Things To Do and Where To Stay in Galveston, TX

My stay with The Grand Gálvez Hotel was comped for a featured review. All opinions are my own.

When my husband texted me one cold, December morning from his job asking me if we could go somewhere warm, and "cheap" after Christmas, I instantly was in shock, and started thinking of all the fun places I wanted to go. 

We were just in Florida a few months ago for our honeymoon, and since I'm always itching to see a new place, I instantly knew I was scratching Florida off the list. I figured this was a time to start the new year off in a new place to explore together, and my head instantly went to LA, or Texas.  I had looked into a few places in LA for under $1000/person, but it was still above what I was looking to spend.

Instead, I remembered all of the HGTV episodes of shows featuring Galveston, TX and how I remember thinking I wanted to visit the coast/gulf of Mexico in Texas someday. When we found trips to Galveston for around $650/person I knew this was the right move. The next thing you know it, we booked our first mini vacation of 2022 to Galveston, TX.

Where We Stayed:

This was my first time ever staying in TX, so I honestly had no idea what to expect. We took the 3.5 hour flight from Philadelphia to Houston and made the hour drive in a rental car from Houston to Galveston. 

After stopping to try Whataburger for the first time, we shortly arrived at The Grand Galvez Hotel & Spa.  Over a century in the making, the Grand Galvez is 111 years old, and one of the finest hotels in the area. The Victorian architecture is completely stunning, and you can tell they have kept a lot of the hotels' original elements over the years. 

One of the main reasons for the choosing of this hotel for me personally was the resort style pool, and views of palms and the ocean in front. Everything about The Grand Galvez felt extremely upscale (minus some current renovations), and outside I felt like I was in Mexico. 

Dozens of lounge chairs are spread out around the edge of the curved pool, all the way until you reach the swim up bar and hot tub. They also have bed cabanas you can rent out along side the pool as well.

You can choose from either a city view or ocean view when booking your room stay. We ended up upgrading to the ocean view, and it was definitely worth it to see the palms, ocean, and traffic along seawall blvd. 

Unfortunately there are no balconies offered at this hotel, but the rooms are nice and spacious, with very large windows which makes up for it. I also really liked the floor mirrors offered in the closet, and bathroom.

 

 

Where We Ate:

Fish Tales- Oceanside restaurant with lots of beach vacation vibes.

MOD Coffee Shop- Closest coffee shop in town. Beautiful outdoor garden seating.

Sugar Bean- Aesthetic coffee shop on the other side of town on the water with lawn games.

The Sunflower Cafe- Great for breakfast and lunch

Sharky's- Really cool tavern/bar feel! Live music every evening and they are known for their handmade pizza.

Stuttgarden Tavern- A 3 story German tavern that had some of the best food we've ever had. The brats are to die for.

Shykatz Cafe- The best breakfast around in my opinion! I got the sausage and bacon stuffed pancake.

What We Did:

- Seeing the color beach houses: For the most part, we spent our days just walking the streets and blocks of Galveston looking at all the homes. The one thing I loved about Galveston is that there are so many beautiful, colorful beach houses - pink, turquoise, coral, mint, yellow, lavender... you name it.

- The Strand: A few days we visited The Strand which is in Galveston's historic district. Located on Strand Street, The Strand has tons of shopping, bars, art galleries, murals and more to see.

- Lounged out by the hotel pool, and hot tub to sun bathe.

- Beachtown: About a 12 minute drive from our hotel. It's a little private beachfront community with their own shops, amenities and gorgeous houses right on the beach. I wanted to visit the gorgeous white arch where weddings are known for. 

- We ate a lot, haha! Walked to cafe's and new places to try the food and drinks. Listed all of the restaurants above.

- Bishop's Palace. It's a 19,082 square feet Victorian-style house, located on Broadway and 14th Street. It used to actually be someone's home, but now you can tour the entire inside for a small fee.

- Murdoch's: Went shopping for gifts at Murdoch's on Seawall Blvd and watched the sunset in their cute rocking chairs.

- Pleasure Pier: It's a small boardwalk with tons of rides and games that it open all year long!

- Picnic on the beach: Our last night we had a picnic on the beach hosted by Down To Picnic. Wanted something romantic and sweet to remember out trip by. It was fabulous. We brought our own Chickfila for dinner.

- Moody Gardens: We wanted to visit, but unfortunately did not have the time. They have so many things to do during the day like an indoor tropical room, and aquariums, gardens, etc.

Our stay in Galveston was only a short 4 full days, but it was a lovely getaway for my husband and I to start off the new year. Who would have ever known Texas had it's own little slice of paradise? Sharing a few extra photos below :)

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