South Texas Tour

This is part of our series of at least 8 day tours of different regions of Texas. The best time to schedule such a tour is in the fall, winter, or spring between October through April. The summer heat will not contribute to your pleasure if you want to visit this part of the state from May through September. The absolute prettiest and most joyous time of the year to schedule such a tour is in late November or December between Thanksgiving and Christmas or Chanukah. However, the temperatures could be in the 50s Fahrenheit/10s Centigrade during the day in December so it may be cool; the temperatures could also be in the 80s Fahrenheit/20s Centigrade.

This tour will include:

1. 3 nights in Corpus Christi – Tour Corpus Christi, Kingsville, and the King Ranch.  The King Ranch is one of the largest ranches in the world.  It was the ranch that was the basis for the Reata Ranch in the 1956 movie Giant.  Sites in Corpus Christi include the Texas State Aquarium, the Selena Museum, the burial place of Selena, the air crafter carrier the Lexington, the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, and driving along the coast and through the city.  We will visit the 1882 Our Lady, Star of the Sea Church and the 1940 Corpus Christi Cathedral.  We will also visit Padre Island, Fulton, Rockport, and Port Aransas.  If open, we will tour the 1872 Fulton Mansion State Historical Site.
2. 2 nights in Brownsville  – On the way from Corpus Christi to Brownsville, we will tour the Iwo Jima Memorial and Museum in Harlingen.  Tour the Palo Alto National Historic Site and Battlefield with the ruins of Fort Brown where the Mexican American War began in May 1846.  We will also tour the Gladys Porter Zoo with its lush gardens, the Historic Brownsville Museum in a 1928 Spanish Colonial Revival Building, and the 1850 Stillman House Museum.
3. 2 nights in McAllen – Tour the 1930 Quinta Mazatlan Spanish-style mansion, the McAllen Heritage Center, La Plaza Mall (the largest enclosed shopping mall in southern Texas), and the Veteran’s War Memorial honoring veterans of World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam.  We will visit Temple Emanuel, one of the few Jewish houses of worship in South Texas.  It attracts members from both sides of the border.
4. 2 nights in Laredo – Visit the Republic of the Rio Grande Museum in the 1830 and 1860 buildings.  Did you know that a nation once existed that united the people on both sides of the border in 1840?  We will also visit the Catholic Cathedral of San Agustin from 1872, the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical International University (TAMIU) Planetarium, the former Fort McIntosh that was active from 1849 to 1946 and had Buffalo Soldiers stationed there, and The Outlet Shoppes at Laredo.
5. 1 night in Eagle Pass – Visit the only legal casino in Texas at the Lucky Eagle Casino Hotel.  The Kickapoo tribe operates this casino.  The Kickapoo have one of only three reservations in Texas.  We will also go to Fort Duncan Park, home of the First United States Infantry encampment, dating to 1849.  If possible, we will travel across the border into Piedras Negras to go shopping at the Zaragoza Market also known as El Mercado, and visit a replica of a Mayan, Aztec, and Olmec mini-pyramid at the Plaza de las Culturas.
6. 2 nights in San Antonio – On the way from Eagle Pass to San Antonio, we will stop in Crystal City.  Crystal City is known as the spinach capital of America.  See the statue of Popeye, the Sailor.  From 1943 to 1948, three years after World War II ended, it had one of the largest internment camps of Japanese-American and German-American citizens and residents, and South American Latinos of German and Japanese descent who were sent here to be held against their will.  Many of these people were exiled to countries that they had never known.  A granite stone monument is all that remains of this epoch in US history.  The Chicano Movement in 1963 and La Raza Unida Party in 1969 began in Crystal City.  Visit the 1824 Alamo and the 1720 Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo have lunch on the River Walk AKA Paseo del Rio as well as taking a barge ride on river in San Antonio. Also, visit the German King William District of 1800s German mansions.
7. 2 nights in Del Rio – If you want to lengthen the tour.  We will visit the small pioneer village at the Whitehead Memorial Museum, tour the Val Verde Winery, the Laughlin Heritage Foundation Museum, and the Amistad National Recreation Area Visitors Center.  Did you know that the Val Verde Winery is the oldest bonded winery in Texas?  The inclusion of Del Rio would be between Eagle Pass and San Antonio.

Depending on the political situation and the interests of the tourists, this tour can include crossing over the Rio Grande to go shopping for such objects as jewelry including lots of silver and turquoise, glass blown objects, ceramic artwork, leather products, over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, and cheap alcohol.  One can enjoy an authentic Mexican lunch or dinner.  The locations of the border towns are identified in the table below:

Progreso and Nuevo Progreso are slight diversions south between Brownsville and McAllen.

With the possible exception of Piedras Negras, we do NOT drive into any of these Mexican cities.  We park on the US side and walk across an international bridge to go shopping.  We will not stray into unknown areas or parts of the cities more than a few blocks from the border and we will stay in the downtown marketplaces.  We will either stay together and or have a specific time and site to regroup such as three hours in Mexico and meet back at the Mexican side of the same international bridge on the side that leads to the US so we cross together.  BRING A PASSPORT.

This tour is filled with great cultural experiences, seeing vast changes in the terrain as well as the climate, and rich in history and events of the kaleidoscope of people of South Texas.

The price of this tour, like all tours, is determined by the number of people, the number of private versus double occupancy rooms, the number of days, and what the prevailing hotel rates are at the time of booking.  This tour has several variables with numerous cities and dozens of sites.  If this tour interests you, please provide the specific relevant information that you have and allow for 2 weeks to receive a quote.