Island Tower - Gulf Shores, Alabama

Jennifer P.

We stayed in Island Tower #2401 in March 2025 and it was wonderful! We're long-time renters (over 20 years) in Gulf Shores, and Island Tower is our favorite building. This particular unit was very clean and well-stocked. We've stayed in this until before but the recent upgrades to the entire apartment were a bonus. The kitchen and bathrooms are bright and modern with good storage. Excellent views, too! We highly recommend the building and this unit.

BETH D.

My family and friends enjoyed our stay at Island Tower!
We stayed in 1302 and it was clean and thoroughly stocked with any and everything you could think of!
It was a very spacious condo with up to date appliances and furniture. I was impressed with the closet space especially in the master bath.
I love how close the walk is to the beach as in comparison to other places I've stayed.
Lovely views from the balcony and lots of privacy.
The outdoor infinity pool is nice and modern. It's especially nice for those with small children because it's 3 ft the majority of the pool and goes to 5 ft.
There's also an indoor pool and workout area. It's being renovated as well as some of the parking. The grilling area was nice. Charcoal only.
Island Tower is within walking distance to several restaurants. 2 of my favorites Bahama Bob's and Surfside pizza!
We walked over to Bahama Bob's every day for Bushwackers and Bahama Mamas.

The rooms are close to the elevators and trash rooms. I was nervous after reading some of the reviews about the elevators being slow; but honestly we didn't have any issues. One of the elevators was down for a few hours One day while there and still didn't have to wait an usually long time.
The only complaint would be the parking. The parking deck is harder for people to navigate with larger vehicles. Luckily, my husband drove every time or I'd be stressed or scraping the wall.

Matt

We stayed in unit 2303 for Spring Break. The unit itself was outstanding and exactly as advertised. We chose it for the 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms arrangement for our family of 4, which worked out just perfectly, giving all space and privacy. The kitchen and living room/dining areas were terrific, with views of both the Gulf and to the west where we could see the Gulf and lagoon on the other side of Gulf Shores.

The only issues we had was a security employee coming to our door at 10 pm asking me to sign a liability waiver for the winter maintenance construction work going on (I had already done this online, but he didn't have an up-to-date record...) and an exterminator coming to the door at 10 am one morning wanting to spray. These things need to be coordinated better and for the exterminator, that needs to be done when no guests are present.

Two other notes: While parking appeared ample, those with really large pick-ups or SUVs will have challenges with some of the very tight/close quarter turns you have to make to get to the next levels. Be forewarned. There are two elevators for the entire 26-floor building, and they are very small. As such, be prepared to wait a good while if you are on an upper floor, especially when the tower is mostly full. Not sure why they designed it like that, but hiking the stairs to the 23rd floor (did it once to see how it was) is not a normal option, so be prepared to wait.

Other than that, we had a terrific stay and highly recommend unit 2303 for its 23rd floor view, as it was totally worth it.

Kelly G.

The complex as a whole:
Great location, nice outdoor pool (we never went to the indoor pool), lovely view, clean building, friendly security staff. We had a good experience renting through Poole and the management company, Waves, was very helpful. We had a few lights out, needed an extra car pass, and a few other issues and they were quick and helpful. Tristan from Suncoast Beach Services took great care of us all week with our chair/ umbrella rentals.

Unit 703: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Only one dish towel and they wouldn't give us anymore. Most if us felt the beds were uncomfortable (one of them was even lopsided!). Kitchen and house in general was not very well stocked. One of the rooms had an old box tv. Not a lot of storage, limited dresser space in the rooms, no entry way table, etc. Lovely view though.

All in all, we would stay here again but not in that unit.

EJ S.

1301 was great. Clean, modern furnishings and an awesome view. We had all the kitchen essentials we needed and then some. The beach is right outside the doorstep and we had no issues with the elevators as others had commented. Yes you do have to guess which one will call but the kids loved keeping watch and they give you plenty of time to walk to either one. Parking was also not an issue for us as we always found a lower level spot and had plenty of room. We did go at the beginning of fall off-season so didn’t experience the other parking levels. They also had ample good functioning carts to take things to the room.

The beach itself was great for the most part but we did notice a lot of cigarette butts. Not necessarily that many people smoking but also only saw them sweeping the beach once during our week...guessing they scale back in the off-season. Quick walk to The Hangout and other dining options and bonus points for the liquor store and ice cream shop across the street. Felt safe at all times.

Southern Vacations easy to book and reasonable rates. We will be coming back here again.

Jennifer K.

The condos are lovely. Just the right combination of function & design. Well thought out open floor plans.Spacious kitchen, large bedrooms & closet space. Beautiful master bedroom! Spacious decks with room for a dining table & seating. Unbelievable views of the ocean. The corner condos are to die for.

Yamen K.

Gorgeous spacious unit 2103 with a breathtaking panoramic view . Such a beautiful unit! The whole building is very well maintained ! Very highly recommended!

Lynn V.

Stayed here for 2 weeks. The condo we rented was beautiful with 3 very large bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms. The kitchen was good sized with everything you could need. There were two large balconies with great views of the beach and the back bay. There were also floor to ceiling windows where you see miles down the beach and all the way to Orange Beach. The complex had and indoor heated pool and an outdoor (not heated) pool. There was also a small workout room with a sauna. There is a walkway to the beach and its just a short walk to the water. Couldn't ask for a better location. Several restaurants were within walking distance.

Now for the bad. There was no light over the kitchen table which was wierd. So if you ate later you only had the kitchen light which was not enough. The back balcony railing rattles in the wind and if your in the back room by the outside door you can hear the clunk of the elevators all times of the day. Soundproofing is terrible. Even on a high floor I could hear the police and fire sirens going down the road at all times of the day and night. The neighbors upstairs kept moving their furniture around and you could hear it dragging right through the ceiling in the front room. The elevators are a whole other story. When you press the button on either side you have to guess which one is going to open as the buttons are connected to both. The parking garage ramps to the upper floors are just way to narrow. Scared the hell out of me everytime we came in and out, worried we were going to scrap the car. The electric doors on the ground floor never worked the entire time we were here. You had to open and close them manually. The thing that bothered me the most is the building management removed all the deadbolt locks from all the condos in the building in case they needed to get open them in an emergency. Here is a thought, put in the same deadbolt, with the same key in all the units.
There was one security guards who roams around that we saw only twice in 2 weeks. It seems like the building management has been slacking on building maintance and they don't really care. Looks good from the outside but really run down on the inside. We won't be staying here again.