We just came back from our family vacation in South Padre Island, Texas and it was really amazing. I was so pleasantly surprised at all there is to do so I had to write a blog post about it to share our experience with you. We truly made some amazing memories there and my hope is that this blog post will inspire you to do the same.
Let’s start with the facts. South Padre is the only tropical island in Texas. It also has the longest stretch of white sand beach in the entire state. It’s perfect for a year-round family destination or even for a couple’s trip. There’s so many unique and fun things to do on the island from the amazing beaches and surfing to waterparks and eco-adventures. This blog post will show you everything that our family of six did during our 4-night stay on the island.
Where to Stay in South Padre Island
As with any beach town, you’ll find an array of places to stay. South Padre Island has beach resorts and hotels and there’s also a popular option of renting high-rise condos for your vacation as well. We stayed at Pearl South Padre Resort. However, they are closing down this property in September 2022 to completely renovate and rebrand. When they open back up in the Spring of 2023, the property will officially be a Margaritaville Resort and I’m so excited about this.
The location of the resort was perfect for us. It’s on the south end of the island. We had direct beach access and it was very close to the waterpark and bay where we docked for our dolphin tour. We had a gigantic two-bedroom suite with an ocean-view and a full kitchen which is very convenient when traveling with family. Although we didn’t cook, having a microwave, full refrigerator with ice maker & freezer, and a dining table was quite useful.
Landshark Bar & Grill was the restaurant at the resort. It’s already fully-remodeled to the Margaritaville brand and was delicious. We ate there several times during our stay and even ordered poolside at our cabana and at the swim up pool bar. The condos next door to the resort, My Sapphire, are available for vacation rental and all have access to the Pearl’s/Margaritaville pool, restaurant & bar too.
Other really great properties to consider to stay at in South Padre Island are Courtyard by Marriott South Padre Island and Holiday Inn Resort. They both have very large family friendly suites. The Courtyard has a Bar Louie Restaurant that had the best brunch of our entire trip. I highly recommend it.
Keep in mind that South Padre Island does not have luxury high-end accommodations like a Miami Beach. So if you’re looking for a luxury stay, you won’t really find that here. But in my opinion, the quality of the beach itself and the beach activities are just as nice…if not nicer.
When to Visit South Padre Island
South Padre Island is a popular destination for spring breakers. To avoid the crowds and college kids, I would recommend not traveling during that time. Other than that, Texas has pretty warm weather year-round so the remainder of the year is up for grabs. Just check the weather before booking your travel. We went in late July and it was perfect weather with virtually no crowds at all.
If you live in Texas and taking a road trip to South Padre Island, then having your car to navigate the island works perfectly. It’s a very drivable town and easy to navigate. There are several RV parks near the beach if that is your mode of transportation as well.
If you live outside of Texas and flying in to one of the major Texas cities to make an entire vacation out of it, I’ve listed the drive times below when renting a car from those cities.
Drive Times:
San Antonio to South Padre Island – 4.5 hour drive
Austin to South Padre Island – 5.5 hour drive
Houston to South Padre Island – 5.75 hour drive
Dallas to South Padre Island – 8.25 hour drive
Another very popular mode of transportation once you get to the island is golf carts. There was literally a golf cart rental company on every other block. We even saw golf carts that had 6 and 8 passenger seating. There were also slingshots and other cool motorized cars to rent as well. They offer both hourly and daily rentals. You can reserve online in advance, but I would recommend waiting until you arrive so you can actually choose your transportation in person. Even though we didn’t book a golf cart during our stay, I wish we would have. It would have been helpful to avoid getting sand and dirt in own car. There is also an Island Metro Shuttle that has free rides along the island.
It’s important to note that there is a Walmart Supercenter and H-E-B grocery store nearby in Port Isabel, TX that we found all of our essentials at including any and everything that you could possibly need for a beach vacation. Port Isabel is the city that you will pass through crossing over the bridge to get to South Padre Island. There is also a CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens nearby as well. And yes…even a Starbucks. Here is a great user-friendly map of the island to download. Now let’s get into things to do.
Things to Do in South Padre Island
If you’ve never been to South Padre Island before or perhaps you went years ago back in your college days, you may be wondering about the things to do in South Padre Island with kids. Here’s a list of things that we did and all things that we did not get a chance to do, but will put on our itinerary for our next visit.
- Beach
South Padre Island is 34 miles of white sand beach between the Gulf of Mexico and the Laguna Madre Bay. There are many beach service companies along the island that offer beach rentals of various items. At our resort, there was a Sonny’s Beach Service right on the beach that offered umbrella and chair rentals along with other services.
