Sports & Recreation

We enjoy a lot of different activities for recreation in Bay City. Golfers quickly find our beautiful Rio Colorado Golf Course designed by World Golf Hall of Fame member Gary Player and built around the Colorado River and surrounding wetlands. The Bay City Country Club, voted one of the best nine-hole courses in Texas, is another spot where families enjoy the swimming pool in the summer and play golf year round. Check out the Top Ten Things to Do in Matagorda County for more recreational inspiration.

Sports Complex

Residents who enjoy exercising can join a local gym for access to 15,000 square feet of workout space. The Bay City Softball Complex not only has three lighted fields for softball, but six basketball hoops, a playground and jogging trails. There are several public tennis courts, volley ball courts and a public swimming pool in Bay City to keep us all active and healthy.

Camping

If you are looking for camping experiences, you don't have to look very far. Riverside Park at the edge of the City has camping or RV spots and there are sites throughout Matagorda County from the beaches in Sargent and Matagorda to the Bay in Palacios to set up your tent or RV.

Football

You know Texans like football right? We have a passion for football from high school and college games to the National Football League and we support our teams in social gatherings throughout the season. Once you get to town, you are welcome to stop by on game day for some football and BBQ.

Rodeo, Ranching & BBQ

It won't take you very long to see that rodeos, ranching and barbeque are still part of our way of life. We raise the finest beef, have the best BBQ restaurants and can offer you rodeo experiences several times a year. Each year we all get together at the fairgrounds to enjoy everything from ranch rodeos and barrel racing to team roping and bull riding.

Outdoors

Life in Bay City includes access to two rivers, five bays and numerous sloughs and creeks. Water sports are plentiful, from fishing and kayaking to surfing and scuba diving. Our great weather and proximity to the Gulf of Mexico gives us a reason to play outside pretty much whenever we want. We have both a spring and fall growing season for the gardeners among us and for many residents birding and fishing are part of the Gulf Coast lifestyle. We have a 35-acre Matagorda County Birding Nature Center in Bay City and a 1,600-acre Matagorda Bay Nature Park in nearby Matagorda that gives us hundreds of acres of marshes and dunes for truly experiencing the outdoors.

Fishing opportunities are extensive and we enjoy everything from fly fishing the Colorado or Tres Palacios rivers to fishing the bay for Red Fish, Trout or Flounder. From May through October, we hold fishing tournaments throughout the county. Biking enthusiasts love the area for its wide open spaces and there is no better place to sail than in Matagorda Bay.