There are so many fun things to do in Galveston, Texas. My family has enjoyed a few cruises that ported out of Galveston and we have always wanted to stay and play for a few days. We did take a trip a few years ago to Moody Gardens and the beach, but didn’t really enjoy all of the other fun things that Galveston has to offer. This week, after arriving back in port from a fun 7 day Carnival Cruise, I did get the opportunity with my girls to stay and play thanks to Galveston CVB.
Our day started early when we disembarked and made our way to Hotel Galvez. This is no ordinary hotel! It’s fancy and you feel like you are at a resort! Our rooms weren’t ready yet, but the bell hop graciously took our bags to deliver to our rooms later. We enjoyed a quick snack in the restaurant. They were setting up for a big sunday brunch and it was spectacular. SOOO much fun…seafood included. It looked scrumptious. We didn’t partake as we already had lunch reservations at Fisherman’s Wharf on Pier 21. The shuttle dropped us off and we were in for a real treat!
Fisherman’s Wharf is located on the Pier and our table overlooked the water. The kids loved seeing boats out the window as we waited for our lunch. This is NOT a restaurant you want to plan to “eat light” at! The portions are very generous and the food is mouth watering! We ordered the Galveston Trio as an appetizer and it was a lot of food! My kids tackled the queso, while I went for a Seafood Stuffed Jalapeño! Thankfully I had already ordered my dinner, because if not, I might have stopped there… The Wharf is what I ordered and it was exactly what I was craving! Fresh mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives, fried goat cheese & fried onion strings, topped with house dressing! (I added grilled chicken!) My girls ordered popcorn shrimp, chicken, and a burger. They were sure to save room for a dessert too! We shared the Pecan Pie! It was heavenly!
After we stuffed ourselves, we made our way over and booked ourselves on the Dolphin Tour. We had a little over an hour to kill so we walked over to the Great Storm Theater for a bit. My girls each made a smash penny there there!
We walked back over to the Harbor Tours and Texas Seaport Museum and looked around in the gift shop for a few minutes (and enjoyed the nice cool air conditioner!) The kids loved the old type writer! They played on it for at least 30 minutes, no kidding!
The dolphin tour was a really great value! Priced at $10 for adults and $5 for kids, you will get to see a ton of dolphins and learn a lot about Galveston. I loved hearing all of the history and learning about fun things like the haunted building, and such! We saw tons of dolphins and my kids loved it. It was about an hour long! We will definitely do this again!
After the dolphin tour, we went back to the hotel to unpack and enjoy some downtime! We did a walk around the hotel and it was beautiful! Everything about that hotel scream RELAX! Since it’s right across from the beach, we enjoyed the scenic view as well! Here are a few photos from Hotel Galvez and Spa.
We walked across the street and played at the beach before sundown. It’s beautiful! We walked along the rocks. (There are 12 sets of them and you can fish off of them!) We enjoyed the sand in our toes and running in the summer breeze! There were tons of people swimming and enjoying the water! (They do test it to make sure it’s safe!) We were too worn out from the early morning to put on our swim suits and jump in, but loved playing in the water the last time we went!
If you visit the beach along the seawall, there are tons of places to park. You will need to pay by phone. (They monitor this and if you haven’t paid, you will get a ticket…FYI!) Pleasure Pier is right off of the sea wall but we didn’t do that. We wanted to enjoy a relaxing fun time in Galveston and felt that would be more adventure then our tired (fresh off of a 7 day cruise) bodies could handle!
The next morning we set off by foot to ride the Ducks! We wanted to be on the first ride of the day which was at 9:30. We should have eaten at the hotel because there wasn’t anything open on the way (a few blocks walk!) Most shops and stores open at 10AM. Our hotel offered bikes, and when we go next time, we will ride those! (There are places around the seawall that rent family bikes… like big enough for 5-6 people!) I have written the ducks in a few cities and each time they gave us fun quackers (noise makers) to keep as part of our fun. This one did not offer that. These Ducks spend about 3/4 of their tour on roads, and about 1/4 in the water. My kids were amazed by the ability of the duck to go from tires to boat. The tour on the Ducks was more downtown area and history then Bayou. Show up 20 minutes before the tour starts to get your tickets and they do accept credit cards. (25th and Seawall Blvd!)
Last, we had heard about Star Drug store from a few friends and decided to check it out for brunch. Star Drug Store is the real deal. It’s an original. Check out our fun eats from there!
And since we were able to be in the car for 5 hours, we decided to let the girls have a few treats from La Kings Confectionary! We were there at the right time and got to watch them make salt water taffy. The kids loved it and enjoyed eating a piece fresh off the machine! You pay by the lb there for candy. They also have ice cream, shakes, malts, coffee and tons of other things.
Before leaving, we stopped by Pier 21 and picked up some fresh shrimp to take back home. I bought a pound of shrimp and they packed it well (in ice) so it would make the trip back to Dallas.
We didn’t get to stay long enough to enjoy Moody Gardens or Schlitterbahn again but you can read my posts from when we visited them last year!
I asked my Texas blogger friends if they had any posts to share about Family Fun in Galveston and here are a few that were shared with me! Enjoy:
San Luis Resort
Harbor Side Hotel
Bishop’s Palace
Pleasure Pier
Port of Galveston
Tremont House
Educational Spots in Galveston
Galveston Island
Galveston Bolivar Ferry
