South Padre Island

* Book Early
(Prices tend to go up, and availability go down the closer you get to the spring-break months of Feb.-Apr.

*Compare Prices on the Web
(The internet makes it easy to find the best prices. Look for travel agencies that specialize in Spring Break)

*Buy a 'Complete Package"
(Getting a package that includes all transportation, meals, fees, surcharges, etc., means knowing exactly how much you are spending, helps avoid last minute scrambling.

*Drive or Fly?
(Consider driving to Spring Break for savings.)

Cheapo Air Save up to 65% on Spring Break. Extra $10 on air travel for Spring Break with Discount Coupon Code: SPRBREAK10

Orbitz South Padre Island Packages

S-T-A Travel has Spring Break 7-day beach packages from: $339

Travelocity Deals for
South Padre Island, TX

Finding the right spring break package 1st requires figuring out where you want to go. The whole southern half of the US is ripe with spring break destinations, all offering variously priced package deals, so it's to your advantage you to check them out as much as you can before making a decision one way or the other.

Some things to consider when searching for in a spring-break package are pretty obvious: Make sure you get a good price on the flight and hotel. Make sure that the hotel (or villa, house, whatever you're renting) is actually located close to where you want to be. You'd be amazed how many spring break package deals are out there designed to prey upon vacationers who didn't do their homework. If you've found a spring break package where the price is too good to be true, then don't believe it - chances are, they charge that low because there's something fundamentally wrong with what's being offered.

It's also important to understand that, while spring break isn't exactly a once-in-a-lifetime event, it's not the kind of thing you want to cheap out on. Don't go for the cut-rate price to Daytona Beach (which is deader than dead) when, for a grand more, you could go to South Padre Island or Lake Havasu. Or, with a passport, Cancun or Cabo or points beyond.


Spring Break's heyday was actually in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area back in the '70s and '80s. Each year the city would play host to over a quarter million students from around the United States & Canada, with activities ranging from the ice luge to the after-hours emergency room visit to figure out just what, exactly, that rash is.

Eventually Fort Lauderdale cracked down on underage drinking and binge drinking in general, which puts quite a damper on the typical spring break goals. Soon Daytona Beach offered a yearly spring break package that was unrivaled, and played host to MTV's annual spring break celebrations in the early 1990s. However, after a few years, some rather sad deaths with bad publicity, Daytona Beach cracked down similar to the way Fort Lauderdale had previously.

There were other places willing and ready to step in and fill the gap, though. Panama City Beach, Florida, is one. For whatever reason, they haven't cracked down on the type of drinking and "sinful" activities their Florida neighbors did away with over the years, and as a result it's the popular destination for spring breakers from most of the eastern U.S.