Seaside House Rentals on the Gulf of Mexico

This past spring my family rented a beach house on the Gulf of Mexico. It’s the second of this type of vacation in a row for us. We chose it for our family trip twice because we’ve enjoyed it so much. Seaside House Rentals on the Gulf of Mexico are a very fun, versatile, and economical family vacation option.

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The first year we rented a beach house we rented one right on the beach in Florida and had such a wonderful time that we decided to do it again in a different state. For our second trip to one of the seaside house rentals, we chose the state of Mississippi in the town of Ocean Springs, which is within a short drive away from New Orleans. We were so happy we could spend some time in this great city also.

We rented a big SUV to drive down so we could do some fun and interesting things on our way down to the Gulf. Once there we also went on a swamp tour. Keep scrolling to see how much fun we had and watch our amazing videos.

Why Choose Seaside House Rentals?

There are multiple reasons why a beach house rental is a fantastic choice for a family vacation. **We went with an Airbnb house rental and were very happy with the experience.

• cheaper as can make your own meals due to having a full kitchen so don’t have to eat out all the time
• plenty of space to spread out clothing, personal items, games, food, drink, etc.
• often kids can each get their own rooms and parents get their own too
• it’s home living away from home
• plenty of space to play games
• table for easy eating, which you often don’t get in traditional hotel rooms
• calm and quiet environment often (obviously location dependent) but you aren’t crammed into the apartment-like lodging of a hotel
• nice amenities as many rentals often have pools, hot tubs, game rooms, workout areas, private beach, boats, fishing poles, etc.
• some allow pets
• can enjoy a living room with couches and seating for the whole family
• view of the beach if seaside
• often more private on the beach and in the house, more so than in a hotel anyway
• adults can safely enjoy alcoholic beverages at the beach house without having to drive home from a bar or restaurant… so it’s more relaxing
• often the houses have a nice deck with an ocean view, seating, and a grill
• washing machine and dryer
• we drove down so we had a vehicle to use to get us around for sight-seeing and store runs, renting a vehicle if flying works too

Want a great packing list to help you in preparing to go on your beach house trip? Check out mine Helpful packing list

This beach house is located at 8217 Belle Fontaine Dr, Ocean Springs, MO through Airbnb.

The Downside to Beach House Rentals

There’s always a downside but I can’t think of many with renting a beach house. About the only ones I can come up with are it’s a bit more work as you are cooking, cleaning up dishes, and doing a bit of light housework such as sweeping (sand always gets dragged in). Laundry could be avoided, but I like to keep up on it so I have less laundry once home, so this turns into a plus.

The only other issue I could see as a downside to renting a beach house is if the description and images didn’t match the reality of the home. We have not experienced this however as every house we’ve rented has been as it appeared online.

Our Journey

Our trip took us through St. Louis, so we took the time to tour the Gateway Arch. Then in another city on the way down, we made sure we found a great BBQ restaurant to get some authentic southern barbecued meats. Once we’d enjoyed a few days at the beach house, we also visited New Orleans for a day, where we met some friends for lunch from back home who were vacationing in the city.

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri

I did a full write-up of our tour at the Arch if you are interested in reading it, but I will also do a short description here. It was fun experience to ride up the tram into the top the arch. The little cars are linked to each other like a roller coaster and go up and down both sides of the Arch. Once at the top there is a viewing area about seven feet across that spans the length of the very top of the Arch. The view is spectacular from up there. It’s an amazing feat of construction and definitely worth the stop in to this unique attraction.

They also have a large museum area as well, a gift shop, and a dining area.

The Beach House

There is a scenario to fit every family’s needs if you input your criteria into the search filters on the Airbnb website. It will give you a list of rental homes to fit your needs to pick from. The variety of options they offer is really astounding.

The beach house we rented was on a private beach and it had three bedrooms and an office. The office functioned also as an extra bedroom, but it didn’t have a door so our youngest took that room. The master bedroom for my husband and I had a private shower and bathroom, complete with a bidet. It also had a nice walk-in closet, tv, fan, and a balcony with two sliding glass doors overlooking the ocean.

The beach house also had a screened in deck porch, of course a kitchen and dining area, and a living room, plus a little extra sitting area for game playing and two benches against the wall. There was a unique two-tiered viewing deck that also served as the stairs down to the beach from the deck area. The house was raised up of course on stilts to accommodate for flooding so there was a stairway on the driveway side of the house as well.

The Private Beach

The beach area was very private. There was a home on one side but we never saw anyone, and the other side was just land with the house across the street. The rental was on a peninsula so the road ran down the peninsula with houses bordering the Gulf of Mexico water on both sides. We went in March and it was still a little cool in Mississippi, but my two younger boys still swam and used their boogie boards. Being on the Gulf, the waves were not large like the waves are off the main ocean, so this is valuable for swimming and fishing off the shore.

My husband and three boys did a lot of fishing but only caught catfish though we saw lots of different kinds of fish jumping when we went to the end of the peninsula.

