Port Isabel is just across the causeway from South Padre Island (SPI). The contrast between the two places is like night & day. Whereas SPI is highly commercialized and touristy with high rise hotels and condo complexes, Port Isabel is a quaint but grown up fishing village that is much more comfortable and colorful and laid back.

Back in 1821, Port Isabel was a cattle ranch known as El Froton de Santa Isabel. An interesting and colorful history ensued leading to 1928 when Port Isabel was incorporated as a city with the slogan ... (more)