beach vacations for baby bunchers - sandestin and jekyll island

By Kristen Chase, of Motherhood Uncensored and Mominatrix

So while the back to school season doesn't necessarily scream "Vacation," there's a little thing called "Labor Day weekend" coming up that might just be your last hurrah before Fall arrives.

Or really, runs us over like road kill.

Regardless of whether you're looking to get away now, or you're planning ahead for next year, family travel doesn't necessarily need to be followed by a bunch of groans. And it also doesn't mean that you have to buy a bunch of airplane tickets and spend a bunch of money just to go somewhere else to have your kids fight and not sleep.

If you live in the Southeast region, you'll find a plethora of great family getaway options all within a decent driving distance. And if you live anywhere else, you might want to take notice. These places could be worth flying to depending on what you're looking for.

Typically, family vacation meant Disney, but lately, families are looking for less expensive, drivable options, that don't include standing in long lines at parks. And over the last few months, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit a couple of them with my family as a press person. Both Sandestin and Jekyll Island are within a 6 hour drive of Atlanta, and closer depending on what part of the SE region you live. They're also situated close to major airports, so flying in for a weekend or longer is an option, and both of these beach towns cater to families with young and older kids.

Here's a quick analysis of what I found in both locations. Hopefully these will help you in choosing a quick trip or week long vacation with your family.

Sandestin

Situated on the Emerald Coast, Sandestin is a large (very large) resort that includes everything from hotels, to condos, to almost everything in between, depending on your budget. A little over a 6-hour drive from Atlanta, and within one hour of the Panama City airport, it's a great beach locale for families looking to steer clear of the Spring Break-type beaches.

Aside from the activities within the resort, which include a decent-sized activity area featuring restaurants, bars, and a large playground, there's great golf and beautiful beaches. We're huge fans of this beach in particular, which has gorgeous ivory sand and very clear water.

Unfortunately, our visit was scheduled for late February, so we only had a short beach day. And many of the activities and the amenities were not open yet.

The Good:

The resort offers free shuttle service to everything within the resort as well as the grocery store (Publix), even a Starbucks. You can rent a place with a kitchen and cook all your meals without ever having to get in your car. They do run fairly frequently, so you won't find yourself waiting.

The activity area has lots to offer - mostly chain restaurants and bars - but also a big playground for the kids where you could sit and have a drink while they play.

The Bad:

The condos are a bit on the old side, and since they're independently owned (time-share), they're not completely kid-friendly. Ours had only glass cups and bowls and the set-up wasn't ideal for small kids. It's easy to ask ahead and tell them who you're traveling with to be sure that you'll get a place that works. And now that we know, we'll be sure to bring our own plastic kid's ware.

Destin isn't cheap, so expect to spend more for groceries and food that you typically would. It is vacation, however, so we always remember to budget more than we typically would for meals at home.

And outside of the resort, there's not a ton to do. Of course, our kids love the beach and could go every day, so that really wasn't an issue for us. But if you're into sight-seeing and planned activities, this might not be the place for you.

Jekyll Island

Hailed as "Georgia's Jewel," Jekyll Island is a small, quiet island off the Southern coast of Georgia. The site for many movies, including Glory and The Legend of Bagger Vance, Jekyll Island is known for its bike trails (around the whole island) and true getaway flavor. In a word, it's quiet.

The Island is small and features several beaches, a water park, Turtle Rehabilitation Center, mini-golf, and four golf courses. From what we could tell, Jekyll Island is a popular choice due to it's location (5.5 hours SE of Atlanta and 1 hour south of Savannah) and because it's quite secluded.

The Good:

We stayed at the Villas By The Sea, which featured various sized condos. Our 3-bedroom condo was a great size for a 5-person family, and had a full kitchen, refrigerator and two bathrooms.

It was quiet. We never had to wait in line for anything and had almost everything to ourselves.

The Bad:

The island is quiet. Restaurants are few and far between, with only a few freestanding eateries. Most others were attached to the various hotels and resorts. My husband attempted to get a drink at a bar at 10pm and it was closed - on a Tuesday night!

There's a $5 "parking" fee that you pay once daily. If you don't leave the island, then you only pay once, but after perusing the grocery store and the liquor shop and their outrageous prices, it was obvious that you had to leave the island to get anything or really do anything other than what activities were offered.

It seemed almost smothered in not-so-happy senior citizens. Aside from two very nice people, everyone we met was not very friendly.

The beaches were not as pretty as I had imagined. We've seen a lot of beaches, so perhaps we just had a lot to compare them to, but they were very shallow (or short) and the water was a bit murky. We found out that they had just had a few storms a few days before, however, it didn't seem to clear up or make a big difference a few days later. We're definitely bigger fans of the NE coast or the Gulf.

It is important to note that apparently Jekyll Island is going through a revitalization. I'm not sure when it will be complete, but I'm assuming they'll be updating their facilities (everything was a bit outdated).

Check out Kristen's other Baby Bunching travel review of Azul Beach. It's like she's become our unofficial travel reporter.

Comments

[JessPond]

We're actually going to destin next weekend for a week! We've been there before, but not with the kids.

Another place we like for kids is Hilton Head. Disney has condos there that are unmatchable with all sort of activities for the kids and a big pool, etc. They also have a shuttle and a beach house equipped with a little restaraunt and bathrooms and even a rec room with a/c if you get overheated. Lovely, and def our favorite!

[Pensacola Girl]

Another Emerald Coast spot that is more family-friendly and wallet-friendly is Pensacola. It's about 2 hours West of Destin and 1 hour East of Mobile, Alabama.

Check it out!

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