Best Tent Camping near Harlingen, TX

Boca Chica Beach is the end of the road for South Texas. The beach is about 15 miles outside of the Port of Brownsville Texas and very close to the Mexican Border. The beach is a wild and desolate place. It’s quite a contrast from the overly commercial and manicured beaches to the north on South Padre Island. The beach has a lot of debris from river run off and storms. The amount of trash and plastic waste can be overwhelming at times. The campsites are primitive and only include metal trash barrels. This is a good day trip for locals or a place for visitors who really want to get away. Of note, the beach is currently closed due to Covid 19. However, locals are exercising and walking their dogs despite the closure. When it’s open, you can drive on the beach but will need a 4x4. They don’t allow atvs or RVs on the beach. You will be able to see the Space X facility on the road near the beach.

KOA do a nice job catering to the RV and family camper community. This location is no exception and is loaded with amenities and a great location as a full service RV resort. This place is nearly full most of the year. So, reservations are a must here. The campground is located on the Laguna Madre side of the island near the bridge leading to South Padre Island. They have a variety of camping option for RVs, campers, tents, and cabins. The site has a great boat dock for those wanting to try their luck at fishing. The ocean is about 1/2 mile walk across a couple of busy roads. The sites have sewer, water, and power for even the largest RVs. They even have spaces to walk your dog and a pet playground. Like many RV resorts, you do not have any privacy and most of the sites are in the direct sun. Tenters and campers without AC will need to time their visit around the hot spring and summer temperatures. The night time temps average around 85 degrees and over 90 in the daytime in the summer. The Pier 19 restaurant is next door. Otherwise, you will need to bike or drive to restaurants.

I really enjoyed my stay at this campsite with my family. We actually came here on our Spring Break when we were in high school. We decided to come here because it wasn't a very long drive from home, and we knew there was some good hiking nearby. Located in Pharr Texas, the park is surrounded my beautiful citrus groves. You literally feel like you are in a desert oasis. Our favorite part is that it is located very close to the Rio Grande Valley. There are so many great attractions and places to do outdoor activities. If you want to head to the water you can drive an hour away and hit the Gulf of Mexico. We did this the second day we stayed here and it was so much fun, i would highly recommend doing this!! My mom and I also went shopping nearby- there is a great mall and shopping area close. The RV park was good. Water and electrical hookups, and enough room between sites which we like. Clean restrooms and area.

Many of the campsites are right on the water, which is the Arroyo Colorado, a canal that runs east-west to the Laguna Madre, the bay between the south Texas shoreline and South Padre Island. I've visited the park many, many times over the years because of its proximity to the Laguna Madre. I fish from a kayak, and have tried fishing South Padre Island, Port Mansfield, and Boca Chica Beach with some success. But I always go back to Adolph Thomae County Park because I have better luck there. I don't have to worry about leaving my vehicle unattended, either.

What else? There is a website - http://www.cameroncountyparks.com/adolph-thomae-park - that has all the info you need if you plan to visit. There are even a few pictures. But if you want to get a much better look at the park, download and load Google Earth and type 'Adolph Thomae County Park' in the search bar. For some reason, the locator map on thedyrt is way off. The latitude for the park is  26°20'42.65"N and the longitude is  97°24'50.43"W. I've tried editing the location to no avail.

If you use Google Earth, you'll see that there are 2 lighted fishing piers that are free to park visitors. There are also 3 public restrooms - one at each of the piers and a third between the two large parking lots at the end of the road. There are also two boat ramps at the end of the park road.

It's 3 miles from the park to the Laguna Madre, so if you're bringing a kayak be prepared to paddle for about 45 minutes before getting to the bay. The park opens at 6:00 AM, and the fishermen with motorboats start lining up about 5:45 AM. If you want a parking spot near the water, get there early. I've found that the best parking lot to use is the next-to-last. The water is just a few steps from the parking lot, and the grade down to the water is not that steep. There are no streetlights in the next-to-last parking lot - at least not yet - , so bring a headlamp. It's a relatively new parking lot, so lights may be installed at some point.

The trip we planned months was to relax at the KOA in South Padre Island, Texas. My wife and kids were looking forward to stating at the KOA with our new camper.

 Upon arrival, things seemed normal for the COVID-19 check-in.  Things went well until after renting a golf-cart. My children and I were going back to the camper when a KOA employee yelled at me to "Slow Down" and "Yes, I work here."  The woman followed to my campsite yelling and threatening to kick my family "to the curb".  When asking for management I was told "I am the manager".  When I notified that I will contact corporate I was told "they will just kick it back".  Indeed they did. To note this "manager" was the only person who felt they needed to treat me and my family this way. 

  With this said, I contacted our attorney who began working on escalating the issue. Our vacation went down from there. My wife and I were unhappy with the campground due to the mistreatment by management. 

