the beach today
Gulf Coast Guide

Gulf Shores

Sugar-White Sand

Everything for a day on the sugar-white Alabama sand: conditions, parking, the sunset off the pier and where to eat after.

Today on the Sand

loading live data…

Water Temp

84°

warm · gentle surf

UV Index

9

very high · 10am–4pm

Beach Crowd

Busy

holiday weekend

Beach Toolkit

Pick Your Sand

north to south

Gulf Shores Public Beach

Main hub at Highway 59 · shops & The Hangout

City lot · fills early

Gulf State Park Beach

Pavilion, dunes & 6,150-acre park

State lot · fee

Gulf State Park Pier

1,540 ft · longest pier on the Gulf

Walk-on fee

West Beach

Quieter numbered accesses along the strip

Small free lots

Little Lagoon Pass

Where the lagoon meets the Gulf · calm

Limited parking

Fort Morgan

Historic fort & quiet peninsula sand

20 min west

Dolphin Cruises

Open →

Compare daily sails from the marina — wild dolphins on nearly every trip.

Beyond the Beach

day trips

Orange Beach

10 min east

Perdido Pass, charter fleet & The Wharf

Fort Morgan

20 min west

Civil War fort & the Mobile Bay ferry

Foley

15 min north

OWA theme park & Tanger Outlets

Perdido Key

25 min east

The Flora-Bama & dune-lined shore

see you on the sand

Water temp, surf and UV are live from NOAA & Open-Meteo; sunset is computed locally for Gulf Shores. Crowd level is a weekday/weekend estimate.

Right now at Gulf Shores, the water is 87°F, surf is running 3–4 ft and the air is 80°F but feels like 85°F. Wind is 4 mph from the E and the UV index peaks at 8 (very high) today. Unprotected fair skin burns in about 240 minutes right now, and the strongest stretch runs 11 AM to 4 PM. Today’s tides: High 12:02 AM, Low 1:24 PM.