Brownsville/Matamoros: Things to do, what to know (Texas/Tamaulipas Vlog 2022)
Brownsville/Matamoros: Things to do, what to know (Texas/Tamaulipas Vlog 2022)
What’s going on in Brownsville/Matamoros?
For the past week, we have been exploring the area around Brownsville, Texas, USA, and it’s southern neighbor, Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. It’s a pretty isolated place and takes awhile to reach, but like most places that come with any difficulty to reach- it’s actually awesome! This place has surprised us to say the least!
In this video, we cover some of what to do in the area and what to eat. We also take a look at what’s going on in the area. The good, the bad, the beautiful.
Why we’d live there:
It’s an extremely underrated place with a lot of amazing things to see and do. We actually both agree that the US side would be an amazing place to live. Very few places in the US have places that are warm and green year round, so that’s a huge plus to this area and something that we love.
It’s also very bike friendly. You often see people biking from Brownsville to nearby bird and nature sanctuaries. It has very nice coastline and most of it is undeveloped and natural.
Most importantly, it’s basically the next best thing to living in Mexico for Americans. Not only can you actually visit Mexico very easily, which has endless perks, but the similarities of downtown Brownsville and many cities in Mexico is uncanny. The food, the shopping, a lot of the architecture, etc. It’s fantastic. The area is also still surprisingly affordable.
Things to do in the area:
There is world class birdwatching here that people travel from all over the world to experience. We especially loved the Sabal Palm Sanctuary for this because it has thousands of palm trees, great Rio Grande River access, and is very green and lush.
The richest man in the world is having rockets built to try and get the human race to Mars in nearby Boca Chica Beach, and it turns out you can literally drive right though where it’s all happening. It’s a crazy experience to see history in the making and it’s an attraction that will probably eventually be heavily touristy and harder to access.
Visiting Mexico is a huge plus. Although most people from the US visit Matamoros for medical tourism, there’s also excellent food near the border. (Of course there’s excellent food- it’s Mexico!) There’s also really nice museums and art/culture parks.
Disclaimer: As of 2022, Matamoros is not considered a safe place to visit and you should do your own research before visiting. We recommend only visiting if you feel comfortable and informed, and only sight-seeing during the daylight hours.
The beaches are really world class. South Padre Island is your typical touristy area that mostly caters to Spring Breakers in March, Winter Texans during the winter, and tourists for the rest of the year. It is nice though. Up above SPI is undeveloped and natural beach that stretches on for quite awhile. It’s stunning with some great dunes and you’re allowed to drive your car for endless miles down the beach. We drove on the beach and hiked down it, 3 miles after the road dead ends on the beach, to a hidden gem called ‘UFO Beach’. An unofficial nude beach where a huge buoy that washed up years ago resembles a UFO and has been decorated in unique artistic ways. You can even climb up in the buoy and decorate it yourself.
Things are really happening in Brownsville, Texas…big and small. Hope you enjoyed the video guys. It ended up including a lot more than we expected. There’s a lot to unpack in Brownsville!
We’d love to know your thoughts on this area and topics we covered in the video. Would you visit or live there?
Thanks for watching! We don’t currently have a Patreon but if you enjoyed our content and would like to buy us a cup of coffee, here’s a link to our PayPal tip jar!
https://paypal.me/ganzamedia
00:00 Intro
00:54 Downtown (Our thoughts, accommodations, etc)
01:57 The border fence/ ’No Mans Land’
03:54 Vegan Pozole & Texas BBQ
05:31 Palm Sanctuary in No Mans Land
06:53 Resaca de la Palma State Park
07:40 Heading into Matamoros, Mexico
12:23 Issue at the border
13:16 SpaceX at Boca Chica
16:40 South Padre Island (Overview + Hidden Gem!)
#brownsvilletexas #southpadreisland #matamoros #tamaulipas
Thank you so much for the Brownsville, Matamoros, and south Padre videos!! I want to visit one day.
Too bad I’ll never go there. I hate Texas. I would go to Matamoros. Viva Rigo Tovar! Je, Je, Pa!
man I live in Brownsville TX born and raised but I never lived or been at Matamoros
I went to school in Brownsville, Porter and Hanna High School, got married in Brownsville, now I’m in Houston
Good job on video
I know a couple that vacations in Brownsville once a year just to get the drugs that wash up on the beach from the Mexican cartels.
Viva matamoros 🤌🏼 espero que les haya gustado mi pequeña cd ♥️
Me da gusto conocer que aiga gente como ustedes.
Thank you so much for this video. I used to live in Matamoros and in Brownsville, but it has been over 15 years since I walked across that bridge, and I tried to research on the internet but couldn’t find any precise information on entering Matamoros until I seen your video. It looks like you still could walk right into Matamoros without having to stop and get a permit, as I can see by your video. And the cost to walk across the bridge is still 1 dollar, the same that it was 15 years ago. Amazing. I was beat up right under that bridge that you walked across about 20 or 25 years ago, as I used to hang out with a gang of border bandits that were always there( I wasn’t a bandit I just knew them) , but some punk from another gang attacked us, but in the end, we won!! 17 pesos for a taco is pretty good. I’m assuming that your video was filmed in January 2022. Good Luck.
