north padre free camping | Wild Camping

April 13th, 2024 by Delica_girl

Busy beach during the day, a little quieter at night. Never really quiet as it's the closest to town and so accessible.

April 8th, 2024 by sirjosh10

Tides come in and out on sand road, so park with caution. try not to disturb wildlife etc

March 30th, 2024 by mechanicaldrum27

we had a great night, mostly alone on the beach, just couple of meters from the entry
it's free, up to 14 days, ok with a class C 25feet, just be careful with the tide and the sand that can be soft

February 23rd, 2024 by compatibleselect23

Great Spot! If you have an NPS Park Pass camping is free. Just fill out the paper permit at the Kiosk for up to 14 consecutive day stay. Very chill. Free Water & Sewer dump just a few miles into the National Park. Free cold showers @ Visitors Center.

January 5th, 2024 by Blue Sky Adventures

One mile of beach in the National Seashore on the North Beach. They are not currently requiring permits to be filled out to stay overnight on the north beach, you just must have a 7-day pass or annual pass. 14 day stay limit, no more than 28 days a year.

December 12th, 2023 by info

quiet tonight, only our van, arrived at high tide and still lots of room to safely park, had National Park pass

March 11th, 2023 by deargdoo

60+ miles of open beach. Spent 10 days here with no issues. Camping here does require National Park entry and a $12 beach pass that's good for a year on all of Padre Island.
It was pretty windy here the whole time.
Pit toilet and dumpsters at the entrance of the beach.
Very poor cell service on the beach.

January 16th, 2023 by joeydempsey14

no hook ups, first come first serve. $14 a night plus park entry if you don't have a park pass. cold showers.

December 28th, 2022 by mannsoutdoorservices

Susanne & Klaus Camping In US From UK.

Went to turtle sanctuary & HEB for groceries.

December 13th, 2022 by ironyontherocks

Camping directly on the beach w/ no facilities, and 1 to no bars of service (T Mobile) at any given time. Keep an eye on the tide charts, high tide & soft sand. Can get by with 2WD, just be aware. Clean up your trash—pack it in, pack it out and for the love of God please leave no trace. Otherwise, killer spot. $12/14 days of camping I think? Free if you have America the Beautiful pass. 10/10 recommend; posted pics of rules and regulations for those interested.

December 13th, 2022 by Lady Ferns

Bought a 7 day pass online for the Park $25. With this pass the camping at this spot is covered (free). There was a huge trash bin at entrance/beach access for garbage. Other wise no amenities at this location.

However the pass does grant your access to the park as well which is just a little further from the road. There is a visitor centre there. The shower area there is “still” under renovations and thus closed. Apparently has been for over a year and she laughed when she said they had no idea when it would be finished. But because there is no shower access there. Campers with a park pass are allowed to use the showers at the established campground in the park. She said to just park in the 15 minute parking area to have our showers.

November 10th, 2022 by chuckhalikas

We camped on the first beach when entering the park. It was high tide so only about 60 feet of beach. There are mosquitoes but it’s always windy so not too bad. You should go pay your park access fee at the visitor centre before. Some garbage on the beach. Not much traffic. We slept with all the doors opened and bug screens on. The sound of the surf was awesome!

November 7th, 2022 by nursewendy60

technically the camping on the beach is free. you have to pay a park entrance fee of $25.00 for 7 days. if you have a National Park pass no charge. gorgeous beach, dump and water available.

April 7th, 2022 by 2gether 2 end.ofthe.earth

what an amazing place. free camping. it does say you need a pass for the park from recreation.gov or you can buy the 'America the beautiful' pass from the entry station about 1 mile south towards the Malaquite visitors centre

April 3rd, 2022 by bernbo

Second time here. No garbage can along the beach, only a dumpster at the entrance. No signal or intermittent signal of the network T-Mobile
2e fois sur cette plage. L'eau est claire comparé à Freeport beach Tx il y a trois jours. Aucun baril de poubelle le long de la plage. Seulement un conteneur à l'entrée. Signal intermittent ou nul pour l'internet et cellulaire avec T-Mobile. On remplit un formulaire à l'entrée. On a droit à 14 jours mais ça prends la passe des parcs nationaux, ça l'air !?