The really fun thing my boys enjoyed at this beach house was the crab traps. There are lots of blue crabs along the shoreline in this location so they kept putting out the cages. They caught several crabs, none large enough to eat, but they had so much fun catching and releasing them.

My youngest built many sand sculptures and my boys even created a sand golf course for fun.

We enjoyed seeing many different types of wildlife at the beach house. Choosing Seaside House Rentals gives the best family vacation.

Evening on the Beach

A Day in New Orleans

Our beach house was just a short drive over to New Orleans so we planned a day trip over to visit the amazing famous city. Our first stop was the amazing swamp tour where we saw the most awesome animals and then we met friends in New Orleans for lunch. Our neighbor friends happened to be visiting New Orleans at the same time so we enjoyed meeting up. After we ate, we walked around the city to hear, smell, and taste the flavors.

The Swamp Tour

The Cajun Encounters Swamp tour was awesome. We enjoyed the most amazing sights on this tour that was located just outside of New Orleans. The animals were phenomenal. We enjoyed seeing many of them up close from the tour boat including snakes, raccoons, and a wild boar who was quite friendly and tame as the tour guides feed her. We were able to see her up close as she came right up to the boat as our guide was tossing food to her. He also fed the raccoons so we were able to see them up close as well.

Here are the videos we captured.

The other animals we saw on the tour in addition to snakes, raccoons and the wild boar were many types of birds, turtles, and of course the amazing alligators!

Visit their website @ Cajun Encounters Swamp Tour New Orleans

The Restaurant: Gumbo Shop

The Gumbo Shop offered delicious Creole Cuisine. My husband’s big wish was to have crawfish so he ordered a pasta dish with crawfish in it. I ordered a tasty spinach soup, salad, and a yummy hearty meatless Creole bean dish, and all three of our boys ordered the crab cakes which came with a special side of corn they all loved. Bread and butter were served as we waited for our meals and the adults enjoyed either a beer or a hurricane drink. It was truly a scrumptious meal, well worth the drive in to New Orleans.

The restaurant was unique in that it was a rustic carriageway, the building portion dating back to 1795. There were murals on the wall of Mardi Gras and the French Market. One part of the restaurant was under open air as a garden courtyard so the sunlight could filter down into the restaurant. These tables had umbrellas over the tops. The walls were brick and the floor was in places too, and not fully flat so it was an interesting space to enjoy traditional Creole food in, a great atmosphere and with a very authentic feel.

Visit their website @ Gumbo Shop I totally recommend a stop in this historic restaurant.

Cafe Beignet

One cannot visit New Orleans and not purchase the delicately delicious beignets. They are so very yummy! From a European tradition, these tasty treats have been served in New Orleans for 200 years accompanied by coffee. They are fried bread squares that are dusted with powdered sugar. The cafe was hopping with patrons when we stopped in so we had to wait in line to get our yummy treat. I also bought a box to make them at home. The atmosphere in the cafe was quaint, classic, and very charming.

Cafe Beignet is at 334-B Royal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130. Visit their website @ Cafe Beignet

I’ve already made round one of the beignets and they were a giant hit with my family. Mine turned out weird shaped and smaller than those at the cafe, but they were quite delicious nonetheless. I would totally recommend you visit Cafe Beignet if ever in New Orleans.

Bourbon Street

After picking up our beignets, the five of sauntered about the town just taking in all the shops and the unique style of the city. We loved the architecture and the intriguing storefronts, the various styles and unique presentations the city offered in its charm and quirky eloquence.

We also enjoyed hearing the street bands playing their music and the singers. We definitely saw some interesting characters too in that we saw a human statue painted fully in gold paint and a man lying on the street yelling obscenities. We also saw a movie or tv show set up getting ready to film. It was a very interesting walk and that was in the daytime! I can’t imagine how wild it gets there at night or during Mardi Gras.

I Totally Recommend Seaside Beach Rentals as a Family Vacation Idea.

This type of vacation is also great for families with kids because of the separate bedrooms, whether for teens who want their own space or young kids who need a quiet separate room for naps, a house rental is just ideal. Plus, the parents get their own space as well. The kitchen with a fridge, freezer and all the regular amenities of a kitchen (plus some extras sometimes) is a giant plus. I must have a dishwasher as an absolute must as well as a coffee pot of some sort.

It’s a versatile vacation that can have various stops added in based on where you are renting. Have fun with it and make your own customized beach house rental vacation!

Looking for more family vacation ideas? Grand Palladium Mexican Resort

In Arizona: 5 fun family travel adventures Arizona , Arizona’s Bearizona Wildlife Park , Visit Arizona

In Florida: Gulf of Mexico Florida Beach house

Cruising: 12 cruise tips traveling 3 young kids , 7 things Loved Castaway Cay plus tips, 11 reasons to go on a Disney cruise

Thanks for visiting my website and I hope you have a wonderful time on your family vacation wherever you go.

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