Galveston Island, Texas. Travel and Tourism. Part genteel Southern belle, part sunburned beach bunny: Galveston Island is Houston's favorite playmate. The old gal took a pretty severe beating by hurricane Ike in 2008, but she's battled back to normal since. Sitting on a barrier island near the northern end of a 600-mile-long Texas coastline, Galveston may not have the state's favorite beaches, but there's nowhere else boasting such a beautiful combination...