This is the gulf coast south texas chapter from lonely planet's texas guide book. America's lsquothird coast,' as it has dubbed itself, is a place of many contrasts. The beach town scene of port aransas is a sea of calm compared with the frenetic hedonism of south padre is land, for one. Bird watch in aransas national wildlife refuge, a coastal wetlands reserve of nearly 115,000 acres that serve as spotting grounds for hundreds of species maps get up close and personal with wild alligators at brazos bend state park transport gape at the bishop's palace the crowning jewel of galveston during the 1800s, the is land's heyday as the country's second busiest port restaurants accommodation coverage includes beaumont around, the golden triangle, orange, port arthur, galveston, the coastal bend, west columbia around, matagorda, aransas na tional wildlife refuge, rockport fulton, coastal plains, victoria, goliad, corpus christi area, corpus christi, port aransas, mustang padre island beaches, kingsville, lower gulf coast, port isabel, south padre island, rio grande valley, brownsville around, mcallen around, laredo.