I like it when a park lives up to their name and the information on their website. Bentsen Palm Village RV Resort is definitely a resort level RV park, they have lots of Palm Trees, and its big enough to be a village. Their site claims they are one of the best RV parks in the country, and they might be right about that. It is certainly one of the top parks we have stayed in.

Nights: 60 (Two Months)
RV Park Cost: $1853 ($31/night)
Discounts Used: None
Address: 2500 South Bentson Palm Drive Suite 267B  Mission, TX 78572
GPS: 26.186253, -98.376705
Website: www.bentsenpalm.com

Pros

• Pretty Grounds
• Nice Location
• Excellent Amenities
• Lots of Activities
• Reasonable Price

Cons

• Over 50 age requirement

Not the largest pool, but it was a nice place to hang out while doing laundry.

The Community

We signed up to stay in the park through their website where you will be hard pressed to find the fact that it has a 50+ age requirement. We only found out after we paid for reservations. They called to let us know, but after a brief and polite conversation they made an exception for us and honored the reservation. While our age had a few folks curious about us, no one was upset to see us there and we were treated warmly by staff and residents alike.

Bentsen is a big park with around 250 sites. Many of its residents are “Winter Texans” who spend full seasons at the park year after year. While not everyone is a regular, there is a great deal of camaraderie among the folks at the park. We were asked which part of the park we were in, what our lot number was, what kind of trailer we had, and how long we were staying. Everyone was keen to know their new neighbors, even more so than most normal neighborhoods I’ve lived in.

There is a strong community here and they have events of all sorts going on all the time. We participated in a few large potluck events, as well as a new years party and a Christmas party while were there. We dropped in on game night a few times and learned to play Mexican Train, a dominoes game. Folks were super nice and very active in doing things together and greeting one another as they walked about the park.

The wood show was both very popular and well equipped. This is only half of it.

A pretty Park

The park itself is very lovely with lots of palm trees and flowering plants. It is divided into “circles” and each circle has a green space in the middle with a pavilion of some kind. Mission, Texas is well known for its birds and butterflies, both of which were evident in the park in good numbers. The grounds were very well kept all around as were the facilities.

They have all the normal amenities. There are two shower and restroom facilities as well as two laundries. The pool is not very large but includes a hot tup area and a large covered area for lounging. There are three outdoor cabanas and a large clubhouse. They have a dog yard complete with an agility course. There is a huge wood shop that is very popular as well as a crafts shop for sewing and art projects. Everyone gets their own mailbox and they have cable tv and internet available through the local provider which you arrange and pay for yourself. For us, this meant two months of perfect high-speed internet.

The park is located right next to a large bird sanctuary and within half a mile of a wonderful butterfly sanctuary. Staying at the park gives you a pass to the bird sanctuary and a discount for the butterflies so there are lots of great walking opportunities without driving anywhere. The park is otherwise in the midst of farmland so there is little noise other than the occasional brahman cow mooing in the distance.

The Bottom Line

Since we booked for more than a month, we paid a metered service for electricity, which we included in the price calculation above. Even though we were here in their peak season, the average price was right on our average target of $30 per night. Considering how nice the park is, that’s a very fair price. All in all, Bentsen Palms RV is top notch.

I thought I’d show someone else’s Airstream at the park this time. Made in America!