Our Family Road Trip to Port Aransas, Texas
A few weekends ago, our family went on a road trip to Port Aransas, Texas! After staying home for over five months (with the exception of one weekend to visit family), it felt so amazing just to get away.
Our goal with this family trip was to just hang out at a really cool house and spend time at the beach – which is what we did! We wanted to be able to be as safe and as social distant as possible. Here’s a short video recap of our trip, and I’ll get into a little more details!
Family Road Trip to Port Aransas, Texas Vlog
Where is Port Aransas?
Port Aransas, Texas (or Port A, as Texans like to call it) is situated close to Corpus Christi, out on the Gulf of Mexico. It is the most northern part of Mustang Island. I was born in Corpus Christi and went to Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, and it’s been years since I have been able to visit. It was great to be back down in South Texas. Way better beaches than Galveston with a nice family-friendly vibe.
Port Aransas Rentals
Your best bet when looking for place to stay in Port Aransas is to go with a vacation rental property. There are some rentals on Airbnb and VRBO, but we found the best deal that included the most amenities when going through one of the local vacation rental companies. We rented our property through Silver Sands Vacation Rentals, and this is the property we rented.
Other popular rentals include:
There’s a lot of condos along with beach houses. Cinnamon Shore is a beautiful community but it was mostly booked up and what was left was out of our price range. We chose the house we did because of the private pool and golf cart that was included with the rental. If you were to look for that at another popular community like Cinnamon Shore or Palmilla, it will be way more expensive.
The house we went with had absolutely beautiful touches, was an amazing location (1 block from the beach with a walkover path, or a short 3-minute golf cart ride if you want to take the golf cart on the beach). Since we planned to not really leave the house aside from trips to the beach, the house and amenities were important to us (especially having a private pool). I would stay in this house over and over again! The girls spent almost the entire time in the pool! Also, the pool is a perfect height for kids, never deeper than 4 feet.
Traveling Safely to Port Aransas
Like I mentioned, our plans included just hanging out at the vacation rental or on the beach, and that’s exactly what we did. Nueces County (at the time of our visit), was a hot spot for the virus – even higher than where we live. It was of utmost importance to stay away from people as much as possible.
We meal planned, I did a Shipt order, we threw everything into a few coolers, and brought our own food to the house. We met Greg’s parents, his brother and his wife there, and they all brought a few items to share, as well. Our house had a grill, and even a high chair for Logan!
What to Pack to Port Aransas
Along with all of our own food in coolers, we brought:
- Bottled water
- Wine & Beer
- Pool floats
- Beach towels
- Coffee / creamer
- Lots and lots of sunscreen
I would also recommend bringing beach chairs and umbrellas/tents, if you plan on spending a lot of time at the beach. We didn’t really plant ourselves at the beach for long periods of time, because the golf cart made it easy just to keep going back and forth. Plus, it’s a little harder to stay for long periods of time with a baby. It made more sense to us to just keep going back and forth and making short visits. Since we went Sunday-Tuesday, the beach was never super packed.
What to Do in Port Aransas
Since this particular trip was strictly at our house and the beach, we did not venture out much aside from riding the golf cart around the island. Greg and I also drove around to check out the local places and to get a feel.
We stopped for coffee at Coffee Waves for some iced coffee to go (highly recommend!), and got the girls some Snow Cones at the Jackfish Cart Rental place (they have a little shop with pizza and snow cones – it was right by our house).
Port Aransas is a great fishing destination, there are fun restaurants and actvities, and lots to do – but like I said, we kept it very safe and distanced.
If you’re planning a visit and it’s safer to partake in more activities, make sure you visit this website for ideas of things to do.
Port Aransas Beach
Like I mentioned, the beach is pretty family-friendly, and easy to access. The community where we stayed had a walkover, but not accessible by golf cart or car. A short 3-minute drive around the corner got us to the beach quickly.
Honestly, a golf cart is the way to go. You can drive on the beach, but you do need a beach permit. All of the golf cart rental places include the ability for you to drive the cart on the beach.
The water in Port Aransas is definitely not Florida but so much nicer than Galveston. The water is warm, fairly shallow for quite a ways out (makes for good boogie boarding), and not super dirty. The sea breeze makes it tolerable all day, even in August.
Bottom Line – A Family Trip to Port Aransas is Awesome!
Bottom line, we 100% recommend a road trip to Port Aransas, Texas. It was the perfect escape but was still safe and away from others.
The best option is a golf cart. A beach permit is required for driving on the beach. All of the golf cart rental services will allow you to take your vehicle onto the beach.
Thanks to reading this article, I have gained new knowledge, thank you very much