We have enjoyed Navarre Beach . .

http://www.floridabeachestorivers.com/

St. Joe, and St. George Island have some of the most beautiful beaches in the panhandle. There isn't a lot of night life though. You can check out Destin and Mexico Beach, both are nice beach towns.

Beware of spring break :-0

The beaches of the Panhandle are beautiful and there are so many to choose from all the way from Pensacola to St George and we have stayed at many. One of our favorites is a place we have stayed the past 4 winters, Cape San Blas and it is close enough to St George to over for a few hrs and explore. You can also drive to Mexico Beach for a day and Panama City Beach for a day. I am including my trip report for our first year:
http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/a-short-report-on-cape-san-blas-florida.cfm

SiteC, beware of spring break. Will there be a lot of kids in this area?

Ditto cd

All the Beaches of 30A are nice--near Seaside. I like Seagrove Beach. Love the bike path, nice restaurants, beautiful beach. During spring break, I would think there would be families in this area but not college and high school spring breakers.

I doubt you have anything to worry about with regard to spring break.

Colleges tend to have spring break in March. Ditto for the elementary/middle/high schools in the South (unlike Northern schools that often have a break in April).

As Easter is March 31, schools that take an Easter break are likely to do so the last week in March as well.

Just be aware that the water still might not be very warm in early April, if you were planning to go swimming.

Any hotel recommendations. I don't know what a fair price in this area but we usually go mid range. Don't need luxury. Location and clean is important to us.

We always rent a cottage from VRBO.com on the beach in Cape San Blas. They have no hotels. Another Fodorite (starrs) rents a B&B that she really likes a few miles away at Indian Pass on the beach: http://www.turtlebeachinn.com/

so which airport is closest ...Ft. Walton, Pensacola or Panama city

Which airport is closes depends on where you are going.

Navarre Beach is about halfway between Pensacola (PNS) and Fort Walton Beach (VPS—the airport is actually in Valparaiso). Tickets to PNS are usually less expensive.

Destin is closest to VPS.

Seaside and Seagrove Beach are between VPS and ECP (the Panama City airport) but a bit closer to ECP.

Mexico Beach, Cape San Blas, and Indian Beach are closest to ECP.

St. George Island is actually closer to Tallahassee (TLH) than to ECP.

I am not familiar with ECP but our family, who also go to the Cape, flies into Panama City. The drive is about an hour and a half.

What are your interests? I live at Pensacola Beach. We have several excellent restaurants on the Island, just across the bridge in Gulf Breeze, and across the Three Mile Bridge in Pensacola.

On the extreme west end of the Island is Fort Pickens in the Gulf Shores National Seashore. It's a great old fort with some interesting history and cool architecture. The Naval Aviation Museum and the lighthouse - both on the Navy base - are recommended attractions.

If you're into history, Pensacola is an old city. Saint Micheal's cemetery has some wonderful old tombstones and Old Christ Church is a beautiful building. The T.T. Wentwoth Museum is also interesting. There are other old buildings along a walking tour of the historic district.

For a town its size, Pensacola has a wonderful symphony, a thriving visual arts community, and numerous musical venues offering a variety of music. Some time in April - sorry I can't recall exactly when, but I think it's mid-April - there's a Jazz Festival in a large park in the historical district.

Hope this gives you an idea of some of the things our area has to offer close to the beach.

cd - ECP _is_ the (new) Panama CIty airport. The old one was PFN.

Avoid Panama City at all costs