Dauphin Island has earned a spot on Fodor’s Travel’s list of the 13 best hidden beaches across the United States, the only Alabama beach to make the cut and one of just three recognized in the Southeast.
The travel guide, which has offered expert trip advice for more than 80 years, also included Crescent Beach in Sarasota, Florida, and Shell Key Preserve in St. Petersburg, Florida, among its picks.
Dauphin Island sits about 45 minutes from Mobile and is home to roughly 1,300 permanent residents — a stark contrast to the larger crowds at better-known Alabama destinations like Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. That low-key character is a big part of its appeal as a hidden gem.
The island was also designated the “Sunset Capital of Alabama” by the Alabama Tourism Department in 2013, a title still promoted on billboards approaching the island. Visitors will find three public beach accesses, the Mobile Bay Ferry running to Fort Morgan from 8 a.m. until dark, summer family movie nights, local shops such as Beach Planet and a handful of restaurants and churches.