VacationSelector
White sand and the turquoise Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Shores
Gulf ShoresWhite sand and the turquoise Gulf of Mexico
Bell Rock outside Sedona, Sedona
SedonaBell Rock outside Sedona

Photos: Gulf Shores by ourgulfshoresvacation.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Sedona by dconvertini, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Gulf Shores or Sedona?

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
  • families
  • nightlife

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

Choose Sedona for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Sedona’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, Sedona 16: Gulf Shores leads by 68 points.
Food & drink. Gulf Shores 38, Sedona 33: Gulf Shores leads by 5 points.
Culture & sights. Gulf Shores 12, Sedona 20: Sedona leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Gulf Shores 32, Sedona 8: Gulf Shores leads by 24 points.
Nature & outdoors. Gulf Shores 52, Sedona 93: Sedona leads by 41 points.
Day trips. Gulf Shores 52, Sedona 55: Sedona leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Gulf Shores 75, Sedona 42: Gulf Shores leads by 33 points.
Getting around. Gulf Shores 15, Sedona 22: Sedona leads by 7 points.
Shopping & style. Gulf Shores 22, Sedona 34: Sedona leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Gulf Shores 42, Sedona 18: Gulf Shores leads by 24 points.
Live music & performing arts. Gulf Shores 27, Sedona 13: Gulf Shores leads by 14 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Gulf Shores 28, Sedona 82: Sedona leads by 54 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Gulf Shores and Sedona.

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 families with your weighting.

Sedona
36match

Wins on wellness and nature and the outdoors 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

Sedona in July

34 °Cdaytime high
21 °Cnight-time low
51 mmrain in the month
No seasea
14 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Gulf ShoresSedona

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.

Sedona's station stands 153 m above the city centre, so the centre is likely a little warmer than the figures say.

Sedona 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). Sedona: 2009-2025 (rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Sedona / West Sedona (1.3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureGulf ShoresSedona
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC-7
Emergency number911911
Elevation2 m1,319 m
Main airportPensacola International Airport (PNS)54 km from centre27 non-stop destinationsPhoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX)160 km from centre149 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days12 days

By the numbers

MeasureGulf ShoresSedona
City population15,0149,684
People per km²207195
Museums within 10 km10
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 Sedona 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.