Beach Houses in Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula

Bolivar Peninsula is a 27-mile strip of Gulf beach between High Island and the Galveston ferry. No high-rises, no boardwalk. You can drive right onto the sand with a $10 county permit, park beside your chairs, and unload the cooler where you sit.

Fishing goes on all year: the surf, the bay, the Intracoastal, and charter boats off the peninsula. One of North America's four main bird-migration routes passes overhead, and Bolivar Flats has been a shorebird reserve of international importance since 1992. The Galveston ferry runs around the clock at the west end, and it is free.