Best Tent Camping near Goliad, TX

I’m from Goliad, so whenever I feel like getting outdoors I can just drive 15 minutes down the road to the park and enjoy a day hike or a weekend out in the woods. The park is awesome lots of Historic sites and lots of history in such a small town. The park has Tent sites, small cabins for rent and restrooms with showers that are always clean. They also have RV hook ups with plenty of room and shade trees. The nature trail is nice too. Definitely recommend for anyone that has not visited before.

This Texas State Park is located in Goliad Texas. This is in the south central area of the state between Victoria and Austin on Highway 183. The park has some great historical sites including a 16th century Spanish mission. The campground is situated along the San Antonio River. You can kayak along the 6 mile long kayak paddle trail or try your luck at fishing. The campground is well maintained and offers a nice range of sites from tent to RVs and small cabins. The sites are located along the river with no privacy. They have some walk in tent sites as well. The town of Goliad is a hidden gem with a rich history and some cool antique shops and cafes. We plan to stop again here on our next trip to the coast.

Not the best for tent camping in the middle of summer. Had fun but not used to the humidity

I camped here 25 years ago and it was just as lovely as I remembered. Lots of walking trails, some bird feeders and a great place to stay to go out to Aransas Reserve with Rockport Adventures boat tour. Captain Tommy knew his birds, not just Whooping Cranes.

The tent site is a "walk-in" but it was only a few feet to the site. The bathrooms and showers were clean.

Goliad is next to a historic site for Texas history. The river is beautiful and during the spring time there are tons of blue bonnets that bloom.

Well maintained park, close to Presidio and Goliad downtown. Nice bike trail and paddle destination.

Went to Goliad State Park unsure of what to expect. However, I was pleasantly surprised. My wife and I camped at the Jacales loop with a few friends. We were not expecting much given the close proximity to other sites but it turned out there was plenty of room to go around. The facilities were in good condition and the shower had amazing water pressure. Only downside was there was only one shower in the women’s restroom. Other thank that, everything was great.

The sites weren’t too bad, but there were a lot of ants and insects around that’s even more than usual. Definitely bring a tent screen. I don’t think it’s specific to the campsite as there were insects all around town, or probably due to the time of the year. Other than that, campgrounds were clean and easy to enter. Historic sites were close by and interesting.

Historic Texas and Mexican sites within a quaint little park.

Each site is very spacious. Lots of trees and shade for South Texas. Bathrooms were ok. Lots of bugs but clean.

Goose Island SP is a great little hidden gem of a park on the Texas Gulf Coast.  The camping area is small, but they've arranged the spots very well, with good vegetation between each spot that hides your spot from your neighbor.  They offer both 30 amp and 50 amp service, water, fire ring, table on cement pad and nice flat spots.  Good day use spots and excellent boat ramp with a fish cleaning table.  Yes there are bugs, but this is in the middle of reclaimed wetlands, so be prepared!  This is their world and we must adapt.  The bay-side camping area is the island part of the park and is still being renovated (as of Aug 2020), but according to park staff, they should be open by Nov 2020.  There is also a brand new, huge pier with boat access and fishing that will be open soon.  Near-by there is "The Big Tree", purported the oldest tree in Texas (1000-2000 years old!) and Rockport beach and all the other Texas coast attractions.   Highly recommend and we will be returning soon.

I visit a lot of the state parks in Texas. Goose Island is a good one. It's a great area for fishing because it's really close to rockport. While most of the state parks do not have WI-FI, they say they do. It's very poor. I have T-Mobile, and the cell service at Goose Island was great. 5G was great. Also, the digital TV signal was excellent. The park staff was very friendly and helpful. Goose Island is close to Walmart. HEB and many other stores in restaurants. The park all around is great. I will definitely return.

This island state park is dedicated to getting out on the water and putting out a fishing line. I think there were more sport fishing folks than birds– and that’s saying something. The Bayfront area camping loops are set right up to the shore and offer amazing views of the bay, sunrise and sunset. The sites are packed rather close together, but there is certainly enough room for trailers and tents of all size.  All campsites offer water and electricity. The bathroom building is relatively clean and updated, has flush toilets, and external access individual shower stalls. Pro-tip: third shower from the left has good enough pressure to remove a tattoo!

The area is great for all kinds of low-key activities like fishing, biking, walking, paddling etc. I wouldn’t go here if I had my heart set on swimming, though. The water is relatively shallow and in the middle of a massive oyster colony, pretty sharp edges on those bi-valves– so be careful. 

One of the best activities, especially during the winter months, is birding. The area is the winter home to the endangered Whooping Cranes, Sandhill Cranes, Spoonbills and many, many more. Grab your binoculars and your birding guide! 

The only real downside is that the boat launch is extremely popular with airboat enthusiasts and their engines are crazy loud. If being awoken at 4am by some hunter/fisherman launching his boat isn’t your thing, then I’d suggest choosing the wooded area of this state park, away from the water and noise.

