Best Tent Camping near Holly Beach, LA

We camped here Memorial Weekend. The primitive camping on the beach gives an amazing view. The beach sand above the tide is so firm, that even a couple 5th wheel Camping trailers had driven out to primitive spots. The spaces are spaced out really far, though, so thankfully we could not hear the generators. The primitive "sites" are really just posts along the grass before the dune line that have a trash barrel. There is no real enforcement of how close you are to the post, and no designated tent pad or fire ring. You can just dig out an area of sand for your campfire.

There are no showers or restrooms for the beach. However, there are drop toilets in the RV camping area, that you can walk or drive to. There is also an outdoor shower in the day use area along with a spigot that we used to wash dishes.

If there is a light breeze, then camping here is awesome. Unfortunately, swarms of no-see-ums appear if the wind stops. The wind stopped during the middle of our second night, and we were bitten so many times that it looked like we had poison ivy. The little bugs found a way into our tent. We actually decided to skip out at bedtime on our third night because the wind died down again. The bugs were swarming us and our citronella candles, and nothing seemed to deter them.

On the marsh side, there are several paddling trails. The ranger station rents out canoes and kayaks by the hour. We saw a few alligators on those trails. On the beach, we were able to go crabbing. The beach gets pretty crowded during the day with lots of day use people playing and fishing, but they seemed to stay closer to the start of the beach and not come very far down into our primitive area.

Campground Review

I have taken The Princesses to the coast three of the last four years for camping. We hit Galveston Island State Park and North Beach - Padre Island and had a mixed bag of struggles from sun burns to cloud bursts. I hadn’t visited Sea Rim, so that’s where we headed.

We arrived with little trouble taking a few of the back road highways to avoid going through Houston. We didn’t have to wait long to get checked it. We got to our site which had water and electricity, uncovered table, fire ring, garbage pole and plenty of flat area to place a tent. The first thing I noticed though was we were the only tent campers there. Everyone else was in RVs. The beach was a 300-meter hike over a boardwalk and was almost entirely vacant for our stay. There was a lot of wild life to see at night and the coastal waters were cool and inviting. There is lots of primitive camping if you choose to head down the beach.

The grounds are apparently being upgraded, which is a must. The only showers available were the outdoor, cold water for rinsing after being in the water. The toilets were unlit outhouses. The only concessions available for purchase are wood, ice and bug spray. Also, the temperature and humidity here didn’t seem to drop at all. It felt like a warm wet blanket all night. I’ve camped in some hot weather, but this was pretty miserable. We called it after the one night and headed to a hotel in Port Arthur.

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*****Product Review*****

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get to test products from time to time and had brought along a pair of Mishmi Takin Kameng Mid eVent waterproof hiking boot. They are light weight, cooling and basically water proof. I didn’t wear them much here, but I have been wearing them for hikes in my neighborhood trails.

https://youtu.be/uRwihvuiveg

I left my foot submerged for a while and my foot was dry. The sole has a solid grip for getting over terrain and the insole give you plenty of support. The boots are a little ridged out of the box, so take a little time to break them in.

Or stay in the small, open campground with picnic tables, fire rings, water and electric hook up and a nearby comfort station. There’s an outside cold water shower and an elevated walkway crossing wetland to the beach.

The birding is absolutely fantastic so come with binoculars. I saw great flocks of Avocets feeding at the waters edge along with Willets, and a variety of sandpipers and terns including Caspian. There’s a paved trail to hike through the wetlands. Bug spray is essential.

Beach camping is available to any vehicle or camper. The upper beach sand is hard packed like a road and it goes for about three miles on the East side and about 10 on the West side.

I can’t say enough about the staff who became dedicated to rescuing me after a major storm dumped three inches of rain in a couple of hours causing an inland pond to overflow cutting a channel through the beach to the Gulf. I was stranded about two miles out in my 2X4 camper van for two delightful days before they brought out the heavy equipment and towed me across the channel and back to the real world.

Gas up in Port Arthur before driving down.

Stayed one night in 30 ft travel trailer (May 2,2022) and we were the only campers. There were other visitors/fisherman but quiet and peaceful. Restrooms clean and spacious. Shower was separate and locked but host would unlock as needed. All 7 pads are gravel, level, elevated above grass—helpful after hard rain— and would accommodate large rigs. Lake or old river course 100 plus feet from campsites. May bring kayaks next time. Road access is good and signs to guide you. One bar cell service. Each site has sewer but not conveniently located—near entrance to site and would require very long hose or require rigs to block access road when dumping This park happened to be along our route to another campground and not along major highway. Nice place to relax overnight or for few days.

The first time we went to the beach (just visited, no camping) we were able to kayak into the ocean and fish. The second time the waves were way too intense. We still enjoyed our time overall though. We got there early and picked a spot. The park ranger told us that wherever the tide was at 11am, that is where it would be at 1am. We placed our tent accordingly. There was a weird swarm of gnats that showed up both times we were there. Just gnats though.

We walked along the beach and watched the beautiful sunset. We sat in our chairs as it got dark and just took it all in. Big. Mistake. I felt tingling on my legs and stated that the gnats were back. I turned on my phone light to see how many there were and to my horror my legs were covered in... mosquitos. I'm not exaggerating. My legs were absolutely covered. This of course led to a freak out session in which we frantically tried to put everything away and get into the tent. I dove into the tent and zipped it closed, only to discover they were still on my legs. I slapped and slapped and by the end my legs were covered in mosquito bodies and blood. We managed to kill most of the ones that followed us inside and then we watched as our tent was covered from the outside in a thin layer of them. It was at this point that I realized I needed to pee but we just tried to go to sleep. (The next day we realized that I had 150+ mosquito bites...)

Fast forward to about 1am. Boyfriend wakes up because the rain flap has come unstaked and is flapping in the wind. He tells me he will get it so I roll over to go back to sleep. He steps outside of the tent (the mosquitos are long gone) and firmly tells me to get up... now. Annoyed by this, I ask why. The panic in his voice as he urges me to get up, right now, is enough to urge me to get up and see what is going on. I step outside and see the waves gently hitting our tent. Our kayaks are one wave away from being carried away, the back tires of my truck are in a thin layer of water, our grill is submerged and the bathroom tent is flooded. We work together and get everything moved a safe distance away. Remember that park ranger and her advice? Yeah, don't listen to them. Put your tent and gear as far back as you can.

Even with all of this we still mostly like this campground. You just need to be aware of the tide and the mosquito swarm that will come right at dark. Be in your tent before then and you will be fine. We enjoyed fishing and crabbing and just relaxing. It is cool that you can go from marsh to ocean in 5 minutes all within the same park. There are definitely better beaches out there though.

The Mosquito Coast Dec 2022•  We had RV campground reservations for 3 nights but left after one because of the mosquitoes. I had read reviews and came prepared with Thermacell repellent and DEET spray but were overwhelmed by the mosquitoes. My Labrador had mosquitoes swarming him. The campground and park is surrounded by a marsh. The mosquitoes are not bad on the beach where there is a breeze. The park rangers are very nice and the campground itself is nice with spacious flat spots with electric and water hook ups. A dump station is available. Verizon coverage is poor. About half the RV spots were used however I only saw one other camper outside of their RV while we were there. I guess everyone else stayed inside their RV because of the mosquitoes. If you are a first time beach camper to the Texas Gulf Coast, try boondocking on the beach here or further down the Bolivar Peninsula near Crystal Beach. You need to be away from the marsh where the breeze keeps the mosquitoes away.