Galvestonのツアー・観光情報

Ranked by traveller reviews: 1) the Baywatch dolphin tour from Pier 21, 2) the historic Galveston ghost walking tour, 3) the Haunted Harbor ghost boat cruise, 4) the Old City Cemetery ‘Walk with the Dead’ tour, 5) the Red Light District history tour, 6) the haunted pub crawl, 7) the Galveston Island e-bike tour, 8) the Strand walking history tour, 9) Moody Gardens’ Aquarium and Rainforest pyramids and 10) the Historic Pleasure Pier and Seawall beaches.

Plan two days, or one long day from Houston. Day one: the Strand, the 1877 tall ship Elissa, the Ocean Star offshore-rig museum, a dolphin cruise from Pier 21, Bishop’s Palace and a ghost tour after dark. Day two: Moody Gardens in the morning, the beach and Pleasure Pier in the afternoon, sunset from the Seawall. Families in summer add Schlitterbahn water park; history lovers add the Moody Mansion and the Railroad Museum.

The Seawall promenade and its beaches, the Strand and Postoffice Street’s Victorian storefronts, the tree sculptures of the East End, the free Galveston–Bolivar ferry (dolphins usually follow the boat), Galveston Island State Park’s bayside trails (small fee), the murals downtown, Saengerfest Park’s giant chessboard, the Rosenberg Library and Broadway’s mansion exteriors. In early December the Dickens on the Strand festival fills the district with Victorian street entertainers.

Space Center Houston (45 minutes), the Kemah Boardwalk’s rides and restaurants (30 minutes), the Bolivar Peninsula beaches by free ferry (20 minutes plus the crossing), the San Jacinto Monument battlefield (one hour), Brazos Bend State Park for alligators (75 minutes) and downtown Houston’s Museum District (one hour). Most visitors come the other way — Galveston is Houston’s favourite day trip.

Ghost tours are the main event — walking tours of the Strand and the cemetery, the Red Light District tour, the haunted pub crawl and the Haunted Harbor ghost boat all leave around dusk. Then Postoffice Street’s bars and live music, a show at the Grand 1894 Opera House, the lit-up rides of Pleasure Pier, sunset on the Seawall and, in summer, the Moody Gardens Friday-night fireworks. Mardi Gras Galveston in February is the biggest party of the year.

Winter is mild (highs around 60°F), quiet and cheap. Dickens on the Strand takes over the first weekend of December, Moody Gardens runs its Festival of Lights and ICE LAND ice sculptures from mid-November to early January, and Mardi Gras arrives in February with two weeks of parades. Dolphin tours, ghost tours and the museums run year-round, and the birdwatching on the island is at its best.

Moody Gardens’ aquarium, rainforest pyramid and Palm Beach lagoon, the Historic Pleasure Pier rides, Schlitterbahn water park in summer, the dolphin tour, climbing aboard the tall ship Elissa and the submarine at the Naval Museum, the Railroad Museum’s trains, the free Bolivar ferry, the Colonel Paddlewheel boat and the gentle beach at Stewart Beach with its lifeguards and playground.

March to May and October to November — warm enough for the beach, with lighter crowds and less humidity. Summer is hot and humid with weekend traffic from Houston and occasional seaweed on the beach; hurricane season runs June to November. Winter is mild, quiet and busy only for Dickens on the Strand and Mardi Gras.

Yes — no other Texas city combines a Victorian downtown, 32 miles of beach, a working port with dolphins, tall ships and America’s most haunted streets in one walkable island, and it is under an hour from Houston. Two days is enough; come for the Strand, the ghost tours and Moody Gardens rather than the beach alone.