March 21st, 2022 by michelle.arentzen

we originally planned to camp here but upon arrival we changed our minds. for one, it was crazy windy! but for two, we looked at the high tide line and were worried we might end up stuck in the sand come morning. I think this could be a nice spot in good weather, as long as you're careful about where you park. close to the dunes the sand is very soft, but close to the water you might get wet at high tide. this is primitive camping with no services other than a dumpster on the access road. you must enter the national park to access this beach, so be prepared to pay for entry of you don't already have a national parks pass. also, we found a few jellyfish washed up on the beach, so watch your step.

January 29th, 2022 by gingerdogmom

Free beach camping for up to 14 days. Gorgeous!

January 5th, 2022 by SusieQfromNaptownaka

Beautiful beach, like MaryEllen said. A Gem.

December 29th, 2021 by vacations4us

Try to arrive early before it gets too dark. Was a great few days and just park close further away from waterline don’t want to wake up sunk in the sand. Softer sand closer to the sand dunes. Just make sure you have some level stabilizer jacks so you can put down you jacks without them sinking into the sand. Free to stay overnight and can run generator if needed.

March 22nd, 2021 by clayclay

Not passable in a 2WD van at the moment. The whole beach is very torn up and looks like a lot of folks had the same misfortune as me. If you’re seeing this, thanks again to the two young guys that helped free me.

February 11th, 2021 by living.it.right

Great free camping! Don't forget to register when you get to where the road ends and the sand begins. Also pay attention to high tide. The first night we didn't know, so we ended up moving at least 3 times to avoid high tide. We didn't go too far down the beach since we only have a 2WD Promaster van.

January 31st, 2021 by elliotheinz

Long stretching beach with a ton of parking space! Drive down the beach to anywhere, enter from the nearest access road. There’s an entrance fee through the US park service to be paid online. Plenty of other RV ppl here, but very spread out. Not sure about limits on # of nights here.

December 24th, 2020 by maryellen.pender

Gorgeous spot! Lots of people (cars, vans, trucks, tents, school bus) parked all along the beach - but far enough apart as not to be a bother.

December 1st, 2020 by anyfrank

Stayed here for a few nights. FREE! Decided on this side of the bean instead of entering the Seashore National bc it was free. The tide came up the second day so i over into town for a night and came back for another couple of nights.

Such a beautiful calming spot. I loved it and it has been added to my favorites. A few people here and there. Even camping out. But it seems no one bothered anyone.

I personally didn’t get registered. I didn’t even see registration spot. There were a few official tracks that drove by but no one said anything.

I have 2WD Promaster and didn’t have any problems either.

This place is a MUST!

May 19th, 2020 by instagram.com/migratory_animals

Stayed here for four nights and it was awesome! No problems driving on the beach in our 2WD Sprinter and this spot was way less crowded than Port Aransas. I cannot believe the water is 80 degrees and it is free! No amenities aside from a dumpster by the entrance. Cell service very spotty. Do the Earth a favor and pick up some garbage while you are here.

February 27th, 2020 by unterwegs.ib-fb.de

Camping on the beach without facilities. It is for free. Only fill out a registration when you enter the beach.

February 16th, 2020 by American Adventurist

Busy place, we kept going south for a quiet camp :)

December 24th, 2019 by bartsimpson_1995

Free camping (with self registration at entrance) on the beach. Stayed Dec 16 -Dec 18 without issues with "high tide". Beach is about 2 miles long on packed sand. Just be careful when pulling into camp spot as the sand is soft and loose. It is located just outside the entrance to Padre Island National Seashore. If you have "National Parks Annual Pass" you can enter the park to use their facilites, which is only 4 miles inside the gate. Without the "pass" it costs $30. The park's visitor center has restrooms and COLD showers which is open all night. There are two established campsites inside the park. One site is $14 and the other is $8.

December 12th, 2019 by Reveur

Tide was too high to access the beach (today is full moon), so went at Port Aransas beach instead.

March 22nd, 2019 by bernbo

Free camping on the north side of the park. No service. As described by others. Need to register for free.
Camping gratuit sur la plage au sable compacté. Aucun service. Tel que décrit par d'autres. Besoin de s'enregistrer gratuitement à l'entrée.

April 23rd, 2018 by samedayhappy

nice place. dogs off leash fine light colored sand. no skeeters. just a few campers. hard packed sand is fine to drive any vehicle.