South Beach — Padre Island National Seashore

PINS has always been my go to as far as Texas Overlanding goes. As someone who has traveled 99% of the country, finding a place that actually allows for on the beach camping like PINS is just about non existent.

The down side of PINS is every time I have gone it has been overflowing with garbage. A lot of times you do need to pay attention where you are stepping.

Overall the scenery is great, the dunes are right there and the water has always been extremely nice for Texas standards.

To access south beach a 4x4 vehicle is required and strongly recommended!

We've spent many winter months around the Corpus Christi, Texas area and visit South Beach frequently. Plenty to do; fishing, sunbathing, bird watching, photography, and on some evenings after dark you can spot deer and coyote come out of the sand dunes to feed on seaweed and fish remains. We prefer to camp at nearby Malequite campground for $5 a night with water, bathrooms and showers. The visitor's center has some supplies.

Such a silly thing to realize. It is the beach, after all!

But my brain didn't compute that wind + sand = sand in tents, food, pants, etc!

But, still, this spot was easily accessible for our first night in the park (even with the coastal flood warning!).

There was no one in the visitor's center when we arrived just after 5pm. But they do sell ice there if you need to stock up before heading down the beach.

There's also water, trash bins, and a bathroom at that location. Just make sure you stock up on firewood before coming into the park!

I stayed here for a month. Just me and my back packing equipment. Just beautiful.

You are able to drive down the beach to find your perfect spot to set up your tents by the dunes! Very clean chemical toilets are near the beach entrance and very clean showers are up at the visitors center. During the day you will have day visitors set up near you but not on top of you but at night it was like we were the only people on the beach! Dig a hole and you can have a fire right on the beach it is absolute heaven!

Padre Island is an awesome place to camp on the beach. The sites here are primitive campsites, so you need to bring your own water and food. I prefer this style of camping, so it works for me!

I would definitely recommend this spot to anyone down in that area.

This is one of a few campgrounds here that are “primitive” style meaning you have to bring your own water and just maybe there’s a vault toilet. Camping is free since they don’t provide you with any services. It’s a great place to camp but all our tents collapsed in the wind so you should bring a nicer tent. Wildflowers were lovely.

Tent or vehicle camping on the beach, what's not to like. The other area has electric and water hook up but call ahead and reserve. Whole area well maintained. Enjoyed my visit even though I'm more of a mountain person.

This campground and beach area is heavily trafficked by tourists and locals, but is still kept quite clean. There are basic amenities such as restrooms and trash facilities. Nothing fancy.

We've camped on the beach at Padre Island National Seashore twice. The campground has always been fully booked but there is access to the beach and you can camp on the sand. It gets a little crowded on holiday weekends but there are MILES of sand so you can just drive until you find a spot that suits your fancy. I have a 2WD vehicle and was a little concerned about getting stuck. Fortunately, there were plenty of people on their beach with 4WD who were more than willing to use their toy to pull me out.

I contemplated giving my review fewer stars because this is Texas and the beaches are not nearly as nice as those in other parts of the US. We had issues with seaweed washing up both times but the water was clean. There are no facilities on the beach but the visitors center has showers and flush toilets.