Seaside

Seaside is the picture-perfect little town where you can reach every shop, restaurant, art gallery and more by foot or bicycle. You’ll feel like a SoWal local as you discover the unique shops, beachfront accommodations, galleries and more in Seaside.

Seaside made a giant splash in the architectural world when “developer Robert Davis achieved the most astonishing design achievement of its era,” according to Time Magazine. The new movement in land planning, known as New Urbanism, contains narrow streets, unique picket fences and homes tightly knit to encourage walking and promote a community feel.

Read The Story Of Seaside – the founding, the early years and changes in Seaside through the years.

Downtown Seaside started, however, in a very modest way, as a collection of tables under canvas where people gathered to buy and sell fruits and vegetables, handcrafts, and flea market items. It was not unlike the daily or weekly markets which formed the embryonic beginnings of most ancient Mediterranean towns.

It was the first of its kind in America, modeled after Siena, Italy, popularizing the new urbanist model for new towns across the USA. Seaside’s “walk-to-anywhere” design works to bring necessary shops and services to its residents and guests, including a post office and a school. Seaside, Florida is home to a gourmet food market, multiple art galleries, and small boutiques all centered around a town square with an outdoor amphitheater.

Park the car and rent bicycles to explore this wildly successful pioneering town, featured in the 1997 motion picture The Truman Show. Read All About The Truman Show & Filming Locations In Seaside, Florida.

Landmarks in Seaside: Unique dune walkover pavilions at the end of each street, outdoor shops, Bud & Alley’s Restaurant, Central Square with the often photographed charming post office, Ruskin Place, Sundog Books and Central Square Records upstairs, and Modica Market.

SoWal Insider Tip: Get a glimpse of quiet Seaside the way it was originally intended to be by taking a stroll through Ruskin Place, a quiet, hidden park in the heart of Seaside on the north side of central square.