Best Beach

Porretto ParkEverybody knows about East Beach, where Playboy models and other assorted hardbodies gather during the summer. Not as many folks know about No-Name Beach off Condominium Road, where the topless and queer crowds commingle behind the dunes. But our favorite place to drop the beach towel is also Galveston's best-kept secret. Despite the fact that the seawall has been declared alcohol-free by the city, there's an exempted zone along the beach between Sixth and Tenth streets at Porretto Park. The quirk in the ordinance was created because a local Italian family privately owns this stretch of beach, and that means you can unashamedly break out the malt liquor. Just don't chug it while you walk along the concrete part of the seawall, or the cold steel of a jail cell might be cooling your sunburned hide later.