Texas Beach Info. Houston area chime in.

R

RUBEERCON

New member
I'm planning a trip to one of the Texas beach areas. Flying in out of Tulsa. I went to Corpus Christie as a kid in the late 70s. We have been all over south Florida, up and down both coasts from Miami, FtMyers and key west. We boat over to Bimini Bahamas every year...
So I'm hoping we can hot shot a 1.5 hour flight to Texas and get some Florida feel. No offense I like Texas too!

Things to consider.

Crowds no big deal but need to be able to escape
Dive bars with fresh seafood a plus
A place with a great pool near the beach
Lodging must be nice, Hilton type, BB or vintage resort
We like small art districts specializing in beach decor
The beach does not have to be pristine but nothing dirty
Palm trees?? A big plus

I'll google a bit tonight but locals know best! Thanks so much for any input.

Steve Hash
 
My vote is always for south padre. Stay away during spring break and holidays in the summer but it's a decent beach and plenty of nice on the water places to stay.
 
If your flying into the Houston area South Padre although the best Texas choice, won't really be a close drive... Galveston is closest however it gets crowded on the weekends after 10am and is hard to compare to the Floridian beaches but it may suffice.
 
QueytheNewbie said:
If your flying into the Houston area South Padre although the best Texas choice, won't really be a close drive... Galveston is closest however it gets crowded on the weekends after 10am and is hard to compare to the Floridian beaches but it may suffice.
Click to expand...

He said no dirty beaches.
 
While I enjoy Galveston, and I live only 2.5 hours from Crystal Beach (was there for Go Topless Day this past weekend), if I were looking to get a Florida feel i'd head to South Padre Island. I've stayed at the Pearl which has a nice pool and outdoor bar area, and you can easily walk down to the beach from the pool area.
 
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I agree with the others -- South Padre probably is the closest match to what you are looking for. It is not going to be beautiful like Florida, and certainly not as cosmopolitan, but it has a very nice Get-Away Island feel and there are quite a few things to do, including deep sea fishing expeditions, dolphin watching, Wave Runner/Jet Ski rentals, Jeep rentals, Go Cart-type vehicle rentals, wind surfing, fishing, Schlitterbahn, etc. They do have a sunken ship, as well as oil rig dive opportunities (but I have heard the dive boat provides an extraordinarily rough, nauseating ride!) There is a fireworks display on the Bay side every weekend over the summer.

Cuisine will be seafood, Mexican, and Mexicanized seafood. There are a few places with art/beach art, but pretty limited. There are several hotels that have pools on the Gulf side. Vehicles are allowed on the beach on northern end of the island -- The commercial activity runs out fairly quickly, becoming dunes, and then paved access ending in the Preserve. I believe there is a free shuttle service that runs the length of the island.

The 3 airports are Harlingen (HRL), Brownsville (BRO), and McAllen (MFE). I thin Brownsville is about a 30" drive, Harlingen 40-50" and McAllen is a further trek. I believe both Harlingen and Brownsville have shuttle service to the island, and I recall one advertising it was free.
 
I went to crystal beach for the Topless event. It was really nice. You can camp there and everything. The sand was nice and had seashells.
You have to drive your jeep on to a ferry to get there. Fun times



 
South padre is really nice and probably the best. But corpus and porter A are nice too...I would say south padre first, porter a second, and corpus 3rd.
 
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