The Guadalupe is the night and the Comal is the next day's tube. Bald cypress lines the river bend at Guadalupe River State Park, and live oak campsites follow four miles of river frontage on the water-and-electric loop. The pads sit along that bank, oak overhead and the river next to camp, so the overnight is a Guadalupe night and the float is a town day.
Texas Parks and Wildlife notes the park often reaches capacity, and the busy season runs March through November. Lock the site first and treat the van as the second booking. If you reverse that order, you can have a van and no pad at Guadalupe River State Park.
A campervan fits that water-and-electric loop, and if you need more sleeping space, look at RV rentals in Texas. Spring and fall use the same loop with smaller crowds. Hold the site for the nights you are here and use New Braunfels for the Comal.
Tubing the Comal and the Guadalupe
The Comal through New Braunfels is a tube line drifting under cypress from put-in to take-out, and the whole run stays in town. Comal outfitters work that river. The City of New Braunfels puts a typical float at about 1.5 to 2 hours. In summer the line of tubes fills that cypress corridor.
The Guadalupe through town is the other float, with Gruene on the bank inside the loop. Gruene is the historic district on that bank, and Guadalupe outfitters run the river. You camp at Guadalupe River State Park or at Canyon Lake and come into town for either river.
New Braunfels closes tubing when the rivers run high. Memorial Day through Labor Day is tubing season, and it is also the busiest camping window at Guadalupe River State Park and Canyon Lake at once. The river day and the overnight fill on the same dates.
Schlitterbahn is the water-park day in New Braunfels. Natural Bridge Caverns is a cave mouth that opens onto an underground ballroom.
Canyon Lake, Potters Creek and Cranes Mill
Hill Country oak covers the hookup loops at Potters Creek and Cranes Mill, with a boat ramp and a swim beach at the water's edge. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers puts Canyon Lake about 20 miles from New Braunfels. This is the second night on a longer stay, or the overnight when Guadalupe River State Park is full. Weekends in summer fill these loops.
South of New Braunfels, San Antonio is the next city for the Frio. North, Austin is McKinney Falls and the parks west of town.