Gulf Shores Ranks Among Hardest U.S. Beaches to Reach

Gulf Shores may be one of Alabama’s most popular beach destinations, but a new global study suggests visitors flying into the area face one of the longer airport-to-beach trips in the United States.

Ground transportation booking platform Mozio ranked Gulf Shores No. 85 among 97 drivable beach destinations in a study examining the time and distance required to travel from a destination’s primary commercial airport to the beach.

For Gulf Shores, researchers used Pensacola International Airport as the primary gateway. The trip from the airport to Gulf Shores covers approximately 38.9 miles and takes about 67 minutes.

Those numbers made Gulf Shores the fifth-least accessible destination among the 35 U.S. locations included in the study. Only Cape Cod, the Hamptons, Rehoboth Beach and the Outer Banks ranked lower nationally.

Globally, Gulf Shores was rated the 13th-hardest drivable beach destination to reach and had the 13th-longest airport transfer time. It was also one of only 14 destinations studied requiring more than an hour of ground travel.

Nearby Pensacola Beach performed considerably better despite sharing Pensacola International Airport as its gateway. Pensacola Beach ranked No. 45, with its 12.5-mile trip taking approximately 25 minutes. That's 42 minutes faster than the estimated trip to Gulf Shores.

Mozio examined 100 beach destinations worldwide, with 97 receiving a drivable accessibility ranking. Scores were weighted 60% toward driving time and 40% toward distance.

The study only measures the ground transportation portion of a trip and does not account for factors such as the availability or convenience of flights serving each destination.

Cozumel, Mexico, ranked as the most accessible drivable destination, while Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica, finished last.