FL Medium hazard

AL Medium hazard

water 78°F

surf 2.1 ft

low tide 4:18 PM

sunset 7:41 PM

"Yellow flag both sides. 78° water, 2.1-foot chop, se wind. Watch the kids. Decent day."

Perdido Beach Boulevard

AL

The OB strip. Phoenix this, Phoenix that. Cosmo's, GTs, and Hwy 182 doing four lanes' worth of nine lanes' work.

The Boulevard runs east-west, from the Pass (and the Florida line just past it) all the way to the Gulf Shores line. It’s a different feel than the FL side — more developed, more polished, more places to spend money. The condos on the gulf side have names like Phoenix West, Phoenix East, Phoenix On the Bay, Phoenix West II — there are a lot of Phoenixes. Caribe and Turquoise Place anchor the high end. The Beach Club is at the far west.

The food and drink scene on the Boulevard is deep:

Cosmo’s Restaurant & Bar — gulf-front, weekday lunch, weekend dinner with a wait, decent for everything
GTs On The Bay — bay side, sunset deck, the steamer pot
Cobalt at the Pass — fancy version, good for an anniversary
The Gulf — open-air, shipping-container chic, very Instagrammed
Tacky Jack’s (over by the Pass) — Alabama institution, breakfast all day, live music

Like the FL side, the Boulevard is busiest March-Labor Day and the off-season is a different (better) town. If you’re here in October, you have the place to yourself.

Eat & Drink in Perdido Beach Boulevard

Bahama Bob's Beach Side Cafe

restaurant · $$

Gulf Shores institution just over the Orange Beach line. Beach-shack vibe, real Gulf seafood, the kind of place locals defend hard.

seafoodgulf-frontbeach-shacklocals

Cosmo's Restaurant & Bar

restaurant · $$$

Orange Beach's everyday upscale. Weekday lunch, weekend wait, decent at everything. The kind of menu where the table can't decide and everyone ends up happy.

seafoodgulf-frontsit-downanniversary

Doc's Seafood Shack

restaurant · $$

Royal Reds, fried shrimp, no view, no wait, no nonsense. The locals' answer to 'just give me good shrimp.'

seafoodroyal-redslocalsno-view

GTs On The Bay

restaurant · $$

Bay-side deck, the steamer pot, and a sunset that justifies the wait. Easy answer when 'bay-side dinner' is the brief.

seafoodbay-sidesunsetsteamer-pot

Original Oyster House

restaurant · $$

Bay-side, the gator pond, the oysters. A reliable Gulf Coast chain that's been doing the same thing well long enough that 'chain' isn't really the right word.

seafoodoystersbay-sidefamily-friendly

Also in Perdido Beach Boulevard

Gulf State Park

6,000+ acres of Alabama state park bridging Gulf and bay. The Backcountry Trail, the pier, the lodge, the freshwater lake, the campground. The whole-day-on-paper park.

state-parkbeachpiertrail

Publix Orange Beach

The AL-side anchor grocery. Where Orange Beach actually shops. Full-format, real parking, the usual Publix reliability.

From The Drift, tagged Perdido Beach Boulevard

How to do the Key in peak season without losing your mind

Memorial Day's behind us, which means the Key is full and stays full until the kids go back. Here's the locals' operating manual for summer — when to cross the Pass, when to hit the sand, and how to never wait an hour for a table you didn't have to.

Keep going

Perdido Key Drive

The strip. Gulf-front high-rises, the Sandshaker, and the smell of fryer oil drifting south.

Johnson Beach / Gulf Islands

The undeveloped end. National park rules apply. Bring shade — there isn't any.

Innerarity Point

Bay side. Where locals drink. Hub Stacey's, Pirate's Cove, and a sunset that beats the Gulf for half the year.