Gulf State Park

This is a very well maintained FHU campground with paved road access and uniform concrete parking pads, reasonably spaced, all with paved picnic table pads adjoining, no fire rings that I saw. Bring bikes. From our site, it was less than 2 mile walk (or ride) on an improved path to the beach pavilion with restrooms and public beach (chair with umbrella rental $40 day or BYO). Some sites have a lake or canal view but very few offer shade. The sun is intense by 10am. Folks had separate canopies at their sites which is smart. Walmart and Rouses nearby. Papa Rocca’s for pizza or burgers. Rita’s for frozen custard. Glow Yoga nearby. Book 12 months ahead - we reserved for a week next year.

Check in was crowded but staff was friendly and handled it well. Overall smooth process. This place is huge. Can’t say much that hasn’t already been said.

I didn’t bring my e bike because rules say no e machines. Found out you can ride them on campground streets, parking areas etc. just not on the trails. I should have called and gotten clarification.

Five of the eleven bathhouses are closed for rebuilding. We don’t use them so no effect on us.

Went to a nature presentation on local owls and other birds at the nature center. That was lots of fun.

Internet was just ok. Good early but slower in the evening.

We stopped at Gulf Shores for a few nights during a trip between New Orleans and Tallahassee. Getting a week-long reservation in mid April was a bit difficult with a short lead time, so we cut the stay to 3 nights and found a spot. Once we arrived, check in was easy.

The check in station is open 24x7 and on our arrival at 2:30, there were a lot of rigs lining up to get in. We had to walk up a flight of stairs to the office and a notice on the door restricting room occupancy to four was strictly enforced.

The park is very large and our spot was about as far back as we could go. But the spaces are wide and there were full hookups. Each site that we saw had a large asphalt pad for the rig and picnic table and a charcoal grill was in the back corner. Our site was level so we didn’t have to make any adjustments left to right.

Bath houses with showers are all over the place and there were two within an easy walk from our site, one in each direction. What struck me about the bathhouses, however, is that they seemed like a natural place to collect trash. However, the only place to empty trash were at the large dumpsters near the very front of the park

The amenities were fantastic. I counted 28 washers and 22 driers in the laundry facility. A nature center, pool, tennis/pickleball(?) courts, amphitheater, camp store, and bike rental were all co-located in a complex near the middle of the park.

Close proximity to the beach and entertainment outside of the park made the trip to shopping and restaurants very fast. Parking was a bit of a challenge.

Internet connectivity was better with ATT than with Verizon. We use ATT cell phones, a Cradlepoint IBR-900 cellular embedded router with an unthrottled ATT sim from Bix Wireless and a GTEN cellular embedded router with an unthrottled Verizon plan, also from Bix Wireless. Both devices struggled a bit providing wireless services to our tablets and laptops, but both did fine when connecting our work devices directly to the router with Ethernet. Off of wi-fi, our phones did fine with cell service.

Price reflects taxes added. This is a huge busy park. You can get lost coming in here. Check in was more complicated, but I guess when you're that big it's needed. You have to come through a check in station each time in. Our site was level, clean and overlooking the lake. Our loop was quiet, but everyone is apparently afraid of the dark, so all had lights on all night! We had to pay to have my brother & SIL come visit for the afternoon. Full Verizon service. I would not stay here again, as it is out of our price range and a crazy busy and expensive area of AL.

Great Beach State Park... rate includes all fees and taxes. Stayed 2 nights on Florida trip. Will be back for an extended stay. A lot of sites to fit any rig. So convenient to Gulf Shores tourist stuff and beaches. The bike trails are awesome. As we were there in March, there were many snow birds that were on extended stays. There are monthly rentals from November to March. Definitely a destination park.

This is our first attempt at working while snowbirding. We made small modifications to our 5th Wheel to incorporate 2 office spaces, including a mobile cellular modem with Verizon and AT&T sim cards to ensure uninterrupted internet service. We chose Gulf State Park due to proximity to the Gulf and mileage from our home in Wisconsin. We are 2 weeks in to a month long stay. Everything has gone very well. We work full 8-10 hour, data heavy days, the WIFI here is fantastic, have had to use cellular modem very little. Site 162 is nice, some shade/trees along the perimeter. There are daily activities including daily pickle ball and exercise, and evening star gazing or potluck. I'm very glad we brought our e-bikes, there are miles and miles of gorgeous trails here - and it makes it a quick trip to the beach at lunchtime for a run. Have really enjoyed the food/service/specials @ Live Bait on Perdido Beach Blvd. There is a WalMart just outside the park for anything you forgot. The facilities are large and well-kept. Laundry room has many machines, open 24/7. We are definitely on the younger side of the population here in January - and 2023 monthly rentals are already full due to the demand of many returning retirees - some who have been coming for years (and who are very friendly and eager to be helpful) All 5 stars from me, can't think of any negative things to say! The locals are complaining that it's cold - but it's 60 degrees warmer than Wisconsin right now, soo..... :)

Brilliant state park in the heart of the Gulf Shores beachfront community, like an oasis from the tourist traps, but in the heart of it all.

PHENOMENAL Wi-Fi service, unlike we have experienced at any park or campground yet. In addition great service on both AT&T and Verizon.

Reserve a waterfront site and you'll never want to leave. The park includes some great amenities, including a huge laundry room, camp store, tennis, pickleball, POOL (although heated, still too cold at 72 degrees) and a sweet little Nature Center. The park has miles of bike and hiking trails, and we enjoyed kayaking on the lakes and canals.

Staff here incredibly helpful and friendly- nice neighbors... really I cannot say anything negative. If you're a bit taken aback by the pricing for a state park, it's worth every penny.