Only 58 miles south of Houston, Texas

With its unspoiled shoreline, Surfside Beach, Texas is the perfect retreat for people who want to relax in a fully furnished beach house.

Things to do (Most of these activities are FREE)

Texas' best sports fishing

• 21 miles of freely accessible shorelines
• You can usually find good fishing from the beach right in front of your house
• Redfish this size are common in the fall, but the legal keep size is 20”-28”. With a license you can keep two oversized fish per year. The man pictured caught nine, and he released them all
• But, they’re delicious either grilled or blackened

• Deep sea fishing
• Surfside is only a short boat ride from some of the best fishing areas on the Gulf Coast
• Many varieties of Snapper, Grouper, King Mackerel, Amberjack, Ling, Dolphin (Dorado), & Tuna are caught

• For more, go to Saltwater Fishing at Surfside Beach
  • Basics for newcomers
  • Expectations and fishing licenses
  • Fishing guides and boat charters
  • Surfside Jetty County Park. FREE
  • Surfside boat ramp – easy access to the open Gulf. FREE

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43 lb Red Fish
Caught from beach

Tuna & Red Snapper
Caught Offshore
(click to enlarge)

Exploring

Discovering

Crabbing

Birthday parties

Playing with family

Playing with Dad (click to enlarge)

Worn out with Dad (click to enlarge)

A very special, affordable family outing

• There are plenty of fun things for kids to do at the beach that are FREE
  
  
• Looking for shells and other “treasures”
• Playing in the sand
• Catching crabs
• Playing with Mom or Dad
  
  
• Crabbing enthralls young children. It involves dangling a baited bit of string into the water and pulling up hungry, scrambling crabs.
  
  
  • The addition of a crab net and/or a ring net trap adds to the expense but you’ll catch more crabs.
  • Surfside Fishing Jetties and across from Stahlman Park are usually productive.
    
    
• If you are so inclined, you can rent moonwalks, popcorn, cotton candy, and snow cone machines to be delivered to your beach house. One source is McCoy’s at 979-266-8857
  
  
• While supervised children’s parties are welcomed, we cannot rent our houses for adults or teenagers to party in
  
  

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Watch dolphins playing

Surfside has several pods of dolphins that can often be seen frolicking in the surf. These dolphins were photographed playing about 60 yards offshore in front of one of our houses.

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Enjoy one of the Audubon Society's favorite birding site locations in America

Brown Pelicans

Blue Heron

• Southern Brazoria County has ranked #1 in the North American Christmas Count four times in the last 20 years.
• During this time over 326 species have been sighted.
• An additional 50 migrant bird varieties converge during the Spring migration period from March to mid-May.

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Discover a rare sea turtle’s nest

One of the joys of the beach is discovering what has washed (or crawled) ashore. In May, 2007 an observant guest discovered a rare Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle laying 110 eggs directly in front of one of our beach houses.

While the Kemp’s Ripley was once the 12th most endangered species in the world (fewer than 1,000 nests in 1985), it is now recovering and dozens of nests are found each spring along the Texas coast. If you are fortunate enough to spot one of these large turtles, please call (866) TURTLE-5.

In this instance, U.S. Fish and Wildlife personnel came and carefully collected the eggs. They were taken to Padre Island Natural Seashore where they will be incubated and released back into the Gulf.

The safe recovery of these eggs made the front page. You can read about this wonderful discovery at:
http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=a5260af54a0f3981

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Bridge Harbor Marine Center & Yacht Club

San Luis Pass
Minutes from Gulf or bay

Recreational Boating

• Surfside is directly on the Gulf of Mexico
• Fastest access to blue water in the Houston/Galveston area
• Only a short boat ride to some of the greatest fishing areas on the Gulf Coast
• Repair shops, dry stack marinas, and free public boat ramps
• Home of Bridge Harbor Marine Center & Yacht Club
• One of our houses is set up with the boater in mind. The Buccaneer is at San Luis Pass, has drive though under house boat storage, and access to a private boat ramp.

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Sea Center Texas

• $13 Million, state of the art fish hatchery and Visitor Center
• World's largest hatchery for red drum (also known as red fish)
• Produces 20,000,000 red drum fingerlings per year
• Currently working to spawn spotted sea trout
• 50,000 gallon salt water aquarium.
• Two 12-foot Touch Pools--touch and feel blue crabs, hermit crabs, starfish, urchins, clams, snails, and anemones
• 5,000-gallon jetty exhibit + 5,000-gallon artificial reef + 2,200 gallon Coastal Bay aquarium + 1,000-gallon salt marsh exhibit
• Guided tours are available, call 979-292-0100
• ADMISSION IS FREE

HOW TO GET THERE: Sea Center Texas is in Lake Jackson at 300 Medical Drive. To get there from the stoplight in Surfside, take Texas 332 toward Lake Jackson. In 10½ miles you will come to a stop light at Plantation Drive (there is a Randall’s Food Market and a large Buckie’s on the left). Turn left. Plantation Drive dead ends at Sea Center Texas.

