Getting your bearings in Bay St. Louis.

The lay of the land

Where it is

The far west end of the Mississippi Coast, in Hancock County, on the west side of the Bay of St. Louis. Gulfport is about 16 miles east; Biloxi about 29; New Orleans roughly an hour west down I-10. Pass Christian sits just across the bridge to the east.

The heart of town

Old Town — Main Street and Second Street — packed with galleries, antique shops, boutiques, and restaurants in colorful historic buildings, with the beach a block away on Beach Boulevard. Base yourself near here and you can walk to most of the good stuff.

Size & pace

A small Coast town of around 10,000, artsy and unhurried. It keeps making national "best small town" lists for a reason. Plan for a slow weekend, not a packed itinerary.

Old Town and the Depot District

The Bay has two little hubs, and it helps to know the difference. Old Town is the waterfront core — Main and Second Streets, the galleries and restaurants, and the beach right there on Beach Boulevard. The Depot District is a short hop inland, built around the restored 1927 L&N train depot, with its own cluster of shops and eateries. As a visitor you’ll spend most of your time in Old Town, but the two are close enough to bounce between, and on Second Saturday the whole stretch lights up together.

Getting around — and the train thing

Old Town is genuinely walkable, and the whole town is flat and easy on a bike — there’s a beach trail that runs for miles along the water. But the thing worth knowing is the train.

The Bay is back on the passenger-rail map. Gulf Coast Amtrak service returned in 2025, and Bay St. Louis is a stop — the station sits in the Depot District. That means you can reach the Bay car-free from New Orleans or other Coast towns, step off near Old Town, and walk to the beach and the restaurants. Schedules are limited and change, so check Amtrak before you build a trip around it — but it’s a real, charming way to arrive.

For everyone else: a car gets you anywhere in town in a few minutes, and parking around Old Town is generally easy outside of festival weekends and busy Second Saturdays.

When to come

• Second Saturdays are the move any month — the Art Walk turns Old Town into a street party from late afternoon on.
• Spring & fall are the sweet spot — mild weather, and most of the festivals land in these windows.
• Summer is hot and humid (it’s the Gulf), but mornings on the beach are gorgeous and the crowds are lighter than the Florida Panhandle.

Practical bits

• Base in or near Old Town if you can — walkability to the shops and the beach is the whole point.
• Check the calendar — timing a visit to a Second Saturday or a 100 Men Hall show changes the whole trip.
• The beach is the Mississippi Sound, not the open Gulf — calmer and murkier by design. Great for wading, biking the beach trail, and sunsets, not Panama City surf. (More in the Exploration guide.)
• Day trips are easy — New Orleans is about an hour west, the rest of the Coast a short drive east, and Buccaneer State Park is minutes away in Waveland.