Magnolia Beach Dispersed Camping

Per Campendium, the Magnolia Beach County Park has free camping right on a hard-packed sand beach that's friendly for driving on.

South of Port Lavaca is the Lavaca Bay beachfront town of MAGNOLIA BEACH. As you enter this little burg and pass the only gas station and shop you deadend onto the beach road. Turn right and follow the beach (hard oystershell beach sand) and you will start to see RV's parked next to the water. Pick your spot, be considerate of spacing and there's no need to check with or register with anybody. This can be like having your own beachfront home, just be aware of tidal range and weather forecasts for choppy seas and wind could ruin your night's sleep!

No ammenities other than sand and water, lots of oysterboat action, heavy shipping in and out of the bay, and commercial fishing boat activity going to and from the Gulf.

It can get crowded during the annual snowbird migration north. Lots of Quebecian flocks coming thru during Aprl as they slow move back home.

Garbage pickup is spotty at best so choose a site away from the garbage cans. BE WARNED!

Free boondocking. Showers with good hot water. Bathroom and showers cleaned daily except weekends and holidays. Non campers from Port Lavaca and elsewhere leave messes but experience shows the campers we met keep things clean. Great sunsets. Lots of sun for solar. Little rain during our stay and only one night for a few hours below freezing. Most days have wind. Have seen 40 mph gusts. Parking is allowed on the West side of the bathroom along the guide wire but it's noisy there with the traffic.Trash pick-up has been fair following the week and weekend cleaning schedule. Walmart is about 12 miles away in Port Lavaca. Most everything you need is there in Port Lavaca. Talbot Propane on SR35 and filles propane. Was $23 for a 30# which is expensive but the alternatives are more so. There is a Chinese Buffet, Beijing China Buffet, with good food. It's a little overpriced. I never could understand why with a mile of beach other campers decide to stay 10 to 15 feet away from you. The other reviews suggestion of leaving room makes a lot of sense to me. Generators are allowed but we try to be courteous and not run them after 10 p.m. or before 8 a.m. although there are no regulations that I'm aware of. People are fishing all the time but honestly I've only saw one person catch any fish. I guess they're not getting out into the deeper water as Rumor Has It. K&t convenience store is just a short distance away and has fresh water, ice, food, and other supplies as well as fishing supplies. Water is available there by the gallon or five gallons from a machine. The price is $0.25 a gallon by the gallon. There is a small laundry next to J & T. Reasonable dump station and fresh water for $10 is at Lighthouse Park in Port Lavaca. No dump or fresh tank fill on or near the beach.

Enjoyed our stay for the most part. Lots of room, even if there are lot of rigs there. Didn't use the showers, but it looked like there were 4 private, lockable shower rooms. Was very rainy during our stay (early March), and very humid and damp being right on the water.

Enjoyed our stay at Magnolia Beach. There's almost 2 camping areas - a large open lot area next to the water, and an area closer to the restrooms/showers with some covered picnic pavilions.

We chose the former. There you can spread out and not feel cramped in next to another camper. Plus, we could always walk down the showers or bathrooms if needed. We walked past the other camping area and it looked like campers were practically on top if each other. Why not spread out?

We came here for a long weekend. Filled our 40 gallon fuel tank and didn't really have to use the gen set other than to charge the batteries. We had stayed here before at RV parks but they are crowded. We full time in a 43' ToyHauler so it's nice to have plenty of room to maneuver. It was peaceful and the wind was blowwwwwing as usual.

I luv this place. It's makes you feel free and while it's not your typical beach experience it is awesome. We found a strip of beach front land that has natural little coves you can camp at and it's like having your own private cove. The fishing isn't that great off the beach and the wind can be horrible but it's still a great place to visit and all for free. I have read in other reviews that there is no stores but I found one that is very well stocked and the people are very friendly that run it. They have everything from high end sunglasses to Ice and bait. They even have a Hotel next door.
if you follow the road on down a ways you run into In Indianola which has live music, food, drinks and a place to fish. There is also what they call a lake you can easily access with a kayak and catch reds, flounder as well as other types of fish. It's a great little place with out all the rules and crowds.

We were here in mid October and were a little worried since Hurricane Harvey passed through this area in late August -- but we arrived to a clean, open beach with very little evidence of the storm.
The sand is pretty hard-packed and we had no problem driving on it, although it does get softer the closer you get towards the water.
We ended up getting fresh water at an rv park that was probably 10 miles away, since the closer rv park that allows this was still closed from the hurricane.
There were a couple different entrances to the beach and we missed our turn since we arrived in the dark, but you can definitely turn in at the restroom which is probably only a 1/4 mile or so beyond these GPS coordinates. After entering at the restroom driveway, we headed to the left up the beach. I think there are options to the right as well but we didn't ever explore that way.
During our stay we had hot, very humid weather, and pretty bad mosquitos at night, but after a big thunderstorm the humidity cleared out and bugs weren't an issue during the day.
The thunderstorm that came through only lasted about 30 minutes but came in in a hurry and our awning was out...we needed the help of a neighbor to get it rolled back in, it nearly ripped off. The waves also got a lot bigger and the water came in further during the storm.
This is a long beach with plenty of space but it did fill in a bit on the weekend with people fishing and tent camping. There were about 7 or 8 other big rigs there when we arrived. We parked nose towards the water and that was what everyone else did. This also is a nice way to make sure there is plenty of room for others who want to camp.
We did see a number of jellyfish in the water. We also saw dolphins, flying fish, pelicans and other sea birds. We had beautiful sunsets and sunrises.
The hardest part was sweeping the floors several times/day because of all the sand we kept tracking in!
We didn't see any signs about no dogs on the beach and saw several others campers with their dogs as well. Great great spot.

we spent two nights on the beach. several other Rvs were on the beach as well. everyone was very nice and the beach very clean. we will be back

Nice beach for boondocking. Peaceful quiet area. Bathrooms open but showers are locked. 25+ RVs present during our week long stay with room for many more. Will stay again when in the area.