Matagorda Beach — Local services in Palacios

Texas coastal areas are not as popular as those of Florida, California, or other states. Galveston and its beaches and a little better known and more frequently visited, but Galveston is only one small portion of the coast and its public areas are often overcrowded in the summer. If you want to get to a somewhat more secluded beach than Galveston, then make your way westward to Matagorda Beach.

Matagorda Beach is located southwest of Houston and northwest of Corpus Christi. The beach is made up of two areas. When you’re heading south on 2031, following the signs to the beach, you will see a notice telling you to turn to the left on Beach road for public beach access. This is what I did when I visited for the first time. I then parked my car in a lot, since I didn’t have a permit to drive on the beach, and made my way on foot to the sand. I found that this beach has more people and cars/trucks on it, so after a short stay, I got back in my car and headed down a different route, straight down 2031 all the way to the nature park. This section of Matagorda Beach has fewer people.

The sand at Matagorda Beach has a good number of seashells and no seaweed that I could see, which is good. The sand is often tightly packed, due to the cars and trucks that pass over it each day. This means you can easily walk across, even wearing shoes, with little or no effort. But there are sections where vehicles do not usually pass and these are more sandy and soft. Look around and you will see a good number of people when the weather is warm, with families and friends staking out a spot. It really is a matter of walking over from the parking lot or driving your vehicle to the spot you like, then claiming your space. If you arrive and realize you forgot to bring along a beach umbrella or chair, you can rent them at the nature center.

I didn’t like seeing so many cars on the beach on the east side and for that reason, I went over the other side, close to the nature center. Once here, you will see a long, walking pier that leads you out to another section and I walked the length of the pier, then walked through the sand back to the picnic area close to the nature center. There are restrooms on this side, which is nice for convenience, but be forewarned that they are not kept up and the smell is not the best.

Texas has a long coastline and it’s great when you want to get away from the city and listen to the sounds of the Gulf of Mexico. Matagorda Beach is a nice place to escape to, watch the birds, and otherwise forget about city life for a while. The vehicles on the beach are one feature I don’t like, but you can escape most of them if you venture to the west side. It’s a good beach overall and one I would...

We had a blast beach camping a few years ago in corpus Christi that we wanted to replicate the experience, so we found this hidden treasure called matagorda beach. Only 2 short hours away from Houston, this beach is the perfect place for a weekend getaway. It's quiet and isolated which I really like so there's plenty of room for you and your family. There are showers nearby (the outside no privacy kind) and restrooms they are well maintained (I saw the guy cleaning). Nearby, you can go fishing or crabbing.

We drove up onto the beach and set up our tents and our grills. During the day we played on the sand. There are signs that say no swimming (I guess because of dangerous currents) but we mostly hung close to shore in the water. I did see some ppl swimming but they stayed relatively close and I guess they do so at their own risk (of death or of fine). I actually wouldn't recommend swimming because there are tons of jellyfish. I saw a few wash up. Also, the beach is not the cleanest.

At night, we built fire in the sand and roasted marshmallows. We slept under the stars and some of us in tents or in our cars. Some of our neighbors nearby even bought fireworks. It's very nice isolated lonely place if you just want your space and privacy to party with your peeps. I'd say for any place like this where you're free to enjoy yourself, do behave responsibly.

Tips: Do bring insect repellant. If you're walking to the washrooms at night you have to go through a field of tall grass that's the breeding ground of mosquitos. I was attacked viciously. A canopy tent is really nice especially under the...

Never again Been down here for work and my wife and daughter came to see me. My daughter, a year and a half, had us excited to show her the ocean for the first time. She was beyond excited every step closer we came to the water and waves. Set our stuff down and walked her to the edge and watched her eyes light up and her explode in excitement. We walked out a little further as my wife was on shore taking pictures of us. She went to put the phone up before walking out to join us. As she’s Bent over in the bag here comes a few younger drivers in their vehicles not watching where they were going while going WAY TOO FAST on a PUBLIC BEACH my heart skipped a beat as she about got smoked by the front vehicle, I screamed as loud as I could, he jerked the wheel and waved like “oopsie doopsie sorry dawg” No, hell no. Wouldn’t go back. That was enough for me. The sun was getting low and all the kids wanted to act cool in the truck their daddy’s bought and I damn sure wasn’t going to risk my wife get ran over cause some dumb young dude wanted to impress his girlfriend that was probably entertaining 7 other dumb young dudes.. IF you do go though, stop at the shop, buy a beach parking permit for the vehicle, stay close to the vehicle while on the beach....