Things to Do in Fort Walton Beach & Okaloosa Island
What is actually worth doing on the island, with real distances measured from our own front door.
What is within walking distance
Everything else on this page is a short drive. And before your first swim, it is worth knowing what the colored flags on the beach actually mean — double red means the water is closed, and people do get fined for ignoring it. We wrote it out here: Beach Warning Flags in Destin and Fort Walton Beach. For the other end of the day, where to catch the best sunsets on this stretch of coast.
The Boardwalk, the Pier and the Gulfarium
These three sit within about four tenths of a mile of each other on Miracle Strip Parkway, which makes them the easiest full day on the island. The Boardwalk and the pier you can reach on foot along the beach. The Gulfarium you drive to, for the reason above.
The Boardwalk on Okaloosa Island
A strip of beachfront restaurants and shops built over a county park, which is the part worth knowing: parking is free, and there are public restrooms with changing rooms, outdoor rinse showers, pavilions and picnic tables. If you drive over instead of walking, you are not paying to park and you are not hunting for a spot in a paid lot.
Seafood, right on the sand
Seafood and steaks
Casual, good for a quick lunch
The one with live music most nights
All four are beachfront, so you are eating with your feet more or less in the sand.
The Boardwalk has run free fireworks on Wednesday nights at 9:00 through the summer season, plus a Labor Day weekend show. It also hosts Emerald Coast Volleyball Week and the fall volleyball classic. Schedules shift year to year, so check theboardwalkoi.com before you plan an evening around it.
Okaloosa Island Pier
The pier runs roughly 1,260 feet into the Gulf — about a quarter mile of walking straight out over the water. It is owned by the county and run by a private operator, and there are two kinds of passes: a walking pass if you just want the view, and a daily fishing pass if you want to fish.
Go early or go at dusk. From out at the end you can usually spot dolphins, and rays and sea turtles move through underneath. Address is 300 Pier Road, next door to the Boardwalk.
Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park
1010 Miracle Strip Parkway SE
The Gulfarium has been operating since 1955, which makes it one of the oldest marine parks in the country, and it is a good deal smaller and more personal than the big-brand parks — you are close to the animals rather than in a stadium.
Dolphins, sea lions, harbor seals, penguins, manatees, sea turtles, alligators, otters, sharks and rays. They also run paid encounter programs if you want to actually get in with the animals: Discover Dolphins, Penguin Plunge, Reef Snorkel, VIP Trainer and others. Those book up, so reserve ahead rather than deciding at the gate.
Ticketed Open daily 9:00 to 5:30, with admissions closing at 4:30 — do not show up at 4:45.
With kids, and for the one rainy afternoon
1306 Miracle Strip Pkwy SE
Dinosaur themed, indoor and outdoor: two 18 hole mini golf courses, go karts, bumper boats, a ropes course, reverse bungee, laser tag, an arcade, VR and a 4D theater.
Open daily 10:00 to 10:00. You pay per attraction or buy a bundled package rather than one all-in wristband, so decide what you actually want before you get to the counter.
31 SW Memorial Pkwy
A small hands-on science museum, genuinely aimed at kids rather than adults. Ticketed, with under-2s free.
Check the hours before you drive over — in summer it is Monday through Saturday, but off season it is only open Wednesday through Saturday.
Free things worth doing
Air Force Armament Museum
100 Museum Drive
This is the one guests are most surprised by, and the thing we recommend most often to anyone with a rainy day or a teenager.
Over 29 aircraft between the 28,000 square foot hangar and the outdoor airpark: a B-17, a B-52, an SR-71 Blackbird, a P-51 Mustang, an AC-130 gunship, an A-10, F-15s and F-16s. It is the only museum in the world dedicated to Air Force armament.
Interior 9:00 to 5:00 daily, outdoor airpark sunrise to sunset. They run interior tours of the AC-130 on the third Friday of each month.
Also free: the Boardwalk fireworks on summer Wednesday nights, and parking at the Boardwalk itself.
Local history
Indian Temple Mound Museum and Heritage Park
139 Miracle Strip Parkway SE, downtown
The Fort Walton Mound is a Mississippian-period earthen temple mound built around 850 CE, roughly 12 feet tall and 223 feet across at the base, and it has been a National Historic Landmark since 1964. It sits in the middle of downtown, which most visitors do not expect.
The museum next to it reopened in February 2026 after a major renovation and a 4,800 square foot addition, so this is a good year to go. One modest ticket covers the whole Heritage Park complex: the Temple Mound Museum, Camp Walton Schoolhouse, the Garnier Post Office Museum and the Civil War exhibits building.
Ticketed Open 10:00 to 3:00, Tuesday through Saturday.
Heading over to Destin
Destin sits about eight miles east, and most guests staying on Okaloosa Island go over at least once. HarborWalk Village is the draw — the charter fishing fleet, dolphin cruises, parasailing, shopping and a long row of restaurants, all on the water.
So is Crab Island, the shallow sandbar just north of the Destin bridge that you can only reach by boat. It is the most asked-about thing in the area and it is not right for every group, so we wrote an honest take on it: What Is Crab Island?
We own a place over there too: Pure DESTINation at Southbay by the Gulf. The trade-off between the two towns is real, and we laid it out side by side in Fort Walton Beach vs. Destin — short version, Okaloosa Island is quieter with a wider, less crowded beach, and Destin puts you closer to the restaurants and the harbor.
Where you would be staying
Heaven on Surf is our one-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath Gulf-front condo at Gulf Dunes on Okaloosa Island, sleeping six. Everything on this page is measured from that front door. If you want to see how it all lays out, the map page has the drive distances to each airport and to both of our properties.
We are Paul and LeeAnna, and we own and manage both condos ourselves — when you call, you get us. Questions about what is open, what is worth booking ahead, or where to eat with a toddler:
(448) 488-4050 book@thewayvacations.com
Booking direct with us is typically 10 to 15 percent cheaper than the listing sites, and you are welcome to compare the same dates yourself.