Wow you guys did a lot of homework about this place!! Great job!!
Couple who is holding out was offered 4X market value for their home. Everyone else in the neighborhood took it. They didn’t. What they don’t realize is when starbase gets switched to eminent domain due to launch operations and they’re given “fair market value” for their home.
Would of like to see more of what our HISTORIC Brownsville has to offer… 2nd most historic city inTexas, a top in the nation rated zoo.. ohh and the metro bus at SPI is called wave… you ride the wave up n down Padre Blvd ..yes its free..
My hometowns! Born and raised in Brownsville and would cross several times a week to spend time with family! I moved to Houston a few years back but I miss the valley for sure, especially the food! A lot of businesses in the Mexican side moved to Brownsville due to crime and violence. Whenever you visit Brownsville again, try Bigos (on Paredes Line) and get fajita by the pound and Ultimo Taco for awesome tacos right off the expressway by Price Rd. As you were walking downtown, I believe you passed by a small burger place. We would go there when we were little – so good!! The restaurant Estrellas was our go-to for breakfast, also downtown. My aunt has a stall in the market you walked into at the beginning of your video selling Mexican goods. ❤️ If you decide to visit Matamoros again, you should try Santa Fe for Chinese food. You walked right by it. I swear I think it’s the best Chinese ever but that’s probably because that brings back some childhood nostalgia for me. But it IS good!! And my favorite burger place EVER is also in Matamoros called Hamburguesas El Viejo Oeste. Omg, I dream about those. Someone mentioned going to the movies in Mexico. Yes!! It’s fun. I love all the gummies and candies you can buy at Cinépolis and I don’t know if they still do it, but I appreciate the “intermission” during the movie for restroom/snack break. 😆 I don’t do bird watching but have heard the valley is great for that. You should try visiting McAllen too. Great food there. Weslaco has Nana’s Taqueria which is very popular. Try going back to Brownsville during Charro Days. Everyone looks forward to the parade, the music, the food and colorful Mexican dresses. 🥰
I live there
Matamoros one of the worts city in Mexico
Nice first time I see someone go to Matamoros and Brownsville good job guys
Finally some vegetarian/vegan place on a travel channel! Thank you!!!
Great channel
Awesome video!
I’m from Matamoros and I actually live there, thanks for sharing places from Brownsville, l had never visited there.
From Matamoros you need to explore more, there’s a lot of good restaurants of Mexican food, if you want to taste food from CDMX (the capital city) you should go to the restaurant Quesadilla Mx I really love that restaurant.
If you want know more about restaurants, places to visit in Matamoros don’t hesitate to ask me.
Have a great day!
A
You forgot to go to indoor and outdoor flee markets in Brownsville and Tianguis in Matamoros
This was a really great video. We stayed in South Padre for a wedding. it is such a beautiful area
Wow guys amazing video. Thank you for putting Brownsville/SPI/Rio Grande Valley on the channel. Keep up the good work 👍🏻
Here from Brownsville Texas
So the brown ppl no where in sight dope only white ppl good content 🤔
Cool video guys y’all should of gone to down town matamoros it’s badass
Cool. 😊👍
FYI , Brownsville has the battle field where the the last battle of the Civil war was fought! You should have gone to the Stillman house museum that was downtown Brownsville! It has a lot of pre Civil War items and a lot of historical items! But actually there are more museums you could have gone to as well! I’m glad you enjoyed your visit! Many blessings!
Me and my sister are down here now on vacation. Brownsville is a really neat place.. Your video was awesome.
Brownsvillian here, love the video
Great video
How dare you
By the way you’re a lucky man bro. Lauren’s beautiful 🥰🥰😏👍🏻
Thanks for the excellent video, I am heading to Brownsville in January coming down from Pittsburgh PA
Thank you
FYI that hotel is used by hookers lol. Crackhead and is a front for the narcos lol that’s a really ghetto hotel lol
Sin cometarios
Soy de Matamoros pero ahi cosas que no entendí y fuera sido mejor si ubieran puesto subtítulos
I’m from Matamoros and there things I didn’t understand would have been cooler if they had put subtitles
I don’t mean to hate, but I don’t know why you have to put the price in pesos.
2022 still wearing masks hmm…. please tell me brownsville isn’t full of white liberals
thanks for this comprehensive video of Brownsville and showing that Matamoros is not as scary as it seemed on the internet.
Man I’m so glad you guys visited this place its so unrated but here’s a tip don’t walk at night in mexico
You guys definitely tried horse meat on the Barbaqoa 😁
Why’d y’all keep showing how much stuff cost in Brownsville in pesos Brownsville doesn’t take pesos only U.S. dollars I mean no hate but the depiction of Brownsville matters it’s not Mexico it’s part of the great state of Texas
Awesome 👍 glad you all liked Brownsville and Matamoros come back
Nice video
Was it safe to cross the border from the US to Mexico? How far in did you drive ???
If the border patrol is that active on the border, does that mean someone from the US would have trouble living in a mexican border town for cheap rent?
No idea why y’all are wearin masks this is Texas and nobody was ever required to legally wear one lol
I born in Matamoros, not the town used to be, but I love it. Someday, I will move close to Matamoros..