Summer Vacation in Orange Beach

I have taken two summer vacations to Orange Beach and enjoyed them both. I have always traveled in July, and the weather is hot, but it usually does not rain more than an afternoon shower while there. There are plenty of beach activities and boating experiences around Orange Beach. During my first trip there we drove to the bay area and road a huge speed boat. It drove around the coast and was about an hour long trip. They also have fishing trips from the bay area and a dolphin cruise that I hope to go on soon. There is also a nice outlet mall about 15 miles from Orange Beach in Foley, Alabama. The outlet has many of the name brand stores. Some of my favorites are Polo, Carters, Gap, Cosmetics Company, Nike, Casual Corner, Oshkosh B'Gosh, Kitchen Collection, Stride Rite, and Little Me. The beach has nice, white sand and is a pretty wide area. They have chairs and umbrellas for rent all along the beach, there are also many water activities such as sail boats, jet skis, parasailing, and water paddle boats. I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express during my last trip. It is right on the beach and in a really good central location. I have also seen where they have rebuilt the pool and it looks really nice. They offer a free breakfast and have refrigerators and microwaves in the room. This is a location I do plan to visit again and hopefully as soon as next summer. During my first trip to Orange Beach I stayed at a regular Holiday Inn hotel but it is either no longer there or it changed names. It was also a nice place. Orange Beach has several sea food restaurants. Some are really good but some also need improvements. My favorite one is Zeke’s Down Under. It is located a few miles from the Holiday Inn Express and is on the bay side. They serve wonderful seafood platters and you can also dine and watch all the fishing boats coming in from a day of fishing. There are also several close places to buy groceries or food you can take back to the room. We went to the grocery store on our first and bought a few things to keep in our room. There was a really nice grocery store really close to the Holiday Inn Express.

Quick Tips:

I recommend eating early because the restaurants tend to be crowded at nights. My favorite resturant is Zekes. I also recommed going to the outlet mall in Foley one day it is just about a 15 minute drive.

Best Way To Get Around:

I have always driven and would recommend either driving or renting a car. Things tend to be spread out and the closest airport that services commercial planes is Pensacola or Mobile.

This is a nice hotel located directly on the beach. It is in a great location and it is centrally located in Orange beach with grocery stores, shops, and restaurants all close by. The hotel is neat and in good shape. There is plenty of free parking at the hotel. They offer a free breakfast every morning with eggs, fruit, cinnamon rolls, waffles, toast, juices, milk, cereal, coffee and water. They have an outside bar and grill by the pool area, but it was not open every day while we were there. I wish it would have been open more. They do not have a restaurant that is open all the time or anything that is open at night but there are a few within walking distance. They also have a really nice outdoor pool and hot tub that was just rebuilt. The pool area is between the hotel and the beach and overlooks the beach area. The pool area has several lounge chairs and some tables and chairs. They provide towels for the guests so this helps to lighten the packing. The beach area in front of the hotel has chairs and umbrellas for rent and many water activities. The activities can all be charged to your room or paid for at the time you get the service. The beach was clean with nice white sand. The rooms were nice, with a refrigerator and microwave, but a little on the small side. They were very clean, though. The bathroom was really nice sized. It has a long vanity with lots of room to keep your items during the stay. There was also a closet between the bathroom and room and it had a full length mirror on the door. There was a desk and chair and a small recliner type chair. The balcony was small but nice it had two chairs and a small table. They were plastic but it still served the purpose. We did not have much of a view but chose this to get a cheaper room. They had an office by the lobby and laundry room with one computer with Internet that was free for guests to use, although you often had to wait in line. The laundry room had several washer and dryers and looked really nice. The lobby had a nice fish tank that my son loved looking at when we went by. They did not seem to allow early check-in. We arrived early and were allowed to use the facilities but not allowed to check in. They also did not allow late check-out. We were mislead about this beforehand. I will probably visit this hotel again in the future, though.

The restaurant was close to our hotel. It is right on the main road, across the street from the beach. The location was really good, convenient and easy to get to. The building was a older-looking gray wooden building. They also had a Live Bait II behind the building that also served from the same menu, but they were having kid’s programs and entertainment in that building. The two buildings were connected by an outside wooden walkway. We did not really realize the second building was back there until we were leaving, as we would have rather eaten in that building.

We arrived early and did not have to wait for a table, but when we left, there was a pretty good waiting line. The restaurant was crowded. We were quickly seated by an aquarium full of colorful fish. My son liked watching all the colorful fish swim around the tank. It took a while for them to take our order. The menu was fine and had several seafood dishes. I ordered some shrimp. It took a really long time for use to get our food. The food was okay but nothing special, especially with the long wait we had. Then it also took a long time to get our check. They did not come back around and refill our drinks or check on us. It is not a place I will be running back to anytime soon. The food just was not good enough to make up for the bad service.

