{"id":164614,"date":"2026-02-22T10:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T10:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/164614\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T10:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T10:53:08","slug":"bay-county-beaches-others-in-florida-rank-among-tripadvisors-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/164614\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay County beaches, others in Florida, rank among Tripadvisor’s best"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Andrews State Park is No. 8 and Panama City Beach is No. 11 on the 2026 Travelers\u2019 Choice Awards Best of the Best Beaches list by Tripadvisor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“With the Gulf of America on one side and St. Andrews Bay on the other, visitors who crave swimming, snorkeling or surfing will be more than satisfied,” the state park, 4607 State Park Lane, Panama City, says on its website.<\/a> The park boasts “a mile-and-a-half of pristine beaches for fishing and swimming.”<\/p>\n

Panama City Beach is 27 miles long. The beach is known for its hospitality, along with its restaurants serving mouthwatering seafood. The beach also is a top spot, for locals and tourists alike, who enjoy soaking up the sun, water sports and parasailing.<\/p>\n

Panama City Beach has experienced some issues during spring break, especially with unaccompanied minors<\/a>. But local law enforcement has a plan in place<\/a> for the upcoming season, which starts soon.<\/p>\n

Both beaches are on the Gulf. But what do people call that body of water nowadays? The News Herald recently conducted an online poll asking that question. In a landslide victory<\/a>, Gulf of Mexico won.<\/p>\n

A separate News Herald poll <\/a>asks whether Panama City Beach can still be considered a spring break town. Voting closes at noon Feb. 25.<\/p>\n

The Tripadvisor list named the top 15 sandy spots across the U.S.<\/p>\n

“For many travelers, the beach is the main event,” said Laurel Greatrix, chief communications officer at Tripadvisor. “Based on millions of trips, reviews, and opinions, these awards highlight the very best beaches in the world \u2014 making it easier to decide where to go and how to spend your time once you’re there.”<\/p>\n

Florida claimed seven of the top 15 beaches. The top spot went to La Jolla Cove in California.<\/p>\n

The 2026 Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best Beaches are calculated based on the quality and quantity of reviews, specific to each award subcategory from travelers globally on Tripadvisor from Nov. 30, 2024, through Dec. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n

What Florida beaches ranked the best by Tripadvisor?<\/p>\n

2. Clearwater Beach \u2014 Celebrated for its family-friendliness with powdery, white sand, blue waters and spectacular sunsets.<\/p>\n

6. Siesta Beach \u2014 A good option for those who want activity or a day of relaxation. Siesta Beach has white sand, clear water, easy access to public transportation and plenty of shops and restaurants nearby.<\/p>\n

8. St. Andrews State Park \u2014 Located in Panama City Beach, this beach rarely gets crowded and its clear waters are great for kayaking and hiking.<\/p>\n

10. Honeymoon Island State Park \u2014 This dog-friendly beach in Dunedin has great walking trails and offers a peaceful spot for swimming and sunbathing.<\/p>\n

11. Panama City Beach \u2014 The family-friendly beach is clean, easy to access and has lots of nearby activities.<\/p>\n

12. Sombrero Beach \u2014 Powder-soft sand, palm trees and gorgeous views line the shoreline. Dogs are welcome at Sombrero Beach, which has easy parking and picnic tables.<\/p>\n

14, Hollywood Beach \u2014 There\u2019s always something going on at this South Florida spot. Visitors can often enjoy live music, various water sports and a boardwalk packed with shops and restaurants.<\/p>\n

What beaches were ranked the best by Tripadvisor?Conde Nast Traveler ranks four of Florida beaches best in nation<\/p>\n

The Tripadvisor report comes on the heels of one by Cond\u00e9 Nast Traveler<\/a>\u00a0that ranked four Florida beaches among the top 15 in the country, with Pensacola Beach claiming the top spot.<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the Conde Nast Traveler list:<\/p>\n

Kaunaoa Beach (Mauna Kea Beach), Hawaii<\/p>\n

Hapuna Beach State Park, Hawaii<\/p>\n

Kailua Beach Park, Hawaii<\/p>\n

Trunk Beach, US Virgin Islands<\/p>\n

South Padre Island, Texas<\/p>\n

Coligny Beach, Hilton Head, South Carolina<\/p>\n

Lake Havasu State Park, Arizona<\/p>\n

St. Augustine Beach, Florida<\/p>\n

Coronado Beach, California<\/p>\n

Samantha Neely contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Michelle Spitzer<\/a>\u00a0is a journalist for The USA TODAY NETWORK-FLORIDA. As the network\u2019s Rapid Response reporter, she covers Florida\u2019s breaking news.\u00a0You can get all of Florida\u2019s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at\u00a0https:\/\/floridatoday.com\/newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Two Bay County beaches make Tripadvisor’s Top 15 list<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Andrews State Park is No. 8 and Panama City Beach is No. 11 on the 2026 Travelers\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3127,28,30,29,52805,4526,1361,78505,34913,17898],"class_list":["post-164614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-clearwater-beach","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-honeymoon-island-state-park","tag-panama-city","tag-panama-city-beach","tag-siesta-beach","tag-st-andrews-state-park","tag-tripadvisor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}