Looking for the best things to do in Ocean Springs? This small Mississippi Gulf Coast town packs an unusual amount of food, art, history, nature, and personality into a place that is remarkably easy to explore. You can spend the morning beneath live oaks, discover one of the South’s most distinctive artists, taste your way through downtown, and still make it to the beach before sunset.
The real appeal of Ocean Springs is not checking attractions off a list. It is how easily one good experience seems to lead to another. Downtown is compact and walkable, the waterfront is close by, and many of the city’s best restaurants, galleries, shops, museums, and historic places sit within a relatively small area.
If it is your first visit, start with downtown Ocean Springs, the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, a guided downtown food tour, Front Beach, Shearwater Pottery, and Davis Bayou at Gulf Islands National Seashore. Together, those experiences give you a strong introduction to the food, art, history, coast, and natural scenery that make Ocean Springs distinctive.
Whether you are planning a weekend or simply deciding how to spend one day, these are 10 of the best things to do in Ocean Springs.
1. Explore Downtown Ocean Springs
Downtown Ocean Springs is one of those places where wandering is part of the attraction. Washington Avenue and Government Street are lined with independent restaurants, boutiques, galleries, coffee shops, bars, and historic buildings beneath some of the city’s signature live oaks.
Rather than approaching downtown like a shopping center with a checklist, give yourself time to follow whatever looks interesting. Browse locally made art at places such as The Pink Rooster and Hillyer House, stop for coffee, explore side streets, and let lunch plans change if something smells too good to pass up.
If you are downtown in the morning, Tato-Nut Donut Shop is one of the town’s enduring rituals. The family-owned Government Street institution has been serving Ocean Springs since 1960 and is known for doughnuts made with potato flour. Lines are not unusual, so earlier is usually better.
If food becomes the deciding factor in where you stop later, use our guide to the best restaurants in Ocean Springs.
2. Visit the Walter Anderson Museum of Art
You do not have to consider yourself an art person to become fascinated by Walter Inglis Anderson. His paintings, watercolors, block prints, ceramics, writings, and murals are deeply connected to the coastal landscape around Ocean Springs. Birds, fish, plants, storms, barrier islands, and the rhythms of the natural world appear throughout his work.
The Walter Anderson Museum of Art in downtown Ocean Springs is the best introduction to his life and work. One of the most memorable spaces is the adjoining Ocean Springs Community Center, where Anderson painted an expansive mural inspired by the Gulf Coast.
For many visitors, the museum changes the way the rest of Ocean Springs looks afterward. Pelicans, live oaks, marshes, insects, plants, and water suddenly feel connected to the artwork you have just seen.
3. Take a Guided Downtown Ocean Springs Food Tour
For first-time visitors, a guided food tour is one of the easiest ways to experience several sides of Ocean Springs at once. Instead of choosing a single restaurant for lunch, you can sample multiple local flavors while exploring downtown on foot.
Savor the Coast’s Original Downtown Ocean Springs Food Tour combines tastings from multiple local establishments with stories about the city’s history, art, architecture, culture, and community. The experience is designed to be more than a progressive meal: the walking portions connect the food to the place where it is being served.
It is particularly useful early in a trip because it combines lunch, sightseeing, local history, and an orientation to downtown in one experience. By the end, you have also discovered restaurants, shops, galleries, and streets you may want to return to later on your own.
4. Catch the Sunset at Front Beach
One of the pleasures of Ocean Springs is how quickly downtown gives way to the waterfront. Front Beach sits only a short distance from the shops and restaurants, making it easy to add some time beside the Mississippi Sound without turning the day into a separate beach excursion.
You can walk the sand, sit near the water, bring a picnic, or simply make the beach your final stop before dinner. Late afternoon is especially appealing as the heat softens and the light changes across the water.
Families can pair the beach with nearby Fort Maurepas Park, while travelers who want a longer, quieter stretch of shoreline can continue toward East Beach. Our full Ocean Springs beaches guide covers both areas in more detail.
5. See a Living Art Tradition at Shearwater Pottery
After discovering Walter Anderson downtown, follow the Anderson family story to Shearwater Pottery. Peter Anderson founded the pottery in 1928, and nearly a century later it remains one of the places most closely associated with the artistic identity of Ocean Springs.
The setting is part of the appeal. Rather than arriving at a polished commercial arts complex, you enter a wooded residential property and encounter pottery still being made as part of a living family tradition.
Inside, look for handmade pottery, figurines, tiles, and other pieces influenced by the plants, animals, colors, and forms of the Gulf Coast. Because the work is handmade, visiting Shearwater feels as much like encountering an active local tradition as shopping for something to take home.
Shearwater pairs especially well with the Walter Anderson Museum. Together they offer two sides of the same creative story: one interpreted in a museum and another still being carried forward.
6. Explore Davis Bayou at Gulf Islands National Seashore
A short drive east of downtown reveals a completely different side of Ocean Springs. The Davis Bayou Area of Gulf Islands National Seashore protects a coastal landscape where bayou, marsh, forest, and wildlife replace storefronts and restaurant patios.
