Road trip from dallas to south padre island (San Antonio, Austin: rentals, condo)

[kabhi347]

Me and my wife, planning to go to south padre in last week of May by road. I would need some information's on below queries, I really appreciate if some body help me with this answers,

1. Planning to stay in tent near beach side in South padre, is it allowed legally?
2. If it is not allowed in South padre, what are the other options?
3. I am planning for 4 days road trip, will it be sufficient to cover south padre, Corpus Christi?
4. I saw some posts confirming Beach side camping is allowed in corpus Christi, aslo I saw ban on it, so curious is it still allowed in CC, if yes what is the best beach(Safe) to camp.

Any tips, advise, warnings are highly appreciable.

[ChristieP]

Here is the National Park Service's site for Padre Island National Seashore: Camping on Padre Island - Padre Island National Seashore (U.S. National Park Service)
It says that beach camping is only allowed on these five sites. Sand dune ecosystems are very fragile, and they limit access to them to prevent erosion.

Your other options are staying in a hotel or renting a condo.

The drive from Dallas to South Padre is about 10 hours. If you only have 4 days, you will burn up two whole days just getting there and coming back. You really need 6 days to make the trip to South Padre, and even longer if you are going to add Corpus Christi.

[gabetx]

Originally Posted by kabhi347

Me and my wife, planning to go to south padre in last week of May by road. I would need some information's on below queries, I really appreciate if some body help me with this answers,

1. Planning to stay in tent near beach side in South padre, is it allowed legally?
2. If it is not allowed in South padre, what are the other options?
3. I am planning for 4 days road trip, will it be sufficient to cover south padre, Corpus Christi?
4. I saw some posts confirming Beach side camping is allowed in corpus Christi, aslo I saw ban on it, so curious is it still allowed in CC, if yes what is the best beach(Safe) to camp.

Any tips, advise, warnings are highly appreciable.

Corpus Christi is not South Padre Island, it is North Padre. Yes camping is permitted. Also check Mustang Island, which is on Padre Island between CC and Port Aransas.

Corpus is only 7 hours as opposed to 10 to South Padre. Thats six hours round trip you would save staying in CC rather than South Padre. CC has more to do as opposed to South Padre also.

[Spree]

Google has South Padre at about 8 1/2 hours and that's about right, but you would want to take time to stop/get gas. We drive every year from Dallas and yes I think 4 days is too short as you will need to plan 2 of those days for travel. I believe there may be tent camping allowed at the north end of the beach as it's just past all of the hotels and it's not developed. There is an area you can drive your car out to the beach to park. I would check though, too see if overnight tent camping in allowed.

Last Labor Day weekend, we drove half way after work the Wednesday before to San Antonio, then left the next morning for SPI getting in around noon. We were able to check in our condo and enjoy the sun and sand that day and the following days 3 days then leaving to make the drive back to Dallas in one day. That was a good trip for us, I can't imagine breaking up the trip to go to Corpus. I would go to either Corpus or SPI, but not both in that short of time. The roads from San Antonio north/south to SPI are a breeze, you can make good time. You can count on delays going through Austin and through the construction in the Waco area. Look at taking the new tollway around Austin if possible.

[hellpaso]

Originally Posted by gabetx

Corpus Christi is not South Padre Island, it is North Padre. Yes camping is permitted. Also check Mustang Island, which is on Padre Island between CC and Port Aransas.

Corpus is only 7 hours as opposed to 10 to South Padre. Thats six hours round trip you would save staying in CC rather than South Padre. CC has more to do as opposed to South Padre also.

I'd definitely recommend North Padre/Corpus rather than SPI. I think the beach is much more beautiful there, especially the Malaquite Beach area. And Corpus offers much more than anything in the SPI area such as Port Isabel or Brownsville.

[gguerra]

Originally Posted by hellpaso

I'd definitely recommend North Padre/Corpus rather than SPI. I think the beach is much more beautiful there, especially the Malaquite Beach area. And Corpus offers much more than anything in the SPI area such as Port Isabel or Brownsville.

