By Gary McKechnie
 

There’s no argument that Florida has some of the best beaches in America. Travel + Leisure's best beaches article seconds the motion.

Here's what the writers of Travel + Leisure had to say about these Florida beaches

Boca Grande

This Edenic escape on the Gulf of Mexico is a real slice of Old Florida, with a much-photographed lighthouse watching over Gasparilla Island State Park, tree-lined streets without traffic lights, and long, quiet beaches touched by gentle surf.

—Tom Austin

Santa Rosa Beach

This northwestern Florida beach town was once a turpentine mecca, back when you needed the distilled sap to build ships. Today, it prides itself on its hiking and biking trails, as well as its Caribbean-style artists’ colony.

—Katrina Brown Hunt

St. Pete Beach

More Old Florida than new, this lazy, low-key town on the central west coast of the Sunshine State is blissfully free of party-down revelers and velvet-rope VIP rooms. Instead, souvenir shops and surf shacks surround the main drag, Gulf Boulevard, and cutoffs and flip-flops are dress code of choice.

—Adrien Glover

Want to read more about Travel + Leisure's best beaches list? See the entire article on their site.

 

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