Looking (on a map) for all the world like an alligator (from the shoulders up) wearing an army helmet, Panama City Beach is in fact renowned as one of the Florida Panhandle's prime vacation destinations. It is also a marvelous place to call home--whether as a wintering spot, to retire, or place to raise a family. The same temperate climate and warm sun that bathe the rest of Florida envelop the northwestern Panhandle as well.

Welcome to Florida's Panama City Beach

Located about midway between Pensacola and Tallahassee, Panama City Beach and its 27 miles of sugary white Gulf sand and pristine shoreline are fairly easy to get to as well. Tallahassee is some two and a half hours away (130 miles), and Pensacola about two (95 miles). The scenic routes are via Highway 98, which runs along the coastline from Pensacola in the northwest down past Panama City Beach and Apalachicola to near Sopchoppy, where it cuts inland. Turning left (north) on Highway 319 takes you over 30 miles into Tallahassee.

Back on the Emerald Coast itself, however, are the delights of Panama City Beach. It offers all the best of a beach, a great place any time of year. It's especially so in winter, when much of the rest of the country is facing freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and car windshields to scrape. Community life is small town, as the best beach towns are. Where the population of Panama City is approximately 37,000, that of Panama City Beach is only about 8,000.

The first thing to do if you're thinking about buying property here--whether as a retirement home, a winter escape, or a place to raise a family--is to find a local realtor to work with. Real estate in Panama City Beach isn't particularly easy to come by, given how popular a resort it is. Property values are also and understandably higher than in Panama City.

The median figure from the last census, for example, was about $117,000 versus $76,000. It's fair enough to note that not only are these figures statistical calculations rather than going selling prices, but as well several years out of date, especially given the real estate boom of the last four or five years. A realistic range for single-family homes today might begin at about $150,000 and tops out at about $2 million.