# Road trips in Alabama > 3 road trips and 13 hand-picked places in Alabama, with routes, stops and practical tips for driving and camping. Source: https://camping-spirit.com/roadtrips/alabama/ 3 road trips and 13 hand-picked places in Alabama, with routes, stops and practical tips for driving and camping. ## Road trips through Alabama - [Mobile Bay and Alabama’s Gulf Shores](https://camping-spirit.com/guides/b9-alabama-gulf/): Gardens and old forts around Mobile Bay, a car ferry across its mouth, and the white beaches and state park at Gulf Shores. - [Alabama’s civil rights trail: Birmingham, Selma, Montgomery](https://camping-spirit.com/guides/b9-civil-rights-trail/): The churches, bridges and memorials of the civil rights movement, following the route of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march. - [North Alabama: Helen Keller, rockets and caves](https://camping-spirit.com/guides/b19-north-alabama/): From Nashville to the Shoals, Huntsville’s space center, the giant caverns of the Tennessee Valley and the iron god Vulcan above Birmingham. ## Places worth the detour in Alabama - [Fort Morgan State Historic Site](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b9-fort-morgan/): A massive star-shaped masonry fort at the tip of the Fort Morgan peninsula, facing Fort Gaines across the bay entrance. The car ferry from Dauphin Island lands next door. - [Gulf State Park](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b9-gulf-state-park/): Beaches, dune boardwalks, freshwater lakes and a big campground, linked by miles of paved trails. Bring bikes for the backcountry trail. - [16th Street Baptist Church](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b9-16th-street-baptist/): Site of the 1963 bombing that killed four girls, and a rallying point of the civil rights movement. Kelly Ingram Park and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute are across the street. - [Edmund Pettus Bridge](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b9-edmund-pettus-bridge/): The bridge where voting-rights marchers were attacked on Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965. You can walk across it; interpretive centers are at both ends of the route to Montgomery. - [National Memorial for Peace and Justice](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b9-peace-justice-memorial/): A memorial to the victims of racial terror lynchings, with hanging steel monuments for each county. Pair it with the Legacy Museum downtown; allow a full afternoon. - [U.S. Space & Rocket Center](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b19-space-rocket-center/): A museum of rockets and space hardware, including a Saturn V displayed in the Davidson Center and a vertical Saturn V replica visible from I-565. Home of Space Camp; allow a full half-day. - [Bellingrath Gardens and Home](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b9-bellingrath-gardens/): Formal gardens and a 1930s home on the Fowl River, famous for spring azaleas and a large autumn chrysanthemum display. - [Fort Gaines](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b9-fort-gaines/): A brick fort guarding the mouth of Mobile Bay, where the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay was fought offshore. Walk the ramparts and tunnels. - [USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b9-uss-alabama/): A World War II battleship and the submarine USS Drum moored on Mobile Bay, both open to explore from deck to engine room. Allow a few hours. - [Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b9-tuskegee-institute/): The campus founded by Booker T. Washington, with his home and a museum on George Washington Carver. The Tuskegee Airmen site at Moton Field is a short drive away. - [Helen Keller Birthplace (Ivy Green)](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b19-ivy-green/): The 1820 house where Helen Keller was born, with the water pump where she first understood the word “water”. The Miracle Worker is staged on the grounds on summer weekends. - [Cathedral Caverns State Park](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b19-cathedral-caverns/): A cave with a 38 m wide entrance and Goliath, one of the largest stalagmites in the world. Guided tours of about 90 minutes on paved paths; the cave stays around 15 °C. - [Vulcan Park and Museum](https://camping-spirit.com/places/b19-vulcan-park/): The largest cast-iron statue in the world, the god Vulcan made for the 1904 World’s Fair, stands on Red Mountain above Birmingham. An observation balcony and museum tell the story of the steel city. ## FAQs **What are the best road trips in Alabama?** Popular routes include Mobile Bay and Alabama’s Gulf Shores, Alabama’s civil rights trail: Birmingham, Selma, Montgomery and North Alabama: Helen Keller, rockets and caves. CampingSpirit has 3 trip guides that pass through Alabama, each with a stop-by-stop itinerary and a route map. **Which places in Alabama are worth a detour?** Our editors recommend Fort Morgan State Historic Site, Gulf State Park, 16th Street Baptist Church, Edmund Pettus Bridge, National Memorial for Peace and Justice and U.S. Space & Rocket Center.