R.A. Apffel East Beach Park in Galveston

Excellent experience for the family been going there all my life and it keeps getting better

Nice clean beach. Nice views.

Decent beach. Clean. Family friendly.

Beautiful long stretch with hermit crabs, shells, and views of the giant boats! Not very crowded at all since it is so large. You can even drive in the sand! Very nice.

Well I accidently went when there was a sand castle competition starting. Wish I had been able to stay for the whole thing. Well maintained. Lots of parking. Seems very popular.

By far one of the most beautiful beaches on Galveston Island, perfect for bird watching, sunrises and shell searching.

Pretty cool place to walk around and sit around w/o any vehicles. Just pretty bad w/ Vampire Mosquitoes when the Sun goes down...seriously! Make sure you have plenty of mosquito repellents for your lil area.

Always less crowded. Love the AIA sand castles

We enjoy the annual AIA sandcastle competition.

Really nice stretch of beach. Just far enough past the major tourist areas to not be overcrowded.

For the sand castle 🏰 expedition is was really cool. Ive heard its super crowded when they are building them but if you go after like we did it was perfect, not at all crowded, and you can admire all the sand castles.

Great family beach. Lots of shops across the street. Some pretty good restaurants. Kids had a blast. Ocean water looks extremely dirty so If your looking for that pretty blue beach water, you wont find it here

The waves here are amazing, even though there’s lots of sea weed, it was an amazing experience coming with almost all of the family 😊

Restrooms need hourly service. You figure if you pay $15 for entrance there would be decent restrooms.

We had a great experience. It was clean and had plenty of room for parking and canopies. It was also nice to be able to have refreshments on the beach.

Actually nice beach water was clear. Not overly crowded and good parking

It is a very clean and family friendly beach. You can use the umbrellas provided.

Clean, not crowded, it was nice to see the ships and we enjoyed the free sandcastle building lessons. Lifeguard and beach rescue patrol frequently. Felt very safe and had a blast. Free parking for active military otherwise, $15.

Great beach. It is drive on, price is abit high at 15$ per car, but there are public bathrooms and showers at the pavilion. The beach is large with enough space for everyone. There is a huge jetty worth a walk or to fish from, but beware high tide may strand you if you dont pay attention. Great place to go watch the ships go into the channel as well. Gates stay open (freeafter dark and the light pollution is minimal so its great for star gazing. We go out for meteor showers some times. All in all great beach, price is abit high considering all the free options on the island.

Beautiful beach! Amazing water. Soft sand that doesnt burn your feet. Makes you feel like you have the entire place to yourself.

Quiet, but for a reason. You can’t set up a tent (including small sun shadeswithin 100 feet of the water unless you rent one from the approved vendor. It costs $15 to park but that doesn’t give you actual beach access, only the right to park near it. It’s like setting up a chair in the deserts of Arizona with a hot breeze and blowing sand helping to exfoliate.The one benefit is that by the time you get back to your tent from your swim you will be dry, so no towels needed.There are plenty of other free and paid beaches in the area with better access.Oh, and let’s not forget the swarms of mosquitoes at the shower…

Fun beach soccer tournament. Went home champions! 🏆

So beautiful watching the tide change. Right on the ship channel so be extremely careful when swimming. Rip currents are Hella bad on either end of the island. Dont take chances going out too far! Seashells, birding, slower pace, concessions ( summer onlyand clean!

Always love coming to East Beach to walk, breathe fresh air and watch the ships come and go in the channel. One of my favorite spots on the island

Beautiful Beach and view. Free parking outside the paid area and not to far from the shore. 4 stars for bathrooms closing at 6:30 snd having port-a-pots but they were nasty. Shells on beach but mostly thin ones with little color. Still we had a great time.

Great job on the construction!! Very nice playground as well!

Hidden gem in Galveston. Not many know about this beach and I hope it stays that way =The beach is quiet and secluded. Nice facility with bathroom and picnic tables for family. It seems especially sunny and breezy here because this beach is at the meeting point of two currents, so you get all the good stuff without the crowd. If you happen to stumble upon this gem (by reading my review for instance), keep it a secret haha, so you can enjoy it for years to come. It was so nice to sunbathe and walk along this beach. No noisy kids running around to disturb us. No crowded families trashing everywhere. We will definitely come back. I saved this as favorite on my Map.

Beautiful sunrise with our dog. Also if you get there before 7 am you do not have to pay parking.

Totally spectacular...for an early fall weekend....you have to pay for parking along seawall between the hours of 10am-6pm

Beach you can drive right up to! You are allowed to bbq, camp, horse rides available, volleyball, and open containers are allowed here. There are showers, restrooms, a small bar/snack area, and a small playground for kids. Family friendly!

