I would not get too caught up in the idea of needing a low rise condo. All of the buildings suggested above are between 14-16 stories. That will not lead to any overcrowding of the beach or pool areas, especially at the end of April. Just stay away from the 20+ story towers.

With larger buildings you will often get nicer amenities, such as a large gulf front pools, hot tubs, heated indoor pools, and tennis courts. Almost all of these types of buildings in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are gulf front and very close to the water. However you should call the condos themselves or speak with someone who has been there recently to find out the distance to the water line and how many steps there are on the walkovers to the beach.

Last Labor Day weekend Gulf Shores got hit by a storm that contributed to significant beach erosion. Some buildings that once had ramp-walkovers to the beach with no stairs turned into walkovers with 10+ stairs. Some areas that once had very wide beaches (too wide by some standards) became much more narrow. Orange Beach & Gulf Shores are now in the final stages of a massive beach renourishment project which will be completed by the Spring. The upshot of all of this is that it is difficult for anyone to know which condos are currently closest to the water line or which have the easiest access unless they have actually been on the beach in front of each building very recently.

All that being said, historically the condos in Orange Beach down by Phoenix 1 - 5 have tended to have more narrow beaches, while the condos near Phoenix 6, 7, East & East II (down by Perdido Pass) have had very wide beaches (too wide for some) in the past.

-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-

This post was determined to be inappropriate by the TripAdvisor community and has been removed.

To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

Our staff may also remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason. Thanks for being a part of the TripAdvisor travel community!

The real issue is not how far but how easy. Ask what the walkway is like ie how many steps up/down. And sand is harder to walk on than steps!

Re relax on the beach---some of the pics were not showing and one was dated 2008--that's very old in this business and climate

Phoenix V and just get a lower unit. Try vrbo and have fun.

Nearly every condominium complex in Gulf Shores from the state park westward on the beachside is right on the beach. Some you can literally walk right out the back sliding door and be in the sand. There are a few condos just in front of Ono Island that are also the same way. Names slip me but any map will show the names and you can then look at properties online and see what the interiors look like. I think you would do good to look at the properties in West Beach such as "Casa Del Sol, Seacrest, Sunchase, Sundial, Sandpiper, Legacy and Edgewater". They are all small complexes with less than ten stories, many are just three and four stories. They are directly on the beach. Meyer Real estate handles several of these. Most have pools, hot tubs I'm not sure of but you could easily find that out by looking at the units online. Best wishes!

-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-

This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.

To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.