Alabama

Gulf Shores and Coastal Rewards

Alabama's slice of the Gulf Coast is a revelation for those who stumble upon it. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach offer powdery white sand and warm emerald water without the overwhelming crowds that descend on Florida's more famous stretches. Fresh seafood shacks, pelicans wheeling overhead, and sunsets that paint the sky in shades of coral and gold make the coast a firm favourite for those who take the time to venture south. Dauphin Island, a barrier island at the mouth of Mobile Bay, adds a quieter, wilder dimension to the Gulf experience.

A Musical and Culinary Heritage Worth Savouring

Alabama gave the world the Muscle Shoals sound, a recording scene so potent that artists from Aretha Franklin to the Rolling Stones made pilgrimages to a small riverside town to capture something they could not find elsewhere. The FAME Recording Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio are open to visitors and radiate a wonderfully unpolished magic. On the plate, Alabama barbecue is serious business: slow-smoked pork, tangy white sauce in the north, and an abundance of smoked chicken that draws devotees from across the South on long weekend drives.

Space, Nature and a Few Happy Surprises

Huntsville is home to the US Space and Rocket Center, a hands-on museum where full-size rockets loom over visitors and the story of the Apollo programme unfolds in compelling detail. In the northeast, Little River Canyon National Preserve protects one of the longest canyon rims in the eastern United States, a place of waterfalls, sandstone cliffs and surprising solitude. Whether it is the gentle pace of a small-town Saturday market, the spectacle of azaleas blooming through a historic antebellum neighbourhood in spring, or the warm hospitality that Alabamians extend almost as a point of pride, the state has a way of exceeding expectations quietly and generously.