Galveston/Padre Island biking?
 

Can any of you Texans tell me about renting bikes in Galveston/Padre Island and good rides there? We're thinking of going down there next month for a week or so. This'll be our first time there so general info is also welcomed.

Also, OT but how about good fly fishing guides? I'd like to try for some reds or snook or...?

http://www.touringtexas.com/galveston/ Sorry it took so long, but I was pretty busy. I've been there a few times, but I wasn't looking for a bike rental. Have fun. Our it's been a while ago, but they use to rent ATCs on Padre Island. George

I'm more familiar with Port Aransas / Rockport area where there are bike rental places that rent beach cruisers (fat tire, SS). Since the area is pretty much perfectly flat, the only issue riding at the coast is WIND which you will discover soon enough. Don't know about bike lanes but I saw a lot of both tourists & locals pedaling around town.

For fly fishing & other fishing guides check out:
http://www.wildtexas.com/guide/index...b_pages&cat=70
There will be particular fish biting & active dependent upon the tides & weather over the past several weeks and a good guide will tell you about it. The tidal flats on the leeward side of the island would be interesting fishing but the bay has some pollution and toxicity issues with all the damn petrochemical plants up in the bay. Check around and you'll find 1/2 day, full day charters maybe even kayak tours to either fish or birdwatch.

Galveston is a great city to visit: the cast-iron storefronts of The Strand are really beautiful. (http://www.thestrand.com) Make sure you take a tour of The Bishop's Palace which was one of the few structures to survive the 1901 Galveston Hurricane that wiped out the island. There is a book that has been recommended to me (but that I've not yet read) about that hurricane: Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson.

There was a great hole-in-the-wall local restaurant that we stumbled onto a couple of years ago - Cajun Greek Restaurant on 61st Street just a coupla blocks towards the seawall off Stewart St. Fried shrimp, fried oysters, raw oysters, lobster - all were delicious. Mostly patronized by locals, families, nothing fancy and they turn out some food...the best dish was a sampler on a round enameled beer tray - the delicacies were piled high! Anyway, after you've tried Gaido's, Rudy and Paco and the Olympia Grill, all near The Strand, try the Cajun Greek.

Galveston has had somewhat of a revival over the past decade so a number of the neighborhoods with clapboard wood houses have been re-done, original paint & windows restored, etc. There is a very active historical society. And of course there is a 'tall ship' in the harbor that has been restored and is sailed by volunteers from all over the reion.

If you get bored after a week, you can get off the island and go over to Kemah where the Fertita Bros. have created a boardwalk carnival kind of place out in the salt flats with live music, dining on the deck, etc. (Fertita brothers own the Landry's Seafood chain along with a number of other restaurants & even the Golden Nugget casino in Las Vegas).

have fun...:D

p.s. Looks like Island Cycle Repair gets at least one good web review. You can see from their slideshow that beach cruisers are 'la mode'.

I was stationed at Ellington AFB and then lived in Houston in the 70's. I can't really tell you much about current Galveston, except to also recommend Gaidos. Galveston is going to be much more crowded than Corpus because of its proximity to Houston, but also has a walk and shop atmosphere in the Strand area, and a long sea wall for riding if you can rent a cruiser. When I lived there we used to fish over on the Bolivar jetty, across the channel with a ferry ride.

On the other hand north Padre Island, at Corpus Christi, is my favorite. I lived there for several years in the mid 90's and still go there several times per year but sold my condo on Padre Island some years back. I don't go there as much as I used to. I can highly recommend it for fishing. I caught the biggest red I ever caught while wade fishing on the north side of the bay with netted bait fish. There are several folks who guide out of the Laguna Madre. Check for guides out of Flour Bluff, which is part of Corpus. They'll probably either take you down the Laguna or down to Baffin Bay to fly fish.

There are several good party boats that run out of Aransas Pass for deep sea fishing. I once caught a 60# kingfish on a charter out of AP.

Try the Tarpon Inn in Port Aranasas, or Water Street in Corpus for dinner.

As far as biking, if you have a road bike you can go all the way down the Park Road to to the National Seashore. My office was on the Laguna and I made that ride many times. The roads out south of Corpus toward Chapman Ranch and Kingsville are also low traffic, but mostly flat and straight. I wouldn't plan on riding over either the causeway/ Intercoastal going toward Padre or the Corpus Channel bridges going toward Portland...you need to drive out to the island and then unload your bike from there. There is also a sea wall in Corpus but not nearly as good as Galveston for crusiing. You can, and I have, ridden an MTB with 2" nobbies on the beach, but you really have to stay in hard pack to do so. Be sure and rinse good afterward.

Thumbs up on Kemah, just on the west side of the bridge on the south side,marinas and resturants. We like Toms, but it's not on the water. The Saltgrass resturant is nice and is on the water. Have fun.

Have you lived there long enough to remember Joe Lee's?

OP - Galveston is quite a distance from Padre. Usually windy and flat as a board.

I rented a bike in Galveston summer before last. There were a couple of bike rental places along Seawall Blvd (the beach road). I can't remember what it cost, but it was by the hour, not by the day. The first thing you notice when you rent a bike is that you only get the bike, you're missing all the accessories such as water bottle, helmet, lock, tools, etc. Be sure to rent a lock or bring your own if you plan on stopping anywhere. Most of the rental bikes seemed to be single speed cruisers. I picked a geared bike but it was way out of adjustment.

The easiest first ride will be on the sidewalk along the beach side of Seawall. It's full of pedestrians though. Most of the downtown streets are very bikeable.