Gulf Shores Day Trips
There are many hings to do in Gulf Shores, probably enough to keep your family entertained for your entire vacation, especially during peak season when the weather is nice and everything is open for business..
My wife and I love the beach - she likes to swim and I like to walk the beaches and surf fish. But we also are heavy into sightseeing. If we haven't seen a point of interest and we're close to it, we like to mark it off our "things to see list."
If you're like us, you want to get your beach time in, but you also want to hit the road and see what's nearby.
Well there's a lot to see near Gulf Shores - probably more than you have time to see on one vacation.
With some planning (not much) you can see several attractions on one Gulf Shores day trip.
For example, you could head out early one morning towards historic Fort Morgan, but drop by Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge on the way. Visiting those two places could take all day, or you could hit the high points and load your car on the Mobile Bay Ferry and visit Dauphin Island. (Before you buy your ferry tickets, decide whether you want one-way or round-trip.)
From Dauphin Island, you could drive to Theodore and tour Bellingrath Gardens. If your entire family truly loves spectacular gardens, you might spend the better part of the day there. Or you could spend two or three hours, and depending on how you've already allotted your time, you could drive to I-10 and head east towards Mobile and Gulf Shores, possibly visiting the USS Alabama on Mobile Bay.
Of course you couldn't (or wouldn't want to) do all of those things on one Gulf Shores day trip, but you get the point. That's a loop with a lot of options.
On your next Gulf Shores day trip, whether it's on the same vacation or your next one, you could go in the other direction, towards Pensacola. The world famous National Museum of Naval Aviation is only 30 minutes from Gulf Shores. This is another attraction that could take a lot of time to explore, especially if you or a family member loves history (if you have an aviation fan in the family, forget about, he or she's going to be there all day long.).
Most of us can see the high points of the National Museum of Naval Aviation and take in an IMAX film in three hours, so there might be time to drive over the Pensacola Bay Bridge and visit historic Fort Pickens; that is, if all you are planning on seeing is the fort. This is another one of those places that you could spend all day easily.
Click on the links on this page and use the map below to plan your day trip.
Click on "View Larger Map" for driving directions ("Get Directions" in upper, hand column). This map can also be scrolled in ant direction with the arrows.
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