Day trips from Nashville · Beach
Alys Beach
458 miles from downtown Nashville · about 8 to 8.5 hours
Walton County, FL, on 30A about eighteen miles east of the US-331 junction
Alys Beach is the all-white one. Established in 2004 by EBSCO on land the company bought in 1978, with every building white stucco over reinforced masonry, Bermudian stepped roofs and walled private courtyards drawn from Bermuda, the Mediterranean and the courtyard houses of Antigua, Guatemala. Twenty years in it is roughly half built out.
- Distance
- About 458 miles
- Time zone
- Central, same as Nashville
- Public beach access
- None inside the town. Read the access note
- Founded
- 2004, named for EBSCO matriarch Alys Stephens
Permits, fees and access
This is the most misunderstood town on 30A, so here it is plainly. There is no public beach access inside Alys Beach. The walkovers and the Beach Club serve owners and guests. The three county accesses flanking the town, Seacrest at 8520 East 30A, Seabreeze at 8286 and Gulf Lakes at 8040, are all walk-up with no parking. Where a day visitor actually parks is Walton Dunes at 258 Beachfront Trail, thirteen free spaces, to the west, or the free Inlet Beach lots to the east, then walks or bikes back along 30A. Wet sand below the high water line is public everywhere in Florida, and on participating private parcels the transitory zone lets you walk, swim and sunbathe in a twenty foot strip between 9am and 4pm with no umbrella and no tent. Alys Beach parcels were not among the ninety five in the October 2024 customary use ruling. One common mix-up: Seacrest Beach, which is in the ruling with sixteen parcels, is the separate community east of Alys, not Alys itself.
Things to do in Alys Beach
Addresses, hours and prices as published by each operator in August 18, 2026. Hours and prices move, so check before you go.
George’s at Alys Beach
30 North Castle Harbour Drive. Gulf seafood and local produce, and the name most people search here first.
The Citizen
20 Mark Twain Lane. A coastal tavern with a raw oyster bar, wood-fired steak and seafood. Lunch Wednesday to Sunday, oyster happy hour daily 2 to 5, dinner nightly 5 to 10.
Indaco
40 Mark Twain Lane, Suite 101. Modern Italian from the Indigo Road group. Opened July 2, 2026, so it is genuinely new.
O-Ku
27 Admiralty Row R102. Japanese and sushi.
Fonville Press
23 North Somerset Street. Daily 7am to 8pm. Coffee and pastries in the morning, flatbreads, pizza, wine and cocktails later. The town’s living room.
Alys Beach Amphitheatre
Concerts and performances, open to the public.
Digital Graffiti
The annual festival that projects digital art onto the white buildings after dark. The 2026 edition ran May 15 and 16.
Alys Beach Nature Trail
Slash pine, cypress and wildflowers, with sculptural public art in the adjoining preserve. Central Park, Gulf Green, Firepit Park and Arboleda Park are all walkable and public.
One thing to know first
No public parking and no public beach access means this is a place to stay or a place to walk into for dinner, not a place to drive to for a beach day. The white streets throw real glare, which is a physical fact of the town rather than a complaint. Caliza Restaurant is listed on the town site but Yelp marks it closed and it came off the merchant directory, so call 850-213-5700 before planning around it.
Access rules, fees and closures verified August 18, 2026 against the agency that manages this place. They change, sometimes without notice. Check before you drive.
The neighborhoods closest to it
If this is the kind of Saturday you want a short drive from your front door, these are the parts of Middle Tennessee that put you nearest to it.
I keep this list because it is genuinely how people spend weekends here, and because almost every guide to it is out of date. If you are weighing a move to Middle Tennessee and want to know which part of it puts you closest to the things you actually like, ask me. No pitch.