King Ranch

After my initial visit to King Ranch left me feeling disappointed, confined to a van during the History Tour with little opportunity to engage the landscape, I wasn’t sure I would return. I had gone hoping to photograph wildlife, to walk where the wild things live, and instead found myself only able to observe from a distance. But something about the land stayed with me, and I decided to give the ranch a second chance by signing up for the Full-Day Birding Tour into the Norias Division. I am glad I did. This tour was everything I had hoped the first one would be. From the very start, it was clear I was in the presence of experts. Janice Travis, the tour supervisor, and her team were not just knowledgeable, they were passionate, attentive, and thoroughly dedicated to making the experience meaningful. With their help, our group located rare and elusive species, including a pygmy owl peeking from its nest hole, a moment that still brings a smile to my face. The difference this time was access. We traveled deep into the heart of the ranch, disembarking frequently to quietly observe, listen, and photograph. The guides knew exactly where to take us and how to maximize the potential of each stop. For someone with a camera in hand and an eye for the wild, this was the key that unlocked the magic I had been searching for. And then there was the food. At midday, we stopped at a cowboy camp where the King Ranch kitchen served up a traditional meal of carne asada, frijoles, and rice. It was simple, delicious, and grounded in the ranch’s heritage, exactly the kind of meal you would expect after a morning on the range. This experience redeemed my impression of the ranch entirely. It was thoughtfully led, deeply informative, and respectful of the land and its creatures. If you have ever left a place wondering what might have been, I encourage you to return with clearer expectations and a tour more aligned with your goals. For me, the Full-Day Birding Tour was that second chance, and it delivered. #straycompasslife #kingranch

Narrated small-sized bus tour of ranch with a quick stop at a weaver’s cottage. Very informative. Learned about the history of the ranch, life on King Ranch, ranching practices and Texas wildlife. Saw many mates, foals, Quarter Horses, Red Bulls and Longhorns along with many birds. Animals were quite active. Enjoyable trip. Video available to view at reception/gift shop. Also visited the museum in town.

We took the 1/2 day birding tour. Well worth it for a total of over 75 species. Our guide, Janice, knew her stuff, and she made sure that everyone saw all the birds.

Jimmy the guide was great. Gave me a few opportunities for a take. I was picky and don’t want to rush so I made my kill on the 2nd afternoon. But the hunt was only part of the fun. The food, conversation, camp house, etc. all excellent. I would absolutely return.

We took a private tour of the King Ranch. This took us to more places that a regular tour wouldn’t see. We started at the King Ranch store in downtown. The saddle maker was there to answer questions. The store had various pictures of the cattle and ranchers, furniture and of course clothing and boots. Next stop was the museum. Before to allow at least an hour for this. The history is amazing and the actual cars, buggies and wagons are a real treat. History and photos of the ranch and the horses. Going through the ranch and learning the history of Mr King and how his life took him on many adventures before he started his ranch. The cattle are amazing the horses were plentiful as we drove around, wild life abundant and miles and miles of fencing and pastures. We went to the farm and saw the cotton gin acre after acre of farm land. The family was very generous to their community and still provides for them today. You won’t be disappointed when you take your tour

I took a tour through King Ranch 2.23.24. I would absolutely love to do it again. It was absolutely worth every penny. I got 13 birds added to my life list. I am sure with more time, I could have added more. 100% 5+ star review from me!!

We took the 3.5 hour nature tour with Janice as our guide. She is excellent guide with an extensive knowledge of boh the ranch and the fauna found on it. She has quite an eye for spotting birds and animals even without using binoculars. She made the adventure a very pleasant experience. She tried, with no luck, to find us a javelina to see, but, nonetheless, the tour was a success!

I went on a Special Interest tour where they take you to more places in the ranch. This was worth every penny. The tour guide I had was amazing and extremely knowledgeable. Id love to do this tour again to learn even more the next time.

Touring the ranch marks that item off my Texas Bucket List! It was everything I thought it would be and more. Our driver/tour guide, Danny was delightful!!! Not only did he have first hand experience since he retired from decades of service at King Ranch but he was so kind, personable, and knowledgeable. Thank you, Danny for making our visit so special.

We have taken the tour before and it was excellent however today was different. This time the tour guide had to speak spanish and going from English to Spanish was confusing. Also didn't get the same information.

We visited the King Ranch - Norrias Unit on one of their guided birding trips and were absolutely amazed. Our guide Tom was a wonderful historian of the King Ranch and the family that built the Ranch & businesses. Then we saw a lot of amazing birds including a Sprague's Pipet and the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl. The property was super cool and we were able to see much of it. Tom was a brilliant birder as well as story teller.

As a city girl, I have never been interested in ranches. But because of a project I was working on for work and the fact that king ranch is the second largest ranch in the world, I decided to learn more about it. I took a bus tour on a Sunday at 12:30pm. The tour lasted for about 1.5 hours. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. He taught us a lot we didn't know about the king ranch and Richard King. The ranch is indeed enormous. We got to see different parts of it, horses, cows, where the cowboys live, etc. We didn't see much of the wildlife probably due to the fact that it was too hot outside. We spotted some deer, wild turkey and a few birds and that's all. A little disappointing but oh well. They have tours daily except for mondays. I'd recommend the tour if you are interested in ranches and history. They also have a visitor center, a museum and a saddle shop. The saddle shop was closed when I was there and I didn't go to the museum either. Overall, interesting place!

I usually love tours like this. But they don't show you anything at all. We drove around the ranch and saw some fine livestock. The story line was only modestly interesting. Way too much money and time for so little. The video in the shop was more compelling.

