I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since we got married. We had made plans a year ago to celebrate our anniversary at Sandals La Toc, but because of Covid, we’ve decided not to fly. As such, our destinations are highly limited. After studying the map, we decided to come to Sandestin Florida to celebrate our anniversary and ring in the new year!
This is my first time to Sandestin, and honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had previously thought Sandestin was a city or township in the Florida Gulf Coast, but come to find out, it’s actually the name of a Golf and Beach Resort, consisting of 2400 acres. There are many sections. Villages, houses, hotels, etc., so no matter the size of your travel group, you will be able to find the right accommodation here. There are also lots of amenities, such as tennis, golf, zip lining, pools, etc. There are tons of shops and restaurants as well. Cars will be needed, as the resort is so large, but fortunately, self parking is complimentary and there are separate garages for different areas. Sandestin is very family friendly.
Where we stayed:
Since the resort is so large, there are many different types of accommodations available. There are only two of us on this trip so we opted for a 1 bedroom in the Luau Tower 1 building. The Luau buildings are on the beach side, but not beachfront. You will have to cross a street to get to the beach but the ocean view is nice and the beach walkway is pleasant. The 1 bedroom Luau is a corner suite with lots of windows and 180 degree views. Luau Tower 1 is further from the beach than Luau Tower 2, however Luau Tower 1 is 20 stories while Luau Tower 2 is only 10 stories.
Before making a reservation, make sure you check out the resort map (link) and decide which area you would like to stay, so there are no surprises. I think if we stay again, we would choose Beachside or Westwinds to be closer to the beach, but of course it’s also dependent on the pricing.
We enjoyed our room in the Luau. Our room is on the 4th floor. The view is very nice and the ample amount of windows give the room plenty of light. The balcony is a wraparound and there’s a rooftop sunset observation deck that is very nice too. We enjoyed a glass of wine while watching the sunset from the 20th floor. We also enjoyed the full kitchen and we were able to save some money by making a few breakfasts ourselves. The bed was very soft (a little too soft) but comfortable. The room is clean, and furniture and décor are modern. I think this room would be suitable for a small family as well, as the living room couch can be converted into a bed.
The biggest inconveniences we ran into are the following:
- Although the kitchen has all the essentials (even a blender and decent pots and pans), there was no dish soap (only dishwasher soap), and no paper towels. This made cooking more difficult.
- There is no dresser in the bedroom (or anywhere else). This made it quite difficult to stay organized, which is something we struggle often to begin with. This is the main reason we would not come back to the same room in the future.
- This wasn’t an inconvenience but it was an observation. When we stayed, the building seemed rather empty. We only ran into people in the elevator a few times for our entire 6 night stay. We are almost certain there was no one else that stayed on our entire floor. But at check-in, when we inquired if we could be upgraded to a higher floor (we would be interested in paying the difference), we were told there’s none available. We were placed on the 4th floor out of 20 floors.
Where to Eat:
There are so many restaurants here, from casual to very upscale. We tried a different restaurant every night and none were disappointing.
This restaurant has the best oyster specials in town. At $0.50 an oyster during happy hour (4pm to 6pm), the price can’t be beat. Just know that the line is long and if you show up around 5:30pm, you probably won’t be seated by the end of Happy Hour time. The oysters were super large and yummy!
This is the restaurant we went to to ring in the New Year!! The menu was special and epic. The restaurant was beautifully decorated with balloons. The Key Lime Martini was absolutely amazing. This restaurant is insanely busy (definitely so on New Year’s Eve, but I suspect it’s busy other times too), as it took about 20 minutes to wait in line for them to valet your car, and another 10 minutes to wait in line to get seated (even though everyone has a reservation because this is a reservation only occasion).
I have never been to any restaurant like this. The restaurant is absolutely beautiful with Tiffany blue ceilings and décor. They do not serve cocktails but have the most amazing wine selection, including an area of the restaurant that’s like a wine store. You can go and pick out a bottle of wine (prices are stickers on the bottle itself), and they will chill it for you right there for your dinner and serve it to you. They would also help you pick something out if you need help, but they are not pretentious and give you plenty of space. For dinner, we chose the vegan bowl with scallops, and the veal osso buco. Both were amazing, but a bit on the salty side.
Bijoux is an upscale restaurant where fancy meets adventure. The restaurant serves great food, drinks and desserts. We tried the Bouillabaisse and it was delicious. They also have a great wine list!
What an awesome restaurant for brunch!! The menu is absolutely amazing. The cocktails are special! The atmosphere is so modern and quaint.
We enjoyed a romantic dinner at Fleming’s Steakhouse for our one year anniversary. This was my first time eating at Fleming’s and I was quite surprised how good it was! I have high expectations for upscale steakhouses and most of them end up disappointing me, but this one actually exceeded my expectations! The steak was moist and tender and everything else was great too!
Perfect little spot for some ice cream after lunch, dinner or a beach walk. They have great coffee and desserts too!
Things to Do:
Sandestin is a resort with many activities. Your rental comes with complimentary 1 hour tennis (per day) and 4 hour bike rental (per day). The tennis courts are beautiful clay courts and the service is great. We also hit some golf balls on the links. It’s just $10 to rent the golf balls. Our favorite activity however, was the miniature golf course. It has 16 courses and many creative courses in between.
Escape Room: Escapology in Destin, FL
We tried to escape from the game Antidote at Escapology. The escape room company was quite busy and a little unorganized, but they did accommodate us as a walk-in so we were thankful for that. I would say there was one puzzle that I don’t think was well done – it requires you to squint your eyes to see something written a certain way, but even after being told how to line things up, I still could not see the clue myself. Thankfully the game master gave us the answer on that puzzle so it kept the game going. We eventually escaped with few seconds to spare!
Take away of Sandestin
We enjoyed our Sandestin trip very much. There are so many great restaurants, the beach walk is beautiful and the resort amenities are convenient and plentiful. Sandestin is a family friendly destination and I had wished we had our kids with us. I think this would be a great choice for a family get together, especially considering its proximity to Atlanta.