Capsule: At the western end of the Florida panhandle, Pensacola and Perdido Key combine the New South with the best of Old Florida.

The city of Pensacola, sophisticated yet casual, cosmopolitan yet charming, is frequently mentioned in surveys as one of the best places in the U.S. to live.

Across the bridge from Pensacola in the middle of Pensacola Bay, the city of Gulf Breeze offers its quiet lifestyle -- with 18 miles of waterfront -- at the tip of a peninsula. Yet another bridge across Santa Rosa Sound brings you to Pensacola Beach.

Fifteen miles to the west, the barrier island of Perdido Key, a narrow strip of snow white beaches and crystal blue waters, is a natural paradise lined with miles of bays, bayous and estuaries.

Waterfront Homes: With miles of waterfront not just on the Gulf of Mexico but on Pensacola Bay, Escambia Bay, and Santa Rosa Sound, the Pensacola area offers a wide variety of luxury condominiums and a growing choice of premier waterfront estates.

Perdido Key's luxury high-rise condos and estates overlook both the Gulf of Mexico's tropical beaches and the scenic Old River and Intracoastal Waterway.

Golf and Tennis: The Pensacola area offers more than a dozen challenging 18-hole golf courses. The Perdido Bay Golf Club, a former PGA Tour site, has undergone a multi-million dollar renovation and is again regarded as a premier course. The Lost Key Golf Club on Perdido Key features a magnificient Arnold Palmer designed course.

The Roger Scott Tennis Complex in Pensacola, the Pensacola Country Club and Pensacola Racquet Club are three of the venues that have helped make the city one of the South's best tennis communities.

Weather: With a climate typical of the upper Gulf Coast, Pensacola winters are mild and the summer heat is tempered by the southerly prevailing winds that sweep across the Gulf of Mexico. The area averages 343 days of sunshine a year.

Culture: The Pensacola Opera mounts high quality productions featuring some of America's finest singing actors. Professional touring companies stage shows at the Saenger Theatre, a lovingly restored 1926 theatre. Nearby, the Pensacola Little Theatre holds forth in a stylish 474-seat theater in the Pensacola Cultural Center. The Indian Temple Mound and Museum has one of the largest collections of early Native American culture in the United States. Quayside, the South's largest art cooperative, is around the corner from the Pensacola Museum of Art.

For information about luxury real estate in the Pensacola area and the Realtors that can help you find the perfect Pensacola or Perdido Key home, please click here.