Gulf Shores
, Alabama, is a beach town and convention hub on the Gulf of Mexico, with more than 5,000 residents just west of the tip of Florida's western tip. Visitors to Gulf Shores can hop on board several bus tours exploring the area's white-sand coast and military history, mansions and slot machines. Alabama's Gulf Coast is engulfed in sunshine, emerald water, weathered boardwalks. It is flanked by bistros, golf courses, fishing coves and wildlife preserves, according to the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Landmark Tours
Landmark Tours in nearby Fairhope offers day tours on luxury buses for groups of 20 or more. The buses buzz Gulf Shores-area mansions, historic Civil War sites, museums, nature centers and hopping lunch spots. The company offers a wide variety of tours, from hiking trailheads to a cooking school, from zoos to a marina where dolphins and alligators play in the wild.
Landmark Tours is a 40-minute drive north of Gulf Shores, but the company offers a guided ride back to Gulf Shores area to Orange Beach, Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge and Splinter Hill Bog, among other sites. A bus tour to the marina in Orange Beach includes a 90-minute cruise on a glass-bottomed boat.
The Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge bus tour includes a three-mile hike to the sea, through sand dunes higher than houses.
Jimmy's Casino Shuttles
Jimmy's Casino Shuttles depart from Gulf Shores and other area towns, and deposit day gamblers at the nearby IP Casino and The Beau Rivage Casino. Buses leave daily on day trips to the Biloxi casinos year-round. Participants should call ahead for reservations. The buses also leave from Foley and Loxley, Alabama. The company offers participants $15 in free casino play each day they ride.
Flight Line Bus Tour
Visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation in nearby Pensacola, Florida, and take a free, 20-minute bus tour of the more than 40 aircraft on display on the museum's flight line, behind the restoration hangar.
The Naval Aviation museum, located a short drive east of Gulf Shores, is the most-visited museum in Florida, according to the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau. The museum is home to 180 restored aircraft flown in the service of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Aviation. The crafts are stored in 300,000 square feet of exhibit space, on 37 acres.
The museum also offers visitors the sensation of flying an F/A-18 mission in Desert Storm via a seven-story Imax film screen. Museum admission is free, and it is open seven days a week year-round, except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.
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