Why We LOVE Alabama Beaches!

I’m so excited to be teaming up with my friends at the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach Visitors Bureau to give away a 3 night stay at my favorite beaches! The giveaway closes for entries tomorrow at midnight so make sure you click here to visit that post and enter (please note, comments are welcome on the post you are reading right now but they do not count as entries unless you leave them on the giveaway post).   Today I wanted to share my top reasons why we love Alabama beaches and if you’ve been to Gulf Shores or Orange Beach, I want to hear what your favorite things to do there are as well!

We will be heading back down to the coast in a few weeks and I’d love to add your ideas into the mix for my family :).

1. FAMILY FRIENDLY – you know what the “typical” beach is like during spring break? Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are the opposite of this. The beaches aren’t crowded and what folks are there are usually families and retired folks who have staked their claim on Alabama paradise. This makes for a quieter pace and atmosphere more conducive to good old fashioned family getaways.

2. CLEAN – These aren’t your typical beaches, either. The sand is pristine and the water is crystal clear. I’ll even go so far as to attribute that to the lodging as well. We’ve stayed in a wide variety of condos and hotels and have been more than pleased with every single one of them. Our upcoming trip is going to be a special treat because we’ll be staying as guests at Turquoise Place by Spectrum Resorts! Lazy river and luxury kitchens – we may never leave. Find your lodging by clicking here.

3. FOOD! The food at Alabama’s gulf is some of the best I’ve had anywhere, and keep in mind I used to travel around the country for Southern Living doing their televised food segments! There are so many unique dining experiences and each offers something for everyone. We have many restaurants we love (LuLu’s, Lambert’s…) and each time we go we try something new and add another one to our list. We are looking forward to The Hangout and  Ginny Lane Wharf on our next trip, both will be first for us. Restaurants galore await you. Click here.

4. UNPLUGGING HAS NEVER BEEN SO EASY – When we are at the beach, we tend to stay “at the beach” with our toes in the sand and our swimsuits wet. Ricky and Brady love to boogie board on the waves and Katy and I build castles, look for shells, and wade in the water. We spend so much down time outside, away from computers and phones, and the tide washes the stress and encumbrances away to the extent that the four of us connect on a much deeper level. There is so much to do. You could go and stay a month with new experiences every day! Click here to check out what the gulf has to offer.

5. FUN – We have so much fun at the beach. If you ever get tired of sand sitting or boogie boarding, there are any number of unique opportunities for “first” in the fun department. We’ve taken a Dolphin Cruise, petted sting-rays at a restaurant with a huge indoor tank, went to The Warf for shopping and the Southeast’s largest ferris wheel, watched folks fish off the pier at night, and more.

Gulf Shores has a WONDERFUL website that will help you with every single aspect of planning your trip. To visit them online, please click here.

For more perspectives about visiting Alabama’s Beaches, see the following blogs, who are joining me in the #StayALBeaches campaign! Make sure you follow me on Instagram for photos from our upcoming trip!

Other Alabama Beach Bloggers to check out:

• Lysha Stanford, A Camera and a Cookbook
• Becky Beall, Travel Voice by Becky
• Jennifer Gervens, Sweet T Makes 3