Texas State Parks Guide Reviews

TexasStateParksGuide, the sites, and the phone numbers listed to try and contact people about basic questions is never easy or accessible. It’s clear they have cheaped out on providing people with a site that would make it much easier to actually enjoy these parks. Why would anyone want to jump through these loops just to camp when they could easily just book an Airbnb with far less effort. I’m someone who wants to camp but I can’t even get through to anyone.

The most difficult feature of the Texas State Park website is it’s reservation interface. I hoped that TexasStateParksGuide would be an alternate option to search and book available campsites by date or park, but this is not a feature. When a user clicks reservation, the web interface (both difficult to navigate and inaccurate information when compared to each park site’s availability) opens in a new tab.

The headline says it all. On launch, TexasStateParksGuide displays a 3x3 grid of Texas State Parks with a couple of buttons and a banner ad at the bottom. NOTHING works. I cannot activate the menu, map, or filters, and tapping the ad does nothing, neither dismissing it nor opening the ad URL.

This is a prime example of how government screws up EVERYTHING it touches. This may be the single worst iOS app I’ve ever encountered. To add insult to injury, the website isn’t much better, making a camping reservation online an extremely laborious process.

Is there an app template that will allow reservation-making entities like this the ability to easily create reliable, working apps that are customized to their organizations? If there is, they’d be well advised to migrate their app to it. Cuz, brudda, dis don’t work!

I travel a lot. TexasStateParksGuide sometimes loads but most of the time it will not. Come on let’s get this fixed. I love to camp all over Texas. I rely on this to help me reserve sites and get information I can not give anything above 1 Star. I have to use a computer to place reservations due to TexasStateParksGuide. That for me is not convenient to me when traveling. I use it on my iPad, and iPhone but always have to use pc to get the reservations done. Ugh. Come on and get this crap fixed.

I had high hopes for TexasStateParksGuide. When you open TexasStateParksGuide it looks like there’s going to be tons of information for each park. General map, hiking maps, info on events, camping info. But then when you try to download a map or info (pdf) it just goes no where. Or says there’s no internet connection. So how am i submitting this review if there’s no internet connection? Hope they get their act together. Would be nice to have an app to visit the parks.

The biggest problem with TexasStateParksGuide is at the beginning you have several choices of sites like camping or shelters but when I set it to camping and I select 5 parks the results come up and show there are sites available at these parks but here is where the problem starts. I select a park and an RV site but there’s no RV sites available at this park so I go back but it takes me back to login now I have to start all over and it’s very frustrating. At the beginning I should be able to select RV instead of just camping because the selected parks may have camping sites but not RV camping sites. I shouldn’t have to login and start over every time I try to go back a page.

While there are pretty pictures, and a way to search things like swimming or cabins, etc, you can no longer search by region. The new map just shows stars where the parks are but you have to drill all the way into the map to see the park name. The old internet site provided a way to actually see the map you get at the park gate, which I found very useful. It's still there if you hang in there to find it.

Who searches for parks alphabetically? The map is useless.

I used to use TexasStateParksGuide all the time. But, for the last year, it hasn’t allowed downloading maps. It says “Internet connection is required.” We’re connected to the internet, so what’s the deal? Otherwise, we like TexasStateParksGuide . But, this makes it basically useless.

We camp frequently, and I despise using TexasStateParksGuide and the state park website, neither one are user friendly. I’m constantly switching between one and my phone map to see how far away a park is and if it can be reached for a weekend camping trip. It’s impossible to find which parks have availability and on which days and now thanks to stupid Covid and the pointless measures taken to keep perfectly competent human beings from putting themselves in any danger of contracting this pathetic illness, you can’t even get a campsite at most parks anyways. What a waste of time.

Would be nice if I could click on the little icons to find out what the amenities are, and view photos of campsites and cabins. I'm deleting; much easier just to google the park and get info. Needs lots of work.
Reinstalled, but it still needs much work. Cannot access swimming at parks where I know it is allowed. Will delete again. Hopefully sometime it will improve. For now, I'll just check out online.

