Your First Winter as a Snowbird:
A Local's Guide to Foley, Alabama
If this is your first year as a snowbird, here's the short version: book three months, book it now, and pick the quiet side of the coast. Wolf Bay Landing is a family-owned waterfront condo community in Foley, Alabama, and every fall we walk dozens of first-timers through the same questions. This is all of it in one place.
Timing Your Snowbird Trip
How long should a first-time snowbird stay?
Three months. January through March is the sweet spot for a first winter on the Alabama Gulf Coast, and it's what we recommend to every first-timer who calls Wolf Bay Landing. Most first-timers book one month as a trial run, and almost all of them wish they'd stayed longer. By the time you've unpacked, found the grocery store, figured out which restaurant does the good fried shrimp and met the couple two doors down, it's time to drive home. Three months gets you past the worst of the weather up north, the monthly rate is better than a short stay, and you actually get to live here instead of visit. If three feels like a leap, do two. Don't do one.
When should you book a snowbird rental in Alabama?
Book by October for the coming winter. Our long-time snowbirds at Wolf Bay Landing reserve their unit for next year before they leave in March, so most of the coast is spoken for by early fall.
If you're reading this in September or October and haven't booked, you're not too late, but you're close. Call and get on the calendar before you finish comparing.
How much does it cost?
2 Bedroom Condo
Includes utilities, WiFi, DirecTV, parking, pool, clubhouse, dock access & boat slip.
3 Bedroom Condo
Includes utilities, wifi, DirecTV, parking, pool, clubhouse, dock access & boat slip.
Be careful with hidden fees
A lot of cheap listings come with cleaning fees, resort fees, utility caps, hidden pet fees, a "processing" charge, and a security deposit that has a way of never coming back. At Wolf Bay Landing, what you see is what you pay. Every cost is baked into the monthly rate.
Do snowbirds pay lodging tax in Alabama?
Less than you'd pay at the beach, and none at all on stays of six months or more.
Lodging tax in Foley is 11%, compared to 16% in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, so the same rent costs you 5% less every month just by staying on the bay side. And Alabama exempts continuous stays of 180 days or longer from lodging tax entirely, which on a six-month stay at Wolf Bay Landing works out to roughly 60% of a month's rent.
Foley Tax
Beach Tax
The 6-Month Tax Perk
Most first-timers don't know this. If you're thinking October through March or November through April, staying the full six months effectively gets you most of your last month free, and it's the state's rule, not a discount we're giving.
You also get the whole show: the quiet fall on the bay, Christmas boat parades, Mardi Gras parades in February, and the spring redfish run before you head north. A lot of our long-timers started as three-month people and stretched to six once they did this math.
Note: The stay has to be booked as one continuous 180-day agreement up front.
Is Foley or Gulf Shores better for snowbirds?
Foley, for most first-timers. Wolf Bay Landing is 20 minutes from the beach on the quiet side of the coast, with a real town around it, lower rent than Gulf-front, and 11% lodging tax instead of the beach's 16%.
First-timers almost always start out looking at Gulf-front condos in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, and a lot of them switch to Foley the second year. The beach in winter is beautiful but it's a resort area — high-rises, parking garages, one road in and out, and a lot of empty units around you in the off season. Foley has a Publix, a hospital, Tanger Outlets, the Foley Sports Complex, and OWA amusement park, and our pocket of Wolf Bay is calm water, porpoises rolling past the pier, pelicans, herons, sunsets and neighbors who wave. You can still drive to the beach any afternoon you want. You just don't have to live in it.
What should a first-time snowbird pack?
Pack the personal stuff and leave the household stuff. Every condo at Wolf Bay Landing comes with linens, towels, pots, pans and a coffee maker.
What to bring
Your own pillow, your good knife if you cook, golf clubs, fishing rods, bikes, and the dog (Wolf Bay Landing is pet friendly with a pet fee disclosed up front).
Bring the boat
Wolf Bay opens to the Intracoastal Waterway and out to the Gulf through Perdido Pass, and a slip just steps from your condo is one of the best things about wintering on the bay instead of the beach.
Clothing tip
Bring one winter coat for the first week. You'll wear it twice.
Why do first-timers pick Wolf Bay Landing?
Four reasons we hear most
It's family owned and we live on site.
The boat slip is included.
We plan the winter social calendar so nobody spends the season alone.
Lodging tax is 11% here instead of 16% at the beach (or 0% on a 6-month stay).
We're Logan and Lilly, and we answer the phone. If the wifi drops or the dishwasher acts up, one of us is there the same day. Your boat has a slip a few steps from your condo instead of a marina fee across town. There's a potluck or an outing on the calendar most weeks, and the state clubs meet twenty minutes away. And if you stay October through March, the tax savings alone are worth most of a month. First-timers who try the beach usually end up here the second year. We'd rather save you the year.
Where do snowbirds go to the doctor in Foley?
Baldwin Health, a full hospital with a 24-hour emergency room, is about 15 minutes from Wolf Bay Landing. Foley also has Publix, Walgreens and CVS pharmacies, and most chains transfer a prescription from your home store with one phone call.
Have the post office forward it for the season or have a family member send a box every couple of weeks. Packages find you just fine.
First-Time Snowbird Questions We Hear Every Fall
Ready for your first winter on the bay?
We have a handful of 2 and 3 bedroom condos left for this winter. Call or text us or message us through the site and we'll send photos and the availability calendar. Ask us anything, including the questions you think are silly. We've heard them all and they're not.
Call / Text 251-421-1965