Floridas panhandle towns are getting luxury…
The seashores of northwest Florida have nicknames. Some call these glowing, jewel-toned waters the Emerald Coast. A latest advertising and marketing marketing campaign has dubbed the world NoFlo, while others call the area merely the Panhandle. Still, its best-known sobriquet is also its most unflattering: to most it’s the Redneck Riviera.
But these days, a sleeker, more aspirational moniker is being tossed around: “The Hamptons of the South.”
When you say 30A is fairly busy, you imply both phrases fairly actually. Walton Tourism Board
30A, for your perusal. Rob Jejenich/NY Post
It refers to 30A, a two-lane coastal freeway linking 16 seashore communities. Things began getting highfalutin’ on the shores of the Deep South back in the Eighties with the development of Seaside (you already know it as the backdrop of “The Truman Show”).
The upscaling of the area has only accelerated since.
The latest spot on the block is the 30-acre Kaiya Beach Resort, on 30A’s japanese stretch.
Townhouses and villas at the Kaiya run from $1,000 a night time. Ty Faith
Here, well-heeled friends can bunk in $1,000-per-night townhomes or villas and take pleasure in dazzling Gulf views from the palm-lined infinity pool at the ritzy seashore membership.
Should they need to grow their artwork collections, they’ll head to Omaire, 30A’s first worldwide effective arts gallery, now just a 12 months previous. For the final word flex, the resort’s 110-foot superyacht, Ukara, based in the Bahamas, is on the market for bookings.
And that’s not all: This summer season, Kaiya will break ground on the 40-suite Oyom Hotel & Spa, whose lavish facilities embody a rooftop pool and a 5,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art spa. “We’re pulling out all the stops on the design,” said Kaiya developer Jason Romair, founder and CEO of the Romair Group. “The smallest room — they’re all suites — is 700 square feet.”
Kaiya’s next-door neighbor is also identified for its high-end digs.
It’s the 158-acre Alys Beach trip rental and real estate neighborhood, whose hanging whitewashed façades and Bermuda-meets-the-Med architectural ethos have attracted the higher echelon since it was based in 2004. Home costs there swell effectively into the seven digits.
Rather than renting them out, most homeowners at Alys Beach can afford to keep their magnificent houses vacant, lending a surreal, movie-set vibe to the often-secluded streets. A stroll through the neighborhood is real estate porn at its most interesting, with ample alternative for ogling subtle architectural parts like courtyard fountains, large stone urns and shaded benches.
Alys Beach also hosts a number of of 30A’s most in style shindigs: the 30A Wine Festival in February; May’s Digital Graffiti, which transforms those stark façades into canvases for digital artwork; and Alys Beach Crafted, an autumn extravaganza showcasing handcrafted wares.
In 2025, Ria Leigh Gallery arrived, elevating the world’s wealthy artwork scene. Ria Leigh Gallery
Art is a year-round draw, and last July, Ria Leigh Gallery in Grayton Beach opened, additional elevating the scene. With about 20 artists, it sells works priced from about $75 all the best way up to $50,000, an deliberately big selection.
“It helps us build relationships with everybody, not just somebody who’s a millionaire,” said Alexandra Hartsfield, who co-owns the space with Rebecca Elliott.
The local culinary scene is also scorching, with a yet-to-be-named, farm-to-table idea coming to Kaiya. That restaurant is backed by a partnership that contains One Off Hospitality, a outstanding Chicago-based firm co-founded by Donnie Madia — whose stint at a sandwich store impressed the FX hit sequence “The Bear.”
O-Ku Alys Beach provides Japanese taste to the shores of the South. Joseph Stefanchik at Modernmade Photography
Other openings of be aware embody O-Ku Alys Beach, a stylish trendy Japanese restaurant, and Gallion’s Restaurant at Rosemary Beach, which presents seafood-heavy small plates and a kid-free night setting (it’s 18-and-up after 2:30 p.m.).
For a dose of critical sophistication, there’s no better spot than Ambrosia Prime Seafood & Steaks. Tucked into an unassuming plaza close to 30A’s japanese terminus, the restaurant excels at completely executed steakhouse classics — assume lobster bisque, wagyu filet and elevated family-style sides — in a attractive, speakeasy-esque ambiance (there’s nary a window). On weeknights, the see-and-be-seen Caymus Happy Hour, that includes pours from the well-known Napa winery, attracts a trendy crowd.
Word of Ambrosia’s nectar-of-the-gods indulgences has already traveled far past the South.
“We had a couple come in once who were referred to us by friends back home in London,” said co-owner Lauren Graham. “It’s a compliment to us on the highest level.”
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