My family is going to Orange Beach at the end of the month. We are staying at the Phoenix West II. We've never been before and I'm looking for info and recs. Any recs on restaurants, things to do, etc? We will take our own food, but we will lilkely go out for a few meals while we are there. Also, we go to Port Aransas every year, and we load the truck up with canopies, coolers, etc every day to go to the beach. What is the beach etiquette at Orange Beach? It looks like you can't drive on the beach so we will a bit limited with taking gear to the beach. It looks like the Phoenix West II has umbrellas and chairs....assuming we can reserve those. Any informaiton would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

Bringing the whole Texas beach setup is not the thing in OB. We were at one of the Phoenixs, I think it was #5 in 2022. Rent the chairs and umbrellas from them, it is kinda the way they do it there. Much different beach experience from Port A , where you set up tents and basically bring the whole living room. The beach is great and it is a lot of fun, just different.
We enjoyed lunch at The Gulf. Cobalt was not worth the wait or price. We didn't stop at the Bucees, it looked to be more of a zoo than the Luling one. The Bridge in Baton Rouge seems to be backing up more than ever, so maybe check the traffic before you get close.

We just got back and go about every other year.....we've stayed at several of the Phoenix's and stayed at Sea Chase this year. Renting the chairs and umbrellas is the way to go. A lot of places only allow tents to be set up behind the rental chairs and it's a pretty good ways back from the water. I paid $190 for 2 chairs and an umbrella from Sunday through Friday. If you have a lot of coolers like we do... you can set up a tent as kind of a staging area.

Lulu's, the Hangout, and Tacky Jack's are popular (touristy) restaurants there. We go for the experience, but the food is basically overpriced fried shrimp and stuff like that.

If you play golf, do it in the morning. We teed off at noon when we were there and nearly died. The fact we never saw another person while we were playing should have been a clue.

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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Bringing the whole Texas beach setup is not the thing in OB.

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Thank God! It's great not having to dodge brodozers as you walk the beach. The sand, water, and people are so much cleaner compared to Texas beaches.

A couple of fun non-beach activities:

-Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo in Gulf Shores. Small, fun zoo for the kids (and adults).
-The Track go carts and arcade in Gulf Shores.
-National Aviation Museum in Pensacola. 45 minute drive. Free, awesome museum. Can see the Blue Angels train on certain days.

If Cosmos is still there it was a great restaurant. That was ten years ago though. There is an oyster house restaurant in Gulf Shores we really liked.

Appreciate the replies from everyone. good info!

We go every other year but usually stay in a house in Fort Morgan. For food, I'd add Bahama Bob's.

For activities, I'd add Alligator Alley up in Summerdale (about 20-30 min north on 59). Buy the full lunchpale to feed them. There's basically a big boardwalk network above a swamp with a ton of gators to feed. Then there is a "show" area where they'll do demonstrations

https://gatoralleyfarm.com

Don't know if all these links will work, might have to copy & paste, but we have a place in Perdido Key and been going to the Redneck Riviera for 20+ years...

Recommendations:

Perdido Key - Places to Eat

https://goo.gl/maps/tTWq2Gz8kkmhpePF6

Orange Beach - Places to eat

https://goo.gl/maps/kLhq1ipHxAL534U47

OB To Do:

Kayak & Paddle Board Rentals | Orange Beach, Alabama | Paddled By You

Cruisin' Tikis Orange Beach | Orange Beach, AL (cruisintikisorangebeach.com)

Gulf Shores - Places to Eat:

https://goo.gl/maps/6AwTC84a2MZ5pjoNA

Pensacola - Places to Eat and Other things to do

https://goo.gl/maps/iVrMcma6zf6h4gQh7

Cosmos is still there and still great. This is probably our favorite place. BuzzCats next door has decent coffee and great deserts.

Louisiana Lagniappe is #2 on our list.

There's an Acme underneath the bridge and is good as expected.

Lambert's in Foley is awesome and a good time.

Big Mike's has good steaks.

The last time I ate at Cobalt, I ended up with food poisoning. Have refused to go back.

We went on a dolphin cruise in early spring with Cetacean Cruises and had a blast. My kids (3&5) are still talking about it.

As mentioned above the zoo is pretty neat. Spring for the Kangaroo experience.

The amusement park in Foley is super expensive.