We have lived in the Houston area for 8 years now and, although weve tried to make it to AIA Sandcastle Competition a few times, it just never worked out. Today we made it out to East Beach and it was well worth our wait getting to enjoy this event at long last. My son will be 16 tomorrow and its a junior in high school whos very interested in pursuing a career in the architecture field someday and is currently starting his third year of architecture classes in high school. He thoroughly enjoyed it as well and is now interested in becoming a participant in next years competition. The beach wasnt that busy today as it was the last day to view the sandcastles. Something Im sad weve missed out on for so long, but Im certainly excited to attend in the future years!

All the years of passing this beach, and I had no idea this gem was here. The outdoor showers kept my truck nice and clean! Its a clean beach as well.

It was clean, very nice, not crowded....fav beach to relax at when in Galveston

We arrived late afternoon. We were all thrown out by Galveston police at eight pm. The sun was still bright and plenty of people still enjoying the beach. All the other beaches still open but Apfel east beach was closed

I happened to come on a free day, but it is normally $12 a vehicle. The beach has lifeguards on duty and I will say that the lifeguard near where we were was awesome. He was like a hawk with eyes on everyone. The beach was really clean.

Best beach in Galveston, literally. We loved it! Clean, great sand and not crowded.

Nice beach. Parking is $12 but there is limited free parking outside the park...If u chose this option the beach is a hike. We had a great time. There were lots of people but we found a space where we could social distance, then someone leaving gave us their tent so we really had our own space. Good family outing. Theres an ice cream truck on the beach for a cool treat. Not sure of the prices we didnt buy anything.

This beach is one of the best beach location near Galveston. It’s less crowded and can find parking spots easily and great place.would prefer over actual Galveston beach location.

Easy parking! Free and $10-$20 closer to the beach depending on if its a busy day or not. Theres changing rooms, bathrooms, showers, and a bar. Sometimes there food trucks and snocones. Alcohol is allowed but NO glass!! Theres chairs with umbrellas you can use, you usually pay, the price is higher on busier days. If its very slow theyre free. This beach isnt usually as busy as the ones near pleasure pier, its very laid back and nice.

Its different from the central and West beaches. There is a free lot and $15 to park closer to the water. It has a place to get cold drinks and some food. Very relaxed, but beware of the flooding when you drive in.

Came here for Latino Mix 2019. Beach was really nice. Sand and water looked great. Only wish the event was more organized w the amount of ppl that attended. Other than that the beach is worth checking out.

This beach is great and clean. Families and their kids can have lots of fun here.You can stay here all day and listen to the ocean and relax.

the beach was clean the sand nice and firm for building sandcastles the water perfect there is a small childrens park for ages 3 to 5 perfect for that age group there is showers and changing stalls available in the park area all in all this is the perfect beach for small children and families

Life guards on duty. Had a great time with my husband. We did pay $12 for parking which isnt horrible. There is free parking further away but bring something with wheels otherwise its quite a walk.

This was such a nice beach. Parking was $13, but free parking is available too. There’s a playground by the little bar, and large bathrooms. Sadly, no showers. The beach was clean, there was a lifeguard, and it wasn’t super busy or full (we went on a Sunday afternoon)

Fantastic place with police security, very clean restrooms and beach cafeteria where you can get nice and, soft and hard drinks! Ideal to expend time with the family. Some amenities have additional $. It worth every penny!

Great beach, but be careful with parking. Make sure the sand is solid. We had to push a few cars out because people tried to get too close to the beach.

Our favorite beach spot in Galveston! Youve got a bar and restrooms there, some people sell fresh food at the seafront, theres also a mobile bar - perfect! You can find parking spaces for free (3min walk to the water). A good mix of people: not too many children (alcohol is permitted here), some young college crowds, couples, older people - I love it!

We had fun for Memorial Day.. The beach had alot of folx there but wasnt crowded.. They really fixed the beach up now.. New, clean, silky beige sand, no seaweed full of flies n mosquitos and the water was actually clearer.. Only drawback was that u can no longer drive on or up to the sea line any longer so u have to carry your stuff a very long distance to and from the parking areas.. They also now charge a fee per car to park on the beach area or u can park behind their allotted area which is an even further walk.. 😒 Its messed up for having to pay a large $15 fee and having to walk n not park at the water & sit outta your cars..

Parking is free (May 16the place was basically empty, it felt like a private beach. The ships going to/from Houston pass by and become entertainment. Great place to spend a day.