Andy Bowie Park Campground

This is an OK park for being real close to the beach. You can't hardly get a camping spot with beach access so that makes it worth the money. They do have full hookups but you are very close to your neighbor. The mosquitos were real bad and the grass wasn't mowed down enough that our dogs wouldn't hardly do their business in it, due to big stickers. It's several miles north of South Padre which is good for less traffic. But makes for a longer drive if you need something from Wal-Mart on Port Isabel. Next time I'd choose Isla Blanca park over this one.

Good location on the outskirts.
Good beach access with bathrooms, picnic shelter, bbqs and garbage
Access road is curvy, narrow and high curbs. Tough with anything bigger than a car!
We dry camped in parking lot to the right for $15/night!!$$$. It was quiet and peaceful with our rig facing the dunes

The Boondocking rate was 20.00 a night. Clean restrooms and hot showers. Close enough to hear the waves crashing and live music from Claytons. Super safe it’s where cops hose the sand off their vehicles. You have miles of beach and tourist attractions. Had great waves for body surfing.

Camped in a 35” motorhome. We are self-contained so cannot comment on restrooms/shower facilities.
Overall – due to the septic spill issues we will not return. Paid monthly rate but stayed 3 weeks. Electric is metered with weekly or monthly rate.

Pros –
- Great proximity to the beach – a short walk
- Across the street from the Birding and convention centers – both incredible birding opportunities
- Very friendly staff – seem overworked
- Very good Verizon and T-Mobile cell and i/n connectivity
- Full hookups

Cons –
- Spaces are obnoxiously close together – can hear conversations and televisions. It literally is a parking lot.
- Lots of RV’s moving daily in this small lot. Many had difficulty backing into their site due to the lack of space to maneuver.
- Very bad stickers in the grass – be careful if you have pets.
- Getting into park around bends is tricky.
- Now for the very bad part – the septic system was not built to handle the volume. If you leave your septic uncapped it will surely overflow when someone down the row dumps. We witnessed this first hand. Our neighbors septic overflowed all over the next site’s area when someone else dumped their tank (they hadn’t capped the top tightly enough). Their rug, ice chests, chairs - all sitting in sewage. It was unbelievable. We called the office and they said this happens often. After 2 calls a guy came down to look it over and he told us that this happens frequently and that the county won’t pony up to build a new septic system. I called the office and they gave me their supervisors number. I called him and told him that if I saw this again I would call the health department and ask that the campground be closed due to health issues. Every morning we saw people try to dump before leaving and they couldn’t. The system was full. They would call and then have to wait until someone from the county would somehow release more out of the system….ugh. We learned to dump frequently when we could and the night before we left. The people that stay there for months knew all about this issue. Go figure.

Andy Bowie Park on South Padre Island in Texas provides RV camping and direct access to the island’s spectacular Gulf beaches. In this video, we give you a walking tour of Andy Bowie Park, the RV camping area, Gulf beaches, and the day use facilities; video uploaded here on Campendium for your immediate reference. Andy Bowie Park is a county park situated on the north end of South Padre Island and is conveniently located adjacent to the South Padre Island Birding And Nature Center. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 114 Mbps download speed and 24.8 Mbps upload speed. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 278 Mbps download speed and 46.6 Mbps upload speed. T-Mobile cellular service clocked in at 74.9 Mbps download speed and 7.73 Mbps upload speed.

The boardwalk did not go all the way to the hard ground beach. You had to walk in loose sand to the beach. There was beach construction ongoing day and night. Night backup alarms at 2 am. The bathrooms close at 6:30 pm. Go figure. You're camping on asphalt the whole time. The small amount of grass you had was overrun with stickers. Not pet friendly. We didn't have the sewer problems that others had experienced. They need to install a lift station. Seems to me they built the Restroom/Shower facility and as an after thought added the camping and sewer additions. Not a very good job.

We stayed at Isla Blanca and glad we did after a drive by of this one. Too far from the action small parking lot type sites but just off the beach.

How I wish Cameron County or the KOA on South Padre Island would make the investment to really make one of these parks top notch. Andy Bowie is the best, needing only to have A) the sewer lines BELOW the road level so they will drain properly (see my photo), and B) a new bath house. Do that, and this park goes from 3-stars to 5-stars. Location is beautiful, right behind the dunes on the beach. 20 RV Spots, with individual water, 30/50 amp electric, and the sewer problem mentioned above on nearly every site.

The beaches and water is much nicer in south padre however all the areas for RV camping are very sad! You can stay in the parking lot with full connections for $60 or Dry camp in the other side of the parking lot for $25 right next to the dumpsters. The only good thing about Dry camping spots is you can pick your spot in the parking lot and run a genny all night. There is no RV beach camping here. Bathrooms close at 6:30 which aren’t that bad. Playground and pavilion have been closed for a long time and don’t show any signs of opening soon.