r/panamacitybeach

Hi, im 26 and doing a solo trip July 17th-22nd, any advice for a solo trip, making friends while at the beach? Is the a young people community in PCB or is it more families?

Even though I'm going by myself would love to get out and meet people while traveling

From VA, Im an artist, traveler, movie buff, adventurer lover, trying to find others who have the same vibe

Hi all.

A veteran of many beach trips to Panama City area, usually spend a week per year there. Going down this Sunday.

I’ve had some decent seafood gumbo … but not any that I’’d call great or even really, really good. (And as the title says, I’m talking seafood gumbo here, not chicken or a mix of chicken and seafood.

So I’d like some suggestions. Who has the best, and what do you like about it?

Where are some good spots to watch the World Cup this year? Bonus points for Monday’s game US v Belgium. I found questions on prior years in the sub, but nothing this year.

Me and the family are traveling next week to Panama City and I see chances of thunderstorms everyday almost but I figured doesn’t mean lots of rain just spotty storms . How is the weather usually in July down there ?

My husband, his mother and her boyfriend are going to Panama City Beach in late September.

I wanted to ask fellow travelers and PCB locals what the best and most authentic seafood restaurants are that they suggest. My husband and I LIVE for seafood but live in dang Missouri, so our options suck and we are willing to eat seafood for every meal. We love fresh fish, oysters, and shrimp. No fried foods or minimal fried foods.

I'd like some expensive and non expensive options as we will probably take the fam to eat a few dinners, but want to maximize our exposure to seafood all the other times, so we need options.

We like unique, less touristy but I'll def check it out if it's worth it.

Second thing :

Years ago I did a dolphin tour where the Captain took 6 of us out to open water and we actually swam with wild dolphins- we were really lucky. I cannot remember the name of the boat or business. Any suggestions that would be similar? Obv we were not touching or interacting with dolphins but got to be in the water when a wild pod came thru and it was magical. I want something similar.

Swamp boats- give me the closest I can get to Everglade's experience. Any suggestions?

Lastly, my husband wants to deep sea fish and potentially cook what he catches. Any businesses that do that?

Also, I want to do St.Andrews and Shell Island. Suggestions or any advice?

Thank you everyone. As a land locked Missourian, I cannot begin to tell you how friggin excited we are to be headed to the ocean and a city with so many seafood options.

THANK YOU

Hello all. Traveling in from Nashville TN next week for a 6 day solo stay. The trip was originally planned with an ex-girlfriend but that didn’t pan out so I’ve decided to come anyways. I am a younger man 25M.

Thanks and looking forward to a nice vacation.

Hey! Our family is staying in PCB the 20-24th. Looking for some fun ideas for the kids during that time. Probably should have checked here first, but we booked a table at Wild Encounters. Looking at one of the dolphin/island tours, so any feedback there would be much appreciated. Anything else we should look into doing while we’re there? Kids are 15 (girl) and 10 (boy).

Thank you!! Looking forward to a much needed vacation

I’m going out on a Wednesday night, what is a great place to catch live music or DJ for dancing? We’re going out for dinner and then we want to dance and listen to music, where should we go?

I’ve seen full reviews on other destinations so I figured I’d share a longer, more in depth review from condo, beach, crowds, etc. we stayed at Regency Towers, and booked through Book That Condo via vrbo. I’ll make this post as something similar to what I would want to see before choosing a vacation. Two adults traveling with 8yo and 6yo.

The condo unit
The room was clean, updated, and MOSTLY had everything we needed. The fifth floor view was great and being located directly across from the elevator, stairs, and garbage chute was really nice. We didn’t hear any nonsense outside whatsoever. We had some issues though. The breaker tripped each time we used the oven and the stove at the same time, so cooking took longer than normal. The shower in the kids bathroom had the hot/cold reversed so the kids had a hard time with that at first. Both bedrooms and the living room had ceiling lights/fans that were plugged into the wall that were only controlled with a remote control, and the light switches did nothing. This was frustrating having to walk into dark bedrooms every night with a cell phone light. The ceiling fan in the kids room would not turn off so it was on all week which required the kids needing an extra blanket. We were also surprised at the $40 registration fee when we checked in. It was probably hidden somewhere in the rental agreement. I don’t put any of this on Regency Towers, and will say that I would never book a room through Book That Condo again. Could I have had maintenance come address the issues? Sure, but who wants maintenance in and out on a daily basis during their vacation. The main elevator was out of service for most of one of the days, but wasn’t a big inconvenience being on the fifth floor.

