Family Guide to Panama City Beach

Panama City Beach is just a short 40 minute drive from us, and a place that we love to frequent for staycations with our kiddos. There are so many great amenities they have for families and kids. This past weekend we got the pleasure of experiencing them with our fam and we made some of the best memories! Below find my most recommended experience to make lifetime long memories with your babies.

Also, this is just my favorite that we got to experience. There are SO many more things to do in Panama City Beach, and they can all be found on the Visit PCB website. This is a great resource on places to stay, things to do and places to eat incase you need more ideas than I have listed below!

Family Friendly Dining

Saltwater Grill | The kids and yourself will be wowed by the panoramic view of our 25,000-gallon tropical saltwater aquarium. Both sides of our restaurant offer dazzling views of this tropical reef and its non-stop parade of exotic sea creatures. Get the Gulf fresh seafood or one of their steaks!

Andy’s Flour Power | Open only for breakfast and lunch, this Panama City Beach favorite uses
the freshest ingredients for their flaky pastries, muffins, omelets and
popular breakfast potatoes. I highly recommend the breakfast martini, Bloody Mary and pistachio muffins!

Hang Five | This is a brand-new beach restaurant and is quickly becoming a local favorite! You
can’t beat the breathtaking gulf views, tasty cocktails, and fresh seafood! Being beach front allows the kids to walk down to the sand too while waiting for food, if they are old enough!

Runaway Island | The restaurant boasts 2 levels of inside dining space, but our favorite was the outdoor deck complete with a boardwalk that extends all the way to the shores of the white sandy beach. We got there right at sunset, it was absolutely breathtaking!

Finns Island Style Grub | This is the home of Finn’s Original Fish Tacos! They serve the freshest and most delicious island style food in Panama City Beach, Florida! Every order is cooked fresh to order to provide you with an amazing eating experience!

Family Friendly Activities

Dolphin Cruise | We had the BEST time on our dolphin cruise with the kids. Ryan and I did one of these several years ago, it was still so much fun but I highly recommend doing the private Dolphin cruise with Lagoon Pontoon. We had our own boat with a tour guide who catered the cruise to exactly what the kids wanted to do for 2 hours. We watched dolphins, checked out a ship wreck, and were able to stop and jump in to swim anytime the kids wanted to!

Visit PCB Monthly Events | We took our trip in October so their weekend event while we were there was Oktoberfest. There was a kid zone which involved face paintings, bounce houses, kid friendly bull rides, etc. They also had live music, beer tents, food trucks and everything you needed to keep both parents and children entertained and happy. To see a full list of Visit PCB events click here.

Gulf World Marine Park | This is a great way for your kids to be able to easily see any and all sea animals they may want to see on their beach vacation to go home and tell their friends about. We also had the opportunity to do the Bottlenose Dolphin Meet n’ Greet. Charli (age 2) was a little skeptical but the boys absolutely loved it. Highly recommend for kids ages 4+!