Family Spring Break in Port Aransas

Last month, my family and I hit the Texas coast and visited Port Aransas. I’ll be honest. I hadn’t heard the best things about Texas beaches. Pair that with the beach snob in me of having grown up on an island (Long Island, but still) and lived in California for nearly a decade, and I was fully prepared to dislike the Texas shoreline.

What a pleasant surprise the Texas portion of the Gulf of America (or Gulf of Mexico-whatever you choose to call it) turned out to be, at least where we were at.

Here are my tips, recs, and opinions on our experience in Port Aransas, Texas. Take what you want. Leave what you don’t. But, whatever you do, don’t come @ me. I’m just a mom of four telling you like it is when you spring break with a bunch of dudes ages 6-45 #boymom. Here we go...

Where to Stay in Port Aransas

Close your eyes and imagine Tommy Bahama meets Pottery Barn summer home. This is the vibe of where we stayed, a place called Cinnamon Shore. Cinnamon Shore is a beach resort filled with tasteful pastel homes with white trim, community pools, restaurants, boutiques, coffee shops, live music, grassy fields to throw a football around, ponds stocked with fish to catch and release, a giant chess and checker set, an ice cream truck and more. Even amongst a fair share of wild, college spring breakers on the beach and in the downtown Port Aransas areas, Cinnamon Shore was a peaceful retreat. Don’t get it twisted though, if your toddler is tantruming and having a complete meltdown, no one is judging you. A lot of families stay in Cinnamon Shore, so everyone “gets it”. We’re already planning a trip back and next time we want to go with friends because if I could go back to my teenage self and have a place like this to cruise around on a golf cart and chat with cute boys, I would have been in vacation heaven. Such sweet, innocent, Ralph Lauren commercial feeling charm in Cinnamon Shore, yes even with teens who we all love to hate on sometimes.

Port Aransas Beach

Now, let’s talk beach. Like I said, I had zero expectations of a nice beach prior to visiting Port-A, as the locals call it. Both my husband and I thought the South Padre Island coast was beautiful, clean, and a legit beach experience. If you’re not used to it, it can feel a little weird that cars and golf carts are cruising behind you while you sunbathe on the shore, but even with what seems like it would be a huge source of filth, the sand remains white and the beach barely had any litter on it. Maybe Texans are more respectful of their beaches? Or maybe they just ensure they have the right resources in place to keep it beautiful. Either way, no complaints here. Port-A deserves an A in my book when it comes to the beach.

Food Reviews in Port Aransas

How about food? Here’s where I need to tell you some news that might be disappointing. The food scene is very subpar in Port A, at least from what I experienced. It’s a lot of burgers, a lot of fried food, and hardly any options if you are gluten-free like me. While I don’t like eating out all the time on vacation for health and budget reasons, the lack of good restaurant options made it a lot easier to want to cook at home. Luckily, our condo was equipped with a full kitchen, so it was fine. Nonetheless, we did still choose easy prep options because who wants to make complicated meals on vacation? Not me. Here’s where we ate when we did eat out, and what I’d rate it:

• Lelo’s Island Bar We stopped here for lunch on the first day before checking in to our Cinnamon Shore AirBnB. The atmosphere was great: music videos from all my decades of life playing on the various TVs, a mixed crowd of desperate housewives with spring breakers with families, and free arcade games and shuffle board to keep the kids entertained while we awaited our food, especially after a four hour drive. Everyone’s meals looked delicious, but since there weren’t many gluten-free options, I ended up eating edamame and sweet potato fries for lunch-not my finest moment, but not my worst either. My kid asked me no less than 17 times if we could go back before leaving, so clearly was a hit with the fam.

• Dylan’s Pizzeria A casual pizzeria/restaurant in Cinnamon Shore North that we checked out our first night before we’d hit the grocery store. The regular pizza looked good. The gluten-free pizza was meh. The frozen one I got at H-E-B for another dinner was honestly better. The vibe and location is awesome though. You’re right in the middle of the action near the Cinnamon Shore North center square. We enjoyed live music while we dined outside, and our kids could run around the grass right across the street, within site distance, while we waited for our food to arrive-aka Mom and Dad could have an uninterrupted adult conversation, sip some wine, and feel like they were on a date for about 20 minutes. Winning.

• Virginia’s On the Bay We wanted to go here on our last night, but the wait was 90 minutes, and they didn’t take reservations. The menu looked decent with lots of pescatarian options that I would have loved to try, but it just didn’t work out for us when six of us nonchalantly walked in already starving at 7pm. Long waits seemed to be the unfortunate case with additional restaurants we called or dropped into as well, so we ended up having to succumb to WhatABurger. At least the kids were happy.

Stuff to Do in Port A

Rent a golf cart. At first, I didn’t think it was necessary because everything in Cinnamon Shore really is just a short walk away. But, man, the golf cart was a such hit for the kids. At night, my husband would take our boys cruising on the golf cart and blast their favorite songs. During the day, we got to see a lot of the beach driving our golf cart up and down the sandy shore. And, just to be real, you’d probably feel pretty left out if you didn’t have one. Almost everyone, it seemed, had a golf cart there. It was a fun and worthwhile add-on.

Visit Roberts Point Park. We decided to venture out of Cinnamon Shore one day when it was too chilly to swim. We went to an awesome park right on the water. It kept the kids active and busy for a couple hours, and we even got to see some dolphins in the water while we were there. It also led us to our next adventure that day. See below.

Check out Rockport. One ferry and a 20-minute drive away is a cute, little town called Rockport. We had heard about it, so we decided to check it out during our chilly and spontaneous day. While we were there, we drove around, went thrifting (one of our new hobbies to find cool treasures), and ended our adventure with a stop at Grandma B’s Sweet Treats, where we let our kids get sugar drunk despite my limit of a quarter pound each of bulk candy each.

And of course-hang by the water. Both beach and pool are great options, especially if you’re staying somewhere that has both at your fingertips. While we miss the beach not living near the coast anymore, there’s a simplicity that comes with the pool that you just don’t get when you’re cleaning sand out of every crevice of your body and bag and vehicle for the next 24-48 hours. It costs nothing to swim, lounge, lay, and just enjoy the sunshine. Just make sure you pack a million snacks or else you will not be able to swim, lounge, lay and just enjoy the sunshine for more than 15 seconds.

---

All in all, we had a great spring break in Port Aransas. Even sharing the shore with young and fun college kids who were probably day drunk all day every day. We didn’t feel unsafe or uncomfortable, especially staying in what felt like Tommy Bahama’s Disneyland, aka Cinnamon Shore. If you get to experience Port A, let me know! Would love to hear about your experience and get recs from you too! Cheers to working it, spring break style.