There are 25 public beach access points along the main beach road, Gulf Boulevard. For a small fee, only beach Access #5 and #6 actually allow you to drive your car onto the beach. You can also go to one of the county park beaches where you’ll find pavilions with picnic tables, playgrounds, restrooms, and showers.
Our resort had direct beach access so this made it super convenient to spend an entire day there.
- Resort Pools
Most of the larger resorts/condo buildings have really nice pools with cabana rentals. We made an entire afternoon out of lounging at our resort pool. There was a swim-up bar, live entertainment and restaurant service at our cabana.
21040 State Park Rd 100, South Padre Island, TX 78597
This was one of my favorite activities of the trip. There’s horseback riding, ziplines, a petting barn, and pony rides for the younger kids. Facebook: @spiadventurepark
33261 State Park Road 100, South Padre Island, Texas 78597
This waterpark was less than 5 minutes from our resort. You can bring your own food and drinks in the park. There is a small fee to bring a cooler with ice. We made plans to stay from park opening to closing so we rented a cabana to have a private place to eat, relax and change. It was worth the cost in my opinion. I found this park to be very small child friendly with lots for younger kids to do. I’ll be doing a YouTube review on the layout for the cabanas to help you best choose which one to rent. Subscribe to my channel HERE. Instagram: @beachparktexas
33256 State Park Rd 100, South Padre Island, TX 78597
There are several companies that provide Dolphin Tours in South Padre Island. I’ve linked the company that we went with because they had really great reviews. We saw several dolphins throughout our tour. Try to arrive early to be one of the first ones to board. There is covered seating and non-covered seating. We were almost late for our tour and ended up having to sit on the uncovered part of the boat. That sun was no joke! Bring lots of sunscreen. This tour allows you to bring your own drinks aboard. Instagram: @theoriginaldolphinwatch
106 West Marlin Street, South Padre Island, Texas 78597
This amusement park is open from 6pm to 12am daily. It’s a great activity for the entire family. There were some pretty crazy rides like a reverse bungee jump and a skycoaster swing which neither I was brave enough to try. There’s also go karts, mini golf, a ferris wheel and other rides. The tickets are all a la carte. Instagram: @gravityparkspi
West Ling Street, South Padre Island, TX 78597
The sandcastle village is right next door to Gravity Park and is a collection of huge sand castle sculptures free to view. Donations are accepted. Instagram: @sandcastleisland
- Parasailing
There are several beach service companies that offer parasailing. Our resort had a Sonny’s Beach Service booth right on property so it made it very convenient to book and we didn’t have to shuttle to a different loading spot on the beach. There were options to parasail or just ride in the parasail boat as a spectator. Facebook: @sonnysbeachservice. SPI Excursions was another popular company offering the same services. Facebook: @spiexcursionstx
- Sunrise or Sunset Photoshoot on the Beach
The best way to find a photographer for vacation is to search the city’s hashtag on Instagram. You can check out the photographer’s quality of work and click directly to their websites to find out more information. In this case, I searched #SouthPadreIslandPhotographer. We chose Minerva Wallace of @thegirlbehindthelens for our family’s shoot. She was fantastic. Just look at these photos.
Another option for booking a vacation photographer is using Flytographer. You can search by the city and book directly on the website. Sign up using my referral link HERE to get a $25 credit on your first shoot.
501 East Maxan Street, Port Isabel, TX 78578
This was a really fun family-friendly cruise for the entire family young and old. There is food and drinks (bar) available for purchase at the loading dock. However, you have to consume before you board. There are also drinks (we had margaritas, the kids had slushies) and snacks available to purchase once you board. There were games, music, dancing and of course fireworks to end the cruise. Highly recommend. Facebook: @ospreycruisespadre
4400 Gulf Blvd, South Padre Island, Teaxs 78597
We booked this excursion via Viator as we found it to be the most cost-effective for our small group. There is a specific beach access point that they conduct the lessons, however we were able to request that they come to the beach near our resort and they were so nice to do so (with a tip). Highly Recommend this activity!
Here’s a list of a few other things to do on the Island that we didn’t get a chance to do:
- South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center and World Birding Center
- Surf Lessons
- Banana Boat Rides
- Jet Ski Rentals and Jet Ski Tours
- Snorkeling
- The Port Isabel Lighthouse State Historic Site
- SpaceX
Here’s a minivlog that I posted on Instagram recapping our trip.
I hope that you found this guide to things to do in South Padre Island, Texas. It’s a great beach town to visit and we’re definitely looking forward to going back. If you have any questions, you can shoot me a DM on Instagram at @oneflymama or leave a comment below. Let me know what you thought of this guide and if you would consider planning a trip to South Padre Island after reading it.
I documented our stay in Instagram Stories during the trip, so be sure to check out the highlight on my profile page for all of the Behind the Scenes.
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