The Pool
The pools were clean, comfortable, and the vibe and atmosphere were awesome. The pools themselves were pretty crowded especially in the shallow end. The Sand Bar in between the two pools was convenient with decent prices and the drinks weren’t weak, and the food was actually pretty good. The security guard walks around but isn’t up in peoples business. They made it known they were there but left everyone alone. We only had trouble finding a pool chair one time. It was frustrating seeing people “reserving” 4-5 chairs together at 6 am with beach towels and not seeing them even show up until after 12:00. There are signs for this, like most places, but it’s something security didn’t enforce. If needed I would have had to toss a few towels off those chairs to have a place to sit. Overall, the pool was a huge plus on this vacation.

The beach
The beach was nice, and the chair service that came to the room was awesome. There was a LOT of sargassum in the sand and in the water. I know there is a contract for 20-25 miles of beach to have this stuff removed, but I’m also surprised the condo didn’t have their own personnel to clean it up on their section of the beach on a daily or every other day basis. Maybe there are laws about this, who knows. But we didn’t see any effort to remove this stuff during our trip. Speaking to people who frequent PCB, I guess it was worse this summer than it usually is, and we had double red flags for most of our trip due to a tropical storm that was further to the west, so I’m guessing maybe that contributed. This was all a surprise, since the last trip to Destin in 2021 had no sargassum in the water. We still really enjoyed the beach though and being in the ocean was still a lot of fun and enjoyable. The umbrellas and beach tents were a few rows deep off to the sides, but the beach never felt overly crowded, maybe due to the double reds and the residual storm effects keeping people away.

Crowds
The traffic was not bad at all on the east end. There were no crowds for Wonder Works, mini golf, go karts, things like that. But one of the better restaurants? 1.5-2 hour wait times. We planned to do lunch out instead, but there was a water main break which caused everything close by to close during lunch hours. I can’t complain too much about wait times, I mean, it is PCB in mid June. If we were traveling without kids then no biggy…grab some drinks and chill, but with two young ones, it just wasn’t going to happen. There were even lines out the door for the coffee shop across the street from the condo. I’m sure this is all normal, but it was a bit of a shock for a northerner who lives out in the country who doesn’t frequent busy touristy places.

TL;DR
Overall we had a great vacation in PCB. The water main break was a freak thing that left us without water for a full day, and elevator issues happen no matter where you go. The crowds were the worst part, but we adjusted to other things having a 6yo and 8yo. Book That Condo? Would not recommend. Regency Towers? Was a great complex to stay at. Was it worth the 17 hour drive (21 total hours) with two young kids? Yep. Would we come back to PCB again? Probably yes.

Who is the best Standard Poodle groomer in Panama City Beach? Can anyone make a recommendation? I have a Standard Poodle and need a regular groomer that has experience with Poodles. Thanks for your help in this matter

Have any other locals been tresspassed from Pier Park and or threatened by the police? What did they say you did?

It says that this text is too short, so this is extra babble. I'm not really sure what else to add, but if you want to know more, you can send me a direct message.

What's it like? Looking for pros and cons to it. I've been dabbling with the idea of potentially moving to PCB and really love when we stay in ocean side condos

We are staying at shores of panama and the water is still shut off. Any ideas where i can take my family to get showered off?

Sorry if the obvious answer is Shell Island, but are there any good spots for the kids to find seashells or is it kind of just weather dependent?

Visiting for a couple of days and I want to find good breakfast spots. Feel free to gatekeep since I wouldn’t want tourists finding my niche cafes back home, but if there are any small businesses I can support that’d be awesome!

What can we expect the crowds to look like? And what time would be best to get there? Or is there a better spring to visit?

I’m moving to another state soon and have never actually been but want to go before I leave. Any information anyone has would be awesome!!

I'm a Texas girly that's from the DFW area and I'm planning on moving in with my bf who lives in pcb. I visited 2 times and I find it way more peaceful and happier than my home town.
Is there anything I need to know before I settle with my decision? Job market? The locals? Or give any tips?

i’ll be in pcb in july for my birthday with some friends & i was wondering if y’all had any club recommendations. we LOVE to dance, so that’s a pretty important factor to me. i’ve tried looking on google & can’t seem to get any solid recommendations.