Mobile

A French-founded old port city on the Gulf of Mexico and the birthplace of Mardi Gras in America, known for the USS Alabama battleship and Bellingrath Gardens, with Dauphin Island to the south.

Mobile sits in the southwest corner of Alabama where the Mobile River flows into Mobile Bay, and is the state's only seaport. Founded by the French in 1702, it passed through French, British and Spanish rule and still has a strong French-influenced Southern character. Mobile is considered the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the United States; every January–February dozens of nighttime parades roll through town, with a more local feel than New Orleans.

The climate is humid subtropical. The azalea season in February–March coincides with Mardi Gras, making it the most popular time to visit; October–November is mild and dry; June–November is Atlantic hurricane season, and summers are muggy with frequent thunderstorms.

The area divides into three parts. First, the downtown historic district, where you can walk between Lower Dauphin Street, Bienville Square, the Mobile Carnival Museum, the cathedral, Fort Condé and the History Museum of Mobile, then visit antebellum mansions such as Oakleigh and the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion. Second, the area around the bay, including USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park across the bay, the Mobile-Tensaw Delta wetlands and the town of Fairhope on the eastern shore. Third, a day trip south to Bellingrath Gardens and Dauphin Island (Fort Gaines, the bird sanctuary and beaches). Gulf Shores–Orange Beach, farther east, is covered as a separate destination.

Getting there: Mobile Regional Airport has flights to hubs such as Atlanta and Dallas, and New Orleans is about a 2-hour drive. Public transportation in the city is limited, so renting a car is strongly recommended. Plan to stay 2–3 days, and book well ahead for Mardi Gras, when lodging is tight.

Top sights

• USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park – The World War II South Dakota-class battleship USS Alabama and submarine USS Drum are permanently moored in Mobile Bay. Visitors can board…
• Bellingrath Gardens and Home – A 26-hectare Southern estate garden with blooms throughout the seasons. Its spring azaleas and winter Christmas light show are the most fam…
• Mobile Carnival Museum – A museum showcasing America's earliest Mardi Gras traditions, with ornate king and queen costumes and floats that are hard to take in all a…
• Fort Condé – A scale reconstruction of an 18th-century French colonial fort, the starting point of Mobile's founding history, now home to a visitor cent…
• Oakleigh Historic Complex – An 1833 Greek Revival plantation house surrounded by oaks, showing the family life of the upper class in the antebellum American South.
• Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception – A Greek Revival cathedral completed in 1850, with twin towers and exquisite German stained glass windows, a symbol of Mobile's Catholic tra…
• Lower Dauphin Street Historic District – Downtown's liveliest old street, where 19th-century cast-iron balcony buildings house bars, restaurants and live music, and the main route…
• History Museum of Mobile – Housed in the 1857 Old City Hall and Southern Market building, telling over three centuries of Mobile's colonial, port and Civil War histor…
• GulfQuest National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico – An interactive maritime museum shaped like a cargo ship, with ship-handling simulators and a look at Gulf of Mexico shipping and ports.
• Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center – A downtown interactive science museum with an IMAX dome theater that brings in traveling science exhibits each year, popular with families.
• Bragg-Mitchell Mansion – An 1855 Greek Revival antebellum mansion, with an avenue of ancient live oaks in the front yard and striking white columns.
• Conde-Charlotte Museum House – A 19th-century row house built on the site of Fort Condé, with rooms furnished in the French, British, Spanish, Federal and Confederate sty…
• Bienville Square – A historic square downtown named after Mobile's founder, with ancient oaks, a cast-iron fountain and squirrels, a favorite resting place fo…
• Africatown & Africatown Heritage House – A community founded in 1860 by survivors of the Clotilda, the last ship known to have brought enslaved Africans to the United States; its h…
• Magnolia Cemetery – A historic cemetery opened in 1836, lined with ancient oaks and Victorian gravestone sculptures, where Confederate generals and Mardi Gras…
• Richards DAR House – An Italianate townhouse built in 1860, famous for its ornate cast-iron lace balconies, with Victorian-era furnishings on display inside.
• Mobile Museum of Art – One of Alabama's largest art museums, with collections spanning American, European, Asian and African art, as well as modern decorative cra…
• Mobile Botanical Gardens – A botanical garden in Langan Park known for its camellias, azaleas and native longleaf pine forest trails, quiet and uncrowded.
• 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center – The gateway to the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, offering kayaking, boat tours and trails for exploring the wetlands known as 'the Amazon of America…
• Fairhope – A garden town on the east shore of Mobile Bay, known for its flower-lined streets, boutiques and sunsets from the municipal pier, ideal for…
• Dauphin Island – A narrow barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico with white-sand beaches, a stopover for migrating birds and a historic fort, making it a clas…
• Fort Gaines – A 19th-century brick coastal fort at the eastern tip of Dauphin Island, a witness to the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay and remarkably well pres…
• Dauphin Island Audubon Bird Sanctuary – A protected area of pine forest, lakes and dunes on the eastern side of Dauphin Island, where hundreds of bird species can be seen during m…
• Alabama Aquarium at Dauphin Island Sea Lab – An aquarium run by the marine research institute, formerly known as the Estuarium, showing marine life from the Mobile Bay estuary, the del…

Where to eat

• Wintzell's Oyster House (Downtown Original) – Alabama's oldest oyster bar, opened in 1938. Oysters are served raw, fried, charbroiled, or stewed, and its seafood gum…
• Callaghan's Irish Social Club – A corner tavern operating since 1946. Esquire named it one of America's best bars, and its burgers have been called the…
• Dew Drop Inn Hot Dogs – A century-old hot dog shop opened in 1924. Its 'everything' hot dog comes with sauerkraut, chili, and mustard.
• Dauphin's Skyline Restaurant – A relaxed fine-dining restaurant on the 34th floor of the RSA Trustmark Building, serving Southern Creole cuisine with…
• Bluegill Seafood Restaurant – A waterside seafood spot on the causeway across Mobile Bay since 1958. Its signature flame-grilled oysters still sizzle…