Discussion
Anyone been?
Thinking of going next year to celebrate my retirement in March 2027 with the wife and our 20yr old son.
I hear it's the BBQ capital of the world which is appealing, and I quite fancy visiting places like Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, but I'm open to suggestions on where and when to go. Would like to avoid peak high temp months, and obviously the rainy months.
Thinking of going next year to celebrate my retirement in March 2027 with the wife and our 20yr old son.
I hear it's the BBQ capital of the world which is appealing, and I quite fancy visiting places like Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, but I'm open to suggestions on where and when to go. Would like to avoid peak high temp months, and obviously the rainy months.
My uncle lives there so have visited a few times a done road trips.
Few of my faves.
Houston. Johnson Space Centre
San Antonio. The Alamo, Riverwalk
Austin. Capitol Building, Mount Bonnell, Sixth Street for a night out.
Waco. Dr Pepper Museum
Dallas. Sixth Floor Museum & Fort Worth Stockyards
Few of my faves.
Houston. Johnson Space Centre
San Antonio. The Alamo, Riverwalk
Austin. Capitol Building, Mount Bonnell, Sixth Street for a night out.
Waco. Dr Pepper Museum
Dallas. Sixth Floor Museum & Fort Worth Stockyards
Edited by Composite Guru on Saturday 25th July 08:18
I live about 2hrs away from Texas and go there quite a lot. My favourite places are:
San Antonio - Alamo, river walk, the pearl, the strip area for food (particularly recommend the curry boys). Also worth going to Greune and Canyon Lake which are relatively close. Bandera is cool too if you want to see the craziness of the Trump store and look around some gun shops.
The Hill Country area is really nice, towns like Fredericksburg, Luckenbach, Blanco etc. Lots of nice vineyards around and some surprisingly good driving roads.
Lockhart is worth a visit too, I went to the Terry Blacks BBQ there which remains the best I've ever had and it's not as busy as some of the other famous ones.
Austin - see the Texas Capitol, wander around Zilker park, get drinks on 6th street, go up to the viewpoint at covert park. In the evening you can see the bats from Congress avenue bridge. The Contemporary is a nice place to walk around if you're into sculptures. And of course there's the circuit of the americas. It's also one of the few cities with Waymo driverless taxis so I'd recommend getting one, it's quite a surreal experience and I've been very impressed the few times I've taken one.
I'm personally not a huge fan of Houston or Dallas, the space center in Houston is cool but apart from that I've never really found much to do there apart from shopping and eating. Galveston can be nice, they let you drive on Bolivar beach and you can just have a nice drive down to Port Arthur and back if you have the time.
In terms of activities, if you're into it, I'd recommend going to a shooting range. They'll let you shoot basically anything you want and most places have people who will teach you gun safety etc. The rodeo at Bulverde is fun too, a very "american" experience.
San Antonio - Alamo, river walk, the pearl, the strip area for food (particularly recommend the curry boys). Also worth going to Greune and Canyon Lake which are relatively close. Bandera is cool too if you want to see the craziness of the Trump store and look around some gun shops.
The Hill Country area is really nice, towns like Fredericksburg, Luckenbach, Blanco etc. Lots of nice vineyards around and some surprisingly good driving roads.
Lockhart is worth a visit too, I went to the Terry Blacks BBQ there which remains the best I've ever had and it's not as busy as some of the other famous ones.
Austin - see the Texas Capitol, wander around Zilker park, get drinks on 6th street, go up to the viewpoint at covert park. In the evening you can see the bats from Congress avenue bridge. The Contemporary is a nice place to walk around if you're into sculptures. And of course there's the circuit of the americas. It's also one of the few cities with Waymo driverless taxis so I'd recommend getting one, it's quite a surreal experience and I've been very impressed the few times I've taken one.
I'm personally not a huge fan of Houston or Dallas, the space center in Houston is cool but apart from that I've never really found much to do there apart from shopping and eating. Galveston can be nice, they let you drive on Bolivar beach and you can just have a nice drive down to Port Arthur and back if you have the time.
In terms of activities, if you're into it, I'd recommend going to a shooting range. They'll let you shoot basically anything you want and most places have people who will teach you gun safety etc. The rodeo at Bulverde is fun too, a very "american" experience.
I recently went to Texas for the first time and it was amazing!
We flew in to Dallas, hired a car and drove from Dallas to Austin and then back to Dallas with a couple of stops along the way.