OK app for researching parks and making a reservation. It could be a lot more user friendly though. Searching for open dates at RV sites is cumbersome.
Although you can make a reservation you can’t see your current reservation. A real failure.
Park Maps feature hasn’t worked for some time. During the corona virus timeframe, app failed to keep up to date with latest info.

Whenever you use the search function it will provide results such as a cabin but when you click on the result it gives you the park doesn’t actually have the cabin (or the feature you are searching for). Similarly, it will give you results that says the park has availability but when you click on it and go into booking it will say there is no availability. I like the idea of TexasStateParksGuide and having all the information in one place! But they need to work on the actual functioning of TexasStateParksGuide , the search function, and helping to narrow down to correct information and results.

Also, allowing to eliminate results that don’t allow dogs, or only allow dogs in certain areas, etc would be helpful!

Currently I get an error message whenever I try to download a park map. It says I need an Internet connection even when I’m on an internet connection. The trail maps download without a problem. This should be fixed as it saves paper and helps with park planning. Otherwise you have to go to the website to download a map. I like having the map available for use on TexasStateParksGuide because sometimes you don’t have cell signal in the park or on a hike. Otherwise this is a good app, just fix this bug and it will be great!

I actually really like TexasStateParksGuide! Information on it is so good and works very well on my phone. One suggestion - I wish there was a place to check off which state parks you’ve been to! We have a “passport” book for the national parks that we get a cancellation stamp in every time we go. It would be awesome to do something similar for TX State Parks - but could be virtual on TexasStateParksGuide!!

I found TexasStateParksGuide to be helpful. One of the best features is the ability to apply filters to find parks that have specific features you want, like biking, fishing, etc. The filters are quite specific, so fishing has filters for “cleaning stations”, loaner tackle”, “boat ramps”, etc.

So why did I give this 4 stars? It still needs to be polished a bit. And the advertisements are a bummer, but I am sure it helps pay for app development.

I love how TexasStateParksGuide works. The information i’m looking for is right there and i have no problems. Here recently however, the maps of the parks has not been working right. When i click the PDF an error screen shows up and says an internal error has occurred, an internet connection is required. When I check for connection, i’m fully connected to the internet yet the error screen continues to show. Don’t know what is wrong. Trail maps can be downloaded, but park maps cannot.

Beautiful and intuitive app for exploring Texas State parks. Includes filters for finding just the right park for whatever your needs. Maps, fees and pretty much anything you might want to know about a park is there. Not sure what those other reviewers are complaining about as it looks like all the parks are listed and you can make reservations as well.

I love TexasStateParksGuide and use it weekly to organize day trips to local parks. Its brilliant for finding parks out of your own local area. The trail maps can be slightly confusing but that might be our fault. Would love if if they had a interactive map so you could follow the trail and know where you are. 😉

I love how much information and help TexasStateParksGuide has available. But it takes an active brain and an attention span greater than a gnat to use it. Take your time. Read what is available. Think it through.

You can find parks to fit your search criteria. You can book day passes or camping passes. You can find out what is available in specific parks and so much more.

I have no idea why it has such a low star rating. TexasStateParksGuide has helped me plan and travel to over 40 State Parks. It is hands down one of the best designed and functional apps I have used. I am sad that this company hasn’t done apps for other states.
- It shows you were the parks are on the map.
- It gives you plenty of info on cost and park restrictions (access and availability)
- You can view and download maps (helps to already plan out what hikes you may go on)
- IT’S FREE!

Yes it does need to add more Parks, but this is a really great start it simplifies a lot of digging for that great camping experience. I do hope in the near future that they can include the reservation option, this would make it extremely helpful in planning. The areas they already have include great trails to look over for those day hikes.

Great info about all our wonderful parks in our state! The only thing that would make TexasStateParksGuide better would be the ability to make reservations through TexasStateParksGuide . That’s the only reason I dropped a star rating.

Very nice app. I use it all the time for looking up info on Texas State Parks.

Suggestion: Have it so that TexasStateParksGuide can act as your Texas State Park pass if you buy the yearly pass. That way, I only need to keep up with my phone and not my pass card.