South Padre Island's beaches offer a variety of activities for visitors to the popular sight.

General -

Incorporated in 1973, This cute small resort town is located on the southern tip of Padre Island just across Laguna Madre. This bay separates South Padre Island from the mainland. Access is available via the free causeway on Park Road 100.

Visitors find a wide range of accommodations from campgrounds and family motels to high-rise luxury hotels and condo rentals, marinas, and seaside cottages. Restaurants feature fresh seafood harvested daily from the Gulf.

South Padre is known for its water sports including:

jet skiing, deep-sea fishing, surfing, bay fishing, parasailing, sailing, and wind-surfing. Other island activities include bicycling, tennis, shelling, and horseback riding on the beach.

The South Padre Island Visitor Center provides detailed information about accommodations, activities, and events related to boating, sailing, fishing, and seashore recreation. Open Monday through Friday: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. on Padre Blvd., a half-mile north of the causeway at 600 Padre Blvd. Telephone (210) 761-6433, or 1-(800) 343-2368 for both U.S. and Canada.

Some Popular Activities:

Fishing -

Available from the beach, piers and jetties where catches may include redfish, speckled and sand trout, sheepshead, flounder, croakers, skipjack, and drum. Group boats provide bay and deep-sea fishing for full or half days; charter cruisers available for individual or small party offshore sport. Offshore species may include tarpon, sailfish, marlin, kingfish, mackerel, ling, pompano, bonita, red snapper, warsaw, and wahoo. Marinas provide fuel, bait, tackle, launching ramps, and boat rentals. Small boats with guides available for bay fishing.

Island Equestrian -

Take a romantic horseback ride along secluded beaches while savoring the beauty of miles of sand dunes encrusted with sea oats and beach morning glory along the Gulf of Mexico and Laguna Madre. Horses usually available from sunrise to sunset. Just north of town on Padre Blvd.

Jeremiah’s Landing -

Fun for kids of all ages awaits visitors to this small water park featuring seven water slides and a video arcade; includes snack bar. Open daily Memorial Day - labor Day; weekends April - May. Call for hours; 210 / 761-2131. 100 Padre Blvd. At gulfpoint. Admission.

Padre Island -

South Padre Island's beaches offer a variety of activities for visitors to the popular sight.including our very own James Deford

The long, narrow sand island sweeps in a golden arc north some 110 miles to Corpus Christi. Modern hotels and motels edge several miles of the Gulf at the island’s southern tip.

Farther north the island is entirely natural - sand dunes, sea oats, and beach morning glory. (There is no bridge or ferry between South and North Padre). Beautiful, gently sloping beaches are perfect for swimming and surf fishing. Beach-combers will find bright shells, perhaps floats from the West Indies, driftwood, and occasionally flint points of Karankawa Indians who once roamed the area.

Pan American University Coastal Studies Laboratory -

Marine life and representative examples of the region, both from the Gulf and Laguna Madre; fish, mollusks, plants; extensive seashell collection. Open Sun. - Thurs. 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. In Isla Blanca Park at south tip of Padre island.

Parks -

"Isla Blanca Park", on the southernmost tip of the island, features more than a mile of clean, white beach along the Gulf of Mexico, for waterfront recreational facilities. The park includes picnic and playground areas, fishing jetty, restaurants and clubs, a full-service marina with daily charters, a water park, and boat ramp. There’s even a nondenominational church, the Chapel by the Sea. Camping facilities include more than 600 RV sites with full hookups. For information and reservations, call (210) 761-5493.

"Andy Bowie Park", just north of the city limits, features the popular Laguna Madre Nature Trail for nature enthusiasts and bird-watchers. Other facilities include beachfront picnic pavilions, children’s playground, and a ranger station. For information and reservation and reservations, call (210) 761-2639.

Sea Turtle, Inc. -

A living museum of the "Turtle Lady", Loetscher. Educational shows featuring endangered sea turtles given on Tuesday and Saturday at 9 a.m. during the summer, 10 a.m. other seasons. At 5805 Gulf Blvd. Admission.