CenTex GuySpring Break on South Padre Island
March 21st 2009 00:09
Ah the women in bikinis (or often less), the well-cut males, and the free flowing beer and party atmosphere. It's Spring Break time on South Padre Island.
It's a weeklong party fest for college kids everywhere. South Padre Island, Texas has become one of the top destinations for spring breakers as it has the nice warm beach, the bars and clubs that cater to the beach goers, and the close proximity to Mexico where the underage party goers on the Island who aren't luck enough to find free flowing booze can go to find some, legally.
These photos shot by dhruvaraj, a photographer on flickr, show some of what is to be found during spring break:
(I do not know this photographer, but he has some really nice nature stuff I would suggest checking out).
Anyway, I do believe that Spring Break on South Padre is something worth checking out just once in a lifetime.
I grew up and worked on South Padre, and I can say from personal experience, that it's a time that locals love and hate. We absolutely love it because of the money it brings, and many of us learned to enjoy the atmosphere there.
We hate it because, unlike the college kids who go for a week and leave, it lasts a full month for us. Traffic is a nightmare (although the Island has improved the street and signal structure since I grew up there) and often getting to and from work can go from a 10- minute chore on a normal day to a 30-45 minute chore on a spring break day.
Plus for locals, who enjoy the island dining scene, we know not to even bother during March. Blackbeard's, which started as a patio restaurant many moons ago when I was there, is now a thriving multiple deck joint that even in non spring break days can have waits of over an hour. But it's worth it. Other places, like the Palmetto Inn and Manuel's are local favorites also turned into top attractions.
I could go on about that, but now I'll just suggest if you ever want to visit South Padre and want to avoid the crowds, obviously never go during Spring Break. Also avoid the Holy Week around Easter, as it is very crowded with Mexican Nationals who like to come up.
Most of the summertime is busy, but you can still generally have a good time and avoid a huge crowd. But if you want a relaxing experience, and can get away, the best times to go are January and February, leading up to spring break, as well as the period of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That time is usually filled with Winter Texans (a.k.a. Snowbirds). There are a lot of them there but they usually take their RVs and stay to themselves. They don't often dine out and kind of stay to a limited beach area, so the island is pretty quiet.
It's a weeklong party fest for college kids everywhere. South Padre Island, Texas has become one of the top destinations for spring breakers as it has the nice warm beach, the bars and clubs that cater to the beach goers, and the close proximity to Mexico where the underage party goers on the Island who aren't luck enough to find free flowing booze can go to find some, legally.
These photos shot by dhruvaraj, a photographer on flickr, show some of what is to be found during spring break:
Spring break on South Padre
Spring Break party atmosphere
(I do not know this photographer, but he has some really nice nature stuff I would suggest checking out).
Anyway, I do believe that Spring Break on South Padre is something worth checking out just once in a lifetime.
We hate it because, unlike the college kids who go for a week and leave, it lasts a full month for us. Traffic is a nightmare (although the Island has improved the street and signal structure since I grew up there) and often getting to and from work can go from a 10- minute chore on a normal day to a 30-45 minute chore on a spring break day.
Plus for locals, who enjoy the island dining scene, we know not to even bother during March. Blackbeard's, which started as a patio restaurant many moons ago when I was there, is now a thriving multiple deck joint that even in non spring break days can have waits of over an hour. But it's worth it. Other places, like the Palmetto Inn and Manuel's are local favorites also turned into top attractions.
I could go on about that, but now I'll just suggest if you ever want to visit South Padre and want to avoid the crowds, obviously never go during Spring Break. Also avoid the Holy Week around Easter, as it is very crowded with Mexican Nationals who like to come up.
Most of the summertime is busy, but you can still generally have a good time and avoid a huge crowd. But if you want a relaxing experience, and can get away, the best times to go are January and February, leading up to spring break, as well as the period of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That time is usually filled with Winter Texans (a.k.a. Snowbirds). There are a lot of them there but they usually take their RVs and stay to themselves. They don't often dine out and kind of stay to a limited beach area, so the island is pretty quiet.
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