Guide
The Best Time to Visit Gulf Shores, Month by Month
This coast has four distinct populations across the year and they barely overlap. Working out which one you want to be in the middle of is most of the decision.
9 min read
Brandi Cochran
Senior Editor
Beat: Things to Do, Beaches, Best Time to Visit
Brandi grew up in Foley and has covered Baldwin County for fourteen years, long enough to remember this beach before the Beach Express toll came off and after two direct hurricane hits. Her beat is the detail that costs a reader money when it is wrong: which city an access belongs to, what the parking rules changed to, what a storm actually closed.
3 guides · 4 news posts
Last updatedBrandi's most recent update to this site was .
Long-form
Guides by Brandi Cochran
Reported guides to Gulf Shores, each with its own publication and last-updated date.
GuideGulf Shores or Orange Beach? An Honest Comparison
Two cities, one beach, eight miles apart, with a state park in between. The sand is identical and the weather is identical, so the choice comes down to whether your week has a boat in it.
8 min read
FeaturedGuideGulf Shores for the First Time: All of Alabama's Coast, on One Island
Alabama has about thirty-two miles of coastline and this is all of it. Once you understand that the towns sit on an island with a state park in the middle, the rest of the week arranges itself.
8 min read
News desk
News under Brandi Cochran's byline
Shorter, dated pieces about what is changing in Gulf Shores.
How this was written. News published under Brandi Cochran's byline was drafted by machine from primary sources — operator notices, government and municipal releases, published schedules — and every factual claim in it was matched to one of those sources before it published. A Gulf Shores Guide editor can change or pull any of it. Our editorial standards.
FeaturedFestivalThe Shrimp Festival Takes Over the Beachfront for Four Days Every October
Four days of food stalls, craft booths and live stages at the foot of Highway 59, free to walk into, and by some distance the busiest weekend of the Alabama autumn.
October 8 – October 11
FeaturedTravel alertBeach Parking in Gulf Shores Is Now Charged by the Hour
The flat day rate is gone. Since the first of July, the city charges by the hour at its public beach parking areas, which changes the arithmetic of a long beach day.
DevelopmentThe Beach Express Bridge Stopped Charging Tolls in 2024, and Half the Internet Missed It
For years the fast way onto the island cost money at a bridge. The state bought the crossing and removed the toll in May 2024, and a lot of travel advice still has not caught up.
- Event
There Was No Hangout Festival in 2026, and the City Is Looking at 2027
The beach festival that reshapes Gulf Shores every May did not happen in 2026. Neither did the event that replaced it in 2025. The city has been working towards a return in 2027.