Neon-lit BILOXI (Bi-lux-ee) , sprawling alongside a busy four-lane highway, cannot claim to be the prettiest resort in the world. But it's less expensive than Florida, it's near New Orleans, and it has sufficient diversity to satisfy local beach poseurs, senior citizens and families alike. Although Biloxi has experienced something of an economic boom since the state's legalization of gambling - the seafront is lined with permanently moored casinos , several of which have spawned large hotels on drier land nearby - it's really not a place that's likely to appeal for long to international visitors.

Old Biloxi , starting at the far end of Lameuse Boulevard, consists of narrow streets of stuccoed buildings, in a tree-shaded tranquility that seems miles from the hustle of US-90. Across the highway, shrimp and oyster fleets unload their catch at the Small Crafts Harbor . You can rent boats to visit windblown Deer Island , half a mile offshore, or just to go fishing (70-minute shrimping tours; $11; tel 228/385-1182). A mile west, a glut of the usual shops selling T-shirts, seashells, trinkets and other ephemera marks the approach to the most popular stretch of Harrison County Beach , in front of the Broadwater Resort East .

Five miles west of Main Street, the compact white raised cottage of Beauvoir (March-Oct 9am-5pm, Nov-Feb 9am-4pm; $7.50), set in beautiful wooded grounds across from the ocean, was the final home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who lived here until his death in 1889. Though not sponsored by the federal government, a presidential library has been opened there in honor of Davis, and includes an interesting museum chronicling his life. The area's role as a shrine for unrepentant Confederates is typified by the grandiose title of the Civil War museum - "Experiment in Nationalism" - and a bookstore that's bursting with back issues of Southern Partisan , a magazine featuring such editorials as "Why the South Was Right."