Review of Marathon, Texas


Nothing in Marathon
Star Rating - 9/24/2009
First comment on here. For a "town" or whatever this place is that's supposed to be the "Gateway to Big Bend National Park" there is absolutely nothing here.

We're full time RVer's. Have been across the country 3 times now. We've been thru 15 states since May of 2009 in many small towns, cities, etc.

Are currently camped in about the only RV place here - the back of the Marathon Motel has campground. Campground is pretty good. Need any groceries or anything? Forget Marathon. There is only one little "Merchandise" store. Needed milk and went into this place. HIGH priced and no selection. Didn't have any milk at all - plenty of wine and misc. grocery items, camping items, various sundries. Other than that, don't expect much.

No recreation, nothing to do at all. Nothing to look at of any interest. Drove thru this place - about 5 streets (short ones) with maybe 4 homes on each street and most homes look empty. They have a school - there's 2 school buses. IF you want to get down to Big Bend, you have almost a 2 hr. drive SW from here.

For anyone who doesn't have needs for anything, this is a great little place. It's very quiet. They do have a Historic Hotel with a fine dining restaurant in it. Also, one Mexican cafe. IF you like to watch birds, they say this is the place to be. I haven't actually seen any. Beautiful area however. Flat, desert like all around and then you hit mountains. Gorgeous at dusk.
IreneT | Emery, SD
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IreneT's comment was somewhat unfair to Marathon perhaps because it is now ten years old. There isn't much in town because the population is only about 400. Our purpose for visiting Marathon was astronomy to which the Marathon Motel is friendly. We stayed in their largest accommodation, a four room "apartment". It was fine and having a kitchen enabled us to avoid spending $60 a day on restaurant meals. According to the internet, there are several other places to stay, mostly bed and breakfast. The finest, and very expensive, is the historic Gage Hotel. There are several restaurants in town such as the Oasis Cafe, Brick Vault Barbeque and V6 Coffee Bar. The Gage Hotel offers expensive fine dining. The French Grocer is a small, but reasonably stocked, grocery store. It isn't a supermarket but neither is it a convenience store limited to booze and junk food. If you were a regular customer, I suspect they would special order anything you wanted. I would not retire there simply because I need more stores and services like medical care. Those things are available 30 miles away in Alpine which has a population of about 6,000.
Kendahl | Omaha, NE | Report Abuse
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