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Map Of Florida Gulf Coast (Panhandle)

Kate Broome
on
June 6, 2018
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Check out the Florida gulf coast map and you’ll see just how beautiful the panhandle is. Florida is a very unique state in that it is situated along the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, but one well-known location is the Florida panhandle along the Gulf of Mexico. The Floridian panhandle is an unofficial term but is pretty widely used. The term “panhandle” is not unique to just Florida, it is used in other states across America, as well as other countries across the world. To learn all about the Florida panhandle, and the cities and beaches there, check out this guide.

The travel and tourism industry is the lifeblood of many states around the country – including Florida, California, New York and Nevada, to name a few. – Mark Foley

Why Is The Florida Gulf Coast Called A Panhandle?

The term panhandle is an unofficial word, the technical name is actually salient. According to Merriam-Webster (which can be found here) a salient is:

projecting beyond a line, surface, or level

Basically, a salient is a projection of something. In this case, a panhandle is a projection of a state (in particular, Florida). There are 9 states that have panhandles.

States With Panhandles
State Population
Alaska 739 thousand
Connecticut 3.5 million
Florida 20 million
Idaho 1.7 million
Maryland 6 million
Nebraska 1.9 million
Oklahoma 3.9 million
Texas 28 million
West Virginia 1.8 million

There are also a lot of countries that have salients, but we won’t get into that right now.

Florida Gulf Coast Map

There are two distinct coastal regions to the panhandle; the emerald coast and the forgotten coast.

The Emerald Coast Of The Florida Panhandle

The Emerald coast of Florida. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

This is an unofficial term coined in 1983 that encompasses the far western portions of the coastline that goes about to the middle of the panhandle. This is also, occasionally, used to refer to the coast of the panhandle as a whole. The counties included in the emerald coast are: Walton County, Okaloosa County, Santa Rosa County, Escambia County, and Bay County.

The Forgotten Coast Of The Florida Panhandle

The rest of the coastline of the panhandle is referred to as the forgotten coast, a name coined in the very early 1990s. It includes these counties: Bay County, Franklin County, Gulf County, Wakulla County. You may notice that Bay County is included in both the Emerald Coast and the Forgotten Coast, and that’s because a small part of it is included in the Emerald coast, the rest is considered to be in the Forgotten Coast area (as you might be able to see in the maps above)

Cities in the Florida Gulf Coast Panhandle

Now let’s quickly go over all the cities and counties located with the Florida panhandle region. The largest city in this area is Tallahassee, which is also the capital of Florida. It has a population of 180 thousand people (as of 2010).

Cities and towns in alphabetical order:

Counties:

What Are Some Good Places To Visit While You’re In The Panhandle?

The panhandle of Florida has plenty of beautiful cities and beaches, so we will just go over a few of the more notable ones.

Ways To Get To The Panhandle

If you are visiting from out of state there are a few ways you can actually get into the panhandle, but here are some personal favorite ways:

Cities To Visit

When you plan your trip to the panhandle, make sure you visit these cities:

Beaches To Visit

Finally, here are some of the great beaches you can visit:

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