Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores Alabama Campground Review

We camped at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama the last week of June 2019.  Gulf Shores is just west of Orange Beach, Alabama.  The main draw to this area is, of course, the beaches.  They are beautiful white sand beaches at the Gulf of Mexico.

I like the sound of the surf and I think the beaches are very pretty, but I am not really a "beach" person - meaning I don't just like to hang out at the beach all

of the time.  Fortunately, there are a lot of other things to do at and around Gulf State Park.  See my posts Other Things To Do At Gulf Shores (Part 1) and (Part 2).

If you like the beach, this may be a place you want to consider camping at.

I couldn't help but wonder how this area looked before all the condos blocked the beaches.  This area

brought to mind the lyrics from the Joni Mitchell song Big Yellow Taxi, "paved paradise, put up a parking lot".



The traffic to get to the Gulf State Park area was horrendous.  We left our house in north Mississippi on Saturday morning and we encountered wrecks and traffic jams from Jackson, MS all the way south through Hattiesburg to the Gulf.  Really, there is no good way to get around it.

Now, on to the campground review.  The campground has close to 500 campsites, most are RV full hookup sites with a few tent only sites.  The campground is well laid out in sections with several bath houses, a swimming pool, campstore and laundry.  None of the sites are on the beach, but some are on a lake.

Our site was #155.  I chose this site based on the shade it looked like it had on Google satellite view.  We were very happy with this site.  It had privacy and shade. 

Our campsite had a 30/50 amp electric, water, sewer, and grill.  You have to bring your own above-ground fire ring, if you want a campfire.  Since it was 100 degree + heat index, we did not even consider a campfire.

There are warning signs everywhere about alligators.  You may never see one, but please keep an eye out for your children and pets!

This is one of the lakes that border the campground.

The Campstore was stocked with a few grocery items, ice cream, T-shirts, and camping/RV supplies.  They also had bicycle rentals.  There were several ice machines that took credit cards.  The laundry was very well maintained.  The bathhouses were air conditioned and clean.

There is a dog park in the state park (down the street from the campground).  They have a separate area for small dogs.

We made our reservations on the Alabama State Park website.  Due to this being a resort area, there are a bunch of extra fees that get tacked on to your campsite fee.

We enjoyed our stay at Gulf State Park and were very pleased with our campsite. Our cell phone service worked great and we could pick up many over the air TV stations.

Getting There:  This area is very popular and highly developed so traffic is a nightmare.  We were coming from north Mississippi, so we went through Jackson, over to Hattiesburg, down through the tunnels at Mobile and then to the gulf.  We chose to get off I-10 at the Baldwin Beach Express, then over to Foley Beach Express (toll road).  We figured it would be quicker than the over-developed Hwy 59 corridor.  Wrong.  It was packed.  If we were to go again, I would opt for Hwy 59 through Foley, turning left on Fort Morgan Rd.  Follow Fort Morgan Rd to Hwy 182 - turn left and then another left onto the Campground Rd.  This is the way we went back and it was much easier.