Texas Beach Trips Come With A Long Drive After Landing, Study Finds

GALVESTON, Texas (TXAN 24) — Texas may have hundreds of miles of coastline, but travelers flying in for a beach getaway still have a sizable road trip ahead of them, according to a new global accessibility study.

A study by Mozio, a global ground transportation booking platform, ranked 100 well-known beach destinations based on the driving time and distance between each destination’s primary commercial airport and a representative beach.

Two Texas destinations made the list — Galveston and South Padre Island — and both landed among the 20 hardest drivable beach destinations worldwide to reach.

Galveston ranked No. 81 globally, with a roughly 41.7-mile drive taking about 50 minutes from William P. Hobby Airport in Houston.

South Padre Island ranked No. 84, with travelers facing a 43-mile drive that takes approximately 59 minutes from Valley International Airport in Harlingen.

That puts South Padre three spots behind Galveston. Its airport-to-beach trip is about 1.3 miles longer and nine minutes longer.

Among the 35 U.S. destinations included in the study, South Padre Island ranked as the sixth least accessible, while Galveston was seventh least accessible.

Still, neither Texas destination requires more than an hour of driving under typical conditions.

For comparison, some of the world’s most accessible beach destinations are only minutes from their airports. Cozumel, Mexico, ranked No. 1 with a five-minute drive, while Key West ranked No. 3 with a six-minute transfer.

At the other end, the Outer Banks ranked No. 96, requiring an estimated 120-mile, 140-minute drive.

The study measures ground transportation only and does not account for flight availability.

Read the full Mozio study⁠: https://www.mozio.com/blog/airport-to-sand-beach-accessibility