Hotels Downtown? (Dallas, San Antonio, Corpus Christi: waterpark, luxury, taxi)

[Jaybee]

My wife and I visited South TX last September. We spent a few days in the San Antonio area before driving to Corpus Christi. We approached the City from the north-via Portland. When we travel we prefer to stay in the core of the City to get a "feel for the place" . For that reason, we exited the highway just after crossing the bridge. We drove the surface streets looking for a suitable hotel, but had no success. Perhaps we weren't looking in the right place, but frankly the area we drove thru wasn't all that "inviting". I got the feeling that "CC proper" was more of a "Blue Collar" town than a "tourist destination". Is that fair?

We travelled from downtown on surface streets along the bay and didn't encounter any hotels. We ended up going out to Padre Island and stayed a motel on the beach. That worked out just fine and we very much enjoyed our three-day stay. Took in the Aquarium, which is incredible by the way, & USS Lexington and satisfied our beach fix-despite the algae! It was fun meeting folks who were fishing and frolicking (and driving!) on the beach. Made the loop thru Port Aransas and the ferry; had a Shiner beer at a cool harborside bar in PA; ate at Doc's Seafood.

My question is for future trips to CC-Is there a "nicer" hotel in the downtown area that could serve as the center for a walkable tour of shops, museums, restaurants and taverns? For that matter, are there enough "venues" in the downtown area to justify visiting/staying downtown?

Now, I know I could probably do this hotel search on Orbitz, Expedia or the equivalent, but I want to get the locals to weigh in on this. Where do you recommend people stay-downtown, out on PA, or somewhere else-when they visit CC?

[Marlow]

There are a couple of nicer hotels in the downtown area, a Holiday Inn, an Omni and a place called Emerald Beach, or something like that. They're not Dallas-style luxury hotels, but they're Corpus Christi "nice" hotels. In addition, there are a couple of others that are acceptable, but with fewer amenities. There's also a boutique hotel called V Boutique, I think. They actually had a fire last weekend, but expect to open back up. But if you drove down Shoreline then you passed all of them, so maybe they weren't what you were looking for?

As far as whether there are enough things to do downtown, it depends on what you're looking for. There is a nice art museum and a couple of galleries. There is a somewhat downtrodden science and history museum and a museum of asian culture. There are a handful of bars and restaurants with live music as well as a couple of concert venues. The Hooks minor league baseball park is close to downtown so that's something to do in baseball season. There is a small waterpark next to the ball park. During hockey season the Ice Rays play at the American Bank Center and lots of other things go on there as well.

On the first Friday of every month there is an Art Walk that starts at 5 p.m. with vendors, music and food. On the Day of the Dead there's a huge party downtown.

I'm a native and I love the seawall on a summer evening.

CC is definitely a blue collar town, but there are also enough things to do to fill a long weekend if you're open to what is here.

[Jaybee]

Thanks for the input Marlow!
Looking at the Map, I don't think we drove on Shoreline. We intersected the beach farther south, at Ocean Drive. Before that we were a few blocks inland. Maybe that explains "missing" the hotels, maybe not. Sometimes finding a hotel while driving in an unfamiliar urban area, can be taxing. I know its "strained our demeanor" a time or two...

We're generally not looking for the four star type hotel, a La Quinta or Best Western is sufficient for us. But our experience with "boutique" style hotels hasn't been positive, so we orient toward the national chains. We did see the ballpark, but I think we were there post-season. Would love to see a minor league game there.

Thanks again for the response & recommendations. I think we could find enough to do from your list to warrant a stay downtown on our next visit.

[Marlow]

Shoreline turns into Ocean Dr. at Booty, if I'm not mistaken. If you cut over to the water south of that street then you did miss the hotels. There are some mom & pop motels close to Airline, but I can't vouch for them. Sometimes people post here asking about whether they should get a motel on Leopard because it's not far from downtown. DON'T. That's all I'll say about that.

[gabetx]

There is the Omni, Best Western, Holiday Inn, Emerald Beach, Hotel Corpus Christi, V Botique, Bayfront Inn, Super 8 all downtown.

There are a few shops, bars and restaurants downtown. But for the most part, downtown isn't very vibrant and isn't nearly what it can or should be. It could be very nice, but most storefronts are vacant and developers opt towards opening up on the south side of town.