Everything we did in Pensacola, FL

Next Stage Travel
Aug 19
5 min read

If you are headed to Pensacola, odds are you have business with someone on the military base there, Naval Air Station + Corey Station. In this blog post, we’ll let you know some great spots and activities. Check out our post on Beach Vacation, Gulf Shores, Alabama as a day trip or overnight.

The airport in Pensacola is close to downtown and the base. If you are a veteran or have a friend or relative on the base you are visiting, then we highly recommend staying at Naval Lodge Pensacola.

Pros:

It’s as cheap as you can get it–$105 (1 bed) or $115 (2 beds)
Better breakfast than Extended Stay or other similarly priced places. (Waffles, cereals, fruits, yogurt, and an array of drinks).
It was clean and the beds were comfy.
There’s a mini kitchen
They take pets
Hammocks outside just for fun
All rooms have a patio or deck with 2 chairs.
Close to attractions on base, like the Blue Angels, Aviation museum and light house.
BEACH FRONT hotel!! Yes, we saved the best for last. Not only is this a nicely priced comfortable and clean option, it’s on a quiet beach with white sands and hardly any other people. Floor 4 has a view of the water through the trees. (Lower floors you mostly see trees). The water is an inlet–so no big waves like beachfront directly on the Gulf. The sand is clean, white, and fine. There is an outdoor staircase from the Lodge to the beach. For disabled access, drive around the corner to the beach’s parking lot. While we are not sure if pets are allowed on the beach, we did see one family with a dog while there. Picnic benches and volleyball nets are also here.
Good running on a pedestrian/biker path that tracks the main roads at NAS.
Jogging Trail
1064 Radford Blvd Pensacola, FL 32508 or look on Google Maps for 'Lighthouse Nature Trail'
This 4 mile long jogging trail begins at the West end of Mustin Beach Club and runs along the beach and woods and has a water fountain and rest area at the 4 mile mark.

Cons:

You must be a veteran or have an affiliation (sponsor) with the military
If you are not a vet, the sponsor must be with you at check-in
After check-in, your sponsor must go to the base Visitor’s Center where you will apply for a (multi) day pass. This took about 30 min on Memorial Day weekend. It requires a Real ID.
Once you have your day pass, you can come and go from the base without the sponsor, though you must still show the pass (and sometimes your ID as well) each time you come on base.
The reservation system is a bit old-fashioned. You must call Navy Lodge; there is no online reservation.
This particular location will not permit you to make a reservation more than 1 month in advance.
You could get cancelled if the military had last-minute needs to house someone. There are a lot of hotels in the area so if that happened, it doesn’t seem like a huge issue to find something new.

The top attractions in Pensacola are:

The beach and the water

Naval Air Museum

Lighthouse

Blue Angels

Pensacola Historic Village

Antique Shopping

1) The Beach and the Water:

Pensacola Beach is accessible by a bridge that charges a $1 toll. If your vehicle isn’t registered with one of the area toll processors, you can still go through and it will cost about $5, automatically charged to your rental car. Note that if you choose a hotel on Pensacola Beach, you will have this surcharge and heavier traffic each time you come and go to the mainland. For our beach trip, we drove in the other direction; check out our post on Gulf Shores, AL. We also enjoyed the beach at the Navy Lodge on base, which is accessible to the public if you have a Real ID. You must pass through the checkpoints to get on base. There are actually 2 beaches on the base.

2) We took a ferry ride on Pensacola Bay Cruises . The sunset cruise was a lovely way to see the shoreline, the bridge to Pensacola Beach lit up at night, a fabulous sunset, lots of pelicans, and an introduction to the Gulf. We had dinner at Fish House which is just a few blocks away. This is a passenger ferry with three stops: Downtown Pensacola, Pensacola Beach, and Fort Pickens at the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

3 and 4) Naval Air Museum (and Blue Angels) and Lighthouse:

These two museums are on the military base at NAS Pensacola, which means you must show a Real ID to get onto the base.

The Naval Air Museum is spectacular and free. It might be better than the Smithsonian air museum in DC. We don’t know much about airplanes, but there is a lot of interesting history here, the variety of foreign and domestic planes is really interesting, you can sit in some, and they have movies (for a small fee) and simulators. Disability access is good.

This is also where you will park for the Blue Angels flights, which happen throughout the year on some Wednesdays. We were so disappointed that a chance of lightening cancelled the show when we were there, but what we did learn is you should plan to arrive close to 9:30, which is easy if you are at the Navy Lodge hotel but if you are coming from off-base, there is a long line. When the parking lot is full, they will put up signs at the base entrance and the parking lot entrance that announces they are at capacity for visitors. Check the Blue Angels schedule https://www.blueangels.navy.mil/show/

Fort Barrancas, the Lighthouse and 2 beaches are also on the base. The Lighthouse has a cute little museum, 177 steps, and a lovely view of the water.

5) Pensacola Historic Village:

The Village is a collection of old buildings–homes, workshops, church, school–some of which are original to the location and others which were transplanted from elsewhere in Florida to this location to preserve history. You must buy a ticket which gives entrance to all the buildings and the historical guides. The guides are dressed in period costume. The ticket is good for 7 days and also allows access to nearby museum of history, children’s museum, and art.