Padre Island National Seashore

So glad we visited! There is tons of shaded seating areas near the visitors center and a water bottle refill station inside. The beach was great, the sand is soft fine and soft. We saw one Portuguese Man of War that had washed onto shore, so watch out for those! But there is a sting treatment kit in the visitors center if anything happens

It is amazing seashore, you can drive 110 km!!! And camp on the ocean shore.
The sad part, as you go further and further more and more trash on the beach, humanity are shocking!!!
For entrance you need to have Annual pass, or pay fee for day use (I believe 10$) and for camping about 12$. So it’s not like free camping. But experience is amazing!

We love to come here and walk the beach. This time the sand was firm so we drove a few miles south, parked, and then walked 10 miles on the beach. What a great experience. Very quiet for an early November Saturday.

Nice picnic area by the windsurfing.

Friendly staff in the visitor center.

One surprise was solid-identification twice for a Common Black Hawk which is supposedly extremely rare in this area.

Nice quiet location. Clean beach. The gift shop is small but there was a nice selection of postcards and magnets. The people working in the shop were extremely friendly and had helpful information for us. The seagulls on the beach appeared to be more cautious around people than at other local locations. The young man in the booth at the entrance was always very personable! Nice group of employees overall.

A beautiful spot. Busy on a Saturday morning but we were able to find an empty area to sit. Spent the whole day there, beautiful view. Lovely water.
Did see lots of Blue Buttons and Man-o-wars, but no one got stung.
No one left any trash behind during our visit so that's always nice to see. Everyone around us was friendly and no one was blasting loud music, wonderful experience.
The showers in the visitor center were closed but there are some in the parking lot too so no issues
$10 to get in unless you have the year pass or free for military.
Check their schedule too, sometimes you can come watch a turtle hatchling release