Planning a Trip

Getting There

Pensacola Regional Airport, 12th Avenue at Airport Road (tel. 850/436-5005; www.flypensacola.com), is served by AirTran (tel. 800/247-8726), Continental (tel. 800/525-0280), Delta (tel. 800/221-1212), and Northwest (tel. 800/225-2525).

Budget (tel. 800/527-0700), Enterprise (tel. 800/325-8007), and National (tel. 800/227-7368) have rental-car operations here.

Taxis wait outside the modern terminal. Fares are approximately $20 to downtown, $25 to Gulf Breeze, and $30 to Pensacola Beach.

The Amtrak (tel. 800/872-7245; www.amtrak.com) transcontinental Sunset Limited stops in Pensacola at 980 E. Heinberg St.

Visitor Information

The Pensacola Visitor Information Center, 1401 E. Gregory St., Pensacola, FL 32501 (tel. 800/874-1234 or 850/434-1234; fax 850/432-8211; www.visitpensacola.com), gives away helpful information about the Greater Pensacola area, including maps of self-guided tours of the historic districts, and sells a detailed street map of the area. The office is at the mainland end of the Pensacola Bay Bridge and is open daily from 8am to 5pm (until 4pm Sat-Sun Oct-Mar).

For information specific to the beach, contact the Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce, 735 Pensacola Beach Blvd. (P.O. Box 1174), Pensacola Beach, FL 32561 (tel. 800/635-4803 or 850/932-1500; fax 850/932-1551; www.visitpensacolabeach.com). The chamber's offices and visitor center are on the right as you drive onto Santa Rosa Island across the Bob Sikes Bridge. It's open daily from 9am to 5pm.

Getting Around

To see the historic sights in town, park at the Pensacola visitor center and take the Five Flags Trolley (tel. 850/436-9383; www.fiveflagstrolley.com). The one-way East Bay (Blue) Line runs Monday through Friday from 9am to 4pm between the visitor center and downtown. The Palafox (Red) Line runs Monday through Friday from 7am to 6pm north-south along Palafox Street between the waterfront and North Hill Preservation District. Both pass through Historic Pensacola Village. The 25¢ fare includes a transfer between the two lines. The visitor center has free route maps.

The free Tiki Trolley runs the full length of Pensacola Beach from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, Friday and Saturday from 10am to 3am and Sunday from 10am to 10pm.

Both trolleys are operated by Escambia County Area Transit System (ECAT; tel. 850/595-3228; www.goecat.com), which also runs public buses around town Monday through Saturday ($1.50 adults, 75¢ seniors) -- but not to the beach. Call for schedules.

If you need a cab, call Airport Express Taxi/City Cab (tel. 850/478-4477), Orange Cab (tel. 850/478-0222), or Yellow Cab (tel. 850/433-3333). Fares are $2 at flag fall, plus $2.25 a mile.

You can rent bikes from Eco-Beach, 8460 Gulf Blvd. (tel. 850/936-SAND; www.eco-beach.com). Rentals are $10 per day.

Time

Pensacola is in the Central Time zone, 1 hour behind Miami, Orlando, and Tallahassee.