REVIEW: Galveston Island State Park

Feb 16, 2014 Abel Longoria Camping, Campsite Review, Reviews 0

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I took a drive down to Galveston Island without having a plan on where to stay for the night. I stopped in at two different RV Parks and both were completely booked up. I drove further down to West Beach and then came across Galveston State Park . I asked if they had any available spots and was told they had one tent camp site left so I took it. It was a Water Only/No Electricity Site and it wasn’t on the beach side as I had hoped, it was on the bay side across the highway from the main Park Office.

For grins I decided to drive through the beach side camp sites and take a look in case I wanted to book there again later. I wasn’t too impressed with the camp sites available but it would be a cool spot if you’re really there to enjoy the beach. I also took a look at the Bathhouses on the beach side camping sites and they only had restrooms, no showers. Ugh. I know After a long day on the beach with the sand and salt water I myself would be dying for a shower right after. Well that’s not going to happen on the beach side camp sites. The map below denotes showers but maybe I somehow missed them or the map denotes future plans for the bathhouses. Who knows.

I headed across the highway to my campsite for the night. I wasn’t expecting much nor did it really matter since I was only staying for one night. Pulled into the circular campsite area which contained 10 camp sites and the main bathhouse in the center. Each campsite had a covered picnic table with a small fire pit and a water spigot. The sites were a little close to each other for my liking, maybe I’m just used to bigger sites and more trees around to distance yourself from the neighbors. This being Galveston Island there were no trees or no natural buffer between you and the next group.

I haven’t camped a ton here in Texas but what I can say is that the bathhouse located in the tent camping site is the BEST I’ve seen in any park I’ve stayed at. Very large and very new facilities so everything worked and the showers were nice and hot. All sections of the campgrounds were occupied but the bathhouse always seemed empty which was very nice.

There was indeed plenty of counter space for those campers that like to spread out a bit while getting ready for bed or washing up in the morning.

Baby changing stations in both the Men’s and the Women’s restroom.

As I mentioned earlier, this is by far the nicest and cleanest bathhouse I’ve been in at any camp site or rv park. You can tell this was a very new addition to the park based onwhat the bathhouses on the beach side camp sites looked like. I really hope they upgrade those beach side bathhouses soon as well. It’d make for a great upgrade!

One thing I prefer is a shower stall with a small area where you can place your clothes, towel and other stuff at while you shower. These stalls had that. lock the door behind you and place all of you belongings in the area next to the shower stall. Perfect.

I stayed in campsite #41 which is a tent site located on the lower left portion of this map. The overall camping experience here wasn’t the nicest but it was nice being so close to the beach and to the city of Galveston itself. A few of the other campers in our area had kayaks and such so they spent the day out in the bay fishing. I bet that was a lot of fun.

The next day on my way out I swung by the RV camp site which sat next to the tent camp sites and I noticed they didn’t have a bathhouse at all. No restrooms or anything. Guess the park assumes an RV would have all of that built in so no need to provide it. I must say even though the park map shows showers on the beach side camp sites I can swear that I did not see any when I walked through them. I guess a good tip is if you are staying on the beach side camp sites and want a good shower you should drive over the highway into the tent camping area and you’ll be set. Yes it is a bit of a inconvenience BUT you will be nice and clean after said inconvenience. =)

Would I stay here again? Yes. Would I go out of my way to stay her again? Ehhh Probably not. I do know that if I did stay here again I would stay in the tent camp site area simply for the nice hot showers.

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• camping, galveston, review

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