Emerald Coast travel tips

“Nicaragua? Wow. Why?”

It just got easier to plan a summer getaway to Florida.Allegiant Airlines recently announced the return of fifteen nonstop flights to Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport, in Florida’s Emerald Coast, as part of seasonal summer service. Travelers will be able to visit the popular vacation destination from Des Moines, Knoxville, Tulsa, and other cities the airline confirmed toTravel + Leisure.  “We are excited to bring back these seasonal routes for passengers to enjoy some of our network’s most popular destinations just in time for summer vacations,” Allegiant’s Chief Revenue Officer Drew Wells said in a statement to T+L. 

U.S. residents don’t need a passport to travel to this year’s winner of the “World’s Best Beach.” The No. 1 best beach in the world for 2024 is: Trunk Bay, located on St. John, a U.S. Virgin Island, according to The World’s 50 Best Beaches presented by Banana Boat.

The small beachside city of Destin, Florida, suddenly finds itself a center of worldwide attention, thanks to its inclusion in the lyrics of one of Taylor Swift’s newest songs, “Florida!!!” on her “Tortured Poets Department” album that dropped on April 19.

With its crystalline waters and sublime beaches, Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda, a 20- kilometer tranche of seaside running along the island’s northeast coast, has been a go-to for the world’s elite for decades. When Prince Karim, Aga Khan IV, who led a consortium that developed the area in the 1960s, first surveyed a then barren landscape he reportedly said, “There is a multitude of fine sandy beaches and no one to walk on them.” But once the posh retreat—sustainably planned and created by top architects of the day—opened for business it drew a rarified crowd, including Greta Garbo, Grace Kelly and Gianni Agnelli, who came to experience the unique beaches, or at least gaze at them with admiration from their nearby yachts.