Galveston Situation

Padre is great, but will be very crowded with high school age springbreakers, if that is when you are planning on going. Padre had beach front hotels that you don't find in Port Aransas due to the dune system. We are going to Rockport for spring break. Our kids are young (5 and 1), so we are trying to avoid the more party oriented spring break areas. Rockport looks nice and is 17 miles from Port Aransas and 22 miles from Corpus Christi, so we can ride the ferry, go the Aquarium, etc. I have not been to Galveston for about three years, but if you are looking for the prettiest beaches, Padre is the way to go.

Check out the website, www.galveston.com and you'll be able to do a bit of research. I know a lot of shops, hotels and restaurants are open again but I don't know about the beaches for swimming.

my husband went to galveston last week to go fishing. He said it wont be tourist ready for another 3-5 years. They could not even fish. (unless you take a deep sea charter) He was a mile out from the beach and ran over a lawnmower in the water! Yes- a lawnmower. They saw golf carts and A/c units in the water also. I would not go! Corpus Christi is nice and Padre should be good too. We stayed in a house in cyrstal beach last year and it was great! I would go there again if you dont plan on venturing out to sight see. Have Fun!

I just did a bunch of research about this for our summer vac., complete with emailing a friend of mine in Houston. He just came back from a Galveston-based cruise too. Here is what he wrote me back:

"I would not recommend Galveston for a couple of reasons. One is the recovery from Hurricane Ike is likely to take a few years. Much/most of the island's coastal homes were simply destroyed. If you were up to doing a hotel/resort thing then the San Luis is the only way to go. Just about everything from a home is going to be at least a block or more from the beach. The second reason is because of you mentioning South Padre. I've vacationed there and along the Florida panhandle (Panama City area) and trust me, Galveston beach is no South Padre. It's not as bad as it used to be but you might still have a time or two that you step in a small crude oil patch on the beach from one of the offshore rigs AND the water is just not very pretty. I'm from Daytona Beach so I admit that I might be a little more critical than some but between the hurricane damage and my concerns about what you may think of a beach you've committed to stay a week or so at, I would consider finding another beach to visit for now."

Hope this helps! We decided on Port Aransas for this summer. I've visited Port A many, many years and we always stay at The Gulfstream condos. It's wonderful - they comb the beach every morning and are very reasonably priced.