Along the way we stopped at a Christmas shop (don't ask) in Madison ville and there was an amazing car museum over the road, unfortunately it was closed when we got there but it looked like you could hire there cars and take them on track out the back:
Austin was great and we found a bar with live music, BBQ food and a wall full of beer:
This was our Uber in Texas, honestely felt like I was in Fast and Furious "Roads closed pizza boy......"
Also visited Lance Armstrong's bike shop:
After spending a night in Austin we then headed back to Dallas but stopped in Waco along the way:
In Waco the Silos are popular and worth a visit but the whole town is really nice, they also have a Dr Pepper museum:
We then drove back to Dallas and did the usual tourist bits:
The following day we went to Fortworth stockyards, I was expecting a theme park (almost like the old American adventure theme park) but it's real, and amazing fun, especially in the evening:
This guy raises money for charity by driving military vehicles long distances, he was handing out stickers and I'll never forget him saying in the the most American manly accent ever "Here my man, stick these on you rig......" I didn't have the heart to tell him my "Rig" is a 1 litre Fiesta
If I was going to Dallas again I would definitely stay in Dallas Fortworth stockyards rather than Dallas itself. Dallas felt more like a business district and the hotels were very expensive.
If you like to travel around it's definitely worth hiring a car.
I've been to a few states in America and so far Texas is by far the best place, I was only there for a couple of days so there's still a lot more to see.
We flew in to Dallas, hired a car and drove from Dallas to Austin and then back to Dallas with a couple of stops along the way.
Along the way we stopped at a Christmas shop (don't ask) in Madison ville and there was an amazing car museum over the road, unfortunately it was closed when we got there but it looked like you could hire there cars and take them on track out the back:
Austin was great and we found a bar with live music, BBQ food and a wall full of beer:
This was our Uber in Texas, honestely felt like I was in Fast and Furious "Roads closed pizza boy......"
Also visited Lance Armstrong's bike shop:
After spending a night in Austin we then headed back to Dallas but stopped in Waco along the way:
In Waco the Silos are popular and worth a visit but the whole town is really nice, they also have a Dr Pepper museum:
We then drove back to Dallas and did the usual tourist bits:
The following day we went to Fortworth stockyards, I was expecting a theme park (almost like the old American adventure theme park) but it's real, and amazing fun, especially in the evening:
This guy raises money for charity by driving military vehicles long distances, he was handing out stickers and I'll never forget him saying in the the most American manly accent ever "Here my man, stick these on you rig......" I didn't have the heart to tell him my "Rig" is a 1 litre Fiesta
If I was going to Dallas again I would definitely stay in Dallas Fortworth stockyards rather than Dallas itself. Dallas felt more like a business district and the hotels were very expensive.
If you like to travel around it's definitely worth hiring a car.
I've been to a few states in America and so far Texas is by far the best place, I was only there for a couple of days so there's still a lot more to see.
Edited by Random84 on Saturday 25th July 12:56
Wow, some great suggestions, thanks.
Would love to see the JFK shooting locations in Dallas, and hiring a car and taking ourselves around Texas appeals .
Is Texas the type of place where we would need a fixed itinerary with hotels booked in advance, or could we keep it loose and fly to Dallas, hire a car and then make up our minds where we go and how long we stay?
With car hire, can you pick one up in one town and drop off in another, or would it be best to fly into Dallas, hire a car and do a road trip around Texas and then return to Dallas to fly home?
Would love to see the JFK shooting locations in Dallas, and hiring a car and taking ourselves around Texas appeals .
Is Texas the type of place where we would need a fixed itinerary with hotels booked in advance, or could we keep it loose and fly to Dallas, hire a car and then make up our minds where we go and how long we stay?
With car hire, can you pick one up in one town and drop off in another, or would it be best to fly into Dallas, hire a car and do a road trip around Texas and then return to Dallas to fly home?
Edited by The Gauge on Saturday 25th July 20:02
The Gauge said:
Wow, some great suggestions, thanks.
Would love to see the JFK shooting locations in Dallas, and hiring a car and taking ourselves around Texas appeals .
Is Texas the type of place where we would need a fixed itinerary with hotels booked in advance, or could we keep it loose and fly to Dallas, hire a car and then make up our minds where we go and how long we stay?
