New Years Eve in Panama City Beach

If you followed along on Instagram last week, you know we spent New Years Eve in Panama City Beach! We had the wonderful opportunity to travel down for the city’s New Year’s Eve festivities and experience everything Panama City Beach offers… for adults AND children. Let me just tell you that this is NOT the PCB that you remember (if you remember it at all lol). I have spent many years down there with so many fond Spring Break memories. That city truly holds so much nostalgia for me. I started going down there in high school, continued through college, and spent a few girls’ weekends there… including my Bachelorette Party (the first one). So I do not knock this city for the once MTV Spring Break spot. But as all things change and grow, so did this city. It’s been cleaned up and invested in, and as the beach has always been beautiful, the strip, the shops, and everything else has too. They have worked hard to transform it into a family friendly beach town, and I would say they have accomplished that goal. I want to share what we did while there, and my recommendations on where to stay, eat, play!

New Years Eve in Panama City Beach

I first want to highlight our New Year’s Eve, because one of the main reasons we ventured down there was for their annual Beach Ball Drop! This is in the Pier Park area which is a huge outdoor mall that basically offers every store (retail and food) that you can imagine, including the Ferris Wheel you will see in a few pics. The ball drop and fireworks happen at 8pm (and thank goodness for that) and was full of families and young kids. Festivities like live music and all kinds of vendors are there until midnight, so the party doesn’t stop when the kids/pregnant people go home. We ate at Pompano Joe’s right there so we could walk right outside for the festivities and not worry about loading up in the car again, etc. This is the way to go when traveling with kids and I have learned 2 things from this trip: have an itinerary full of activities to keep kids busy and no lag time, and try to make as few trips as possible.

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Other places we visited that I would highly recommend for a family and kids:

Wonderworks: the kids loved running around this place, and is perfect for a rainy or cold day. It’s not your typical arcade, everything is educational and science-based

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Just Jump: trampoline park, this is perfect to wear the kids out! My favorite park is that this one is new and clean!

Putt-Putt Golf at Coconut Creek Family Fun Park

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Dave and Busters

Pier Park: all the shopping and food in one place, Ferris Wheel, and gorgeous views because you can cross the street and go out on the Pier.

Sheraton Panama City Beach Gold & Spa Resort: this spa is amazing. I highly recommend sneaking away to get a message or you can even do mani/pedi stuff! This place is on the bay and has its own beach area. We traveled and stayed here a few years ago and loved it. It was so serene and a wonderful place to get away. HERE is my blog post on it.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and Suites and absolutely loved it. Everything is new, extremely clean, and updated, I mean it looks like a brand new hotel. The hotel is on the beach and has everything perfect for families. Three pools; one is a lazy river, the other is heated and zero entry, and then another indoor pool. They do bonfires on the beach during the cooler months. We had bunk beds in our room, plus 2 other queen beds… we had plenty of room, and then the plantation shutters open up onto the cute balcony with the best beach view. Another thing I loved is the huge breakfast with huge breakfast area in the mornings. This is included and just so easy when you have young kids that need to eat immediately when waking up… even when you plan on going out to breakfast!

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I will end with food, because we ate all over the place and found some gems: Harpoon Harry’s, Andy’s Flour Power, Diego’s Burrito Factory, Pompano Joe’s, Finn’s, Hang Five, Runaway Island.

I highly recommend Finn’s Island Style Grub. Everything there is homemade fresh, and they use the best ingredients. There is even a coffee shop in the shop that makes their own syrup! We loved this lunch and will 100% go back… this is where the locals go!

Runaway Island was very good, very classy. The food was good all around and I recommend the lobster/shrimp linguine.

We found a cute little coffee shop across from our hotel, Pour. They make oat milk lattes among many other things. They do NOT make their own syrup but if you’re looking for a good latte, I would recommend.

I hope you enjoyed the trip coverage, and that you can take this post with you if you book a trip down to PCB in the future! I also hope this can help sway you on where your next vacation spot should be. You will find it to be affordable and reasonable for every family size. Nothing beats the beaches and sand of the gulf, and checking out the new and improved Panama City Beach will be well worth it!

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Have you ever celebrated New Years Eve in Panama City Beach? Let me know in a comment below!