Have always wanted to visit Austin and San Antonio, but the Tropical side of me always leans towards going someplace near a beach for vacation.... Then I read a little about So Padre Island... and am playing around with the possibility of a trip to So Padre Island for a couple of days and driving to San Antonio for a couple of days and then onto Austin for a couple of days.... MapQuest says the ride from So Pad to San An in 4 + hours.... I could deal with that.... Looking for info on So Padre Island at the end of October... I know nothing and am excited to learn..... Please offer ideas and info on weather, rates, hotels, inns, B&B's, and restaurants and if the trip described is feasible....

Thanks again!!

j

I am leaving for SPI in a couple of hours. My drive there is much shorter as I live close by. It is a great place to visit, especially this time of year. Prices are drastically reduced at hotels and condos. Weather is not unbearably hot, tho even when it is hot there is always a breeze, and nights are always pleasant. Today is unusually hot - probably in low 90's. Should be a bit cooler when you come at end of the month. For hotel, condo rates,etc go online or contact the Chamber of Commerce. You will find listings on Google. You did mention B & B and there are a couple of these, tho they are not right on the beach.They do look nice tho. Most of the hotels are on the beach. If you find one you like you can email me and I will be happy to give my opinion. La Copa Inn is right on the beach and low price now. La Quinta is also low price and on the beach but further from the center of things. Several condos do have short term rentals and are good buys.I don't know prices but could comment on the quaility and location if you find one you like.
Where are you coming from? I assume you would be flying into the area and renting a car? Most convenient is Southwest Air into Harlingen. About 40 minutes from SPI. From SPI to San Antonio is probably a little over 4 hours. I would say closer to 5.
Some restaurants closed after the hurricane last year, but most are open now. I'll check this weekend.But while I think of it, Dirty Al's is a very casual (read, dumpy)place that is one of our favortites for lunch.For a more relaxed dinner the Sea Ranch on the bay side is very good.More expensive and more of a fine dining (tho casual as all are) than most on the beach, but in my opinion the best for dining.A Mexican food restaurant on the main road is (get ready for this name) Big Donkey (don't ask me why the name)I think it is best around for Mexican food. A very nice place is Zeste. They have gourmet prepared food to go and a few tables if you want to eat there.I always stop in during my walk for some of their huge selection of beers.The new turtle rescue center just opened. You should not miss this. And dolphin watching/sunset cruises. walking or running on the beach is always great if you are in to exercise.Have fun and let me know if I can help.

LarryRGV, OP is coming from Boston and is evidently new to Texas.

SPI to SA is at least 5 hours, and while not grueling is not a particularly charming drive. You may want to check out Southwest for discount fares if you have sufficient lead time.

Jim2003,

Keep in mind that it could be in the 90's or it could be in the 60's - it's the time of year that weather is very unpredictable. Water temp is in the 70's this time of year.

In any case, it will be much warmer than Boston and you'll probably consider it "beach weather".

Austin and San Antonio are great this time of year.

I see from the Austin thread that you posted you are into biking. I keep a bike at my condo at Padre Island. Love to bike all over the island. On the main drag, Padre Blvd., about 1 mile north of the bridge there are bike rental places. If you rent a bike, be sure to head south as far as you can go on the bike,thru the gate to the national sea shore, no charge for bikes, keep going south and before the road turns east you will come to an area the locals call Dolphin Cove.Turn right into it and bike up to the bay. you will probably see some tour boats out there. It is a good place to spot Dolphins. Not always but worth a stop.Continue on that road to the ocean. You will pass a statue to the patron saint of loss seamen. A little further on you can bike on a concrete boardwalk for a while. A very fun bike ride. Of course when you return you can also coninue north and go see condos and great looking homesites. The turtle recovery center is about 4 miles north of the bridge. Hope you did decide to include SPI in your trip down this way. I get the feeling from all the comments on the Austin thread, and your reply there, that you may skip this part of the trip. I can understand if you do, but Padre Island is a great place to visit for a few days if you can fit it in. Let me know if you need hotel info.

LarryRGV gave me lots of great advice for our last trips to the area, he knows SPI really well, so listen to him

We have stayed at La Quinta and I did like it, it was nice to be able to walk right out to the beach. It is further out, but I actually liked that a bit. The only problem there at the time was parking, I don't know if that is better now.

Dirty Al's is fabulous, loved their fish tacos. And I like the dolphin tours that also include a "scoop" where they show you critters from the sea, then release them. There really is a lot to do.

It sounds like you may not do this trip this time around, but if not, you might want to keep it in mind for the future.

I don't want to sound negative, but skip South Padre Island. It's the worst place I have ever visited (and I have traveled extensively). Spend your time in San Antonio and/or Austin...both great places. South Padre is dirty, slimy and has a corrupt "justice" system. It doesn't even feel like part of the United States. When I visited, I thought I had left the country. And although Larry above recommends the La Copa, that place is disgusting. If you do go, absolutely do not stay at the Casa Bella. That place is beyond corrupt and beyond filth and should be shut down either by the health department or the city. (Check out the reviews on Tripadvisor.com for verification). If you want a nice beach town, go to Key West, Florida or West Palm Beach or Naples or any number of nice beaches in this country but don't waste your time in this gross place.

Sounds like wicheesehead had a runin with the Law and is taking it out on SPI . .

No, I did not have a run-in with the law. I had a run-in with the Casa Bella hotel where it was apparent the people who run it pay kickbacks to the police, whom I called to report these people for fraud. To make a long story short, I went to the Justice of the Peace (an office we don't have in Wisconsin), where I thought I was in bizarro land! When it was my turn to see the "judge" to ask what I could do about the fraud going on at the Casa Bella, his mother, who came to visit him while I was waiting, was there too! In the end, I basically had no legal recourse and then the judge gave me a t-shirt with the name of a local bar across the back with the words, "South Padre Island Spring Break 2008." To read more about the situation go to Tripadvisor.com and read the reviews on the Casa Bella. Mine is titled, "Fruad! Stay Away!!"