I disagree. South Padre does allow overnight camping. You can camp there for a week for just the price of the day pass. SPI is geared more towards tourism. I don't know what you mean by "much more". Corpus does have the aquarium (sucks) and the Navy Aircraft carrier. South Padre offers way more "tourist" activities, parasailing, dolphin watch cruises, jet ski rentals, horseback riding, fishing, fine dining etc etc. After all a beach is a beach and as far as beauty, that is in the eye of the beholder. Keep in mind that only a few miles of the beach are maintained where camping is allowed. The rest is primitive and it is wise to have a good supply of food and water.. Camping on the beach is "rougher" than lets say Isla Blanca Park where there are camp sites. It is also closer to restaurants and stores.

[Dr.Mcninja]

Originally Posted by gguerra

South Padre offers way more "tourist" activities, parasailing, dolphin watch cruises, jet ski rentals, horseback riding, fishing, fine dining etc etc.

You realize that you can do all of those things in and around Corpus as well, right? I mean, it's not like they ignore the water.

[gguerra]

Yes, BUT SPI's only industry is tourism. Corpus is a regular city with more on it's mind.

[hellpaso]

Originally Posted by gguerra

Yes, BUT SPI's only industry is tourism. Corpus is a regular city with more on it's mind.

Precisely.

[texasdiver]

From your post it isn't exactly clear what you are looking for. There are two ways to tent camp along the Texas coast.

1. Tent camping in established campgrounds. There are various state parks and other parks that have campgrounds where you will park in a campsite that probably has running water, picnic table, bathrooms, and possibly electricity. Most developed campgrounds are not right along the beach but within walking distance or farther.

2. Beach camping. This is where you drive down the beach until you find a likely spot and then just pitch your tent. You won't have running water or toilets and you should probably have a 4x4 truck for this sort of camping. Much of the South Padre Island national seashore is open to this sort of thing and basically runs 60 miles from near Corpus Christie to Port Mansfield. http://www.nps.gov/pais/index.htm

A third option is Mustang Island State Park http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/mustang-island Mustang Island is the next island north of Padre and has the town of Port Aransas located at the northern end and the park at the southern end. Mustang Island state park has an established RV campground at one end with bathrooms, showers, and such and then has a long undeveloped beach camping area to the south where you can just drive down, find a spot and camp. This park might be your best bet for finding beach camping yet still having access to bathrooms, showers, water, and groceries nearby. Corpus Christie is only about 15-20 minutes away across the bridge.

In any event, Corpus Christie isn't really a beach town. It is on a bay and is a big naval base. The proper beach town near Corpus is Port Aransas which is the typical beach town and more similar to the city of South Padre which occupies the very southern tip of South Padre Island. Comparing the cities of South Padre to Port Aransas it seems to me that South Padre is more developed and has a lot more recent high-rise condo type development. Port Aransas seems sleepier and more spread out with a lot of older fading condo complexes that look like they were built in the 1980s. Between the cities of Port Aransas and South Padre is basically nothing but undeveloped wild coastline. The few towns inbetween are not on the beach but on bays further inland.

For 4 days just pick one spot and go. Don't try to see everything. From Dallas I would aim for Mustang Island State Park or the Padre Island National Seashore which are both accessed via the bridge from Corpus Christie. You'll save the all additional driving down to town of South Padre from which you'll have to drive a long ways back north along the island to find beach camping. You need to study google maps to understand the difference between the town of South Padre which is on the Mexican border and Padre Island which is the long barrier island that runs from Corpus Christie all the way to Mexico. North Padre Island and South Padre Island are separated by a narrow channel but otherwise basically the same thing. The only way onto North Padre Island is via the bridge from Corpus Christie and the only way onto South Padre Island is via the bridge between Port Isabel and the town of South Padre.