which location would you choose? And yes, I do know you’d prefer Barbados or The Bahamas, but which of these two?
I’d pick Key West if the question were open-ended. I’ve been to Florida and the beaches were nice. Panama City Beach all the way!
My company is going to offer a free week’s vacation, and those are the two options. We’re working with a management company that operates complexes in PCB, and OB/GS. Well, they are also in Pensacola, but my company has decided to do one of the other two locations. Just trying now to decide which one.
Never been to Panama City, but spent many vacations just down the coast at Port St. Joe which has outstanding beaches. I don’t know how similar they are though even though they are close to each other.
Is transportation included? If so, by what means? If I have to get there myself I would choose the closet one.
PCB is a bit more commercial and a more crowded than Gulf Shores, but that also means there is more to do if laying on the beach isn’t your thing.
I’m not that familiar with either place, but I think I would choose the one in Alabama simply because I have never been to Alabama and I have been to Florida (well, the Keys).
The Keys and Panama City might as well be on two different planets.
They are very, very different. My wife and I made the mistake of staying in Panama City during peak spring break season. IMO it was crowded and trashy, though it would be much improved by not having drunk puking 19 year olds everywhere. Most days we drove for an hour or two to more distant and less crowed state/national parks, which are much more our speed. St. Joseph State Park was one of our favorites, though the only time we spent in Port St. Joe was stopping for a few meals as we passed through.
Yes, when we would spend a week there in the summer we’d rent a house on Cape San Blas just outside of St. Joseph State Park. Even at the height of summer you’d often need binoculars to see another human on the beach. Sounds like a different world from Panama City. Thank you for adding this information so I didn’t steer the OP wrong.
I’m from Alabama and have been to Orange Beach/Gulf Shores numerous times. My father and stepmother used to live in Panama City Beach, so I’ve also been there many times. I would choose Gulf Shores/Orange Beach. The beaches are beautiful and there’s a bit less of the high school/college Spring Break thing.
I don’t know a thing about either one. I suppose what I’d do if I were actually faced with this choice is see what people in this thread had to say, and make a decision on that basis.
I also would have picked Key West, however I have a couple buds in Gulf Shores, so that is what I picked.
Though in retrospect, I should have hit up google to check the restaurant situation, I don’t do sunlight and beaches, but we do like eating … but the chance to hang with Bam and buddies for a week works for me =)
Perdido Key and the west end of Gulf Islands National Sea Shore are just East of Orange Beach. Plenty of wide open beach there.
Then a bit further east is Pensacola Beach and the east end of Gulf Islands National Sea Shore.
One big thing IMO. Pensacola has the Pensacola Naval Aviation Station (NAS) Naval Aviation Museum. This is a world class aviation museum, with two IMAX screens. The base also has two forts, Barancas (sp?) and Redoubt (my favorite). And a tall old lighthouse cracked way back when by an earthquake.
Pensacola also has nice historic district and a mini Bourbon Street of its own called Seville Quarter.
The drive from Orange Beach to Pensacola Beach, Pensacola, or Pensacola NAS isn’t bad at all. To get there from Panama City much longer and more importantly IS BAD. Like Manhatten when Woody Allen is filming a movie bad.
Panama City was IMO overcrowded and trashy 20 years ago. And I understand it underwent quite a boom since then.
Go to Panama City if you want grid lock, a plethora of seedy strip bars, and wide choice of Go Kart tracks, Goffy Golfs, and Tshirt shops. Which is why its the choice for southern rednecks who want to come on down and misbehave like they can’t at home. Hence the name “Redneck Riviera”, which to be honest, makes it sound nicer than it it is.
Neither. If I won the vacation in a contest, I’d ask for the equivalent cash value instead.
Seconded, plus the air service through Mobile will be better for Gulf Shores than anything you’d get to Panama City.
Mobile has plenty of attractions of its own; if you go, you might want to add a few days there:
The beaches will be about the same. Not sure why people are mentioning the Keys; that’s the other end of Florida from the Panhandle.
with fond memories of Biloxi MS and Destin, FL, I voted Gulf Shores… but I haven’t been there since waaay before Katrina, so I have no idea if my memories have any valid application to what’s there now.
PCB seems like a terrible place to relax, but if I’m not up for relaxation, I’d consider it.
Not to mention, I could wander through town singing “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” at the top of my lungs.
nm
neither. I don’t have a beach body.