Gulfport, MS

A waterfront seafood institution tucked under live oaks on the eastern edge of the beachfront strip, with a dining room that faces the Gulf through a wall of windows. The kitchen turns out classic coastal dishes built around whatever comes in fresh that day, with a gumbo and a shrimp-and-grits that have been anchoring the menu long enough to be considered reference versions. Lunch and Sunday brunch draw locals who treat it as a neighborhood restaurant rather than a tourist stop.

A downtown anchor in the middle of the Fishbone Alley block, combining slow-smoked BBQ with 17 rotating draft taps and a live blues and roots music stage that runs most evenings. The ribs and pulled pork are the real draw, and the collard greens pull their weight. The room is loose and loud when the music is on, and genuinely communal in the way that only a place serving both plates of food and cold beer in the same space can be.

A family-owned pizzeria that opened in downtown Gulfport in the early 2010s and quickly became the consensus best pie on the Coast. Everything is made from scratch daily: the dough, the meatballs, the lasagna. The brick oven produces a crust with enough char and chew to hold up under generous toppings without going soggy. The room is small and fills up on weekends; this is the kind of place where the locals park themselves in booths and linger.

A smaller, more intimate Italian room off Magnolia Street with a menu that leans into homemade pasta and composed plates rather than pizza. The seafood manicotti and shrimp scampi have a dedicated following, and the room is set up with enough space between tables for a quieter dinner than you would find at the downtown spots. Staff are meticulous about pacing and often work the dining room personally.

A mid-city steakhouse with a loyal neighborhood following, serving steaks, seafood, and burgers in a room that manages to feel like a real local restaurant rather than a generic grill. The filet and ribeye arrive cooked to order consistently, and the Bang Bang Shrimp starter has its own devotees. Live music on weekend nights tips the balance toward a full evening rather than just dinner.

Gulfport's bourbon-focused steakhouse, anchored by a bar stocked with one of the Gulf Coast's more serious whiskey collections and a kitchen running Choice and Prime beef alongside a rotating fish and seafood selection. The build-your-own Old Fashioned program at the bar has drawn a following beyond the steak crowd. The room is upscale but unpretentious, comfortable for a long dinner.

A bayou-side brunch destination on Lorraine Road, set under ancient oaks along Bayou Bernard with an emphasis on house-roasted French press coffee and a menu built to accommodate every dietary preference the coastal community has. Sourdough French toast, properly buttered biscuits, and a salmon plate keep the regulars coming back on weekends when the porch fills up with families, dogs, and cyclists who have ridden the greenway.

Gulfport's best independent coffee shop roasts its own beans and serves them through a light-filled showroom with garage doors that open to the street. The staff know the sourcing on every bean and will guide you through the single-origin options or build you a drink if you want something more composed. Tea drinkers are not an afterthought here; the loose-leaf program is as curated as the coffee.

A cheerful, cash-friendly Mexican spot on Pass Road that has built a local following on the strength of generously portioned tacos, enchiladas, and a steak plate that draws repeat orders from the lunch crowd. The room is casual and colorful, the service fast, and the prices among the most reasonable for a sit-down meal on the Coast. Regulars describe it as the place they go when they want good food without ceremony.

The only Indian restaurant on the Mississippi Gulf Coast worth making a trip for, running a proper lunch buffet and an a la carte dinner menu that covers the South Asian canon from biryani to korma with more authenticity than you would expect this far from a major metro. The chicken tikka masala and lamb biryani pull the most praise, and the naan comes out hot from the tandoor.

A long-running family restaurant on 25th Avenue offering Thai and Vietnamese cooking from recipes that have not changed in fifteen years. The curries are coconut-heavy and aromatic, the pho comes in a broth built over many hours, and the fresh spring rolls are a reliable choice to start. The dining room is simple and unhurried, popular with the lunch crowd and a dependable weeknight option.

A local institution tucked in a strip center off Courthouse Road that has been making po'boys on New Orleans French bread delivered daily since the 1970s. The shrimp and roast beef po'boys have their devotees split down the middle, but both are built with the loose, overstuffed generosity that defines the form. Lunch fills the small room quickly; this is a place where regulars eat standing up and nobody minds.

A short, paved 0.8-mile loop around the waterfront park that circles the harbor promenade and is equally good as a morning walk or an evening stroll after dinner at the nearby restaurants. The route passes the replica lighthouse, the amphitheater, and the Ship Island ferry dock, giving a compressed overview of Gulfport's harbor without any exertion. Dolphin sightings in the harbor channel are most common in the cooler months.

A paved one-mile trail corridor that follows Coffee Creek through a pocket of Southern Mixed Hardwood Forest in the middle of the city, feeling far more remote than its urban location suggests. The path is wide, shaded, and runs alongside the creek with enough canopy cover to make it comfortable even in summer. It is popular with dog walkers, runners, and families looking for a shaded break from the beach environment.

