If you’re visiting the Gulf Coast and enjoy visiting a good bar then the Flora-Bama is must for you. It’s about an hour drive from Pensacola Beach and the traffic can be rough during the busy season. Don’t worry though, the Flora-Bama is our most popular destination on our Visit Orange Beach Trips, so Pensacola Boat Rides would be happy to take you over for a visit. They have excellent food at the Flora-Bama Yacht Club and a pile of bars on the property for you to checkout.
It’s a regular stop for superstars Jimmy Buffet and Kenny Chesney, both have recorded songs about the Flora-Bama. Buffets “Bama Breeze” and Chesneys “Flora-Bama” that was written after he performed a free concert at the Bama with 50,000 people showing up by land or boat. You might not catch one of them, but they have great live music on a daily basis.
The Flora-Bama Lounge and Package is located in Perdido Key, Florida, adjacent the Alabama/Florida state line, about a 35 mile venture for Pensacola Boat Rides is a honky-tonk, oyster bar, beach bar, and Gulf Coast cultural landmark, touted as being America’s “Last Great Roadhouse”. It gets its name from its location on the Florida-Alabama border line. The property truly does lie in both Alabama and Florida with the bar latterly sitting right on the line.
Widely known as a place where “you can have a millionaire sitting next to a biker.” This unique make-up of bar patrons is one of the contributing factors to its large appeal and attraction. Locals mingle with tourists rather easily and on large holiday weekends such as Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day, cars line the highway for miles in both directions as the bar draws such a large crowd. It is also a frequent weekend outing for local junior officers of nearby NAS Pensacola.
History
The Flora-Bama was originally constructed in 1964, two years after the road (Alabama State Route 182) connecting Orange Beach, AL with Perdido Key, FL was completed. In the early days of the Flora-Bama, the lounge was practically the only thing in the area. As traffic began to increase along the new highway, business grew and the lounge grew to match it with new construction added piecemeal to accommodate the larger crowds.
The Flora-Bama Lounge is host to a number of annual and one-time local events. Perhaps most famous of these festivities is the World Famous Annual Interstate Mullet Toss. Individuals compete on the beach throwing a mullet (fish) from a 10 foot circle in Florida across the state line into Alabama. Not only is the Mullet Toss a great excuse to throw a weekend long party, but contributions are made to local charities, mostly to youth organizations. Pensacola Boat Rides offers discounted rates for scheduled pickup and drop off times during event weekends.