Apalachicola, Florida

A small Panhandle port where the river meets the bay, with a grid of historic squares and a riverfront once lined with brick warehouses. It feels nothing like resort Florida: shrimp boats, porches and a slow pace. The oyster story is the reason to come now. The bay was closed to harvesting in 2020, and the state reopened a limited season in January 2026, with a smaller one running into February 2027, so local oysters are back but scarce. The John Gorrie Museum on Gorrie Square holds a replica of the ice machine a local doctor invented, which makes a fitting stop in a town this humid.