Orange Beach is a resort town on Alabama's Gulf Coast, and a lot of it is exactly what that sounds like: white sand, condos, fishing charters, and summer traffic. It earns a separate stop because there is enough texture behind the beach strip to make a spare day worthwhile.
The best counterweight to the resort feel is the Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail, a long paved trail system through Gulf State Park's pine woods, wetlands, dunes, and lake edges. On the bay side, the Coastal Arts Center of Orange Beach gives the town a local arts stop with glass and clay studios rather than another souvenir row.
Orange Beach still works best if you like the water. Fishing, boating, and beach bars are part of its identity, with the Flora-Bama sitting on the state line as the loud, odd, long-running landmark. If you want quiet old Gulf Coast atmosphere, look carefully; if you want a beach base with a few real anchors, Orange Beach has enough.