I much prefer Surfside beach to Galveston Beach. If you have dogs and you like to bring them with you to the beach, this beach is for you. This is very dog friendly and you can pull your car right up to the beach. You do have to keep your dogs on a leash as there are people circling to make sure that you do. I just bring a really long leash for them to be able to run around. My dogs like to run into the water so i have a long leash. Only downside is they don't have really plush sand. So if you go to the beach for the fluffy sand, this is not the place to go. But if you want no nonsense hassle or you don't have to carry all of your stuff miles to the beach just to find a good spot then you would like this beach. Note: there is free parking but we just ended up paying the $15 a day parking because we can pull right up on the beach. They do have an annual option to pay $30 for the whole year which I do think it's worth it if you go more than a couple times a year. read more