Need some help please.

[TX-RAT]

Wife and i are going to Padre Island in a couple of months. Need a place to stay, has to be beach front. Anything but hi-rise hotels.
Anything you could recommend would be helpful.
Thank you.

[fudge stripe cookays]

1. Hmmmm...

haven't been down in awhile TX-RAT.

We used to stay at the Bahia Mar, but I've heard the quality of that place has gone down considerably in the last 20 years. (http://www.bahiamar.com/)

There used to ba a highrise Hilton sort of mid-Island that I stayed at in 78 that was nice. It may have changed hands to another chain by now.

The Tiki used to be cool during the 70s as it was apartment style with kitchenettes so you could make your own food. I hope to God they've changed out the cheesy 70s bamboo furniture since then. (http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-346371-tiki_condominiums-i)

Guess I'm not really much help! I checked trip advisor, and all the places, even the Radisson have some really crappy reviews. Unfortunately, these places cater to the Spring Break college crowd, so they're catering to the lowest common denominator now, it appears.

I'd gone to Padre a bunch as a little girl (because we had family in Weslaco, it was convenient) but in July, reprehensor and I went to Galveston instead and stayed at the San Luis, which was wonderful; luxurious and comfortable. Plus, there's much more to do besides just beach there. Antiquing, The Strand, and Houston's nearby.

Check here:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Search?where=nav&returnTo=http%253A__2F____2F__www__2E__tripadvisor__2E__com__2F__&geo=1&q=padre+island+lodging&submit.x=8&submit.y=6

http://www.pirentals.com/

FSC

[Longhorn]

2. I've had good luck finding condos and rental houses at a site

called "Vacation Rentals by Owner" or www.vrbo.com. We've rented places in Colorado and California through them with no problems. The website is free to the renter.

Have fun! We took a trip to Galveston in August during that unusually cool week we had and it was great!

[lpricanprynces]

3. vrbo.com is good

as well as vactionrentals.com

I've used both with great success!