Three Day Itinerary for Panama City Beach

Beaches, Florida, North America, Travel, United States, Weekend Trip

Panama City Beach is located along the Gulf Coast in Florida’s panhandle. The area is known for its white-sand beaches and turquoise waters. There are tons of activities for people of all ages! Located about five hours from Atlanta, I’ve been there a handful of times.

When we visited with our friends in July 2025, we stayed in a condo at Sunrise Beach. This building is in a great location and is right on the beach. We stayed on the 24th floor and had amazing views!

Day One

Explore Seaside & Rosemary Beach

Our first morning was rainy, so we decided to check out the nearby towns of Seaside and Rosemary Beach. Seaside is about 45 minutes northwest of Panama City and Rosemary Beach is halfway between Seaside and Panama City. These towns are really cute, and I always like to stop by when I’m in the area.

Shopping in Seaside

The town of Seaside has several great shops, including the popular SEASIDE Style store. Chances are, if you’re in the area, you’ll see at least one person wearing something with their logo on it. It’s so popular that you shouldn’t be surprised if you have to wait in line to get in the door. You could spend a couple of hours in town wandering through the shops and possibly getting a meal or snack from one of the many food trucks.

Rosemary Beach

Next, we drove to Rosemary Beach, which is about 20 minutes southeast. This town is so picturesque, and I always love coming here to wander around and take photos. We popped into a few more shops and got acai bowls and smoothies from Playa Bowls. The weather started to clear up, so we made our way back to Panama City Beach.

Beach

We had awesome weather the rest of our day, so we spent our afternoon at the beach right by our condo. It is so nice to have beach access that you can walk to.

Sharky’s Beachfront Restaurant

For dinner, we walked next door to Sharky’s. This place is popular, and we had to wait about 30 minutes, even though we arrived around 8:30pm. We thought the seafood was good here!

Day Two

Beach

The weather on our second day was fantastic, so we spent all morning at the beach. When we got hungry for lunch, we came back to our condo to make some food. Then we headed out for the afternoon.

Pier Park

Pier Park is a huge shopping and entertainment complex located right across the street from the beach. We spent a couple of hours wandering around and popping into the shops. You could easily spend all day here.

The Yard Milkshake Bar

Located inside Pier Park is The Yard Milkshake Bar. They have insane milkshake and ice cream options! I got a scoop of cookie dough ice cream, with a scoop of cookie dough on top. Mike got the birthday cake milkshake with a slice of cheesecake on top. Holy cow, these were delicious! Note that they are expensive and very filling. We both tried each other’s and thought my ice cream was better, and it was a little cheaper too.

McGuire’s Irish Pub

Later that evening, we had dinner at McGuire’s Irish Pub, another super popular spot. We had to wait a little while for our table, but they had a nice outdoor seating area where you could get drinks and listen to the live music. The six of us split a pretzel with beer cheese, which was amazing and massive. We also got the 18 cent Senate Bean Soup as appetizers. By the time I got to my meal, I was stuffed! I ordered the fish and chips and wasn’t overly impressed, but everyone else enjoyed their meals.

Day Three

Water Activities

There are companies that offer parasailing, jet skiing, and banana boat rides right from the beach. We decided to go parasailing and it was a lot of fun! We got to ride a banana boat too, pulled by a jet ski to get out to the parasailing boat. The price was a little steep considering we only were up in the air for about five or ten minutes, but we really enjoyed it.

Beach

We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the beach.

Runaway Island

Dinner our last night was my favorite of the three nights. Runaway Island was also only a couple of buildings down from our condo, and it was nice to be able to walk there since traffic is generally terrible. We got a table outside right on the beach and it was so perfect. They sat us right away, which I was surprised about since it seemed busy and was a Saturday night! I recommend coming at sunset like we did, because the view is beautiful. I got a fruity drink and Mike and I split the seafood platter. What a great meal!