Mustang Island State Park
Port Aransas, TX
Mustang Island State Park runs along an eighteen mile barrier island south of Port Aransas, with wide Gulf sand that locals drive right onto once they're through the gate. The day use end keeps parking, showers, and portable toilets close by, while the rest of the park stretches toward primitive campsites with nothing but dunes for a neighbor. It draws anglers as often as swimmers.
Eighteen miles of drive-on beach and easy camping make this a real local go-to, though the day use area does get busy on summer weekends when everyone's headed the same direction out of Corpus Christi.
Bring a tire pressure gauge if you're driving onto the sand. Airing down a little helps a lot on the softer stretches past the day use area.
There's a day use fee per person, collected at the gate, which is open from 8am to 10pm. Parking is plentiful near the day use area, with more room the farther you drive onto the beach itself.
The day use area has a short, flat walk from parking to the sand. Past that, most of the park is drive-on beach, better suited to a vehicle than a stroller or wheelchair.
Spring and fall bring milder temperatures and thinner crowds than the height of summer, when Gulf water warms into the 80s. Hurricane season runs June through November on this stretch of Texas coast, so it's worth a check on the tropics before a late summer trip.
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