Padre Island National Seashore

If you are visiting Corpus Christi for your summer holidays, then definitely one of the best places to spend your day is the Padre Island National Seashore.

This place is just great for those looking for a perfect place to practice wind surfing and overall a great place for families with kids. Just try to play shell hunting with your kids, they will simply love it.

The admission fee is $10 for a week, which proves to be ideal for those on holidays. A great period is end of July, during which you will be able to witness the sea turtle release at dawn. This day the entrance is free!

We spent a few days tent camping on the beach with the kids. A small amount of trash and a lot of space to drive down the beach and pitch a tent.

Loved driving on this stretch of beach. Must have 4 wheel, we were there in January and I felt like we were driving on our own private beach. Just our Tahoe and the beach. very nice!

I lived in Corpus for years in college so I visited this place frequently. It’s one of the only places you can drive a vehicle on the beach.. I mean.. you can literally wave romp if you don’t care about rusting out the bottom of your car.
There is one way in and one way out.. you drive for 3 hours to turn around and come out how you went in. The sand is very fine so the water visibility is zilch. Because of the ocean currents, it pushes up a ton of trash…. But, there’s a silver lining… it also pushes up loads of shells tumbled by the waves and sand. Kind of cool. You have to drive for about 2.5 hours to find “big shell”.. the shell riddled a beach. The facility is nice to wash off and picnic at after a day at the beach.
They also have sea turtle releases at sunrise during the summer months. The dates are unpredictable because they follow the hatching of the turtles.
I’ve been to much nicer national parks, as far as campgrounds, facilities and amenities, but as far as TEXAS BEACHES go.. it’s probably one of the better ones.

Stayed at Malaquite Campground. Gorgeous views, camp host very helpful.Got caught in a wicked thunderstorm and left a night early due to continued bad weather. Would have loved to stay longer.