I was really looking forward to this tour but it was a big disappointment. Far too expensive to just drive around the ranch and receive a mediocre narrative. I wanted to hear more about how the ranch was run, if it's profitable, etc. instead we were shown twice (on both ends) of how if there wasn't a grove of trees we would be able to see down to the other road. Really? Otherwise we saw lots of cows, horses and goats and a few wild deer. We were more interested in the deer but he barely stopped and didn't say a thing about them. Skip it.

Superb introduction to this Texas icon. Yes...it's a driving tour; kinda hard not to be otherwise considering it's a working ranch of over 800K acres. If you're interested in hearing a lot about cattle and cattle breeding you'll be happy. If you're expecting to interact (The Steer Whisperer?) with your future hamburger you will be disappointed. One note to whoever is running the place: We would've paid extra to tour the main house. Perhaps the family might be persuaded to allow small, escorted groups limited access? I'm thinking B&B...

The 100 year old ranch has a 100 year old reservation system. Get there EARLY for bus tour tickets. We did not get there early enough (an hour and a half) and had been told "no reservations" over the phone. Guess what - some folks from Austin has been able to reserve tickets at the ticket counter (even though the lady at the front desk said "We are not supposed to reserve tickets..."). The good news - the King Ranch added another tour due to the persistence of a gentleman who had driven from Illinois to see the ranch. Hooray! The tour guide was excellent and provided wonderful historical insight. From the bus, we had the opportunity to see livestock and wildlife alike on the ranch - newborn calves and foals, javelinas, deer, cranes etc. Just beautiful! Worth the trip!

We stopped by King Ranch on our way back up to Austin from SPI. They were really nice about holding the tour for us since we were running late after getting lost (thanks, Google maps). Our tour guide was very informative--she knew all about the ranch's history and could answer everyone's questions. The tour itself, though, is kinda lame: cows for miles! You're not allowed to go in anywhere except the weaver's cottage. The rest is just taking in the sprawling acreage, with the occasional animal to break up the landscape. We'd probably give it a higher rating if it didn't cost $16/person, but it did. We're happy that we got to see to such a historical Texas landmark, but can't recommend it in good faith. We also went to the museum in town on 6th St., which was far more interesting in terms of seeing relics from the Ranch's heyday.

We live in San Antonio and had out-of -state family visit and went on the King Ranch tour to include the museum. Not being from Kingsville, we didn't realize the King Ranch Museum was different from the King Ranch Visitor Center and we waited for the your bus in the wrong location. The tour people were very kind and waited for us and even kept the Visitor Center and Gift Shop open for us after the bus tour. The tour was very informative and an interesting part of Texas history. I would highly recommend visiting King Ranch and Museum!

What a great day we had here. Took the bus tour which lasted about 1 1/2 hours. Our lady tour guide was very informative and kept things very interesting. For the whole time she kept giving one fact after another. I don't believe she repeated anything at all. All in all we highly recommend the bus tour.

We took a bus tour(Zapata fun tours) to tour king ranch, so I know they knew our group was coming! We were a bit early (probably planned) so we could watch the video before the tour. This did not happen! We started our tour of the ranch early because " they had lots of tours that day"!!! I would have liked to have the big picture before seeing the ranch. Our tour guide had his speal memorized cause at one point he got lost and repeated himself 3 times before he got unstuck, lol! Also they may need to update those speeches a bit more often, as he told us..." They replaced this fence a few months ago" when there is a tree growing in the fence line with branches 5" across and the barbed wire grown into the bark! The history is pretty interesting and I'm glad I did it but I don't have to do it again! The museum in kingsville is interesting also.

The short Film shown at the visitor center is very informative and is best viewed before the tour. It was extremely difficult to enjoy the bus tour since since the AC did not work and it was over 100 degree weather. The tour guide had some interesting human interest history stories not covered in the film. We stopped to listen to 80 year-old "Lulu" tell his tales of various brands used on King Ranch but I could not hear / understand most of what he said. I recommend watching the film and skipping the tour.

We arrived about 45 minutes before a 1PM Saturday tour. The lady who sold us our tickets was friendly and personable. We watched a short historical film on the history of the King Ranch and I liked that it gave us a little background before the tour. Our tour began when Lois, a retired school teacher welcomed us and helped everyone get situated in the new tour bus. It seated about 15 people and was quite comfortable. Lois was a born storyteller. The hour and a half your flew by. Lois showed enthusiasm for the wildlife we saw along the way and she told interesting stories throughout. She was a perfect tour guide. I've lived in Texas all my life and found the story of how the King Ranch began to be an inspiring tale. It also made me want to go on some of their other tours!

Visited the King Ranch on a weekday in spring when it wasn't very busy. Enjoyed the bus tour thanks to our great guide, a retired school teacher. She really knew her stuff! She knew about the ranch, family history, local relationships, the cattle, the horses and even the plants along the way. She also gave the bus a quick once over after the tour and found my dad's phone that had fallen out of his pocket. The office had it waiting for us when we called. Very nice folks all around.

A wonderful outing for a great price. People come from near and far to explore the King Ranch. It's one of the countries largest ranches & is the size of Rhode Island. If you're looking for a quicker option to see the ranch - hop on the 1.5 hour guided tour. You'll be driven (in an air conditioned van) to some of the ranches highlights. Along the way you'll see - horses, cattle, deer, alligators, peacocks, birds - not to mention some gorgeous scenery. The tour guides are extremely knowledgeable and friendly. Tours are between $12-$15 and run twice a day. I HIGHLY recommend taking one of these tours. The ranch also offers birding tours, private tours, which - I'm assuming - cost more. Good times!

I took the general ranch tour in July 2013. I was fortunate to have Miguel (???), one of their "best guides" (per the lady in the main office). Miguel was personable, interesting and very engaged. In addition to guiding tours, he works in the ranch operations and gave fascinating insights into the business and some of the individuals who work there. A very reasonable price and a very worthwhile use of your time!