The last day of 2025 is just weeks away, and we at La Mirage are wondering, are you doing ok out there? The holiday season is exciting, but it can also be exhausting, and sometimes you just need to hit the reset button. Fortunately, you found your way to our space, and we think you deserve a break. Now is the perfect time to start planning a serene, tranquil, and restful New Year’s getaway to Port Aransas!
Enjoy the Break You Deserve
The holiday season can take a lot out of a person, and as you rush from shop to shop, eat more Christmas cookies than your doctor would approve of, and fight the crowds on roads and in stores, chances are you are wishing for just a few minutes of peace, quiet, and relaxation. These three qualities are something we specialize in, especially when you choose our waterfront retreats, and although we can’t help you in the moment of all the madness, just knowing that you have your New Year’s journey to Port Aransas awaiting you may make all the difference.
Serenity Is Our Specialty
We don’t have the words to explain it, but the sea is known for its serenity, and with our island home surrounded by Gulf waters, you can understand why we claim this quality as our specialty! The weather won’t be warm enough to swim, but it can be nice enough to plant your umbrella in the sand and spend a day soaking in the rays, reveling in relaxation, and letting the sea’s serenity seep into your soul. Or you can enjoy a similar experience simply by relaxing on balconies that look out over the water, watching the sun set over the horizon and feeling the thunder of the surf in your heart and soul. There is no wrong way to find serenity in Port Aransas, just many peaceful options.
Celebrating the New Year on a Boat Is the Best Way to Celebrate
No matter where you decide to go on New Year’s Eve, you will have plenty of exciting options for entertainment, but we can assure you that nothing will be more fun than celebrating aboard the Scarlet Lady, especially when the cruise around the waters of Port Aransas ends with a bang. Offering snacks and a full bar, the sea will be calm, the stars will be bright, and as the cruise nears its end, the sky will be filled with the colorful explosions of fireworks, all reflected in the sea below. The Scarlet Lady is a tour boat more commonly known for her dolphin watching tours, and if you linger in town for few more days, we sincerely hope that you return for a sunset dolphin watching tour at least once during your visit!
Keeping Up with the Resolutions
We all hold lofty hopes of maintaining our resolutions, but one of the first resolutions that we often leave by the wayside is the resolve to eat better. You can keep your resolutions a little longer during your January journey to Texas, however, as the seafood restaurants in town don’t just serve healthy foods, they serve healthy foods so sweet, fresh, and locally harvested, you may start wondering if it is time to start thinking about a more permanent move to Port A. If you are here for New Year’s Eve, Tortuga’s Saltwater Grill, located at 429 N Alister Street, is known for its holiday prix fixe meal, served with dessert and champagne if you decide a bottle would be in order. Tortuga’s seafood never fails to bring ecstasy to your taste buds and will definitely help keep you on the straight and narrow when it comes to your resolutions.
When Was the Last Time You Were Able to Completely Relax?
As a whole, we all work too hard and never relax enough, but our La Mirage holiday hideaways will encourage you to spend as much time relaxing as you do exploring our town. Comfortable, inviting, and so very cheerful, our properties will be where your best naps are taken, where your happiest dreams occur, and where you discover that it is ok to sit for just a few more hours, perhaps reading, perhaps watching television, or perhaps doing nothing at all! Rumor has it that whatever you do on New Year’s Eve will set the stage for more of the same in the upcoming year, and relaxing in comfort feels like the best thing of all. Reserve your favorite retreat today!
For many people, the holidays are a time to stay home, be with family, and put their efforts towards making a celebration at home that will be enhanced by the memories of all the holidays that went before, and travel just isn’t in the cards. We get that, we love our own homes at the holidays as well, and have often found that when we have the itch to travel, the time BEFORE the actually holidays actually offers an incredible number of benefits. Today, we at La Mirage have prepared this guide to five ways to experience Port Aransas AHEAD of the holidays, giving you a peek into how you can accomplish the best of both worlds, travel and being home for the holidays!
1. Beach Time to Build Your Serenity Levels
Right now as you read this, you are on the cusp of the craziest season of all. Holiday season is a time for family, for traditions, and for cramming all the extra activities into the same amount of hours in a day, hours that are already crammed full of everyday life activities. So fly away to the beach and use this pre-holiday time as a way to build your levels of serenity, letting the sand, surf, and sunshine do its magic. Additionally, it is still swim season here in Port A, and lifeguards will be manning their towers until Halloween, ensuring that you can feel safe as you and your family take a wonderful dose of Vitamin Sea.
2. It Is Never Too Early to Do Your Holiday Shopping
Shopping and vacations go hand in hand, so you know that you already have that penned in (no erasing THIS activity!) to your vacation itinerary. Adding Christmas gifts to your purchases will actually help lessen the stress and improve your time management skills later in the season, and honestly, our favorite shops will make it surprisingly easy to find the right gifts for the ones you love most. Gratitude, located at 316 N Station Street, will make you feel grateful that you started there, offering gifts that cover the gamut from beach kitsch to holiday decorations. Their Gratitude Boxes, filled with positivity, love, and smiles, make amazing gifts for coworkers, schoolteachers, and family members who are notoriously difficult to shop for!
3. Savor Healthy Seafood in Preparation for Your Holiday Gluttony
With the start of Halloween, diet really does become a four letter word, and you know that in the upcoming months you will be sneaking candy from your kids’ Halloween haul, eating more stuffing, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and pie than healthy vegetables and low fat foods at Thanksgiving. Then there are all the cookies at Christmas, eggnog spiked with rum, and at New Year’s, the food served tends to be of the appetizer variety, but the champagne does add fluff to your figure!
The reality of the holidays is that to truly enjoy them you are going to find yourself gorging yourself on treats for many months, so spending time devouring seafood at restaurants such as Grumbles Seafood Co (850 Tarpon Street) and FINS Grill & Icehouse (420 W Cotter Avenue) will help get your figure in fighting shape. Also, the water views will add to your serenity stores!
4. Take Part in Beachtober
We love the month of October in Port Aransas, and we celebrate every day of the month with a variety of events and activities all lumped together under the title event of Beachtober. Offering a Taco & Tequila Trail and Sweet Traditions Trail, Beachtober Beats concert series at various locations, and a fun event we call Fall Kite Fly, the month is full of fun activities. We even feature two additional festivals during this most beautiful month of the year, the Port Aransas Wooden Boat Festival (October 24-October 26th) and the Port A Plein Air Paint Out (October 20-October 26.) Also offering a Beach Run (you really will be in fighting form when you start the glutton era!) a Sand Pumpkin Patch—which, if you have been here in April for our Sandfest, you will truly appreciate the fall version—and our once a year Port Aransas Farmers Market, it doesn’t matter when you vacation here, there will be something exciting and fun in which to participate.
5. Feeling Cozy at Home with La Mirage
We cannot stress enough how much the next couple of months are going to drain your energy levels and the moments you spend at home with La Mirage feeling cozy will help you mentally and physically prepare! Lounge by our community pool, lazily watch the sea and the sunset from balconies perched over the water, and sleep in late every morning, relishing soft linens and premium beds every day of your stay. Reserve your favorite pre-holiday haven of peace and relaxation today!