We were staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Orange Beach and this restaurant was located right across the street from our hotel, so we were actually able to walk there. The building was an older-looking wooden building and had wooden rocking chairs at the entrance. Once inside, there were fish tanks with colorful fish swimming around, a nice bar area, and the seating was both booths and tables. There was still the older wooden look once indoors. The tables and booths were both the older looking wood. We chose this restaurant since it was right across the road from the hotel. We actually walked so we could have a drink and not have to drive. We arrived early and were quickly seated. They brought our drinks and we looked at the menu.

The menu had several seafood options. Our waiter quickly came and took our orders, and he was really nice to us and my son. It did not take long for our food to arrive, and it was good but nothing special. I have eaten both better and worse. When we were done, the waiter came back quickly to clear the table and bring our check. I really liked the staff: they were nice, quick, and friendly, but the food could just use a little work. We did choose to go back to this restaurant for lunch on our last day in Orange Beach. We checked out of our room around 11 and drove across the street to this restaurant. We were again quickly seated and given our menus and our drink orders were taken. Again our food was fairly quick but the waitress was not as good or nice as the first trip. Our food was still fine but nothing special.

I may go back again if I stay at the Holiday Inn, since it is across the street and the staff was quick and friendly. I would recommend trying this restaurant if you are staying close by and want something quick and easy. I would not drive a distance there and expect a wonderful mean though.

This is the one place I visited on my first trip to Orange Beach and made a point to return to on the next trip. During my second trip to Orange Beach I visited this restaurant twice and cannot wait to return again. This restaurant is located on the bay side of the main road that goes along the beach. It was just a couple of miles from our hotel. The view from the restaurant is great. They have lot of fishing boats docked right behind the restaurant so you can walk around outside and watch the boats as they come in with their catch of the day. You can also watch the boats while dining. These boats were all really nice and clean and neat looking not just an everyday fishing boat.

The first trip I made to the restaurant was several years ago and me and my mother split a sea food platter. It has lots of crab legs, royal red shrimp, oysters, potatoes, corn, and more. The platter was more than the two of us could eat and it was absolutely wonderful. It was the best shrimp I have ever eaten. My second trip was for lunch on the day we arrive in Orange Beach. We could not check into our room yet and it was raining so we decide to go have a nice lunch. We arrived and the place was not very crowded so we were quickly seated by the window overlooking all the boats. Our waitress was wonderful. She was quick to take our orders, very friendly and catered to my young son. We ordered shrimp sandwiches and quickly received them and they were delicious.

A few nights later on this same trip we went back to the restaurant for the Sea food platter we had been wanting. We arrived early and got to see many of the fishing boats coming in and were quickly seated. Our waitress was not near as nice or friendly this time but we did order the sea food platter and again it was wonderful and we had leftovers to take back to the room for lunch the next day. I will continue to eat at Zeke’s Down under when I am in town. The atmosphere here is very casual. They have a large bar area but also plenty of regular seating.

This restaurant is located on Highway 59, just about a block or so from the road that goes along the beach. It is a pretty good location. The building is a wooden building that has shops connected to it. There is a pond in the back of the building. The building was nice and the view was good. We ate here one night really early. We had actually tried to eat there the night before but could not get a parking space, so we just left. The parking was awful. There is not much parking and lots of things around there. There is a really small parking lot in the back, but it has one way in and out, so if the spots are all full, you actually have to back out, which can be tricky when there is a line of people behind you that you have to convenience to back. There is a little parking in front but not near enough. Then, next door there was a lot that was charging to park, but I did not think I should have to pay to park, so we did not go with that option.

The night we went around 4pm, we were able to park and were quickly seated once we got in. If you do not arrive really early, the wait can be extremely long. There were already a lot of people eating at 4pm. The menu is full of seafood dishes and lots of seafood platters. I ordered a seafood platter, since that had been recommended by some of the people on the beach. Our service was fairly quick but nothing to brag about. The food was good, but not as good as I had expected because of the talk on the beach and the crowds there. To me, the food was not good enough that I would want to wait an hour for a table. It there was not a long wait and I could get parking, I would probably try this place again.

The Tanger Outlet Center is located in Foley, Alabama. It is about a 15-mile drive from most of the hotels and condos in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. The outlet is open Monday through Saturday from 10am until 9pm and on Sunday from 11am until 6pm. It is located on Highway 59 and is very easy to get to. The outlet includes many buildings with many different stores. All the stores have to be accessed from the outside but have nice sidewalks between the stores and parking all around the mall, so you can walk or drive from store to store.

The sales staff was very friendly and helpful in all the stores, and I felt like I was in a very safe environment. I would not mind shopping there after dark. This is an outlet that has about every outlet store I would want, and I plan to visit it on all my trips to Orange Beach.