Alabama

Whether you’re looking for romance, beach-hopping, or a historic visit back through time for your next holiday, the Southern U.S. state of Alabama has you sorted. The state is fantastically diverse with mountains, beaches, cities, and fascinating history, not to mention delicious food. You can either make Alabama your standalone destination or include it as part of a bigger Southern USA road trip. The roads in Alabama are in great condition, and there are plenty of roadside service stops if you need fuel or food! 

Follow our guide to three of our top stops on an Alabama road trip: 

The Romantic Getaway – Mobile 

If you’re searching for a romantic getaway, Mobile, Alabama – just a 3.5 hr drive from New Orleans, Louisiana – has it all. As Alabama’s only saltwater port, this beautiful city sits alongside Mobile Bay on the north-central Gulf Coast, and is an original French settlement more than 300 years old, with spreading live oaks that loom over downtown streets and picturesque historic mansions with wrought-iron balconies. Is anyone sensing Romeo and Juliet vibes?!

Mobile has several unique art museums and professional membership for an opera company, symphony orchestra and ballet company. Plus, the city has the oldest organised Carnival or Mardi Gras celebrations in America, typically observed in January and February. Visit Mobile in springtime, and you’ll be swept away with the pink and purple azaleas blooming everywhere. Held every March, the Mobile Azalea Trail Festival takes guests through some of the most stunningly beautiful gardens and homes in the country. 

When it comes to romantic dinners with your loved one, you’re spoilt for choice here. Seafood is available in abundance, including delicious wild-caught Gulf shrimp, blue crabs, and oysters. Slow-cooked, pit barbecue is a prized local favourite. Mobile’s music scene has always been lively, with nightlife and entertainment options galore. Many bars downtown can stay open past 2AM, and you can even walk from bar to bar with drinks in hand, thanks to a block-long entertainment district on Dauphin Street. 

Mobile has more than 6,000 rooms to fit every taste and budget available. From four diamond hotels to bed and breakfasts and historical inns or budget limited-service hotels, you’ll find genuine Southern hospitality wherever you look. Check out Mobile’s hotel rates here.  

Further information on this romantic road trip, see here: https://alabama.travel/road-trips/mobile-a-romantic-getaway. 

The Beach-Hopping Holiday 

Head down the I-65, U.S. Hwy 231 or if you’re coming from Mobile, head across I-10 and down (approx. 1-hour drive) to Alabama’s beautiful white-sand beaches. There’s 32 miles of sugar-white sand beaches for you to enjoy, plus activities such as the world-famous Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo or eco-cruises where you can watch dolphins play! The beach communities of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores offer visitors a wide variety of fun – either for a girls’ or guys’ weekend away or a family-friendly holiday. The region has 18,000 rooms with a variety of places to stay, including hotels, condos, and beach houses. 

Gulf Shores 

Beach lovers: rejoice! Take a swim in the warm, turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico and enjoy walking along the white sands, which are some of the softest in the world. You can deep sea or pier fish, parasail, or cruise to see dolphins. Beyond the shore, there’s hiking, biking, kayaking, golfing, plus the freshest seafood around. 

Orange Beach 

At Orange Beach, you can find ultimate zen as you watch the bright blue waves gently roll into the shore. If adrenaline is more your thing, or perhaps you’re looking for family adventure, Orange Beach also has you covered. Inland, there are beautiful golf courses, scenic hiking and biking trails, kayaking, and more. Home to one of the largest charter fishing fleets in the Gulf, you can try your luck on a full or half-day fishing excursion! 

For further information on a beach-hopping holiday, see here: https://alabama.travel/road-trips/gulf-shores-orange-beach-spring-break-at-the-beach. 

Take a Trip Back in Time – Montgomery 

If you’re a history buff, Montgomery, Alabama, is the perfect destination – a 4-hr drive (via I-65) north of Orange Beach. Walk along any street and you’ll be surrounded by historic churches, homes, notable dwellings, not to mention an abundance of museums in Downtown Montgomery, passing on stories of years gone by. Visit the 1847 Alabama State Capitol Building, which was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960. In the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, you’ll learn about the church’s twentieth pastor in the 1950s, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., who became the leader of the Civil Rights Movement. 

You can explore the city’s rich history either by parking and walking, or jumping in the car. Some of the key sites include: 

• Rosa Parks Museum – a museum showcasing events that started the Montgomery Bus Boycott and early Civil Rights movement
• The Freedom Rides Museum is housed in the historic Montgomery Greyhound Bus Station, where you can learn the story of young Freedom Riders who approached mob violence with non-violence and courage in May 1961
• The First White House of Confederacy, where Jefferson Davis and his family lived during the short period when the capital of the Confederacy was in Montgomery
• Next door is the Alabama Archive of Archives & History, where the Museum of Alabama tells the story of three phases in the state’s history, including its Native American heritage, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights Movement.