The best significant hike within an hour of Gulfport, running 12.6 miles one-way through De Soto National Forest along the Black Creek watershed, the only federally designated Wild and Scenic River in Mississippi. The trail follows an old railroad grade through pine savannah, then crosses into swamp and creek corridors on boardwalks and footbridges. Carnivorous pitcher plants grow in the seepage slopes and are unmissable in season. Most hikers do the Hwy 49 to Airey Lake section as an out-and-back.

A wide, paved multi-use path that runs along the Gulf of Mexico for miles between Jones Park and the eastern city limits, following the shoulder of Beach Boulevard with open water on one side and century-old coastal estates on the other. The path is flat, exposed, and best walked early morning or evening; midday summer heat is brutal. Cyclists, inline skaters, and joggers share the route, and the views of the open Gulf are unobstructed all the way to the horizon.

A nonprofit aquarium on the Gulfport waterfront that mixes indoor gallery space with outdoor habitats spanning nearly six acres. The facility keeps Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles, American alligators, river otters, and over 200 species total. The outdoor exhibits give it a more open, airy feel than most aquariums in the region, and the ticketed SeaTREK underwater walking experience is a step above typical aquarium add-ons.

The ferry service from Gulfport's Small Craft Harbor to West Ship Island, a pristine barrier island 11 miles offshore that is part of Gulf Islands National Seashore. The 50-minute crossing typically has dolphin activity in the Mississippi Sound, and the island delivers clear, calm Gulf water, white sand beaches, and National Park Ranger tours of Fort Massachusetts, a massive pre-Civil War coastal fortification built from brick. The only way to reach the island is by this ferry.

A cooperative gallery in the restored 1916 Carnegie Library building in downtown Gulfport, showing work by approximately 40 coastal artists across pottery, stained glass, sculpture, jewelry, photography, and painting. The gallery is staffed by working members, so the person answering your questions about a piece is often the person who made it. The building itself is worth the visit: high ceilings, original woodwork, and a sense of permanence rare in a city that has been rebuilt more than once.

A model railroad museum on Pass Road that is considerably larger and more elaborate than its strip-mall exterior suggests, covering over 50,000 square feet of detailed train layouts in multiple scales, outdoor garden track, interactive displays, and the largest LEGO railroad installation in Mississippi. It skews kid-friendly but has enough depth in the scale modeling and historical context that adults who came expecting to humor children often end up staying longer than planned.

The primary large-venue entertainment facility for the Gulf Coast, a 10,000-capacity arena on Beach Boulevard that has hosted touring concerts, Broadway productions, professional sporting events, rodeos, and community festivals since it opened in 1977. The concert calendar draws acts that would otherwise bypass the Coast entirely, and the arena's beachfront location makes it an easy add-on to a day that starts at Jones Park and ends with a show.

Gulfport's waterfront centerpiece, a 60-acre park and marina known locally as the Front Yard of Mississippi, where the downtown meets the Gulf. A promenade wraps the small-craft harbor past a replica 1886 lighthouse, and the amphitheater hosts community events year-round. Ferries to Ship Island depart from the harbor edge, making this the natural starting point for any visit to the coast.

Housed inside Gulfport's beautifully preserved 1904 Union Station Railroad Depot, this free museum tells the story of a city founded by a railroad baron and shaped by Gulf hurricanes, civil rights history, and a port that still moves millions of tons of cargo. The segregated waiting rooms remain intact on either side of the original ticket booth, offering one of the most quietly affecting architectural records of the Jim Crow South anywhere on the Coast.

A half-block pedestrian lane off downtown's main grid that became the Coast's most concentrated public art space after Hurricane Katrina. Local and regional muralists have layered the walls, shutters, and service doors with work that turns over seasonally. The alley backs up to Murky Waters, C.A. Sarducci's, and several bars, so it doubles as the social connector between the restaurants that anchor this block of downtown.

A wide, man-made white sand beach that runs for miles along US-90, backed by the longest uninterrupted beachfront highway in the country. The water is calm and shallow, the sandbars go out far enough that it stays ankle-to-waist-deep for a long stretch, and the main recreation area near 26th Avenue has pavilions, a skate ramp, basketball courts, and clean facilities. It is no Florida panhandle, but the views of the open Gulf and the lack of crowds on a weekday give it a quiet, working-coast character.

The working heart of Gulfport's waterfront, where the Ship Island ferry, charter fishing boats, and live-aboard sailboats share 319 slips in a harbor that the city has owned and operated since the 1920s. The Moses Jetty juts out into the Mississippi Sound for an easy walk to open water with unobstructed views of the beach arc and the distant barrier islands. Dolphins work the harbor entrance most mornings.