The high cost of travel and tighter budgets have many families dreaming of a beach vacation this summer but considering a “stay away vacation” instead. A visit to the Mississippi Gulf Coast could be the beach vacation your family wants at an affordable price. With 62 miles of coastline bordering the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi Gulf Coast has something for every member of your family. From beaches and sunbathing to space exploration and children’s museums, a Gulf Coast vacation is sure to create lasting memories and keep your wallet happy.

Mississippi barrier islands

About 12 miles south of the Mississippi Gulf Coast lie the five barrier islands that separate the Gulf of Mexico from Mississippi Sound. Stretching for eighty miles of coastline, the five islands (Petit Bois, Horn, East and West Ship Islands, and Cat Island) boast sugar-white sand beaches and crystal-clear waters, towering sand dunes, and grassy meadows, dense maritime forests, secret lagoons, and fertile swamps.

With the exception of a few privately owned acres on Cat Island, the barrier islands became part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore under the National Park Service in 1971. The islands themselves have been protected from commercial development, offering vacationers a unique opportunity. a kind opportunity to enjoy pristine and pristine beaches. In addition to swimming and sunbathing, the islands are a prime location for fishing, bird watching, and hiking. Speckled trout, redfish, flounder, mullet, and Spanish mackerel are among some of the varieties anglers can expect to catch along the coast. The islands are also a haven for resident and migratory birds such as ospreys, bald eagles, herons, loons, and gulls. Dolphins are a common site around the barrier islands. West Ship Island is also home to Fort Massachusetts. Built shortly after the War of 1812, the brick fort has withstood war, disease, and two major hurricanes.

Tent camping is permitted on Horn, Petit Bois, East Ship Island, and the public section on Cat Island year-round. Most of the barrier islands can only be accessed by private or chartered boat. West Ship Island is also accessible via a privately owned passenger ferry that departs from the Gulfport Yacht Harbor.

Infinity Science Center

Opened in April 2012, the 72,000-square-foot Infinity Science Center is a state-of-the-art educational facility affiliated with NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County. The center combines science, space exploration, and fun as visitors learn about space exploration across the decades, into the future, and across Mississippi.

As soon as visitors walk through the gate, they are catapulted into the world of outer space. Fred Haise, a Mississippi Gulf Coast native and Apollo 13 astronaut, has been instrumental in making the center a reality and greets guests in a special welcome video. Indoor and outdoor exhibits include a 4,000-square-foot maze that encompasses an interactive, multimedia journey from early marine exploration to space travel; a nearly six-foot rotating animated view of Earth and the solar system, showing geography, weather patterns, seismic patterns and more; a full-size International Space Station module; and the chance to get up close to a real H-1 rocket engine.

Visitors also have the opportunity to enjoy a free 30-minute guided bus tour of the Stennis Space Center, the largest rocket motor test facility in the United States. The tour takes visitors behind the scenes of the 14,000-acre facility where they will see the massive structures used to test the engines for the rockets that have been sending us into outer space for more than 50 years.

Lynn Meadows Discovery Center

Named one of the 50 Best Children’s Museums in America by Parents magazine, the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center offers 15,000 square feet of indoor exhibit space and another six acres of outdoor play space. As the first children’s museum in Mississippi, LMDC encourages children to explore, pretend, play, climb and touch.

Visitors can take a walk on Kids Street, a children’s subdivision equipped with gas lamps and paved walkways; stop in and pick up some groceries at Winn-Dixie Morning Market, a recreation of a Mississippi grocery store; work behind the scenes or in front of the camera at WLMDC-TV; or hop aboard the Outback Express at the Dolan Avenue Depot. Kids outside can play hide-and-seek at Tree House Village or visit Bear Creek with a rustic log cabin, babbling creek, and kid-friendly wooden train.

Marine Research and Education Center

Located within the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, the newly built Center for Marine Education and Research is the first research and educational facility dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of dolphins in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. In addition to a veterinary clinic and pools large enough to contain an animal through any stage of rehabilitation, the twelve-acre site also features an interactive museum and a “touch pool” where visitors can experience underwater creatures such as horseshoe crabs, fish , blue crabs, starfish and sea urchins. Visitors can also learn about tropical birds and reptiles during the museum’s animal presentations or search for a souvenir shark tooth at the fossil dig.

The center is also home to Bo and Buster, two Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. Through the Dolphin Encounter program, visitors have the opportunity to feed, touch and interact with a dolphin face to face. Better yet, swim with the dolphins with the Take a Dip with the Dolphin program.

The center is open to the public on a limited basis and reservations are required. Morning and afternoon sessions are available, in addition to weekday and weekend appointments.

Live Oaks Bike Trail

If your family likes sports and fitness, consider renting a bike for the day and exploring all or part of Live Oaks’ 15.5-mile round-trip bike path. The route takes riders along the shoreline and across the new Biloxi Bay Bridge, where sweeping views of the Gulf of Mexico and barrier islands can be enjoyed.

The trail continues through Ocean Springs to Davis Bayou Park, part of Gulf Islands National Seashore. Once there, families can enjoy a picnic, hike a nature trail, or enjoy the view. Maps of the Live Oaks Bike Trail are available at the Gulf Islands Visitor Contact Station and the Ocean Springs Chamber of Commerce.