VacationSelector
White sand and the turquoise Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Shores
Gulf ShoresWhite sand and the turquoise Gulf of Mexico
A skier in powder among snow-covered firs at Marmot Basin, Jasper
JasperA skier in powder among snow-covered firs at Marmot Basin

Photos: Gulf Shores by ourgulfshoresvacation.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Jasper by Marmot Basin, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Gulf Shores or Jasper?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Gulf Shores for

  • beaches
  • day trips
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Gulf Shores’s own page.

Choose Jasper for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Jasper’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Gulf Shores 84, Jasper 25: Gulf Shores leads by 59 points.
Food & drink. Gulf Shores 38, Jasper 22: Gulf Shores leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Gulf Shores 12, Jasper 10: Gulf Shores leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Gulf Shores 32, Jasper 14: Gulf Shores leads by 18 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gulf Shores 52, Jasper 95: Jasper leads by 43 points.
Day trips. Gulf Shores 52, Jasper 8: Gulf Shores leads by 44 points.
Good for families. Gulf Shores 75, Jasper 42: Gulf Shores leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Gulf Shores 15, Jasper 18: Jasper leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Gulf Shores 22, Jasper 12: Gulf Shores leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Gulf Shores 42, Jasper 20: Gulf Shores leads by 22 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gulf Shores 27, Jasper 7: Gulf Shores leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gulf Shores 28, Jasper 46: Jasper leads by 18 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gulf Shores and Jasper.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Gulf Shores
Best match
40match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

Jasper
27match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Gulf Shores in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
165 mmrain in the month
29 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Jasper in July

24 °Cdaytime high
7 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
No seasea
16 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

-10°0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Gulf ShoresJasper

Where the figures come from

Gulf Shores has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Gulf Shores: 2006-2020 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Gulf Shores / Bay Village Mobile Home Park (3.7 km from centre). Jasper: 1991-2020 normals, Jasper Warden (7.2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGulf ShoresJasper
Official language-French, English
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Canadian Dollar (CAD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-7, UTC-6 in summer
Emergency number911911
Elevation2 m1,060 m
Main airportPensacola International Airport (PNS)54 km from centre27 non-stop destinationsEdmonton International Airport (YEG)304 km from centre52 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureGulf ShoresJasper
City population15,0144,738
People per km²2075
Museums within 10 km11
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C8 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Gulf Shores or Jasper somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.