This is the easiest recommendation we make to anyone staying on the Gulf Shores & Orange Beach side of our collection. Gulf State Park covers over 6,000 acres with two miles of protected sugar-white beach, a network of easy walking and biking trails through the dunes and freshwater lakes, and a long fishing and pleasure pier that’s open to the public.
The beach access here tends to be quieter than the main public beaches in town, and the boardwalk trails through the dunes are an easy, flat walk if you want a change from lying in the sand. If your group has anyone who fishes, the Gulf State Park Pier is one of the longest on the Gulf and doesn’t require a boat to use.
Parking is available at multiple access points, and there’s a Nature Center worth a stop if the kids want a break from the sun. It’s a short drive, sometimes a walk, from most of our Gulf Shores homes, and a genuinely free, low-key way to spend a morning before the afternoon heat sets in.
