The state park on the island offers camping and modest facilities. Beautiful and pretty much unspoiled, Padre Island National Seashore is a 70-mile barrier island, undeveloped and open to the public for camping and enjoying. Five miles past the visitors center just south of Corpus Christi, 4x4 vehicles are required. Those would be, again, Matagorda Island and Padre Island National Seashore. That depends on the season, of course, but many Austinites head east of Galveston to the Bolivar Peninsula for a relatively inexpensive beach vacation.
Rentals are available from Crystal Beach east to beyond the town of High Island.
Be advised that parts of the peninsula are subject to severe beach erosion. Thousands of rental units in all price ranges are available. Tent camping on the beach at Padre Island National Seashore is free. Port Mansfield, a remote town along the Laguna Madre, also is a common fishing destination. Day and half-day offshore fishing charters to snapper reefs are available in many coastal communities.