About 500 recreation-vehicle/mobile-home (RV/MH) parks exist in the Texas Rio Grande Valley. These parks range from being unorganized to being highly organized with many facilities, recreations halls, and activities for their occupants.
Most of the 300-plus organized ones are occupied by the so-called Winter Texans who migrate there from the cold northern climates. These seasonal visitors will either pull their own RV's there, or will rent them from the parks; many other visitors have their own MH's parked in them. This article shows where most of these parks are located and their basic advantages.
MISSION VALLEY
Main locations (in populated, well-developed semi-urban areas).
Most of these parks are located in the larger towns of the two most populous of the five counties there: 1) Cameron on the southeast end of the valley and 2) Hidalgo near the middle of it. Cameron County has six towns having six or more such parks each. See the list below.
Hidalgo County has eight towns having 10 or more parks each. These mid-valley towns are fairly close to each other. The other three counties: Willacy, Star, and the southeastern part of Zapata to the north and west of Cameron and Hidalgo counties have fewer towns and sparser populations; thus, fewer RV/MH parks.
Average number of RV/MH parks by county and town (from public sources).
1. Cameron County (121 parks, southeastern end of valley)
(36) Harlingen
(28) Brownsville
(18) San Benito
(16) La Feria
(8) Port Isabel
(6) Rio Hondo
(4) South Padre Island
(2) Los Fresnos
(1) Los Indios
(1) Olmito
(1) Laguna Heights
2. Willacy County (7 parks, north of Cameron County)
(4) Raymondville
(3) Arroyo City
3. Hidalgo County (211 parks, middle of valley)
(62) Mission
(30) Donna
(25) McAllen
(20) Alamo
(20) Edinburg
(18) Weslaco
(16) Pharr
(10) San Juan
(6) Mercedes
(2) Penitas
(1) Edcouch
(1) Hidalgo
4. Starr County (2 parks, west of Hidalgo County)
(2) Rio Grande City
5. Zapata County (9 parks, far west end of the valley near the Falcon Reservoir only)
(6) Zapata
(2) Falcon Heights
(1) San Ygnacio
Main advantages of these locations (facilities, recreational choices, shopping, dining, freedom of movement, organized activities, and community settings).
The populous towns of Harlingen and San Benito toward the eastern side of the valley are located central to where most of the wintering activity actually takes place, i.e., between the towns of Mission and SPI. Thus, their wintering occupants can easily drive less than 40-miles in any direction to visit other towns, like Brownsville, SPI, or Weslaco, and the major places for dining, historical, and recreational interest within that radius.
Additionally, this eastern region has airports, hospitals, big churches and shopping centers. During the winter months, the automobile traffic is lighter here than toward the middle of the valley where numerous RV/MH parks are packed into several adjacent towns.
Still, these adjacent mid-valley towns of Mission, McAllen, Pharr, Donna, Alamo, Edinburg, Weslaco and their surrounding communities have their advantages, too. The population here is fairly dense with heavy but manageable traffic. But almost anything these visitors really need can be found within a five-mile distance, except for the beaches of SPI which are an hours drive away. In short, this mid-valley area also has shopping centers, flea markets, recreation, restaurants, vegetable markets, and other retail outlets and services plus their accommodating RV/MH parks.
Additionally, several mid-valley parks sit next to each other like small neighboring communities. Thus, their occupants will visit each other's park activities in addition to their own, like, the mid-week jam and bingo sessions, and the live weekend entertainments. These activities are listed in local weekly newspapers, e.g., the Winter Texan Times and The Coastal Current Weekly, both read by the wintering visitors.
Furthermore, as with the eastern-valley region, this area has an airport and several hospitals/medical centers. However, the mid-valley climate is not as breezy as its eastern gulf-side counterpart. Also, a popular Mexican town, Nuevo Progreso, is located just over the U.S./Mexican border about eight-miles south of Weslaco. Many Winter Texans visit it daily (with passport in hand) for its restaurants, shops, and dental facilities.
For the wintering visitors who prefer the quieter more remote areas, several RV/MH parks can be found on the edges of these populous areas as well as in the smaller towns to the east, north, and south of the Harlingen/San-Benito region itself, and to the far western end of the valley where the large Falcon Reservoir is located.
Conclusion. The Winter Texans visiting this valley tend to congregate in populated, commercially well-developed areas where the advantages of doing so are more preferential than distinctive. For that reason, a respected insurance agency recommends that new visitors could rent for a minimum of three years before purchasing their own lot or MH there. This concept is supported by the valley's abundance of RV/MH parks. For more information on how to find and winter in these parks, see this website.
RV/MH Parks in Southernmost Texas - Their Main Locations and Advantages for Wintering Visitors MISSION VALLEY
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