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Wharf Ferris Wheel in Orange BeachPhoto: Crimson Pictures · CC BY-SA 4.0
A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Orange Beach

Orange Beach has 826 acres of parks, 98 for every 1,000 residents

13 miles of mapped trail cross Orange Beach, 0.8 per square mile of land. The biggest trail networks: Gulf State Park (1.5 mi). 8% of Orange Beach’s land is conserved, about 780 acres.

Ahead of 79% of U.S. towns · #5 of 187 in Alabama. What drives it

Conserved land
8%
780 acres · of 14.8 sq mi of land
Trails
13 mi
0.8 per sq mi of land
Park land
826 ac
98 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
45%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
15 mi
8.9 mi lanes · 5.7 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
3
8 beaches · 8 boat launches

What kind of outdoors town is Orange Beach?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Room to roam98 acres of park per 1,000 residents; the typical U.S. town has 13.A trail town0.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 76% of U.S. towns.A beach town3 named beaches on the map.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Orange Beach have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Orange Beach is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns, #5 of 187 in Alabama. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.

A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Orange Beach’s overall grade.
Conserved land8% of the land · typical AL town 1% · U.S. 4%B+Trails0.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (13 mi) · AL 0.1 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land98 acres of park per 1,000 residents (826 acres) · AL 8 · U.S. 13AParks close to home45% of residents within a half mile of a park · AL 36% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 79%
LessMore
Alabama towns of 2,500+ (187)Ahead of 98%

Few Alabama towns conserve much land (a typical one, 1%; the U.S., 4%), so Orange Beach’s 8% is ahead of 93% of Alabama towns, while its trails per square mile lead 92% of them.

Water is 7% of Orange Beach’s area (1 of 16 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 8%.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.

PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →

The map

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.

1234
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk

Pick a walk

The longest trail network is Gulf State Park, with 1.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Gulf State Park

Managed by Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, State Parks Division
829 acres1.5 mi of trail
Boardwalk
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the trailheadWebsite ↗

Common Area

Park
4 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet

Edward H Carroll Sr Kids Park

Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Who protects it

780 conserved acres

8% of Orange Beach’s land. Water is left out: Orange Beach has 14.8 square miles of land and 1.2 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Orange Beach’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

State parks744 ac
State Department of Land24 ac
Town or city10 ac
County1 ac
State Park · 768 acLocal Park · 11 ac
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Gulf State Park
State Park
State parks768Open
Orange Beach Waterfront Park
Local Park
Town or city10Open
Josephine Park
Local Park
County1Open
Things to do

42 places to go in Orange Beach

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Beaches in Orange Beach
Alabama Point BeachIn Gulf State Park
Directions
Caribe ResortFee
Directions
Shell BeachIn Gulf State Park
Directions

Plus 5 beaches without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.

Trails & water

1 named trail and 3 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Unpaved · 8.2 mi
Boardwalk0.4 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Cotton BayouHidden LakelakePortage Creek
Biking & sports

15 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

8.9 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
5.7 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
75Tennis
9Baseball
5Pickleball
5Basketball
3Soccer
2Beach volleyball
2Football
2Tracks

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

When to get out

The best walking months in Orange Beach: April and May

NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)10.411.111.912.913.714.113.913.212.311.410.610.2
High (°F)626571778489909087807164
Rain (in)4.54.34.94.83.76.07.26.86.74.24.04.9

May is the driest month (3.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 90 °F). 7.2 inches fall in July, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 90 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Orange Beach →

Next door

Orange Beach and its neighbors

Orange Beach has the second most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Foley15 miOrange Beach13 miGulf Shores7.9 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Orange Beach8%0.89845%A−
Gulf Shores23%0.318833%B+
Foley1%0.4728%C

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Orange Beach

Where can I hike in Orange Beach?

The longest trail networks: Gulf State Park, 1.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Orange Beach is conserved land?

8% of its land, against a typical 1% for an Alabama town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Orange Beach’s trails?

Gulf State Park and Waterfront Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Orange Beach?

15 miles of bike routes are on the map: 8.9 of painted or protected lanes and 5.7 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Orange Beach?

14,036 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Orange Beach or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 826 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Orange Beach have?

Ahead of 79% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #5 of 187 in Alabama. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

Trail talk

Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Orange Beach neighbors.

Town Square →
Share a tip
Sources

Where this page comes from

Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →