Isla Blanca Park — Attraction in South Padre Island

The office for camping is just in front of KOA campground. This was a little confusing for us but we found it. There is a fee to drive beyond the gate and into the park if you're just there for the day. Many families were enjoying use of the many barbecue areas located near the pavilion. We tent camped for over a week at this location in late January. This location is dog friendly and dogs must be on a leash at all times. This location offers RV camping in the main park which has nicely paved roads, newly remodelled shower house, and hundreds of RV sites. They also offer free tent camping on the beach but there isnt close access to showers or restrooms and you park your car quite a distance from where you actually camp. It sounds good on paper (and in concept) but isnt an ideal set up. Paid tent camping, with access to restrooms and showers, for Isla Blanca is just outside of the main park which has a few overflow RV sites and tent camping in two locations. One section is next to the showers and the other at the back of the RV camping area. You can park your car right next to your tent in a grassy area but there is a single wire to climb over to carry your gear to your tent site. Upon check in you're given a pass to drive into the actual park if you choose to stay in this overflow RV/paid tent site area. Walking into the park was easier for us so we didnt use our pass. Inside the large park there are hundreds of RV spots and access to the beach or fishing. We were tent camping so what we saw online was difficult to understand. You can tent camp on the beach free but hundreds of people walk by so you won't likely want to leave your site or gear if you plan to stay more than one night. We opted to stay in the paid tent camping sites because we are the type of campers that have our own camping toilet, shower, and outdoor kitchen set up. We planned to stay several days and didnt feel comfortable leaving our gear at the beach sites. It was $20 per night which doesnt include water or electric. If available you can pay $30 for water and electricity and tent camp at an RV site. Unless you're experienced primitive campers and do not have children (as we are) you might try someplace else. The restrooms were quite a distance from the larger tent site area. The smaller section of tent sites located nearest to the restrooms is basically just burr filled crabgrass. When I read other reviewers say this while selecting a site I though "its south Texas what do you expect?" Well, it was bad! Our dog was miserable and we had to contend with a loud slamming restroom door at the shower house. We moved to another site further away in the larger area. We experienced high wind gusts at night and although we came prepared a couple several sites down were tearing down their destroyed tent the next morning. Some gusts were 55 so I recommend downloading a wind predicting app to prepare. We had wind barrier and extra ropes and glad we planned ahead. The restrooms are in desperate need of repair, paint, and some love. Noting they were always clean but don't seem to have been updated in over 20 years. Like, peeling paint and showerheads that reminded me of a highschool gym from the 1980s. There was an RV patron feeding local feral cats daily which drew coyotes close to the campground at night. We understand nature and wildlife (and we love cats) but feeding cats in an area known for coyotes is irresponsible. What we loved was how close we were to restaurants and a short walk to the beach. Many of the RV campers were incredibly nice and helpful. In ending, this campground caters mostly to RV campers and we probably won't camp...

From Day to of stepping into the office here the staff Izzy was extremely rude about where we parked to check in and then throughout the process of checking in demanding you needed a mask to be served even though their signs say they “recommend” masks. Later in our stay We asked to reserve our same site for 6 days at the $50 daily rate. This was suppose to be a separate reservation due to knowing their policy of only being able to make 1 change to your reservation during your stay. The staff did not do this correctly and “extended” our stay leaving us no more “changes” available to cancel for a refund, while we were knowing our Dad was sick . Unfortunately he passed away and we no longer needed the extra days and now they won’t refund $300 on those days due to their staff error. Mary Chapa the manager said she can’t do anything because she has no evidence of the conversation however she proceeded to say the county park manager could review video footage to confirm the conversation to approve the refund. So then it seems she lying. When I mentioned my dad passing, she then said that’s a different story and she can do something about it but needs funeral home or hospital note confirming his death. I confirmed with her, if I would have made the reservation myself online I would be able to get the refund on those 6 days and she said yes. So if her staff wouldn’t have screwed up, I could have a refund of $300 but she can’t do anything to help with this matter since she has no “eveidence”. So now their site will sit empty leaving no one to use it during this extremely busy time on the island and I will have to pay for it. This park is patrolled but it is not kept clean, trash and fire ants everywhere. The only thing they manage is money coming in. They could accommodate so many more guests if they were more helpful in the office in helping people make reservations or managing open sites better but since they don’t guests end up getting the short end of the deal. The staff are not trust worthy. You can’t get spots easy at all anymore in this park due to more and more people wanting to book far in advance and no one managing efficiency of site use by being smarter about which sites to book people in to allow more availability throughout the park. They don’t want to pay their workers to do this…they only allow them to check you in and take your money. Don’t expect any help beyond that. Truly disappointed with all this and the timing of grief for my family. I’ll never be back and don’t recommend u less you are ok in a 3.5 star park and know you can’t get friendly...

Pros and Cons and Guidance. READ THE CONS CAREFULLY IF CAMPING. Pros- Awesome location. I love to fish and even though we were way in the back, it was a 30 second drive/5 minute walk to get to the jetties, buy bait, and start fishing. Beach is gorgeous with a really nice boardwalk. Hook ups all worked at RV site. That is worth four stars + but had to give three just to point out the cons. Cons- We full time RV and this is the worst customer service/systems I've seen in a while (with the exception of a couple nice people).Make sure you get your online reservation correct because they do not answer the phone or return voice-mail or email. DO NOT pull up to the gate and check in. There is a registration building about a block before the gate on the right hand side that actually looks like is for the KOA but its not. You must stop there not only to check in but to CHECK OUT!! Yes, you will wait in line to check out, so figure it into your travel time.With a big rig you will need to park in the dirt lot across the road and walk over. There is no guidance or signs to any of this. They now have a ticket system in place to get waited on in the lobby, but there are no signs that it exists. They just keep asking people over and over, "Did you take a number?" as people walk in, past each other, and back out where they jam everyone in a little entrance foyer with no AC to wait for an extremely loud speaker to announce the number. You will pay electric even if there for a week and you need to take pics of the meter before and after. Don't forget or you are driving back into the campground to get it. They have a gate to scan your ticket to reenter, but don't use it during the day? So you will wait in line with all the day trip people to pay to get in even though you don't have to pay and have a ticket that scans in the bypass lane. Campsites are random. I mean really random in some areas. Not sure how people knew which way to park their camper. Some are great and some not so much. We had a dirt site which got wet every day. Everyone around us had cement. It really seems like whoever is leading the charge here has never been to another campground, or camped in their life. They certainly are not using the facilities or they'd know it's a mess. Horrible process/program management especially considering there are 600 sites here! They need a GM with experience here and it would...