Awesome Resorts in the Gulf of Mexico

Check in at one of these full-service establishments, among the most storied in the Gulf
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DonCeSarHotel

Illustrated by Anna Simmons

 

Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi is the largest resort on Mississippi’s Gulf coast. A whopping 1,740 rooms welcome guests who come to try their luck on the 85,000-square-foot casino floor. The property also boasts one of the best golf courses in the state: the Tom Fazio–designed Fallen Oak, which is open exclusively to resort guests.

The Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club & Spa in Point Clear, Alabama, has been called the Queen of Southern Resorts for more than 160 years. The historic 550-acre property overlooking Mobile Bay has welcomed an array of notable guests, from Margaret Thatcher and Barbara Bush to Dolly Parton and Fannie Flagg. Highlights include a European spa, two golf courses, a thirty-seven-slip marina, and a mammoth 500,000-gallon pool.

The Gasparilla Inn & Club
The Gasparilla Inn & Club

The Gasparilla Inn & Club

In Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, Watercolor Inn & Resort offers picture-perfect, casual luxury at its best. Whether guests stay in the full-service inn or rent a townhouse or beach cottage, they enjoy access to the property’s 499 acres of beaches, parks, and protected dunes, and cool perks like outdoor movies on a big screen and beach bonfires.

The St. Petersburg, Florida, area is home to a pair of Gatsby-era pink stucco palaces. The Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort & Golf Club features striking 1920s Mediterranean Revival architecture, a private marina, golf course, and tennis complex. Just a few miles west, in St. Pete Beach, the equally impressive Loews Don CeSar Hotel offers easy access to miles of beaches and a pair of deluxe heated pools overlooking the waves.

The Gasparilla Inn & Club is nestled on 180 acres on Boca Grande, Florida’s Gasparilla Island. Built in 1913, its rooms and villas have played host to noteworthy guests such as Thomas Edison, Katharine Hepburn, and George H.W. Bush, who no doubt relished the championship English-rule croquet court and seven tennis courts. Today’s guests may also play an 18-hole, Pete Dye–designed golf course.

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