Tell Me About Gulf Shores, AL

[madaboutMickey]

DH and I were recently asked to spend a week with my cousin and his DW in Gulf Shores. None of us have ever been there before. They booked this trip in January and still know nothing about the area. So I've been asked to come up with some ideas. Leaving in less than 2 weeks! We are staying in a condo at Gulf Shores Plantation. Looking for places to eat and things to do besides enjoying the beach. I've done a little research but thought I'd come to the DIS as there always good advise on vacations. If anyone has stayed at Plantations, I would be interested in your opinions as well.

 

[7165red]

I suggest you go to www.tripadvisor.com go to forums US. You will find lots of info there.

 

[gladstoneganderfan]

Places to eat- Lambert's-good country food (it's in Foley, not far away), Original Oyster House-great seafood

If you are into shoppping, there are outlet malls in Foley and The Wharf in Orange Beach (all close by). Sometimes the Wharf has concerts, so I would check out their website (http://www.thewharfal.com/).

 

[LMC]

I second the Oyster House---save room for desert or just take home a whole pie.

Watch out for the rolls at Lamberts. Some guy was waving his arms in the air for one and missed it and it hit me in the face. Since I was not wanting a roll, I was not paying attention. NOW I watch everytime they come out.

 

[pinkrose]

I agree that both Lamberts and the Oyster House are great!!!

 

[SuzieR]

We love Gulf Shores!! Beautiful and peaceful. Some good places to eat were mentioned. I suggest Lu Lu's as well. It can get pretty crowded though, good food and live entertainment. This is Jimmy Buffet's sister's place. The Warf has a shopping place and a couple of places to eat. This place was just in the process of being built still when we went. Foley has outlet shopping. Good places to golf.

Gulf Shores Plantation is nice! I've stayed here several times. There are different types of condos on this resort. It's more private in this area. I think The Beach Club resort is in this area too and it's really nice. Your close to Fort Morgan, it's an old cival war fort.

Gulf Shores is not huge and not a whole lot to do like Panama City, but it's relaxing and has beautiful white sand beaches. Hope y'all have a great trip!!

 

[mckryan]

We just returned home from Gulf Shores today. It was our first trip there, and we loved it. It was so relaxing. We ate at the following:

Cotton's - not too bad, get there early!
The Original Oyster House - good food, good service, get there really early!
Ribs & Reds - won't go there again
Bahama Bob's - good food, good service, get there early
Lamberts - be prepared for fried food, you won't go away hungry, get there really early!!
Guy Harvey's Island Grill at the Wharf - by far the best meal we had, great atmosphere, great service, were seated with a table of 7 at 7PM with no wait at all.
Mellow Mushroom - (Foley) - you can never go wrong with Mellow Mushroom!

We rented a condo from vrbo.com, and it was fantastic. Right on the beach, great view - we were on the 24th floor. We did a deep sea fishing trip (4 hours) with http://sanroccay.com/fishing_information_and_prices.html. The trip was great, and we are eating our fish tonight at home. The kids did parasailing and jet skiing.

I really can't say enough about this trip. It was so relaxing. I was expecting something like Myrtle Beach, and it was nothing like that - in a good way!

 

[Papa Deuce]

My wife's aunt lives there, but I really know very little about the area.... my wife wants to visit there. So, if I can tag along in this thread, is there at least enough to do so that 9 year olds won't get bored?

 

[raysnkaysmom]

Places to eat- Lambert's-good country food (it's in Foley, not far away), Original Oyster House-great seafood

If you are into shoppping, there are outlet malls in Foley and The Wharf in Orange Beach (all close by). Sometimes the Wharf has concerts, so I would check out their website (http://www.thewharfal.com/).

I agree that both Lamberts and the Oyster House are great!!!

and the beach at Orange Beach is great

 

[LMC]

My wife's aunt lives there, but I really know very little about the area.... my wife wants to visit there. So, if I can tag along in this thread, is there at least enough to do so that 9 year olds won't get bored?

We've been going since before we had kids and they are ages 8-14 now. Between the pool and beach what more could they want? There is souvenier shopping, puttputt type golf, shopping, and a small strip type amusement park. There is even a very small zoo (they had a tv show about it called the little zoo that could) and they told about it after hurricane ivan came thru--I can't remember the name of the zoo though.

 

[madaboutMickey]

I suggest you go to www.tripadvisor.com go to forums US. You will find lots of info there.

After posting here, I headed over to trip advisor. lol


Lambert's and the Original Oyster House seem to be a favorites with a lot of people. Anyone know anything about a restaurant called DeSoto's. I think I've got that spelled correctly.

Thanks everyone! Anything else we should know? Restaurants to "avoid"?

 

[smcdaniel4688]

Hi! Live in MS, so we go to Gulf Shores quite often. Going the end of Aug for a weekend to take kids to Waterville, a waterpark/ amusement park type thing. Never been there so hope it is worth the $$$$$. We enjoy going to The Track. Has go cart rides for all ages and the "woody" is soooooo much fun! LuLu's restraunt is always soooooo crowded. Last trip the wait was over 2 hours. Basically you go for the atmosphere cause the food is, I think, pretty un-spectacular. We LOVE The Shrimp Basket. Very good food there. And there is a restruant just a few minutes down the road in Orange Beach called Tacky Jacks. It is GREAT. I recommend the taco salad or get the nachos to share. You won't be disappointed! Beaches are beautiful. Get there early to stake you out a prime spot. And don't miss the outlets just up the road in Foley! Have Fun!

 

[jen0610]

DH and I were recently asked to spend a week with my cousin and his DW in Gulf Shores. None of us have ever been there before. They booked this trip in January and still know nothing about the area. So I've been asked to come up with some ideas. Leaving in less than 2 weeks! We are staying in a condo at Gulf Shores Plantation. Looking for places to eat and things to do besides enjoying the beach. I've done a little research but thought I'd come to the DIS as there always good advise on vacations. If anyone has stayed at Plantations, I would be interested in your opinions as well.

This is where we are planning on heading to next summer. So far, I have used this website for all of my planning. http://www.gulfshores.com/. We are having a blast planning this vacaton.


For those that have been down there, is there a favorite agency you used for getting your lodging or is there one that we should stay away from? There are 4 different beach houses that we like, all are with a different agency. There is 1 house that is a favorite with all of us, so we are hoping that it's a good agency.

 

[KNJWDW]

We LOVE Gulf Shores! Actually, we have decided to go there next year for our family vacation instead of Disney! It is definitely the place to go if you want a relaxing vacation. Our favorite restaurants were as many others already mentioned - Lamberts, LuLu's and Tacky Jack's was also fun. I hope you have a great time!

Amy