Will be visiting NO in October for a week. We plan to rent a car for a few days during our stay. We'd like to go to the beach one day. Is the MS gulf coast doable in a day? We're thinking about taking a boat tour or plane ride while there. Also interested in a fishing excursion from MS Gulf or NO. Any suggestions?
Thanks

It's about an hour and a half drive to Biloxi from NO. The beach there is really not nice. The water is brown, not blue-green like in Florida. There are alot of nice older homes across the highway from the beach that are nice to see. The big draw for the MS gulf coast is the casinos. If you are interested in fishing, there are boats that you can charter in Mississippi. I don't know of any in NO. There is a ferry in Gulfport, MS that takes you to Ship Island which has an interesting fort. It is a National Park, I think. The Jefferson Davis home and library are located in Biloxi. The home was used as a home for confederate veterans at one time.

I am also interested in where the nearest beach from NOLA is. Where is the nearest beach with white sand and blue/green water? What is the best way to get there. Thanks for your help. Laurie

Orange Beach, AL is 3 hours from New Orleans. Pensacola Beach is 3.5 hours and Ft Walton Beach/Destin is 4-5 hours.

All are nice.

I'm really not interested in the casinos, I can do that in Kansas City. I've never seen the Gulf and was really hoping the beach and water was nice at Gulfport, MS. Is a trip to Orange Beach, AL doable in a day? What is there to do there?
Thanks!

Like Dan says, the closest nice beach is Orange Beach, Alabama, and unless you're willing to spend 7 hours in the car, there's really no reason to go there. The beach is wonderful, but there isn't much else to do in the way of tourist activities. The main attractions in Gulfport and Biloxi are the casinos; the beaches are okay, but the water is shallow and not particularly clean.

Just when you think you have things figured out...
I really don't want to spend 7 hours of my day in a car! Can anyone suggest a cool fishing trip from the NOLA area? I can't believe I just said that...but my man likes fishing and I want to do something special. I guess I'll doing about anything to see the Gulf!

Other posters are correct, you can't really do a day trip from New Orleans to the Gulf coast unless you have a friend with a weekend place in Bay St. Louis or Pass Christian, Mississippi. On maps, NO looks like it's close to the Gulf of Mexico, but it's really not that close and there are no good beaches, just marshland and swamps. But yes, you can definitely do a fishing trip from NO. I happen to have handy the business card of Cyrus Blanchard of Moonlight Shrimping Tours, (800-725-3213 or 504-689-3213). We took a swamp tour with him a couple years ago, hope he's still in business. I kept his card because it was a good tour and it sounded like he would put together any kind of water excursion you might want. He is based in Marrero, LA, about 30 minutes from downtown.