If you can afford it, bay St. Louis and then ocean springs are going to feel the most like a vacation spot if you can get somewhere you can golf cart to downtown. The pass and Long Beach also have nice little downtowns. Definitely small but at least have a couple of options with housing you can walk/bike/golf cart in from. Not sure if Long Beach and the pass allows golf carts downtown. Been a while since I’ve been to either.
I’m a little confused by the hoa comment though. Not sure most of the properties on 90 or beach boulevard have HOAs. The exception would be the condos. those are going to look expensive. But when you consider what you will pay for insurance and exterior maintenance on a house near the beach, particularly as an out of town owner, you’re going to be at a pretty good monthly number. The big thing is making sure they are well run. The good ones are building up reserves for the major work (roof replacement, exterior window replacement, pool refurbishment, painting, etc). The bad ones charge you all that money and then hit you for big assessments anyway when major maintenance is required.