The area works particularly well for travelers who want nature without committing to a strenuous outdoor expedition. Walk trails and boardwalks, look for birds and other wildlife, fish, picnic, explore the waterfront, or visit the William M. Colmer Visitor Center.
Davis Bayou also provides useful context for the rest of Ocean Springs. The environment celebrated by Walter Anderson and generations of Gulf Coast artists is not something confined to museum walls. It is still right outside town.
7. Bike the Live Oaks Bicycle Route
Ocean Springs lends itself naturally to exploring on two wheels. The relatively flat terrain around downtown and the waterfront makes cycling a practical way to move between neighborhoods, beaches, historic places, and shaded streets without losing the feeling of actually being in the town.
The Live Oaks Bicycle Route winds through streets shaded by mature oaks and passes places connected to local art and history. Another memorable option is riding toward the Biloxi Bay Bridge, where the pedestrian and bicycle path climbs above the water and opens broad views toward Ocean Springs and Biloxi.
In warmer months, go earlier in the day and bring plenty of water. There is no need to treat the ride like a workout—the appeal is seeing more of Ocean Springs while still moving slowly enough to notice it.
8. Explore Ocean Springs Art Galleries
Walter Anderson may be the city’s best-known artist, but the creative identity of Ocean Springs extends far beyond one museum. Downtown galleries and shops showcase pottery, paintings, glass, jewelry, prints, textiles, and other work by artists from Coastal Mississippi and beyond.
Rather than trying to visit every gallery, choose a few and slow down. Ask what is made locally. Learn about the artist behind a piece that catches your attention. Stop at Realizations to see designs derived from Walter Anderson’s work, then continue through downtown to see how other artists interpret the Coast.
The Pink Rooster is another worthwhile stop for visitors browsing downtown art. It also happens to appear regularly along the Original Downtown Ocean Springs Food Tour route as a cultural stop between tastings.
9. Experience an Ocean Springs Festival
There are weekends when Ocean Springs feels like a relaxed coastal town and others when downtown becomes one enormous gathering place. Both versions are worth experiencing.
The Peter Anderson Arts & Crafts Festival fills downtown each November with artists and makers. Spring brings the Ocean Springs Spring Arts Festival, while Cruisin’ The Coast brings classic cars throughout the Mississippi Gulf Coast each October. Mardi Gras, holiday celebrations, markets, and smaller art events add even more reasons to plan around the calendar.
Festival weekends also mean heavier traffic, busy restaurants, and tighter lodging availability. If you are coming specifically for a major event, make it the centerpiece of the trip rather than something you expect to casually fit around everything else.
If your travel dates are still flexible, see our month-by-month guide to the best time to visit Ocean Springs.
10. Stay for Dinner, Drinks & Live Music
Do not assume the day ends when the galleries close. Ocean Springs has an evening personality of its own, particularly around Government Street and downtown. Restaurant patios fill, cocktails appear, and live music begins spilling into the surrounding streets.
The best approach is usually not to schedule every stop. Make a dinner reservation if there is somewhere you absolutely want to eat, then leave the rest of the evening flexible. Walk afterward, follow the sound of music, stop somewhere for dessert, or decide that one more drink sounds better than going back to the hotel.
If dinner is the one decision you do want to make ahead of time, our guide to the best restaurants in Ocean Springs covers everything from longtime local institutions to destination dining.
If You Have Just One Day in Ocean Springs
We highly recommend booking the Original Downtown Ocean Springs Food Tour and letting lunch double as an introduction to the city’s restaurants, history, art, and architecture.
Afterward, choose between Shearwater Pottery and Davis Bayou depending on whether art or nature interests you more. Then head back toward Front Beach in the late afternoon and stay for sunset before returning downtown for dinner, cocktails, or live music.
That itinerary covers a surprising amount without spending the entire day rushing from one attraction to another.
Which Ocean Springs Experiences Are Best for You?
Best for first-time visitors: Downtown Ocean Springs, Walter Anderson Museum, and the Downtown Food Tour.
Best for art lovers: Walter Anderson Museum, Shearwater Pottery, and downtown galleries.
Best for nature: Davis Bayou and the Ocean Springs waterfront.
Best for couples: A food tour, downtown galleries, dinner, and sunset at Front Beach.
Best with kids: Front Beach, Fort Maurepas Park, downtown, and Davis Bayou.
The Best Things to Do in Ocean Springs
For a first visit, the best things to do in Ocean Springs are exploring downtown, visiting the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, taking a guided food tour, seeing Shearwater Pottery, spending time at Davis Bayou, and ending the day at Front Beach. Together, they capture the food, art, history, nature, and coastal character that make Ocean Springs distinctive.
There is plenty here to fill a weekend, but trying to race through every attraction misses part of the appeal. Ocean Springs works best when there are gaps in the schedule—time to browse one more gallery, order another drink, walk a little farther, or sit beside the water longer than planned.
If you are building a longer visit, continue with our guides to where to eat in Ocean Springs, where to stay, Ocean Springs beaches, and the best time to visit Ocean Springs.