I live in Tomball, but I do a fair amount of surf fishing and camping down at Matagorda, so I'm used to driving on beaches. However, my wife wants to take a day trip to the beach this weekend and take our little one to play in the sand (and I get to soak some shrimp or throw some lures for a few hours). If memory serves me correctly, there are a bunch of beach access points down on the west end of Galveston Island, but I don't recall how crowded they are on weekends. Vehicles are allowed on the beach on Galveston island (towards the state park, not quite to San Luis) right?

I want to make a quick day trip down there and park on the beach so I don't have to haul all of my stuff or deal with people right next to me. I know a lot of people recommend the parks, but I don't want to mess with ferrying coolers and whatnot, would rather just park in the sand, hang out for a few hours, and head home.

There are pocket parks or beach acccess points the entire length of the island marked by the mile they are from where FM 3005 starts south of the sea wall I believe. You can drive up to the beach but none of them are large. The best is BA 16 because it borders the state park, imho.

The only place on the island they still let you actually drive along the beach is SLP, and it isn't that bad if you head northeast away from the pass itself on the beach.

Jamaica beach area would be a good fit

Go west past sea isle. Turn at the water tower. Long stretch of beach you can drive on. Can get a little crowded, but not too bad.

Take the ferry over to Bolivar.

MouthBQ98 said:

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If I wanted more beach, less crowd, I would head for Follet's Island between Surfside and SLP, south of the bridge.

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This is the correct answer. Plus, the beach tends to be nicer the farther west you go for the kiddos. More sand, less mud, cleaner water.

Follet's Island would be my first rec. Depending on when you get there the beach at the water tower can get crowded. If you've got 4WD you can also go down to SLP and drive north up the beach. There's a mile or so of beach that's accessible before you hit a barrier. I'm not sure how the sand is now, but it was pretty soft when I was down there a few weeks back.

Tomball to SLP - 111 miles
Tomball to Matagorda - 122 miles

I'd just drive a little more and go to Matty...

Salt of the water said:

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Tomball to SLP - 111 miles
Tomball to Matagorda - 122 miles

I'd just drive a little more and go to Matty...

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with a little one 10 more miles can feel like 100.

I hear you... But with I 45 on a weekend one could potentially loose way more than 10 minutes.

We have a place at sea isle. I don't think it will be crowded at all this time of year.

Thanks for the recs guys. I think I'll try Follet's Island out this time around.

Aggielandma12 said:

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Salt of the water said:

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Tomball to SLP - 111 miles
Tomball to Matagorda - 122 miles

I'd just drive a little more and go to Matty...

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with a little one 10 more miles can feel like 100.

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This...Don't get me wrong, I love my Matty trips, but google maps shows an extra 30 min from my house to the entrance of Matty, and knowing me I'd want to drive down a few miles of beach, so tack on another 15+ min.

I'd check the traffic pretty close. It may be worth your while to take 288 to Surfside then drive up Blue Water Hwy to Follets Island beaches. There's a few bait shacks on 332 right before you get to Surfside.

I live on the east side of Pearland and I hate 45!

35 to 517

But I hate 61 st

4040 said:

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I'd check the traffic pretty close. It may be worth your while to take 288 to Surfside then drive up Blue Water Hwy to Follets Island beaches. There's a few bait shacks on 332 right before you get to Surfside.

I live on the east side of Pearland and I hate 45!

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I don't ever take 45 to Surfside and I live on the Upper East Side.

288 FTMFW.

That drive down the island is long. Certain times of the year SOME of the scenery is nice, but most of it has had too many tamales.

Finn Maccumhail said:

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4040 said:

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I'd check the traffic pretty close. It may be worth your while to take 288 to Surfside then drive up Blue Water Hwy to Follets Island beaches. There's a few bait shacks on 332 right before you get to Surfside.

I live on the east side of Pearland and I hate 45!

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I don't ever take 45 to Surfside and I live on the Upper East Side.

288 FTMFW.

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Yessir, this is the way to go. Stop off at Dorado's Dive Club, Red Snapper Inn or Kitty's on the way.

DO NOT speed through Surfside, no matter how bad you want to.

I always say Surfside over Galveston for actual beach going. The drive differences from Tomball appear to be pretty close according to google, dependent on which beach you hit in both areas. Surfside has better beaches and you can drive on them.

I haven't been to the end of the island this year, so I don't know if anything has changed. It hasn't in years so it's probably still this way:

Do not pull off Bluewater Highway into any beach access spot that has a sign saying you need a Surfside Beach Permit. Keep driving north up the island. You eventually get to the free beach, no permit required. You'll be closer to SLP than Surfside proper. There are a few spots where you just turn off the road and you're on the beach.

If your kids need to burn off a little more energy before the drive back, you can go to the jetty park at the far south/west end of the island on your way back. They put a huge playground in right next to the jetty so you can still soak some shrimp in the channel while the little ones play. Momma would need to be watching them though. The playground structure very tall and that spot is usually pretty busy.