Babe's Beach
Galveston, TX
Babe's Beach runs fifteen blocks west of 61st Street along the Galveston seawall, named for Babe Schwartz, a longtime state legislator who once worked the sand himself as a lifeguard. A multi million dollar sand renourishment project widened the stretch enough that it's been ranked among the best restored beaches in the country, and it shows. The sand here feels noticeably deeper and softer than the blocks around it.
The renourishment project genuinely set this stretch apart from the rest of the seawall, though it's still seawall parking, metered and limited rather than a dedicated lot.
How we score beachesWalk a block or two past the main access point and the crowd thins out fast, even on a packed weekend. Most people don't wander far from where they parked.
The Galveston Park Board manages metered parking along the seawall near the beach.
Stairs and ramps drop from the seawall sidewalk straight onto the sand at several points along the fifteen block stretch.
Leashed dogs are allowed.
Summer brings the widest, warmest stretch of sand, water in the mid 80s by August, while hurricane season runs June through November.
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