Barefoot Landing is an upscale shopping complex that has a rather nice relaxing atmosphere. It has a rustic, nautical decor which makes it nice to walk around and enjoy the atmosphere even if you are not there to shop.
The walkways are made of wood to look like a pier, so it gives that beachy feeling as you listen to the wood creak with each footstep.

There are also many unique but expensive shops to see if you like shopping, browsing, or window shopping. The window shopping and browsing are free, of course, and with most of the prices here, that is what we did! Most of the shops offer unique items at a price to match. Many of the shops had a beachy theme with rustic nautically decor or nautical things for sale. Not all the shops were pricey though, so you may be able to find the unique treasure at a reasonable price, ready to take home with you.

There is a nice big lake in the middle of the complex with a long wooden bridge going across the middle. You can buy fish food from the little gumball type vending machine. It's like little pebbles of dog food, but the fish love it! We had the most fun watching and feeding the fish! A school of big carp live in the lake and are always waiting for food to descend upon them. When they see people on the bridge, they come over to see if there will be food. When the food starts landing in the water they swarm over each other to get it, even jumping out of the water and laying on top of each other. You can tell they are used to being fed.

There are several restaurants that make good choices for lunch or dinner options, some have a seafood theme, some have outdoor dining. It is nice for a relaxing afternoon or evening activity. Some offer nighttime entertainment.

Barefoot Landing is home to the Alabama Theater, Barefoot Princess paddlewheel boat, Grand Prix Family Thrill, House of the Blues, and Alligator Adventure. Alligator Adventure is an alligator park and reptile research institute. The perfect place to bring the whole family. Staff members can often be found on the Jay Leno Show. You can visit them at www.alligatoradventure.com. Throughout barefoot landing, you will often see staff members with animals from the park. While we were there, we saw one staff member with a HUGE turtle. My poor little 10-pound dog didn’t know what to make of this huge thing! Speaking of dogs, if you have one in tow, make sure to bring them here. Dogs are permitted if they are on a leash. Several of the stores will allow them in. There is a Bone Apetit Bakery featuring fresh-made treats for your pets. And Johnny Rockets offers outdoor seating and will allow your pet at the tables outside.

Golf fans will love this place. The Barefoot Resort and Golf offer courses built by Greg Norman, David Love III, Tom Fazio, and Pete Dye. Throughout the year, they have a number of celebrations going on, including Bike Week in May, Summerfest, a classic car show, trick-or-treating, and holiday celebrations. They are also involved with charitable organizations. The holiday celebrations from November and December offer a Toys For Tots Drive, and they offer several chili and rib cook-offs for charity. To see what is going on during your visit, simply go to www.bflanding.com.

It's conveniently located near Barefoot Landing, which has many choices for restaurants and shops. So you can make a day of it!

The Dye course was set apart and was definitely my favorite. It had a massive number of bunkers, lots of water, and the most challenging layout. It was downright hard and very long. For example, there is a 564-yard par five. This course is being made private, so play it while you can. As we were driving up, we saw a mama bear and three cubs, so it definitely has some wildlife.

The Love course was challenging because of the elevated greens. Many a shot went on and off the greens. Also, errant tee shots would inevitably find dense woods. Finally, the par fours were particularly tough. You had to make up your ground on the par fives. I also liked the elevated tee boxes.

The Norman course was pretty standard, but challenging in its own right. You definitely had to play a little more strategically and setup your approaches to the green. It was a nice course, but I didn't like all of the construction going on.

The Fazio course has some interesting shots as well. There was one hole with a split green and some beautiful use of the existing trees. This course did have a lot of houses along the holes, so it felt a bit less special, but I recommend it as a nice warm-up for the other courses.

The best part about playing here was the closeness of the condos to the course. We had a 5-minute ride to the course, so we could shower between rounds. We also got a very nice deal on a stay-and-play package. You can call 888/557-6226 for tee times and to make lodging arrangements.

The shops, outlets, and restaurants are divided into four separate shopping areas reminiscent of an old fishing village. All are connected by a boardwalk system that includes three pedestrian bridges spanning the lake. There are more than 100 specialty shops, 13 factory direct stores, 15 restaurants and dining facilities, and 11 entertainment attractions.

It’s very difficult to give an adequate evaluation of the multitude and shops and activities in a 500-word report. One really needs to check out the Barefoot Landing website to get a good understanding of the various shops and attractions here. You can get to the website by going to the following link:

http://www.bflanding.com/

The father-in-law and I had two favorite shops that piqued our interest: (1) The Bible Factory Outlet, and (2) Tools and More. In the first, I picked up a copy of Matthew Henry’s Bible Commentary for around $14 and my father-in-law bought a copy of the works of Josephus for about the same price. The Tools and More shop was quite interesting, too. Remember all those TV specialty ads claiming the items "can’t be bought in any store"? Well, don’t believe it, because many of the items were available here.