With car hire, can you pick one up in one town and drop off in another, or would it be best to fly into Dallas, hire a car and do a road trip around Texas and then return to Dallas to fly home?
When I went I just winged the hotels. I stuck to the mid range ones and you can just rock up on the spur of the moment and they will have rooms. Just depends how fluid you want to be. Would love to see the JFK shooting locations in Dallas, and hiring a car and taking ourselves around Texas appeals .
Is Texas the type of place where we would need a fixed itinerary with hotels booked in advance, or could we keep it loose and fly to Dallas, hire a car and then make up our minds where we go and how long we stay?
With car hire, can you pick one up in one town and drop off in another, or would it be best to fly into Dallas, hire a car and do a road trip around Texas and then return to Dallas to fly home?
Edited by The Gauge on Saturday 25th July 20:02
In 2012 I think I visited an aunt who lived in the Woodlands. Nr Houston.
Drove to San Antonio.
Stayed one night and drove back.
San Antonio wasn't for me. Seemed a bit tacky.
The Alamo kirk was very interesting.
One memorable thing was a Mexican guy playing the bagpipes on a bridge over the river.
Being from Scotland not what I expected.
Drove back to Woodlands surprised at the poverty in rural Texas.
I did enjoy a trip round Galveston Harbour (harbor!) and the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show (I work in farming)
Best bit of the trip was the few nights in New York as I travelled via there and seeing my Aunty Pearl before she died.
Drove to San Antonio.
Stayed one night and drove back.
San Antonio wasn't for me. Seemed a bit tacky.
The Alamo kirk was very interesting.
One memorable thing was a Mexican guy playing the bagpipes on a bridge over the river.
Being from Scotland not what I expected.
Drove back to Woodlands surprised at the poverty in rural Texas.
I did enjoy a trip round Galveston Harbour (harbor!) and the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show (I work in farming)
Best bit of the trip was the few nights in New York as I travelled via there and seeing my Aunty Pearl before she died.
The Gauge said:
Wow, some great suggestions, thanks.
Would love to see the JFK shooting locations in Dallas, and hiring a car and taking ourselves around Texas appeals .
Is Texas the type of place where we would need a fixed itinerary with hotels booked in advance, or could we keep it loose and fly to Dallas, hire a car and then make up our minds where we go and how long we stay?
With car hire, can you pick one up in one town and drop off in another, or would it be best to fly into Dallas, hire a car and do a road trip around Texas and then return to Dallas to fly home?
I booked the hotels in advance as I knew we'd have the hire car and needed parking, I also looked at reviews and far too many hotels mentioned cockroaches and bed bugs Would love to see the JFK shooting locations in Dallas, and hiring a car and taking ourselves around Texas appeals .
Is Texas the type of place where we would need a fixed itinerary with hotels booked in advance, or could we keep it loose and fly to Dallas, hire a car and then make up our minds where we go and how long we stay?
With car hire, can you pick one up in one town and drop off in another, or would it be best to fly into Dallas, hire a car and do a road trip around Texas and then return to Dallas to fly home?
Edited by The Gauge on Saturday 25th July 20:02
We found the hotels were really expensive, even when booking them well in advance so you may pay a bit extra by turning up and booking there and then.
Dallas airport has a big hire car terminal (felt like it was the same size as Liverpool airport!) and again I booked it in advance. I booked the cheapest company I could find but dodged the obvious bad ones and took out the full insurance covering everything. Most people booked Hertz etc. so when we got to the hire car terminal there wasn't a queue at the desk I booked with (not a company I'd heard of before) but the others were queuing around the terminal.
I booked a Kia Sportage sized vehicle and initially I was given a Jeep Wrangler (which looked like great fun) but wasn't practical as it had a soft top with a velcro rear window and I had our suitcases in the back. They swapped it without any issues for a Rav 4 which to be honest was ideal if a little boring.
Dropping the car off elsewhere is an option but you might pay a bit extra, I basically did a big loop and ended up back at the airport which worked well as we didn't need airport transfers etc.
Take it easy driving, especially when it's wet. We had a torrential downpour with thunder and lightning when we arrived and cars were going off the highway and into the back of each other everywhere!
Speed limits make no sense, 55mph in sections where there's nothing to hit but then it was 80mph in a contraflow type section with concrete barriers either side and a Peterbuilt lorry chewing your bumper!
