Gulf Coast

Founded in 1915 and family run—on its fourth-generation. Don't miss the old-style Cuban bread and guava-cheese turnovers.

Sustainable catch, often cooked over wood fire, with foodway influences from varied Gulf cultures. Best seating is at the raw bar.

Excellent banh mi, crawfish pie, steamed bao year-round. During Mardi Gras season, heavenly king cakes.

Upscale but never fussy seafood highlighting Gulf catch–Alabama and Florida oysters, blue crab, white and rock shrimp–plus biscuits baked in cast iron skillets. 

Fresh Apalachicola oysters from the nation’s former bivalve capital, plus local shrimp and grouper caught by their own commercial fishing fleet. 

Century-old, antique-tiled shoebox with a line out the door. But it’s worth it: They've been open for more than a century for a reason.

Rambling roadhouse with corrugated metal roofs, a novel’s worth of signs and great live music.

Ultimate hole in the wall dive with outstanding burgers and iconic Bushwacker cocktails. Try to come by boat. 

Bayou and bay vibes complete with banyan tree, tire swing and palmy courtyard. Get the day’s catch with green-tomato salsa.

Landmark all-day restaurant with roosters strutting around the shady back patio. Lobster Benedict is legend and the Key lime pie is the tallest in town.  

Hip roaster/café with soft industrial vibes. Avant-garde pastries, veggie dishes, natty wine.

Insider fave on the Marigny-Bywater border and connected to a beloved corner vegetarian café. Espresso drinks, oat milk only.

Just off the main drag in a leafy, historic neighborhood with dog-friendly patio and seasonal lattes (including king cake syrup during Mardi Gras season). 

Nitro-amped brews from house-roasted beans in a sweet, historic cottage shaded by live oaks.

Warm-hearted, high-ceilinged bookstore in downtown with full-service coffee and bistro-style sidewalk seating.

Beard nom Debbie Swenerton’s superb artisan loaves and pastries (especially bear claws) plus Stumptown Coffee are perfect beach-morning fuel.

The Conch Republic’s roasting, grab and go, and hang institution since 1991. Come at lunch for red beans and rice from the house food truck.

Exactingly delicious pulls and pour-overs from fair-trade and single-origin beans, in buzzy Southside Village. 

Don’t let its genteel historic neighborhood fool you. This is Mobile’s ground zero for live music, cold beer, and Celtic shenanigans.

Come-one-come-all jazz and blues dive bar in the Bywater neighborhood where trumpeter Kermit Ruffins plays weekly.

Tiny wine bar for posting up inside Denny and Katie Culbert’s natural wine shop in downtown Lafayette. A cool complement to cold Abitas in Cajun Country.

The sophisticated bar that not only spawned the city’s craft cocktail movement but also revitalized its Uptown neighborhood in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. 

Right on the Florida-Alabama line (and beach), this sprawling, rowdy roadhouse rocks with live music and high-volume machines churning out Bushwackers 365 days a year.

A beloved beach bar with honky-tonk bona fides, rebuilt after burning down in 2019. The resident jazz band grooves as cool as ever. 

The bar part of this teeny island’s Old Florida inn and restaurant is plastered in thousands of dollar bills and full of tarpon-fishing swagger.  

The alpha and omega of live music dive bars on the island and a cultural treasure. The building is from 1890. The vibe – and jukebox – are forever. 

The country’s largest and oldest shuffleboard club. Standardized the game’s rules in the 1920s.

An unbeatable North Florida day hike: 5.4 miles amid sable and saw palmetto palms. 

Seven springs with turquoise water that’s 72° year-round. Swim, tube, paddle and snorkel; gear rental available.

Grand Isle guardians of Gulf surf culture. Surf movies, food pop ups, equipment rentals, by events and appointment via @pontchasurf. 

The late-1970s bank-style original, one of the first public skate parks in Florida, was upgraded and rechristened Bro Bowl 2.0 in 2016. 

Guided snorkel and flipper hunts for wild bay scallops in the shallow flats of St. Joseph Bay. Learn how to catch and clean. BYO cooler. 

Marked paddling trail connects 190 miles of water past mangrove forests and through aquatic preserves and tropical river tributaries. 

Pedal from the top of the island down a paved 6-mile bike lane into town and state park with a seashell-dusted beach and peacock-blue water.

Marine research and education center with aquarium, guided salt marsh and maritime forest excursions, and lab tours. 

Dedicated to the South’s famed artist, naturalist and mystic. Gallery of Anderson’s work as well as the town’s former community center lined with his murals.

Houses more than 2,400 works by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí, as well as pieces related to his life and vision. Stunning modernist architecture.

Tour the 300,000-square-foot warehouse where the massive, eye-popping Mardi Gras parade floats are made every year.

Ancient sinkhole turned botanical garden that is one of the country’s earliest roadside attractions. Known for its flock of Chilean flamingos.

Best place to get your historical and cultural bearings on this vital element in the city’s life and times. Book a walking tour too.

66 acres of gardened grounds with a fine art museum, 21 galleries, and the circus founder’s Venetian Gothic home on the bay.

Frank Gehry-designed building showcasing the work of George E. Ohr, the self-labeled “mad potter of Biloxi.”  

Focus on the history of African Americans in the St. Petersburg community and throughout the African Diaspora. Named for the father of Black History Month, Dr. Carter G. Woodson. 

Game-changing eco-conscious digs next to the fragile dunes and wide sands of the Alabama shoreline. Rooftop great for drinks.

As pink, and palatial, as it gets, which matches perfectly with the bone-white sands and turquoise waters it grandly overlooks.

Historically splendid with Old Florida charms abundant. This is a place for backgammon in the bar and croquet on the green. 

A stone’s throw from pristine barrier island state parks, this renovated waterfront Jazz Age Spanish Colonial was once a radio station.

Saintly, sumptuous redo of a convent, church, rectory, and schoolhouse in the Marigny. Its Elysian Bar is destination worthy.

A recently polished Old Florida gem from 1907. Its shaded wraparound porch and rockers are perfect for happy hour, as are the house cocktails. 

40+ RV sites, plus cottages and travel trailers to rent, at this recently redone, end-of-the-world getaway. Close to fishing and Everglades NP.

BYO tent or glamp it up (queen beds in roomy canvas digs from Topsail Outfitters) near the pristine white dunes of this preserved Panhandle park. 

Indie bookseller in the city’s Grand Central District with welcoming community vibes. Look for local authors and subjects.  

London on the Gulf: Curated vibe brings home goods, books, and objets together, plus a restaurant, coffee bar, and Champagne bar for browsers. 

Sneaker and hypebeast haven known for exclusive collabs with the best brands in footwear. Head to the original location in Lafayette.

Menswear with the right level of brio for the urban artistic landscape in the Crescent City, from sunglasses to shoes.

A botanical institution for more than 30 years. Walk the greenhouses for orchid education and inspiration.

Get vibey with outdoor-adjacent clothing brands or shop for more technical inshore and fly-fishing gear. 

Ethical souvenir shop in the Gulf’s seashell capital, owned by shell scholar Anne Joffe.

The Anderson family’s other artistic legacy since 1928, and a rich one. Browse heritage pieces and pick up a mug or figurine. 

Following in his Cuban father’s shoes, Robert Lopez has been making hand-cut leather sandals since the 1960s that are surprisingly affordable.