Seagrove Beach is delightfully eclectic, a gloriously unplanned community in an area where many of its neighbors seem more contrived. Here, cinder-block beach houses from the 1950s stand next to new modern dwellings, and everyone cruises down to the beach for the best the Emerald Coast has to offer. Seagrove’s beach is 2 miles of sugar-white sand with frequent public access points, and it’s sheltered by gigantic dunes and the wind-twisted trees that give the community its name. Because it has grown organically, a host of locally owned businesses are scattered throughout the neighborhood, including upscale boutiques and sophisticated restaurants, as well as beachy shops and boozy cafes. There’s a real wildness here, too, with hiking and biking trails giving easy access to Point Washington State Forest and two coastal dune lakes, Eastern Lake and Deer Lake, and boardwalks leading to secret, dune-secluded beaches.