Last Updated: August 1, 2026
Panama City Beach is a spring break and vacation town for much of the southern United States, and its miles of sugar-white sand are consistently rated among the best beaches in America. The area went through a real estate boom in the mid-2000s with a wave of new construction and rising prices. Then, on October 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael came ashore near Tyndall Air Force Base with 161 mph sustained winds — a Category 5 and the most powerful storm ever recorded to strike the Florida Panhandle. Driving through three years later, it was surprisingly hard to tell. Most structures had been rebuilt or repaired. What gives it away is the tree line: the downed and topped pines and oaks are still everywhere once you know to look. From Orange Beach, Alabama it was about a three-hour tow with the Airstream.
