. Check it out!
If you’re more of a hotel person, we’ve stayed at the Hotel Indigo several times and it’s great too. The staff is friendly, it’s new and everything is clean and shiny, and it’s located in downtown Panama City (vs St. Andrew’s Bay). There’s a good restaurant just across the parking lot and it’s right on the water. And super dog friendly!
6. Excellent Inshore Fishing
We’ve gone inshore fishing here a few times and it’s a great way to spend a day. We went with a company that was all the way on the Southeastern end of the Panama City peninsula – we hadn’t spent much time in the area yet. The guide did a good job but we had to ride on the boat forever just to go back West to fish.
We learned quickly that we can just rent a charter right in St. Andrew’s Bay, just six blocks from our short-term rental house, Reel Time Retreat. There are numerous charters to choose from and it’s so much more convenient than driving 45 minutes and then riding back towards where we came from.
Another option is to rent a boat from Beachy Boat rentals and fish yourself – or the owner will take you out fishing as well.
I tried to find a good place to send you to find out more, but Google seems to be your best bet. You can either search for when the fish you want to catch are biting or you can plan your trip and then see what you can catch.
After your fishing trip, you can take your fish to the marina – there’s a trailer there that will clean them for you and even vacuum seal them so you can freeze them and take them home. But if you want to eat your fresh catch, you can take them to Hunt’s or the Captain’s Table and they’ll cook them up however you want and serve them with some sides. What’s better than eating fresh fish you caught that day?
Are You Planning Your Trip to Panama City yet?
I hope I’ve shown you why Panama City will make a great spot for your next vacation – and given you the information you need to make planning your trip exciting and fun!
If you need help making traveling with your dogs easier, here’s a list of items I use and love. If you’re looking for other dog-friendly travel, you can check out my post about the Black Hills and Badlands in South Dakota and why I love to take my dogs there. And for more Florida adventures, read about our trip Swimming with Manatees – it was awesome!
Happy Xploring!
