Great Place to Visit

The history of American aviation is on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Naval Air Station Pensacola. With nearly 300,000 square feet, the Museum is one of the largest museums of its type in the world, and the most visited museum in the state of Florida. In its halls, you will see on display more than 130 beautifully restored aircraft, equipment, and artifacts from the nearly ninety years of U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard aviation tradition.

As the site of the first Naval Air Facility in the United States, Pensacola was the logical site for the museum which was first sited in only 8,500 square feet. Growing from an initial collection of a half dozen small aircraft, the museum now occupies a 35 acre site 10 miles south of Interstate 10. In addition to its aircraft, the museum boasts an IMAX theater, flight simulators, and displays of the finest aviation art, photographs, models, and memorabilia in the country. When you finish your tour, which is hosted by one of many volunteers who actually flew some of the aircraft on display, you can enjoy lunch at the Cubi Bar Cafe.

The Cubi Cafe is a recreation of the famous officers’ club bar at Cubi Point Naval Air Station in the Philippines and has on display more than a thousand squadron, carrier, and unit plaques spanning forty years of deployments to the Phillippines. This is a real trip down memory lane for those who have visited the Philippines and a history lesson for those who have not.

The Museum is free to the public and is donor-supported through the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation.

Just a few blocks from the center of downtown Pensacola, you can enter the world of yesteryear in Historic Pensacola Village. Part of the Seville Historic District, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Village is in the heart of one of the oldest districts in the Southeast.

Escambia County has more than thirty miles of gulf-front beaches beginning at the Alabama border on Perdido Key and stretching eastward to Santa Rosa Island and Pensacola Beach. Home to the Gulf Islands National Seashore, the County has the finest white sand beaches in the world. Inside these barrier islands, the area abounds with swimming, sailing, fishing, and boating opportunities on its bays, rivers, lakes, and bayous.

Sugar white sands and azure water...sea oats and blue skies...quiet solitude...these are the pleasures that await you when you visit the Gulf Islands Natural Seashore. Stretching from one end of the County to the other, these barrier islands protect the mainland from the ravages of the sea and offer unbroken vistas of nature at its finest. Once at the water’s edge you will be treated to miles of pristine beaches with warm Gulf waters lapping at the shoreline. The only sounds you will hear are the waves, an occasional sea bird calling out, and the sound of your feet as they settle in the sand.

If you are looking for a wide-variety of activities with a festive atmosphere, visit Pensacola Beach. Here you will find a full range of "fun-in-the-sun" activities, with shopping and great dining. If you’re looking for a place to stay, you will also find accommodations ranging from first class hotels to bungalows at the water’s edge. To get around the island, we even have a free trolley with a distinct tropical air. Pensacola Beach is also the gateway to two sections of the Gulf Islands National Seashore and historic Fort Pickens.

If you’re interested in a more "laid back" atmosphere, visit Perdido Key. Here you will find some of the same attractions you will find at Pensacola Beach at a distinctly less hurried pace. Perdido Key also boasts two sections of the National Seashore.

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