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Port Isabel Texas LighthousePhoto: lfwlfw / Bevo at English Wikipedia · Public domain
AOutdoors
Outdoors in Port Isabel

More than half of Port Isabel’s land is conserved: 100%

100% of Port Isabel’s land is conserved, about 17,097 acres. 29 miles of mapped trail cross Port Isabel, 1.6 per square mile of land. 94% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Ahead of 89% of U.S. towns · #32 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

Conserved land
100%
17,097 acres · of 18.3 sq mi of land
Trails
29 mi
1.6 per sq mi of land
Park land
33 ac
6.4 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
94%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.2 mi
1.2 mi lanes
Highest peak
30 ft
Loma la Cuchilla
Lakes & rivers
2
6 boat launches

What kind of outdoors town is Port Isabel?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Land that stays wild100% of the land is conserved; a typical Texas town, 2%.A trail town1.6 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 90% of U.S. towns.Parks close to home94% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Port Isabel have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Port Isabel is ahead of 89% of U.S. towns, #32 of 642 in Texas. Conserved land holds the grade up; park acres per resident pull it down.

A
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Port Isabel’s overall grade.
Conserved land100% of the land · typical TX town 2% · U.S. 4%A+Trails1.6 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (29 mi) · TX 0.2 · U.S. 0.4APark land6.4 acres of park per 1,000 residents (33 acres) · TX 9 · U.S. 13C+Parks close to home94% of residents within a half mile of a park · TX 69% · U.S. 72%A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 89%
LessMore
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 95%

Few Texas towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Port Isabel’s 100% is ahead of 100% of Texas towns, while its trails per square mile lead 95% of them.

Water is 44% of Port Isabel’s area (14 of 33 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 82%.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.

PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →

The map

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.

1234
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk

Pick a walk

The longest trail network is Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, with 12.8 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

Managed by United States Fish and Wildlife Service
11,329 acres12.8 mi of trail
Bahia Grande Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗

Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge

Managed by United States Fish and Wildlife Service
5,730 acres9.1 mi of trail
Bahia Grande TrailLoma Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto Red Gate Visitor Parking

Arturo Galvan Coastal Park

Park
10 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Washington Park

Park
2 acres0.3 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
All 8 parks & preserves
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge11,329 acres · 12.8 mi of trail · United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Directions
Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge5,730 acres · 9.1 mi of trail · United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Directions
Arturo Galvan Coastal Park10 acres · 0.3 mi of trail
Directions
Washington Park2 acres · 0.3 mi of trail
Directions
Buelah Lee Park3 acres · 0.2 mi of trail
Directions
Bejarano McFarland Memorial Park2 acres · 0.2 mi of trail
Directions
Port Isabel Lighthouse State Historic Site1 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Directions
Port Isabel Veterans Park1 acres
Directions
Who protects it

17,097 conserved acres

100% of Port Isabel’s land. Water is left out: Port Isabel has 18.3 square miles of land and 14.3 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Port Isabel’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service34,124 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)13,737 ac
Town or city61 ac
County3 ac
Other state land1 ac
Joint1 ac
National Wildlife Refuge · 34,124 acConservation Easement · 13,769 acLocal Park · 32 acState Historic or Cultural Area · 1 acHistoric or Cultural Easement · 1 ac
Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1 acre is a conservation easement, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service22,671Restricted
Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge
National Wildlife Refuge
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service11,453Restricted
Laguna Madre Park
Local Park
Town or city16Open
Arturo Galvan Coastal Park
Local Park
Town or city10Open
Washington Park
Local Park
Town or city2Open
Bejarano-McFarland Memorial County Park
Local Park
County2Open
Buelah Lee Park
Local Park
Town or city1Open
Port Isabel Lighthouse State Historic Site
State Historic or Cultural Area
Other state land1Open
Veterans Park
Local Park
Town or city1Open
Things to do

17 places to go in Port Isabel

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Boat launches in Port Isabel
Pompano Park Boat Ramp
Directions

Plus 5 boat launches without a name on the map.

Trails & water

2 named trails and 2 lakes & rivers

Named trails
Unpaved · 0.9 mi
Bahia Grande Trail6.9 mi
Loma Trail0.9 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Laguna LargaVadia Ancha
Biking & sports

1.2 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

1.2 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
Courts & fields
8Baseball
3Basketball
1Football
1Soccer

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

History along the way

1 place on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 9 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.

History →
Point Isabel LighthouseStructure · listed 1976
About it
When to get out

April is the best month for walking in Port Isabel

NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)10.711.211.912.713.413.813.613.012.311.510.810.5
High (°F)707377828791929390857872
Rain (in)1.21.11.41.42.23.01.82.05.43.31.91.4

February is the driest month (1.1 in) and August the warmest (highs of 93 °F). 5.4 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 93 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Port Isabel →

Next door

Port Isabel and its neighbors

Port Isabel has the second most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Brownsville177 miPort Isabel29 miLaguna Heights0.2 mi
TownConserved
of land		Trail mi
per sq mi		Park acres
per 1,000		Near a park
½ mile		Outdoors
Port Isabel100%1.6694%A
Brownsville19%1.51156%A−
Laguna Heights— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Port Isabel

Where can I hike in Port Isabel?

The longest trail networks: Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, 12.8 miles; Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, 9.1 miles; Arturo Galvan Coastal Park, 0.3 miles; Washington Park, 0.3 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Port Isabel is conserved land?

100% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Texas town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.

Are dogs allowed on Port Isabel’s trails?

Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Port Isabel?

1.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.2 of painted or protected lanes.

Is there public land near Port Isabel?

1,302 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Port Isabel or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 33 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Port Isabel have?

Ahead of 89% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #32 of 642 in Texas. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

Trail talk

Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Port Isabel neighbors.

Town Square →
Share a tip
Sources

Where this page comes from

Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →