CAPE HAZE, FL, UNITED STATES, September 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Palm Island Resort, a bridgeless barrier island resort accessible only by car ferry or boat off Florida’s southwest Gulf Coast, has been named a 2026 Best of Florida Award winner. The recognition celebrates the resort’s decades-long reputation for offering a genuinely secluded island escape, from its two miles of private beach to its full slate of recreation, dining, and hospitality experiences found nowhere else in the state.
Reaching the resort is part of the experience. Guests bring their vehicles across by car ferry, then park in the resort’s main lot for the duration of their stay, keeping the resort itself free of gas-powered vehicle traffic. From there, the resort keeps guests engaged with five heated pools, eleven tennis courts that earned Palm Island Resort a place among Tennis Resorts Online’s 2026 Top 100 Tennis Resorts, and a full recreation program of golf carts, bicycles, kayaks, and fishing charters. The pace throughout is deliberately unhurried.
Beyond recreation, Palm Island Resort has become a setting for milestone moments. Couples increasingly choose the island for destination weddings, drawn to barefoot ceremonies with the Gulf as a backdrop and none of the usual mainland logistics. Rum Bay Restaurant, a short water taxi ride across the bay, has become a signature dining destination in its own right. Residences throughout the resort community are individually owned, and ownership opportunities become available when owners choose to list their villas, condos, or homes for sale, giving longtime visitors the chance to put down roots on a stretch of Florida most people only get to visit.
“There’s nothing else in Florida quite like arriving somewhere by boat and feeling the whole outside world fall away,” said a Palm Island Resort spokesperson. “Being named a 2026 Best of Florida Award winner means a great deal to our team, because it reflects the loyalty of guests who keep coming back year after year to slow down and reconnect.”
Looking ahead, Palm Island Resort plans to continue investing in and maintaining the island experience while finding thoughtful ways to enhance the guest experience and preserve the qualities that have made the resort distinctive for decades. The 2026 Best of Florida Award adds to a legacy rooted in “Memories at the Speed of Old Florida,” a promise the island kept long before the award existed.
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Palm Island Resort
Palm Island Resort
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