Stretching 7 miles along Texas State Highway 87 in the middle of Bolivar Peninsula, Crystal Beach offers a variety of things to do that made it a popular destination all year-round. Crystal Beach, (and the entire Bolivar Peninsula), is accessible by Ferry from Galveston Island, and via Hwy 124 from the east side. Instead of a bridge connecting Galveston Island to the Peninsula, Texas DOT operates several Ferries to transport tourists and residents alike to and from this glimmering island, for free.
Crystal Beach: Things to do
1. Stay in one of the over 60 colorful Beachfront Hotels, Vacation Homes and House Rentals; Bed and Breakfast, and Motels.
2. Seagull or bird watching. Sitting on a chair, relaxing, or just watching the unending waves.
3. Collecting seashells in the seashore. We saw people scavenging for sea shells and beach combing even at night using just their flashlights.
4. Coastal fishing, crabbing, and swimming, sun bathing, or people watching.
5. Playing, Running, walking, jogging. Or just hanging out on the beach.
6. Camping and camp fires.
7. Parking/driving on the beach. There is a permit required to park on the beach; it could be purchased in one of the gas stations/grocery stores. They ran out of passes printout/parking sticker during our visit, so we got to park on the beach free; and chatted with the roving officer too.
8. Chasing sunrise, and or Sunset; moon and stars gazing at night.
Outside of the beach area, people can golf, eat fresh seafood, and enjoy local restaurants. We had a great dining experience at Hardheads Restaurant.
The sand is brown, but sand between the toes need no color; there were Sargassum seaweeds when we were there, but they do clean up the beach regularly; it gets really dark at night, but it makes the stars and moon so clear.
Crystal Beach is served by the Bolivar Chamber of Commerce, which is the official source for business, tourism, and government information for the Bolivar Peninsula.
Crystal Beach, Bolivar Peninsula, Texas.
4 Comments
Lovely series of photos. Beautiful skies!
Thanks. 🙂
Looks like a little slice of heaven! Very cool that you can park/drive on the beach. Only one place I know of along the entire CA coast where you can do that.
Indeed. I see that it is not very common, so I think we are kind of lucky 🙂