For more information, call 979-292-0100
website: www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/visitorcenters/seacenter/

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Brazosport Center for the Arts and Sciences

Generously endowed by Dow and other local benefactors, this is a remarkable collection of resources. Rated one of Top Ten Museums in Texas by Frommer's Travel Guide and in 2004 was chosen BEST in category of “Best Attractions/Museum” by the Texas Travel Counselors.

• Brazosport Center Stages
  • Oldest theatre group on the Texas Coast
  • Teen summer programs
• Brazosport Planetarium
  • NASA scientists train here
  • Planetarium shows most Tuesday evenings
  • Can be reserved for private group showings
• Brazosport Art League
  • Local and traveling exhibits
  • Art classes for adults and kids
• Brazosport Museum of Natural Science
  • Largest sea shell collection in the southern United States
  • Wildlife and fossil exhibits
• Affiliated Groups: Visitors are welcome
  • Brazosport Archaeological Society
  • Brazosport Birders
  • Sea Shell Searchers of Brazoria County
• The Clarion at Brazosport College
  • 600-seat concert hall
  • Several concerts each year

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Elizabethan Madrigal Feast

Guests are transported back to 1587 to Celebrate a Christmas feast with Queen Elizabeth I and the Earl of Warwick. An elaborate feast for the eye and the palate is accompanied by music of the era.

Two weeks in November and December, even-numbered years only. Presented at the Brazosport Center for the Arts and Sciences.

For more information, http://www.bcfas.org/newsletter.pdf

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Lake Jackson Historical Museum

• Dozens of video presentations, hands-on exhibits and interactive displays.
• World’s first composite airplane that was "invisible" to radar. Precursor to the Stealth Aircraft.

Call 979-297-1570
website: www.lakejacksonmuseum.org

 

Fort Velasco Historical Museum

• Since being discovered by the Spanish in 1528 Surfside has played a pivotal role in Texas’ history.
• This small, FREE museum in on the second floor of Surfside’s City Hall at 1304 Monument Drive.

For more, go to Historical Events

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Dive the beautiful Gulf of Mexico "Flower Gardens" Reef

• Located 115 miles offshore, the Flower Garden Banks are the northernmost living coral reefs on the continental shelf
• Each August the waters of the Flower Gardens explode with an effervescent white glow as the coral reefs begin spawning
• The Stetson Bank is closer and is worth diving, but it does not have coral reefs

website: www.flowergarden.noaa.gov

Underwater Expeditions	979-285-0600
HydroSports Scuba	979-285-0600
Gulf Diving	979-233-4445

 

Dive Mammoth Lake

• Drive 10½ miles from stoplight in Surfside, check equipment, and dive
• 55-acre, 70-feet deep dive lake
• Scheduled to open in spring of 2008

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Elaborate playing
(click picture to enlarge)

Simply playing

Play in the Sand

Whether you build something elaborate or quite simple, there is something wonderfully relaxing about playing in the sand.

It’s FREE. And, adults enjoy it just as much as kids.

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Play in the Snow

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Run on the beach

• “Best run you’ve probably never done.” Roberta Macinnis, Running Columnist, Houston Chronicle
• Surfside Beach Marathon & Half Marathon is held each February
• Only Marathon in the US run almost entirely on a beach

email: surfsidemarathon@yahoo.com

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Gamble on a Casino Boat

TEXAS STAR CASINO GAMBLING BOAT

The Texas Star Casino is docked at its own dock at Surfside. They have put a lot of money into it, but they don’t have all of the required licenses yet. It is anybody’s guess as to when they will start sailing.

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Pedestrian Beach

Located on the west side of Surfside Beach. This area has been set aside for beach visitors to enjoy the beach without any interference from vehicles. It is perfect if you have small children. Off-beach parking is permitted adjacent to the beach.

A number of our beach houses are located on this car-free beach.

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Galveston Island

Because we have so much less traffic than Galveston, it is often more relaxing to stay at Surfside Beach and drive over to Galveston if you want to do something over there.

Galveston Beach Houses. Galveston has a number of very nice beach houses. Although most of the houses on the first row at Galveston are privately owned and not available for vacation rental, there are beachhouses in Galveston a few streets back from the beach that can be rented.

Some of the fun activities on Galveston Island:

• Cruise Ships
• Dickens on the Strand
• Mardi Gras
• Moody Gardens
• Schlitterbahn

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San Luis Pass

Buccaneer

San Luis Pass/Treasure Island

San Luis Pass links Galveston Bay with the Gulf of Mexico. It is spanned by a mile long bridge ($2.00 toll) and forms the back entrance to Galveston Bay. San Luis Pass is ten miles east of Surfside Beach (13 miles from the stop light).

