Moving to the area

I’m looking at moving to the area as a single man in my 50s. Im hoping to be 5-10 minutes from the beach and have the “beach city” atmosphere while somewhat budgeting (I’m from California so the price difference isn’t crazy from here to there) but I’ve noticed just from looking on zillow how much the prices of homes vary in the area/ nearby cities and was wondering what recommendations I might get from people already living out there on where I should go?