Orange Beach/Perdido Key

[LILRTL]

I did a search and came up empty-handed.

Has anyone been to these beaches? If so, what is the area like? I'm assuming nice, but am going on pictures and prices. We don't need night-life as we will have a 2 year old and an almost 4 month old (depending when he is born!). However, we do like to eat out a lot - fresh seafood is the best! And shopping is always a good thing!!

Any recommendations on condos appreciated also! We need at least a 2 bedroom/2 bath - preferably a 3 bedroom/2 bath.

TIA!

[Aimee]

Orange Beach/Perdido is a favorite vacation spot for the NOLA area, since it's only about a 3 hour drive. We go about once a year.

The beaches there are pretty. The water isn't nearly as pretty as it is in Destin or Panama City Beach, but it's still very nice there. The area is rapidly developing and high-rise condos are going up all along the beach. Still, it's a lot less developed and hustle-bustle than Destin/Panama City.

As for restaurants, there are some seafood places but, really, we don't eat out when we go there. Being from New Orleans, we find that they don't know what to do with fresh seafood in AL/FL. We usually just cook in our condo.

There's not a ton of shopping in Orange Beach/Perdido, but there are outlet malls within driving distance. The mall in Foley, AL is about 45 min west of Orange Beach. It's not the best of outlet malls, though. The really nice one is in Destin, about 2 hrs East. There is also some shopping in Pensacola.

For condos, a pretty safe bet is one of the Phoenix properties. They're all relatively new and nice, with pools and hot tubs. Some are in Orange Beach, some are in Perdido. Rental information for those condos is available at Brett-Robinson.com (http://www.brett-robinson.com/).

[LILRTL]

Thanks for the response! We have stayed in Destin and adored it. So would you recommend Destin over the AL area?

[Aimee]

I love Perdido because it's so close, it's an easy trip for us at least once, if not a few times a year. Destin definitely has more stuff to do, and the water is prettier, but it's not really worth it for us to add another few hours to our drive.

Orange Beach/Perdido isn't desolate by any means, there's lots of restaurants and things to do in the area, it's just a few years behind the development of the Destin area. It's just generally less crowded.

[LILRTL]

ok - thanks!! :)

[dreamgirly]

Lora, feel free to PM me. I have spent a lot of time there since we have always lived so close. DH used to live in Perdido, and his parents still have a rental condo there.

ps Hope your pregnancy is going well! :)

[mgmhmj]

I'm a Bama girl, and I always go to either Orange Beach/Gulf Shores or Destin (unless I lose an argument and end up in PC, but I hate PC enough that I usually complain my way out of that one). I second the Phoenix recommendation - we stayed at the Phoenix 7 this summer, actually. I'm kind of 6 of one, half dozen of the other in terms Destin vs. Orange Beach/Gulf Shores. Since Hurricane Ivan a couple of years ago, the OB/GF area has grown like crazy - this summer was the first time I've been there since before Ivan and I was amazed. I do agree that the Destin outlets are better than the Foley outlets, but if you do go to Foley, you should definitely plan to eat at Lambert's. It's great homecooking served family style, but definitely show up hungry!!