Laredo, located on the border of Mexico and the United States, is known for its friendly people, rich culture, and great food! Our fair city, the 81st most populous in the United States and the 10th most populous in the state of Texas, is home to a wide variety of family entertainments, shopping malls, dining locations, art galleries, museums, several semi-professional sports teams, and nightlife hot spots. Annual festivals and celebrations regularly fill our streets with music and color and light up the night for your delight!
Recreation: With its semi-arid summers and mild winters, Laredo offers a unique playground for adventurers wanting to get outside. Our breathtaking natural South Texas landscape is a perfect backdrop for year-round kayaking, birding and hiking. Or, if you prefer, the City of Laredo owns eight recreational centers, thirty-four developed parks, twenty-two undeveloped parks or under construction, five baseball fields, and four plazas. Lake Casa Blanca International State Park contains a 1,680-acre artificial lake with sites for cooking out, camping, picnicking, swimming, skiing, boating, and mountain biking--don't forget to bring your rod and reel, because the fishing is great!
Schools: The city is served by two school districts and offers a wide variety of both public and private primary and secondary education opportunities for your school-aged children. Laredo also hosts several distinguished higher education establishments. Laredo Community College is a two-campus institution which offers two-year Associates Degrees. Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) offers Bachelors, Masters, and Post-graduate degrees. TAMIU's College of Business Administration has been named an outstanding business school in "The Princeton Reviews" Best 282 Business Schools, 2007 Edition, and ranked third in the nation for the category: Greatest Opportunity for Minority Students. The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has a campus in Laredo, offering Doctoral Degrees in the medical and dental fields.
Transportation to, from, and within our city is a snap! Laredo is served by the Laredo International Airport, with daily flights available to Houston (George Bush Intercontinental Airport) and to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Monterrey, Nuevo León. Tri-weekly flights to Las Vegas, Nevada and bi-weekly seasonal (May–August) flights to Orlando, Florida are available. El Metro is our public transit system that operates in the city with 21 fixed routes, a fleet of over 47 buses, 2 trolleys and 18 Paratransit/El Lift vans, serving approximately 4.6 million passengers per year.