Geekman said:
I live about 2hrs away from Texas and go there quite a lot. My favourite places are:
San Antonio - Alamo, river walk, the pearl, the strip area for food (particularly recommend the curry boys). Also worth going to Greune and Canyon Lake which are relatively close. Bandera is cool too if you want to see the craziness of the Trump store and look around some gun shops.
The Hill Country area is really nice, towns like Fredericksburg, Luckenbach, Blanco etc. Lots of nice vineyards around and some surprisingly good driving roads.
Lockhart is worth a visit too, I went to the Terry Blacks BBQ there which remains the best I've ever had and it's not as busy as some of the other famous ones.
Austin - see the Texas Capitol, wander around Zilker park, get drinks on 6th street, go up to the viewpoint at covert park. In the evening you can see the bats from Congress avenue bridge. The Contemporary is a nice place to walk around if you're into sculptures. And of course there's the circuit of the americas. It's also one of the few cities with Waymo driverless taxis so I'd recommend getting one, it's quite a surreal experience and I've been very impressed the few times I've taken one.
I'm personally not a huge fan of Houston or Dallas, the space center in Houston is cool but apart from that I've never really found much to do there apart from shopping and eating. Galveston can be nice, they let you drive on Bolivar beach and you can just have a nice drive down to Port Arthur and back if you have the time.
In terms of activities, if you're into it, I'd recommend going to a shooting range. They'll let you shoot basically anything you want and most places have people who will teach you gun safety etc. The rodeo at Bulverde is fun too, a very "american" experience.
I agree with all of that. San Antonio - Alamo, river walk, the pearl, the strip area for food (particularly recommend the curry boys). Also worth going to Greune and Canyon Lake which are relatively close. Bandera is cool too if you want to see the craziness of the Trump store and look around some gun shops.
The Hill Country area is really nice, towns like Fredericksburg, Luckenbach, Blanco etc. Lots of nice vineyards around and some surprisingly good driving roads.
Lockhart is worth a visit too, I went to the Terry Blacks BBQ there which remains the best I've ever had and it's not as busy as some of the other famous ones.
Austin - see the Texas Capitol, wander around Zilker park, get drinks on 6th street, go up to the viewpoint at covert park. In the evening you can see the bats from Congress avenue bridge. The Contemporary is a nice place to walk around if you're into sculptures. And of course there's the circuit of the americas. It's also one of the few cities with Waymo driverless taxis so I'd recommend getting one, it's quite a surreal experience and I've been very impressed the few times I've taken one.
I'm personally not a huge fan of Houston or Dallas, the space center in Houston is cool but apart from that I've never really found much to do there apart from shopping and eating. Galveston can be nice, they let you drive on Bolivar beach and you can just have a nice drive down to Port Arthur and back if you have the time.
In terms of activities, if you're into it, I'd recommend going to a shooting range. They'll let you shoot basically anything you want and most places have people who will teach you gun safety etc. The rodeo at Bulverde is fun too, a very "american" experience.
I inherited a house in the Texas Hill Country about 15 miles north of San Antonio and spent a lot of time there over many years. It’s very much an “outdoors” area with tubing, rafting canoeing and every other way to chill on the water and lakes. Almost all of the towns and communities around there are worth a visit and one of the best museums I’ve been to is the Nimitz Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg housed in the property where Admiral Chester Nimitz was born.
Briefly, I loved San Antonio and found it pretty cosmopolitan. I found Austin to be a bit of a letdown but only because my expectations were pretty high. The Texas Capitol was a great visit and more impressive than Washington. There’s a vibe about Austin and I’d probably have appreciated it more back when I was a student.
I spent a fair bit of time in the Dallas / Fort Worth area and it didn’t do much for me. There’s nothing you can’t do there in terms of leisure facilities or tourist attractions but it’s all so big that you could be anywhere. Houston is pretty similar and struck me as a very corporate type city. Again, theme parks, water parks, NASA etc are all there and there’s nothing you can’t do but it’s all on such a big scale that you could be anywhere. Kemah Boardwalk about 40 mins outside Houston was far more appealing.
Further south, Corpus Christi is a funny place. The city itself is duller than you’d imagine but you have access to Padre Island with over 100 miles of shoreline along the Gulf of Mexico wheee you can lose a few days doing nothing and never seeing anyone else.
I really like Texas. When you eat out you can easily see why there are a lot of very large people walking around. It’s probably not the best place to be a vegetarian either.
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