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South Padre Island Attractions & ActivitiesBest Attractions & Activities
Category: Best Attractions & Activities - South Padre Island Attractions & Activities
Address: 500 Padre Blvd, South Padre Island, TX 78597
Most national publications rank South Padre Island as one of the best beach resorts in the United States – and those who have visited Texas's tiny (it's only 30 or so miles long) tropical island would no doubt agree. Wide expanses of soft white sand lead to warm turquoise waters, creating a postcard-perfect scene. Steady breezes are ideal for...
Confederate Air Force/Rio Grande Wing
Category: Best Attractions & Activities - South Padre Island Attractions & Activities
Address: 955 Minnesota Ave, Brownsville/South Padre Island Airport, Brownsville, TX 78520
If you're a flying junkie, this airplane museum at the Brownsville-South Padre Island Airport is a must-see. The collection includes a number of historic, battle-tested aircraft, including planes used in World War II and the Korean War. The museum also has displays of historical documents, photographs, personal effects, and paintings related to...
Category: Best Attractions & Activities - South Padre Island Attractions & Activities
Address: 500 Ringgold St, Brownsville, TX 78520
This 30-plus-acre zoological and botanical park is dedicated to preserving – and increasing education about – sub-tropical mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Indeed, more than 1500 different animals from around the world inhabit the Gladys Porter Zoo, and the park's 350,000 annual guests can get up-close and personal with everything...
Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge
Category: Best Attractions & Activities - South Padre Island Attractions & Activities
Address: 22817 Ocelot Rd, Los Fresnos, TX 78566
The largest protected area of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Laguna Atascosa NWR is a haven for bird-watchers, hikers, and nature-lovers in general, affording spectacular landscape vistas and a wealth of native flora and fauna. In particular, alligators, ocelots, black-bellied whistling ducks, egrets, and javelinas call the park home and are often...
Category: Best Attractions & Activities - South Padre Island Attractions & Activities
Address: 7355 Padre Blvd, South Padre Island, TX 78597
Found on the north end of the downtown area, just beside the South Padre Island Convention Centre, is Laguna Madre Nature Trail, a lovely boardwalk that leads across some four acres of wetlands. Bird-watchers will find a few blinds available where they can set up shop at dawn or dusk and catch rare glimpses of Laguna Madre's endangered feathered...
Category: Best Attractions & Activities - South Padre Island Attractions & Activities
Address: 27715 Hwy 100, San Benito, TX 78586
This privately-owned, 82-acre nature preserve offers a unique opportunity to observe native birds and other forms of wildlife in their natural habitats. In addition to lake vistas, the well-manicured grounds also offer several butterfly gardens. Casa Los Ebanos itself is something of an attraction, a lovely plantation-style home built in the 1930s...
Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site
Category: Best Attractions & Activities - South Padre Island Attractions & Activities
Address: 1623 Central Blvd, Brownsville, TX 78520
The date was May 8, 1846, and forces from the United States and Mexico met on the field of battle at Palo Alto, a prairie just outside of modern Brownsville. The first skirmish of the U.S.-Mexican War, Palo Alto was but a precursor to what would become a bloody, two-year conflict between young countries seeking to assert themselves politically and...
Category: Best Attractions & Activities - South Padre Island Attractions & Activities
Address: 317 E Railroad Ave, Port Isabel, TX 78578
Dedicated to preserving the histories of Port Isabel and other communities along the Laguna Madre, this museum is itself a piece of local history, located as it is in the old Champion Dry Goods Building (circa 1899). Inside, exhibits focus on the area's Native American settlers and feature artifacts from the U.S.-Mexican war (1846-48). Also...
Category: Best Attractions & Activities - South Padre Island Attractions & Activities
Address: 33261 State Park Rd , South Padre Island, TX 78597
Wet 'n wild, high-octane thrills, chills, and spills await the adventurous at South Padre's popular Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark, where guests race down tube chutes, challenge the wave pool, laze on the Rio Ventura, or even play sand-court volleyball. The park also features a number of kid-friendly activities, including a five-story sandcastle....
Category: Best Attractions & Activities - South Padre Island Attractions & Activities
Address: 6617 Padre Blvd, South Padre Island, TX 78597
Visit the home of Ila Loetscher, who was known to locals as South Padre's Turtle Lady, and learn about the endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtle ("tortuga lora"), the smallest species of sea turtle. Founded in 1977, the park serves as a safe-haven for turtles, providing them with protected nesting areas and, if needed, medical assistance. Daily...