 The campground itself is large but spots are very close to one another. The restrooms are clean, there is a decent-sized laundry, and there is an on-site store for your basic tv supplies. The pool was large at a maximum depth of (4) feet and had a hot tub onsite. The pool at the time of my visit was overtaken by mosquitos. 

 There is a restaurant in walking distance which is very good. They service breakfast also and can have a long wait at times. Even if you do not stay at the KOA stop by here. 

 The city/county campgrounds at Isla Blanca Park are just a mile further down and have better access to the beach. The prices are cheaper also. The KOA I felt was overrated and overpriced in this case. 

 In retrospect of the stay, I will not stay at this KOA nor can I honestly suggest anyone else to. Some may have a better experience but with the way management treated me I feel they deserved the one-star review.

I stayed here for February and March while visiting my aunt, who snow birds at Fig Tree. While it’s marketed as a 55+ community, they do allow a small portion of spots to be booked by younger singles or couples (I don’t think they would allow families with children, however). They have a wide array of events weekly that can be fun to attend, and the residents and staff are kind and enjoyable. The park is clean but could use some upgrades/fixing up (a fence needs to be replaced, 1-2 washer/dryers are usually out of order, the gate was broken during my stay, etc), but they are actively working on improvements. Pets are welcome, it’s about 45 minutes from South Padre, and great for day trips into Mexico.

Don’t count on their WiFi working (it is also not secured), but I did have great service with Verizon and good service with AT&T.

Overall, I would definitely consider coming back next winter.

Interior roads are in need of repair. Outside loop new.

Stayed here for about a week in July 2023. Very nice pool, hot tub, showers and bathrooms.  Verizon was about 1 bar 4g

Llano Grande was a nice park and we enjoyed our stay there, but it sounded lime there were some issues with pools being heated and communication on events. We dont really use ammenities, so didnt affect us, but could hear grumbling among guests. We had a nice pull thru site, level and plenty long and were close to the laundryroom/pool. Everyone had a golf cart and it was nice to see all the activity going on. There is a big canal behind the park with a levy you can walk on, a nice rec room, a shuffleboard area, horseshoe area, three pools, pickleball courts, a golf course and very nice people. I was bummed that it was so far from the beach. There is a bird viewing state park near, costco and walmart were fairly close and South Padre Island was about an hour away.

The residents at this park/rv resort are friendly and come from all over the country, we spent the winter of 20/21 and 21/22 at Snow to Sun and enjoyed it, facilities I would rate 4-5 star, staff 3 star, sites 4 star, neighbors 5 star, activities 5 star.

Overpriced for what they offer. Small concrete pad that's not even aligned with the RV door. The hook ups are on the right side when the electric cable and tanks' valve is on the left so the sewer hose ended up underneath the RV. $40/night... Stayed 3 nights... waste if money.

Very nice place and the people are great. Mostly used by winter Texans, visiting from Wisconsin and Michigan. Very clean and well maintained.

Very nice great pools hot tub tennis court Fun place to rv

Very nice park, 3 pools, friendly people

Spiritual awakening

Sites or not to love a list of pads are old and broken but overall it’s a nice place to sit and watch the boats go bye

From the park map, it looked like the campsites were pack in like sardines. When we got there, we found very nice, spacious site right on the water. We were there on a Sunday, so there were lots of families grilling and fishing, but we would not have known if we didn’t leave the campsite. The bathrooms were clean, but sparse. They were also used by day-trippers. We enjoyed watching the birds, particularly the pelicans which entertained us by diving into the water in front of our campsite.

Hosts are awesome. Very noisy and crowded. Very clean facilities and super clean swimming pool. The sewer hookup does not have a trap therfore no water to keep stench down. Smelled so bad I could not leave drain pipe connected while I stayed.

If your looking for a spot to winter over this could be the spot for you. It is crowded, but as a solo nomad I find it refreshing to be in a community setting from time to time. Big clubhouse with a full kitchen and full size pool table plus all kinds of events like fish fries, chilli cook offs, live music, bingo, karaoke and more. I am not into public swimming pools but they have one that is very nice and well maintained. Individual mail boxes to transfer your mail service to and of course package delivery in the library. Located 20min. from the SpaceX launch pad on Boca Chica Beach which you can drive on and allows dogs. Also South Padre Island which is like Daytona Beach on steroids. Monthly rates are O.K. but with location and amenities a fairly good deal. Thinking of making this my winter home!

No pool but lots of activities for campers including shuffleboard, horse shoes, cards five nights a week, pool table and country jam on Mondays. $30 per night and $15 per night with Passport America. Monthly and long term rates available. Live entertainment and special events. Large hall for meetings, get together etc.

Every Friday afternoon they have a jam session.  Coffee and doughnuts every Saturday.  Breakfast every other Monday. Water way with canoes. Game room with pool table. Laundry facilities on site. Large recreational hall. Owners are a joy to work with.