Treasure Island is on the Surfside Beach side of San Luis Pass. It has the beaches, fishing, and reduced traffic of Surfside, but is ten miles closer to Galveston. One of our houses, the Buccaneer is at Treasure Island.

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Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historical Park

In 1824, Martin Varner, one of Texas' original 300 colonists started his sprawling plantation on the Brazos River. Governor James Hogg purchased it in 1901, and his daughter Ima Hogg donated the property to the state of Texas in 1958.

Majestic ante-bellum home with many Hogg family heirlooms, period furniture and historic documents

For more information, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/varner or call 979-345-4556.

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Interesting site on the way to Surfside –
Stephen F. Austin Statue

(Click on pictures of statue to enlarge)

A 72-foot tall cement likeness of Stephen F. Austin, the father of Texas, stands on the east side of Highway 288, midway between Highway 35 and the north edge of Lake Jackson. The huge sculpture was designed by sculptor David Adickes who also designed the 67-foot tall statue of Sam Houston near Huntsville, Texas.

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George Observatory

Brazos Bend State Park

4,897 acres and 3.2 miles of Brazos River frontage provide some of the state’s most magnificent hardwood bottomland. Good possibility of seeing a few alligators. Brazos Bend State Park is in the area of Stephen F. Austin's first colonial land grant from Mexico and Texas’ first Anglo colonization.

For more information, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/brazos or call 979-553-5101.

George Observatory is located in the Brazos Bend State Park. It is home to one of the country’s largest telescopes, the 36-inch Gueymard Research Telescope—similar to NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope – as well as two smaller domed telescopes. A satellite facility of the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

For more information, visit www.hmns.org or call 713-639-4629.

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Grocery stores

• Surfside has two “seven-eleven” type grocery stores. Both carry a reasonable assortment of groceries and drinks.
• Buckie's on the way to Surfside (on the corner of Highways 332 East and 523) has the cheapest price for crushed ice (99¢ for 20 lbs).
• The closest full sized grocery store is Randall's in Lake Jackson. From the stoplight in Surfside, go west on 332 for 10½ miles. It will be on your left, across the street from another Buckie’s.
• Two miles north of Randall's is a Wal-Mart Supercenter. It is one block west of the 332 West and 288 intersection.

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Golf at several 18-hole golf courses

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Numbers to know

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Shopping

Surfside Beach is a relaxed, casual beach resort. But on the north edge of Lake Jackson at the intersection of Highway 332 and 288 is Brazos Mall. In the Mall and immediate neighborhood are several large stores, including:

Dillard's	Penny's	Academy
Target	Wal-Mart	Sears

The mall also has a fourteen-screen movie theater and several casual restaurants.

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Surfside Jetty County Park

• 1,500-foot flat-top surface over granite boulders
• Puts the casual, or serious fisher person within easy reach of moving tides and feeding fish
• Volleyball courts and small playground

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Surfside Stahlman Park

Stahlman Park is located on the beach front in Surfside Beach. The popular pavilion was destroyed during Hurricane Ike. Ground has been broken on a new building and it should be completed in time for the 2010 summer season. The pavilion will have a large open meeting area, a kitchen (equipped with range, refrigerator, ice machine), and handicap accessible restrooms.

The pavilion can be reserved for private use though the Village of Surfside Beach. For more information call: 979-233-1531

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Freeport Municipal Park

A nice, well equipped park, eleven miles from Surfside. Has a new, well laid out pavilion, the River Place. With planning, can be made elegant. Overlooks Brazos River. Has an excellent playground.

website: http://www.freeport.tx.us/RiverPlace/RiverPlace.html

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Accommodations

There are a variety of accommodations to choose from on this island. Beach houses (many directly on the ocean), motels, R.V. parks, and camping all can be found at Surfside Beach. Our houses can be viewed at the Accommodations tag, and the prices are available at Pricing Information.

Accommodations for larger groups

If you have a family reunion, church retreat, or business meeting planned, Surfside (just down the coast from Galveston) has two beachfront houses, the 9-bedroom Texas Giant and the 7-bedroom Texas Star that may be perfect. The beach front setting of these large, attractively furnished houses make them ideal for your special get-to-gathers.

The Austin American-Statesman had this to say about family reunions at Surfside Beach in their Texas Traveler section:
    www.statesman.com/travel/content/travel/041303/0413beaches.html

If your group is not quite as large, the Sand Dollar has five bedrooms and there are four 4-bedroom houses, Sand Castle, Sea Castle, Buccaneer, and Captain’s Quarters that can accommodate up to 16 guests. Alternatively, the following pairs of houses are next to each other and when rented together can accommodate the following number of guests:

For more information: Reunions and Retreats

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If you have any questions about vacationing at Surfside Beach,
or if you would like to reserve one of our houses,
please call us at 713-995-6111, or go to Contact Us.

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