The wooded area camping loops wind through lovely groves of Texas Live Oak, and Loblolly Pine, which make great habitat for winter warblers. The sites are spacious and set reasonably apart from each other to offer some privacy. Most campsites offer water and electricity. These sites are MUCH quieter than the Bayfront sites, which are plagued by loud boat engine traffic.  This area is much for secluded, thus not alot of walk/drive by traffic going through.

The bathroom building with internal hot-water shower stalls was relatively clean and updated. The area is great for all kinds of low-key activities like fishing, biking, walking, paddling etc. I wouldn’t go here if I had my heart set on swimming, though. The water is relatively shallow and in the middle of a massive oyster colony, pretty sharp edges on those bi-valves, so be careful. 

One of the best activities, especially during the winter months, is birding. The area is the winter home to the endangered Whooping Cranes, Sandhill Cranes, Spoonbills and many, many more. Grab your binoculars and your birding guide!

We came into this park on the 4th day of the big Texas freeze this past winter. Unfortunate for them,  pipe broke and they were out of water at the time. But it was fixed a couple days after we arrived. 

  Now as for the park. It has a section of 30 amp services which are in some shades and are on concrete, a newer area in the park has been created which for the most part is in a field, with new 50 amp service and are on grass. All sites have water and sewer as well. There are seasonal/annuals in the park I would say about 25% of 30amp service is. If you choose to be one, you need to go to the town and get a permit otherwise there is a two week limit to camp here. 

  We use ATT on Nomad Internet and Verizon & T-Mobile on our phones, ATT Wi-Fi was 4 bars and our phones were each 3 bars and no issues with any of the services,

  There is  bath house located in the center of the park as you come into the entrance. The park is on a "park and hook up and then pay" system. After setting up to go to the front of the bathhouse and leave a check or cash into a box. The city of Yoakum maintains the park and it is well kept. Garbage dumpster is free and available as well. There is a playground for kids as well  as right next to a full size golf course. So you could get into your golf cart and right over to the clubhouse while never getting on a roadway.  The cost is very cheap, we paid $13 a night with senior discount, regular price is $15  That is FHU!! You will hear a plan or two during the day as there is a small airport down the street, but the low flying small planes are not too disturbing. The town of Yoakum is 5 minutes from your location and it has a Family dollar and a H.E.B as well as a few cool shops.

  If your ever out that way and need a place to stay that is friendly, clean and quiet for the most part, you won't be disappointed.

We are in site 17. A little uneven but pull through and lots of shade around the fire pit. Mission is beautiful. For being a small park they have several activities.
I would recommend going into town and checking out all of the shops. There are a lot of eclectic items for sale.

Great historic site. Shady trails, too, along the river. We stayed at site 14. It looks like number 17 and number 19 are real shady.

The Jacales loop is quiet and dark, but it's really just camping in a big parking lot with a picnic table, shade pavilion and grill for each site. There are water and electric at all sites, and each site has two large parking spaces.

Bathroom facilities are old and small. Cleanliness was ok, but moldy shower curtains are gross. (Womens and Men's each have one shower and both curtains were moldy.)

The bike trail that runs to town and to the historic locations was great. The park itself is a great place to learn about history, but we wouldn't spend more than a couple of nights in the Jacales loop while checking out the area.

It’s great if you’re close to San Antonio. We learned a lot about the mission which is a must see

We stayed in a sheltered site in mid-April 2018. We hired 2 sites for 2 families but only used one of the shelters as they were large enough for us to share.

Shelters are unable to be locked as the fire wardens had deemed it a safety hazard as peole could be locked inside, so all external brackets have been removed. Fair enough.

Our site was nice and shady and really close to the toilet and showers (which were clean and always had paper).

The sheltered site have power and water...plus a ceiling fan inside which is fabulous to keep bugs off food (if you leave the door open or you have kids constantly in & out!)

There is a small playground for the kids - perfect for our ages (3,5 &7).

We did a trail walk one day with was lovely through the trees, but a bit hard to find the opening/start due to the map being different to the grass mowing.

The Spanish mission church and building bear the checking station was a nice touristy thing to do.

We also saw some leaf cutter ants doing their thing. Very interesting why they do it - look it up on google!!!

This park was so great. There was all kinds of history there that you can see for very low prices and also for free. In the tone of Goliath at their courthouse to have a famous hanging tree that was used to hang people still standing.. About 3 miles down the road is Presidio La Bahia. Built by the Spanish army in the mid 1700s. Home of the Goliath massacre. If you enjoy history, you're really gonna love the goalie at State park.

Close to road, 9 million dogs barking all around, loud music after midnight. Awful.

This campground has loops for travel trailers and test sites. It has pull-through, shaded sites. It is a clean campground with a relaxed atmosphere. We have camped here many times and have enjoyed each trip. Recommend going during Rio Rio.