DESTINATION GUIDE

The Harbor House
Galveston, TX

Harbor House
at Pier 21

No. 28, Pier 21
Galveston, Texas 77550
(800) 874-3721
(409) 763-3321
Fax: (409) 765-6421

Website:  www.harborhousePier21.com
Email: HHouse@galveston.com

Harbor House - Galveston, Texas

The Harbor House at Pier 21 is one of our favorite hotels in Galveston.  As the name implies, it is located right on the pier on Galveston Harbor.  The hotel has 42 guest rooms including 3 one-bedroom suites.  All are handsomely decorated with white-washed oak furnishings and pickled wood floors and ceilings.  Currently on the bottom floor of the hotel: a Pier 1 store, a Landry's Oyster Bar and a nautical gift store that sells, among other things, finely crafted ship models.  There are also nine marina slips with hookups available from the hotel and they are seen in the foreground of the photograph above. 

Located just to the west of the hotel (seen to the right in the photo above) is Willie G's Restaurant.  Owned by the Landry's Group, this restaurant serves grilled, sauteed and blackened seafood.  To the right of the hotel (not seen in photo) is Hill's Pier 19 Seafood Market and Restaurant.  My wife has been visiting Galveston since she was a small child and this restaurant has been in existence for all these years.   Of course, it is now much larger than it was in the early sixties.  They serve a wide variety of locally caught seafood.  We love the fish and shrimp Poboys.   They are VERY large . . . bring a big appetite.   And, with a large serving of fries it cost only about $6.

Other attractions in the area include the Strand Historic District which begins only a block away; the Texas Seaport Museum which is home port for the tall ship "Elissa"; a museum of offshore oil exploration and production; and numerous other restaurants.  On our last trip, we enjoyed a 30 minute presentation of the "Great Storm" which plays every hour on the hour in the same building which houses Willie G's.  This multimedia show tells of the hurricane that hit Galveston Island in 1900 and resulted in the death of over 6,000 residents and the complete destruction of over two-thirds of the island's buildings and other structures.  The seawall was built and the ground elevated 13 feet on the gulf side of the island a few years after this storm to protect it from future hurricanes.

If you would like to enjoy a different type of "beach" vacation, try the Harbor House and the nearby attractions.

[MTM - 03/23/99]

Directions:  Take IH-45 into Galveston.   Continue through town and turn left on 21st Street.  21st will dead-end at Pier 21 and the Harbor House.

[Watch for upcoming reviews of the Moody Gardens and Hotel complex.  It is another great alternative to the beach.]