Trip to Alabama: Nice places to visit (Birmingham, Montgomery: travel, homes)

[cgballer]

Hi all,

we are planning a trip to the deep south w/ a few German friends in Spring '08 and we were wondering which cities, national / state parks you can recommend in your state. Things of interest:
- historic districts / sites
- beautiful nature, hiking, beaches
- southern culture, festivals, food, sea food
- nice towns / coastal towns
- live country music / dance halls
- do you know if there's a chance to go on a boat with shrimp fishermen? are there nice fish markets?

We are interested in the must-see places but also in areas off the beaten path.

We're looking forward to hearing from you,
Christian

[marmac]

for spectacular scenery I would recommend the Little River Canyon by Fort Payne
Not only is it so rugged, it is so non-typical of the rest of the state.

[Southlander]

Hello Christian, I'm sure plenty of people will give you specifics, but this site - Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel - should give you a great overall view. Alabama has a lot of fun festivals, and be sure to check out the "top 100 places in Alabama to eat before you die" list! Let me invite you to the Alabama Jubilee Hot-Air Balloon Classic in Decatur on Memorial Day weekend! And you can try some of our barbecue and catfish dishes. Welcome to Sweet Home Alabama!

[Alatex]

The beach area (Gulf Shores-Orange Beach) is absolutely wonderful.
Their official visitor site is gulfshores.com
I don't know if they have shrimp boat tours regularly, but I think they do
for the annual shrimp festival.

For hiking/nature, you might look at Oak Mountain State Park near Birmingham, and Cathedral Caverns and Little River Canyon in the northeast quadrant of the state.

For historic sites, I'd suggest Vulcan Park in Birmingham, the state capitol in Montgomery, the university quad in Tuscaloosa, downtown Fairhope,
and the Oakleigh historic district in Mobile. Mobile is the state's oldest city, so there are lots of historic homes to see there, plus attractions like the USS Alabama battleship.

The Germans in your group might enjoy seeing Huntsville (Von Braun legacy with NASA, plus Big Spring Park is very nice), Cullman (small town, but with German background), Tuscaloosa (Mercedes Visitor Center and Museum, plus there's a small German bakery downtown called Edelweiss), and Aliceville (German POW museum is small, but nevertheless might be of some interest to history buffs).

[leavin_florida]

North Alabama Railroad Museum, Huntsville, Alabama
City of Huntsville, Alabama *** Huntsville *** Alabama ***
Madison County Nature Trail
Properties
Town of Mooresville, Alabama
Little River Canyon National Preserve (U.S. National Park Service)
Covered Bridge Trail: Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel
Welcome to Noccalula Falls - Lookout Mountain

[cgballer]

Thank you all very much, this helps a lot

[knightofeffect]

There are a lot of German influences in Huntsville, but I'm not sure if that is what you are going for when you take an excursion to see the south. That being said, the Space and Rocket Center is awesome.