South Padre Island, TX

[IB853347201]

Thinking of wintering next year at Cameron County Parks - South Padre Island.
Anyone stayed there? How are the RV sites, nice spot? Recommendations?

[Hobo2]

X3-the entry level hotels can keep there hard beds and there free in room petting Zoo of bed bugs and scabies

[Tripalot]

TomG2 wrote:
I never noticed the horrible conditions, but that is not what I was looking for. A bad day of camping in my own rig beats a good day in an entry level hotel.

X2 - I'll take my RV over any hotel/motel regardless of where it is or how many stars it has.

[TomG2]

I never noticed the horrible conditions, but that is not what I was looking for. A bad day of camping in my own rig beats a good day in an entry level hotel.

[John_Joey]

That’s the lifestyle the tourism department likes to talks about. OP was about the county park. Tourism department doesn’t talk about waking up to poop smell everyday drifting over the county park fence from the sewer treatment plant which is right next door, or the crumbling infrastructure of the park.

The massive potholes seem to not matter after awhile even though the rates continue to go up with promises of improvements. For 200 dollars more you can get an entry level hotel room for a month with free internet and heat close to all those bars and restaurants.

[TomG2]

I will join the "anti" crowd on this one. I only spend a few nights a year on SPI (South Padre Island) There are already plenty of you walking the beach, watching the sun come up over the Gulf, enjoying the many fun and interesting bars and restaurants, and feeling the cool ocean breezes of Summer. Stay away.

[John_Joey]

It’s the cheapest place to enjoy the SPI lifestyle, but you get what you pay for!!!

Due to recent changes it’s mostly setup for short term stays (month or two) which is a good thing since noticeable salt damage will start to become visible after a month.

Pretty much zero planned activities if you’re looking to become part of a social setting this is not your park.

Staying at the northern park is like staying at Walmart but with less space, Does have partial hookups(no tv.)

Staying outside the main park entrance can be very noisy given a popular restaurantat at that location. Spring break can be a real challenge, most leave by March 5th before the park is over ran with college tenters.

Internet is not free anywhere in the park. Due to sand burrs the park isn’t dog friendly.

[Joyce_in_NY]

Andy Bowie is basically a parking lot without much space between the sites. Isla Blanca has a little more space between sites and some grass. If you look on Google Earth, you'll be able to see there's quite a difference.

[IB853347201]

Thanks everyone for your comments and info. And thanks to Al for the pictures. Appreciate it.

[TomG2]

There are actually two Cameron County parks, Isla Blanca and Andy Bowie. Both will probably be full this time of year but Bowie has an overflow area for dry camping which I enjoy. Short walk to the beach, shelter, bathrooms, and grills.

[pawatt]

It is windier than areas away from the beach and your RV may get salt damage from the salt air but if you like fishing, beach walking and island living with many funky bars and restaurants it may be for you. There is a trolley that runs every 30 minutes I think to all parts of the island and Port Isabel.
Some people like to stay a little ways inland and take day trips to the Island but for daily walks on the beach and fishing it is hard to beat. The park is not fancy but there have been recent upgrades.

[almcc]

The info I'm providing may be out of date, but we stayed at Isla Blanca on South Padre Island back in December 2010. At that time it was a bit cool and windy and we were "underwhelmed" by the park, I remember it had lots of stickers to get into our and our dog's feet. We spent a week there and then moved over the nearby KOA where they had gravel sites (no stickers to speak of).

Things may have changed since then, but if you want to look at some old pictures and details, go to our website covering the trip, go to the very bottom of the page and go up from there.
There are some other nice parks on the island to the east, look at part 1 of our trip that year to see them.

Click on this link

[WILDEBILL308]

I haven't stayed there but have been to Texas Trails RV Resort, 501 W Owassa Rd, Pharr, TX 78577, rvresorts.com, (956) 787-6538.
Bill