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Fort Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore

Photo: Ebyabe / CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

🏖️ Beaches

Fort Pickens, Gulf Islands National Seashore

Pensacola Beach, FL · Panhandle

About

Seven-plus miles of white-quartz sand run undeveloped along Santa Rosa Island's western tip, with the 1834 brick fort the only thing breaking the line of dunes and sea oats. There is no resort strip here, just a long drive past the gate to walk-in shoreline where the Gulf turns over good shelling and the high-rises of Pensacola Beach stay a distant smudge to the east. Come for the quiet, the birds working the wrack line, and sand that squeaks underfoot.

Highlights

Getting there

1400 Fort Pickens Rd, Pensacola Beach, FL 32561

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Wild Florida Gulf Coast Beaches9 places

Wild Florida Gulf Coast Beaches

Florida's wildest Gulf beaches make you work for them: some you reach only by boat, others by a long walk past the last paved road. These are the undeveloped barrier islands and protected state-park shores with no resort strip and no high-rise wall, just sugar sand, dunes, shelling, and the kind of quiet you earn. Pack your own water and shade.