Things to do in Galveston with Kids

Galveston is such fun historic beach town to explore.

My kids and husband live for the beach. I live for weekend getaways, so a weekend trip to Galveston it was!

Since this was a short weekend get away we didn’t want to cram too much into the short time we were there. I love taking vacations and living a slower, relaxed, mindful life.

We stayed at a condo through AirBnB putting us beachfront. We use AirBnB every time we travel. I can’t say enough good things about it. We rented this condo from Angela through AirBnB and it was perfect for us. The condo also had access to a heated-pool and hot tub, it was beautiful. If you haven’t used AirBnB I highly suggest it. You can find a coupon for $40 off your first booking here.

After checking into our condo – of course the first place we went was:

The Beach

What can be said about the beach? It was gorgeous! This was my little man’s first time to the beach. He was so chill the whole time, I think he loved the sound of the waves – just like his daddy. The girls were loving life burying each other and building sand castles.

A must mention we take everywhere but especially on our beach trips is this fold up waterproof beach blanket. Its so big and makes for an easy clean up when it’s time to leave the beach. (Did I just use beach and easy clean up in the same sentence?!)

On a side note – something to mention about Galveston – there are no “beach front” hotels or places to stay. Seawall Blvd. goes right down the beach between all the hotels/condos and the beach. As a parent I would prefer to visit an area that we can stay right on the beach but its still a great area to visit. Mostly because unlike other beach areas in Texas, the unique attraction to Galveston is their Pleasure Pier.

Pleasure Pier

We spent several hours on the pier. The girls rode all the rides for hours. I loved that I could do the whole ‘wait for my kid to finish riding the ride’ while looking out on the ocean. We bought them the unlimited rides wristband. Between the ride wristbands and our $10 ticket to walk on, it was a pricey experience. But at the end of the weekend my kids said Galveston was one of their favorite places they’ve been solely because of the pier so I guess it was worth it.

Galveston Ferry

The next day we rode the Galveston ferry. I love doing dolphin watch tours like we did in South Padre but no need to pay for a tour in Galveston. The ferry is free and we saw well over 100 dolphins while we were on the ferry.

I read several people saying to park and walk on to the ferry to avoid the long lines but since it was the off season there was no wait and we drove right on!

This was my kid’s first time on a ferry and they loved that our car was on a boat. Also it was a fun activity to teach them about a different type of transportation!

I really wanted to tour the historic Moody Mansion, but it didn’t happen on this trip.

One thing I have learned while traveling with kids is some times things don’t work out as planned BUT it allows me to tell my husband, “That’s ok, we will do it when we come back next time!” (This is why we have been to Yellowstone multiple times.)

I am proud that this is one of my strengths on vacations is to just go with the flow. I think it’s one of the most important aspects to bring along when vacationing with kids – patience and flexibility.

Galveston was such a fun weekend getaway. My kids said it was one of the best trips because how much fun they had on the pier.

We didn’t try out any of the must eat restaurants as we are at that season in our life where cooking in the condo and eating out on the balcony sounded way more enjoyable than paying $100 for a meal where the kids are acting like fools and the baby is crying the whole time.

“That’s ok, we will do it when we come back next time!”

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