Best Dispersed Camping near Matagorda, TX

Located between Port Lavaca and Port O'connor, TX. A mile or so of no-fee camping. No designated sites. Hard packed sand/sea shell surface, with paved access roads. Beach is pretty clean but beach appropriate footware is required. There is a bath house with free lavatories. We were there in August 2019 and March 2020 and the inside showers (4) were locked. There is a free use outside shower. There are picnic tables covered with 4 open sided concrete shelters. There are trash barrels in front of all the shelters. The picinic shelter closest to the rest rooms is wheelchair accessable. No electric, sewer or water sites. This is a very windy place. If you tent camp, low profile strong tents are recommended. I've seen many RVs with generators, PV solar arrays and wind turbines. There are small convience stores and bait and tackle stores nearby. There is a fishing pier towards the Southern part of the beach. A few RV campgrounds in the area. It is kept pretty clean. In the warmer months the crabs like to hide in the bathrooms out of the sun. Don't be alarmed, they stay away from people. Don't miss the Camel memorial at the Southernmost entrance. There is a Geocache in the area.

Just chill. The place is clean, not much around and free. The beach is made up of shells, not sand, so some sort of protective shoes are needed. That aside, there is not much to do here except to relax. And that is just we wanted.

When we stayed in early April there were plenty of other campers but at least I haven't been subjected to the sound of generators. It appears everyone is here for the same reason, chill.

This is dry camping so bring everything you need. Any size rig will fit. Cell service is fair with 2 to 3 bars of Verizon 4g service.

Some places are just best discovered than read about, and Magnolia Beach is one such place. We came for a night, and stayed for a week. This place just might win the award for the most chilled-out camping area on the continent– but it would have to muster enough enthusiasm to enter the contest. Rather, all enthusiasm here is geared toward fishin’ and sittin’. 

Drive through the small village into an unassuming beachside residential neighborhood and out onto the beach itself, where there is room to park nearly 100 RV’s. Most tent campers set up at one of the picnic pavilions where there is a bit more beach grass. The bathroom building has flush toilets, warm-ish showers (individual stalls), and external beachside rinse off showers. 

Since the area does not charge a dime for your stay of up to 14 days, it is super important to take care of the place, i.e. don’t ruin it for everyone. So, bring plenty of drinking water, and carry away all your rubbish. The area does have trashcans, but not a large collection dumpster. 

There is one convenience store/ take away restaurant with the usual suspects of chips, and beer–you can get a pizza to take back with you to the beach. The closest town with grocery stores, and other services is Port Lavaca, about 12 miles away. There is another similar camping area just down the road toward Indianola which has a similar set up if you find Magnolia Beach too noisy or crowded.