| Tips and photos for South Padre Island vacations and tourism, posted by real travelers and South Padre Island locals. South Padre Island Map |
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A great first stop for those coming to South Padre Island, especially for the first time, is the South Padre Island Visitor's Center. Here you will find free brochures, magazines, and a friendly staff who will inform you of all the many things to see and do on the island. Our one week here was not nearly enough time to see and do it all.
Turn left immediately after crossing the Queen Isabella Causeway from the mainland. Then turn right at the first traffic light and you will see the Visitor's Center on your right. Leave a Comment
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South Padre Island offers so many opportunities that our week long vacation was not nearly enough time to do them all. Some of the things we have saved for our next visit are:
Play minature golf
Race the go-carts
Go deep sea fishing
Ride a waverunner
Do Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark
Go parasailing
Ride horses on the beach
Go snorkeling
Go windsurfing
And a whole lot more....
Many of the things we enjoyed most on our visit to the area were actually just over the causeway on the mainland. See our Port Isabel, Texas, pages to learn of the fascinating opportunites you will find there. Leave a Comment
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If you go to the northern most point where the road ends, you will find mountains of sand. They are not easy to climb over and they are deep and powderish. There are also accassional broken glass bottles, metal bottle caps, and sharp broken seashells among other things that can leave you with a vacation war wound. Those cuts are not fun in salt water.
Tip:
Buy those mesh water shoes. They have them in most of the gift shops and they are less than $15. It's a lot safer walking around and you are not slinging sand all up your legs like when you have on flip flops.
I love picking up seashells and looking for treasure. This part of the island is a great place to do that. Plus, if you're looking for something a little less hussle and bussle and more private and romantic, definately don't miss out on this area.
It's a must when you visit South Padre, if nothing else, just to take a picture of the "road ends" sign and see the enormous sand hills.
The beach at night and sunrise in the mornings Leave a Comment
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Practically as soon as you come off the Causeway you'll see the SPI Visitors Center, where you can stop to get maps, brochures, and info on current happenings. Leave a Comment
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Interestingly enough, Texas – a place I always envisioned as a landlocked desert – possesses, literally, hundreds of miles of coastline along the Gulf Coast – which many Texans commonly refer to as the “Third Coast”. Visitors from afar and local residents alike flock to the beaches of the Lone Star State, in droves, every summer; in the hot and humid Texas weather they find comfort and solace.
When family and friends visit me from New England, I am always asked such a simple question: What is the best beach in Texas?
Factually speaking, there are scores upon scores of beaches scattered across the numerous miles of the Texas shoreline; to pick just one use to be a daunting task – each of these beaches maintain their own unique quality: a certain something that differentiates one from the other. Moreover, since the Texas shoreline stretches from Louisiana to Mexico, the beaches of Texas are quite diverse, containing various “external” influences.
With that said…I use to reply with the following answer: it all depends on your personal preference. I use to believe in that heavily – until I visited South Padre Island.
South Padre Island possesses the most pristine shoreline in the entire Gulf Coast region – not just in Texas. Located roughly 10 miles or so from the U.S. – Mexico border, South Padre Island is a subtropical beach with clear, Caribbean-like water, white sands, and excellent weather all year round.
On the first day of our visit it rained, on and off, for a good portion of the day. Being that it amounted to merely a drizzle, my wife and I decided to take the kids for a walk along the beach; no sooner had we first touched the sand, my kids started to hammer us with a relentless request: they wanted to take a quick dip.
Being a complete sucker, I submitted to their pleas, and, as soon as they entered the water, which was chilly on this particular day, much like the great Atlantic, the rain began to come down in thick, devastating sheets; my kids continued to swim undaunted, while the rest of the beach bums present ran for cover; and as a matter of fact, my kids actually found it comical: to swim in the ocean while it rained. Leave a Comment
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South Padre Island was named after Father Jose Nicolas Balli (commonly referred to as Padre Balli), a secular Catholic priest who was born in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, to an aristocratic family. His mother, Rosa Maria Hinojosa Benavides de Balli, blossomed into one of the first “cattle queens” in Texas – which, at the time, was a state in Mexico. Due to her advantageous position, Mrs. Balli was given priority rights to extensive land grants and public offices.
Padre Balli led an active religious and civic life in southern Texas, bouncing back and forth between said area and the bordering state of Tamaulipas, performing tasks and duties as an explorer, colonizer, rancher and missionary in over one-million acres of land that his parents owned.
After completing his studies in secondary and ecclesiastical education in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, Padre Balli was ordained and began conducting religious services in the lower Rio Grande Valley. During this time frame, in 1827, Padre Balli’s father gave him complete control of South Padre Island, becoming the first settler on the island shortly thereafter. Leave a Comment
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Bungee jumping and other activities involving heights are available on the island. One is located right across from Louie's Backyard. It opens at 7pm. Or if you are into watching you can just go to Louie's and watch from the deck while your sippin on a beverage of choice. Leave a Comment
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There are like 7 different compaines that have Dolphin watches. We went it cost about 10$ a person and you get on a boat and they take you out in the ocean and you can see lots of dolphins up close, swimming around and jumping. It was pretty cool, its about a 2 hr boat ride. Leave a Comment
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During Spring Break it's balls to the wall nuts, and all other times it's pretty fun as well. Be careful when you decide to cross the bridge to the island though. There are times when it's packed and you'll be stuck on it for hours (at least you have a pretty view).
They say South Padre is like the 60's...if you remember it, you weren't there. Where to begin?? Beer bongs, keg stands, dance contests, partying on the beach, going to Mexico (30 minutes from SPI), dancing all night, leaving Mexico at 5AM, not being able to find our room, passing out in the elevator and riding it for about 2 hours whilst asleep (hey---it happens!), meeting people from all over the world, the mechanical bull, the barber chair and of course, getting to take a week off school and spend the time w/ my friends at the beach!!! Leave a Comment
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New hotels are under construction o condo houses to recive visitors Leave a Comment
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More South Padre Island Tips |
- Palms Resort Motel
3616 Gulf Boulevard, South Padre Island, TX - Radisson Resort South Padre Island
500 Padre Blvd., South Padre Island, TX - Howard Johnson Resort
1709 Padre Boulevard, South Padre Island, TX - Royale Beach and Tennis Club
400 Padre Blvd, South Padre Island, TX - Best Western Fiesta Isles Hotel
5701 Padre Boulevard, South Padre Island, TX - Sunchase Iv Resort
1004 Padre Blvd., South Padre Island, TX - Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites South Padre Island
6502 Padre Blvd., South Padre Island, TX - Comfort Suites South Padre Island (912 Padre Boulevard )
912 Padre Boulevard, South Padre Island, TX - Days Inn South Padre Island
3913 Padre Boulevard, South Padre Island, TX - Quality Inn South Padre Island
901 South Padre Blvd. (former Quality Inn on the Bay), South Padre Island, TX - Island Inn on the Beach
5100 Gulf Blvd (formerly Island Inn on the Beach), South Padre Island, TX - Super 8 South Padre Island Tx
4205 Padre Boulevard, South Padre Island, TX - Econo Lodge South Padre Island
3813 Padre Blvd, South Padre Island, TX - Peninsula Island Resort
340 Padre Blvd. and HWY 100, South Padre Island, TX - Best Western Fiesta Isles Htl
5701 Padre Boulevard, South Padre Island, TX
Local Merchants in South Padre Island
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on October 17, 2003
