Lonely Planet

Feel the beach vibes on the Coastal Mississippi

Despite being totally tied to the water, there’s no real beach access in New Orleans, barring a few stretches of not very friendly sand on Lake Pontchartrain. While the beaches of Gulf Shores and Dauphin Island, Alabama, are pretty lovely, they’re also a fair distance. Consider instead the decent sand, friendly restaurants and generally laid-back seashore vibe at Mississippi Gulf Coast towns like Bay St Louis and Gulfport. While this area can get inundated with day-trippers on hot weekends, you can still embark on a relatively quiet escape during the week.

How to get to Mississippi Gulf Coast: It depends on where you’re going, but this advice applies from the Louisiana border to the Alabama border – just head east on I-10.

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