Top 5 or so nicest, ritziest beach towns in the South?

Good question.
One of the islands around Charleston, probably Kiawah, Sea Island, The Breakers, Take your pick of somewhere in Miami Boca area (but I personally like The Biltmore hotel- not on beach though), and the Gasparilla Inn on Boca Grande.

Probably a place in the keys that could be up there as well. Honorable mention to The Grand Hotel in Fairhope just because it’s a great, old property.

Grand Isle

Naples and West Palm Beach

“ Fisher Island is an exclusive private island just off the coast of Miami, Florida, where entry is strictly restricted to residents, approved guests, and island workers.”

This is probably about as ritzy as it gets. Needless to say, I haven’t been there.

1. The question is beach towns, so individual hotels do not count.

2. "Town" may or may not mean incorporated jurisdiction. It also may have a lot of homes that are not primary residences, but mainly rentals

3. "Ritzy" referring to upscale/expensive, not necessarily the quality of beach or water.

That being quantified, I would include 3 of the planned beach towns on 30-A with beach frontage: Seaside, Rosemary Beach, and Alys Beach. I wouldn't include Watercolor or Watersound on that list as Watercolor has very little beach frontage (most of the homes are far inland and actually behind Seaside) and Watersound has distant beach frontage.

On the Atlantic, Sawgrass/ Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida is very ritzy; lots of pro golfers live there.

Also Kiawah Island and Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.

quote:

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What are the top 5 or so nicest and ritziest beach towns in the South? For “the South,” let’s just say Virginia south to Alabama.

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I understand what the OP is getting at. Anything south of, say, Gainesville, FL should be off the table for consideration. South Florida is a totally different world than the rest of "The South."

In no particular order, I'd say...

1. Kiawah Island, SC (if that counts as a "town")
2. Ponte Vedra, FL
3. Rosemary Beach, FL
4. St. Simon's/Sea Island, GA
5. I'm not familiar with the NC/VA coast, so I'll reserve a spot because I'd assume there must a ritzy town somewhere around there.

I wouldn't include Amelia Island on that list. I live there (Yulee). While a lot of money has migrated there over the past 5-10 years, it's still fairly blue collar and middle-class.

St simon/sea island
Rosemary/alys