One good thing about the trip is that I now use another reviewer's comment on the Casa Bella as my rating system for hotels. If a hotel is really bad, we now call it a "Free Panties with Stay" kind of place or similarly, if nice, NOT a "Free Panties with Stay" kind of place.

The worst part is when you read the reviews of the other hotels there, they are all bad so I don't know where people stay. Maybe others have lower standards than me but neither the La Copa or the Casa Bella were my kind of places!

That island creeped me out and I will NEVER return. I would hate to get into some real legal trouble there because justice is a foreign concept.

I don't understand what Texans see in South Padre Island. I think they are so provincial and narrow minded they never leave the state to see what's out there and believe me, there are far better beach towns in this country than that place.

I do encourage you to read my review about the Casa Bella...in fact read all of them...they are quite amusing!

I read your review wicheesehead and agree what happened to you was horrible. I'm curious as to the final outcome. Did you have to pay the $150 for the repair or did the credit card company resolve the issue?

BTW, please don't make such drastic generalizations about all Texans because you had such a bad experience on SPI. There are certainly plenty of Texans that leave the state to "see what's out there"!! Surely you didn't really mean that terribly condescending remark.

My credit card company did suspend the charge immediately and I never did have to pay it. However, what irritated me most was when I called the police, the cop refused to even take my statement. I told him he was not the judge and jury and it was not his role to determine whether I had a legitimate complaint. He was there to allow me to file a complaint and it was his duty to then investigate it. I told him a crime was being committed here and the police needed to do something about it. He proceeded to tell me how he stayed at that hotel regularly which is odd since he's obviously a local resident. I then accused him of taking kickbacks and that was the reason he wouldn't take my statement. That did prompt him to allow me to finally write a statement but I am sure he threw it away after he left. Somewhere along the line, he told me I had to go to the Justice of the Peace which I didn't really understand. As I said, we don't have such a system here and I don't even know what a Justice of the Peace does, except marry people. Even as I waited, I had no idea why I was there and I had to wait a long time. When I did finally see him (and his mother), his secretary came in with me and made a slitting motion against her neck and kept saying, "Don't say anything, don't say anything." I took that to mean they were well aware of the corruption going on and they were covering it up. The judge told me I could file a small claims complaint but I'd have to come back to do so and of course I'm from Wisconsin so that wasn't practical. There is something grossly wrong going on down there. In addition to the corruption, that place is a health hazard and should be shut down just based on that. They don't clean the linens or the rooms...it's disgusting and they take advantage of unsuspecting tourists in any way they can and the cops know it.

Perhaps my statement about Texans was a bit condescending but I do run into a lot of them who think Texas is the only state in the union. I understand state pride but it's more like arrogance and its off-putting. But I do stand by my assessment of San Antonio and Austin. San Antonio in particular is really a neat town.

"Perhaps my statement about Texans was a bit condescending"

every bit as much of an understatement as your broad criticizms of Texqas are an overstatement.

You may take offense of my characterization of Texans and believe it an overstatement, but my description of my experience with native Texans was actually an understatement and while I concede my statement may be offensive to some, it is a generalization of my observations which is what humans do all the time. We make judgments.

The problem is, as I see it, is that your sweeping generalizations make me much more likely to take your statements about SPI with a grain of salt.

And no, I am not from Texas.

The original poster asked for information about SPI. I provided that. I also made the following statement:

I don't understand what Texans see in South Padre Island. I think they are so provincial and narrow minded they never leave the state to see what's out there and believe me, there are far better beach towns in this country than that place.

As I reread my original statement, I've reconsidered and don't think it was particularly offensive or sweeping. Texans as a group are provincial. Provincialism is neither positive or negative. Are there exceptions? Absolutely. But my statement still stands. I seriously do not see what Texans see in SPI and my theory is that it has to do with provincialism.

My experience with Texans is not from SPI but from spending a lot of time in other parts of Texas. This is the opinion I have formed. You can agree or disagree. You can take my observations with all the grains of salt you wish. Frankly, I don't care.

What irritates me is the fact that you took a benign statement (since provincial is a neutral term) and made a judgment about it and me and then turn around and accuse me of making judgments. Something a wee bit hypocritical about that.

But hey, since you think my statements about SPI are somehow tainted and/or false, by all means stay at the Casa Bella while you are there!

You go to the most popular location for Spring Breakers, at Easter of all times . . pick a dump to stay in and then insult everyone you came in contact with and complain that Texas and Texans are crap . . you must have a lovely life

Actually I do have a lovely life that's why I was so offended by my stay in SPI. As for staying in a dump, I tried to pick the best hotel listed with no knowledge whatsoever of SPI. Since the original place was listed as #1, I thought it would be ok. It was gross. We left in a downpour, at 10PM and drove around the island trying to find an acceptable accommodation. Casa Bella looked great from the outside, since it was new. Unfortunately it was not ok. Part of my disappointment with SPI was its complete lack of suitable housing.

FYI, SPI is not "the most popular location for Spring Breakers" and your statement precisely indicates your provincial view and my point.

And you have grossly exaggerated what I said. Nowhere have I written that Texas and Texans are crap. Where did that come from?

Don't bother to answer because I'm done being insulted by yet another Texan and I'm on my way of town...funny thing too is, I'm going to....TEXAS!

. . absolutely amazing . . hope you leave the attitude at home this tme.

Still laughing over someone from WI calling Texans provincial!