While exploring downtown Montgomery, we highly recommend you tour the Hank Williams Museum. Here you can see the 1952 baby-blue Cadillac that the singer passed away in on 1st January 1953. The historic cemetery, where the country legend is buried, dates back to the early 1800s, and is home to some of the most elaborate monuments and headstones in Alabama.

The Southern US state of Alabama has rich history, music, culture, and adventure, with diverse landscapes from mountains to the coastline. Renowned for its famous dose of Southern hospitality and delicious, mouth-watering food scene, there is so much for visitors to enjoy. Music legends Nat King Cole, W.C. Handy and Hank Williams were born in Alabama, and artists such as Aretha Franklin and The Rolling Stones ‘made it’ here. Gospel is sung in churches while Blues, Country and Jazz can be enjoyed in local bars.  

Locally owned restaurants dish up meals of mouth-watering barbecue and fresh seafood from Alabama’s fishing villages, and museums cover everything from Civil Rights and music history to fast cars and faster spacecraft. It’s a tough job choosing only a selection of the exciting things you can’t miss, but we’ve given it a go! 

Here are five ‘must-visits’ during a trip to Alabama:   

Live Out Your NASA Dreams at the U.S. Space and Rocket Centre  

The U.S. Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville is the world’s largest space museum showcasing rockets and artifacts of the U.S. Space Program. Get hands-on with interactive exhibits, learn about the history of space science, and see a National Historic Landmark – an authentic Saturn V rocket – one of only three on display in the world! Experience space travel simulators, explore the development and evolution of the Space Shuttle program to the International Space Station, plus learn about NASA’s latest innovations. The U.S. Space and Rocket Centre is also home to the week-long Space Camp, Aviation Challenge Camp and Robotics Camp programs, which allow you to train to become an astronaut! 

Enjoy a Musical Journey at The Shoals   

In the area of north-western Alabama four close-knit and geographically linked cities make-up the area known as The Shoals. Several well-known Alabama attractions live here. Tuscumbia is Helen Keller’s birthplace and home, Florence is a beautiful river city with a rich history, Sheffield hosts the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, and Muscle Shoals is home to FAME Studios.  

Begin your visit at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia to see gold records and costume exhibits. Then drive a few minutes north to Sheffield to visit Muscle Shoals Sound Studios: a hit recording studio owned by studio musicians that were known as The Swampers. Originally with FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, The Swampers separated to form their own operation 3614 North Jackson Highway an address known well by its name – Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. 

While in the area, a must-visit for music lovers is the W.C. Handy Birthplace Museum and Library in Florence, which has an impressive collection of memorabilia including instruments belonging to W.C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues.”  

Explore Gulf State Park  

Gulf State Park has 6,150 acres with over 3 kilometres of white, sandy beaches near the communities of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. With its vast range of accommodation and activity options, it truly is a ‘must-visit’ stop on your Alabama itinerary. It has 496 modern campsites, 31 cabins/cottages (with 27 of those being positioned on a lake!), a Gulf front Lodge, a beach pavilion with a snack bar, 469 metre fishing pier with a restaurant, group pavilions, picnic areas, and nature programs. Not to mention the H.S. Branyon Backcountry Trail, which provides 40 kilometres of paved trails for walking or biking, plus you can play golf or tennis, and for the thrill-seekers out there: check out one of the zip lines! 

Barber Vintage Sports Museum

Head to Birmingham, Alabama, to check out the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. George Barber raced, modified, and maintained Porsches in the 1960s. He started collecting and restoring classic sports cars in 1989, then his interest turned to motorcycles. After recognising that a museum reflecting the history of motorcycles around the world did not exist, his goal was to preserve the motorcycle history in the United States in a way that represented an international aspect and to supply an example of motorcycles that would otherwise only be observed in books or magazines.

At the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, there are approximately 900 hundred motorcycles on display at any one time, with over 1,600 in the full collection – all ranging from 1904 to current-year production. 

Take a Walk in the Shoes of Martin Luther King Jr.

Take a walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where the Selma-to-Montgomery march began, initiating a chain reaction in the civil rights movement. See Martin Luther King Jr.’s home in Montgomery at the Dexter Parsonage and visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute: one of the South’s best museums offering audio, photography, and exhibits that take visitors inside the integration movement. Here you can see the jail cell door where Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Hear the story of how the document was smuggled out of jail on bits of paper and survived to become one of the most important texts of the Civil Rights movement.