Tucked onto Mustang Island between Port Aransas and North Padre, this state park is the laid-back, set-up-for-you counterpart to the wild National Seashore — more than five miles of Gulf beach with real campsites, hot showers, and a famous paddling trail, all an easy drive down Highway 361.
Camping made easy
There are two ways to stay. About 50 drive-up primitive sites sit right on the sand for the full toes-in-the-Gulf experience, and 48 campsites with water and electric hookups are set back roughly a third of a mile from the beach, near full restrooms with hot showers. It's the comfortable middle ground between a beach resort and roughing it down South Beach. Reserve through Texas Parks & Wildlife.
What to do
- Swim and beachcomb along five-plus miles of Gulf shoreline
- Fish the surf or the back bay
- Launch a kayak — the park anchors the Mustang Island Paddling Trail
- Bird the dunes and flats, especially during spring and fall migration
- Hunt a geocache or fly a kite in the steady breeze
Hub of the paddling trail
The park is the launch point for the roughly 20-mile Mustang Island Paddling Trail — three connected segments that hug the calm back-bay shoreline on Corpus Christi Bay, gliding over shallow seagrass flats full of redfish and trout. It's some of the most beginner-friendly flatwater on the coast.
A perfect base camp
Mustang Island State Park sits on the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail and makes an ideal home base: Port Aransas and its free ferry are just up the road, and Padre Island National Seashore and Aransas National Wildlife Refuge are short drives away. The park even keeps a couple of loaner beach wheelchairs.
Wild vs. developed
If the National Seashore is about solitude and self-sufficiency, Mustang Island State Park is about ease — hookups, hot showers, a ranger station, and gentle, accessible sand. It's a great first taste of Texas coast camping before you graduate to airing down your tires for South Beach.
Book it and check it
Unlike the National Seashore, sites here are reservable — and they go fast for spring and summer weekends.
- Mustang Island State Park — TPWDThe official park page: $7/day entry for adults (kids 12 and under free), hours, alerts, and park rules.(361) 749-5246tpwd.texas.gov
- Reserve a campsiteTexas State Parks' reservation system for the water/electric and drive-up beach sites, or call (512) 389-8900.texasstateparks.reserveamerica.com
- Mustang Island Paddling Trail mapsGPS points and maps for the three back-bay trail segments that launch from the park.tpwd.texas.gov
Pitch a tent where the dunes meet the Gulf, shower off the salt, and fall asleep to the surf — without needing four-wheel drive to get there.
Found this useful? There's plenty more where it came from.
Browse all guides
