Beach towns of Florida more fun than you know

While summer is the traditional slow season for tourist resorts in hot and muggy South Florida, it is peak season 965 kilometers northwest in the beach towns of Florida's Panhandle. From St George Island in the east to Pensacola Beach in the west, there is plenty to explore in this sometimes-overlooked region.

Pensacola Beach offers gleaming white sand and warm turquoise waves. The beach is buffered on both sides by lengthy stretches of Gulf Islands National Seashore, a protected national park and wildlife sanctuary where visitors can hike, bike or kayak along more than 30 km of pristine shoreline.

Pensacola Beach itself is an ideal location for a family vacation or a romantic getaway. Smaller than the popular Panhandle towns of Destin and Panama City Beach, there is still plenty to see and do on Pensacola Beach and in the city of Pensacola.