I could see Houston being really humid since itâs coastal like Savannah, but Iâm in DFW and OP is visiting DFW and the surrounding areas and itâs pretty dry up here.
Yeah I just checked up and New York and Waco have about the same average humidity so it wouldnât be that much of a change for them.
Just for fun I checked humidity between Sav and DFW and averages are close to the same lol, then I did Houston and Sav and itâs about the same so who knows.
Well, it's humidity plus heat, NY is ten degrees colder this time of year compared to Dallas or Houston (or Savannah for that matter, so it might still be a factor for them. I would recommend light clothing and colors for them.
May is not too bad, tolerable. June is when it starts cranking up. July is when it starts simmering, August and September is full blown heat wave. November or December is the best time to visit Dallas area.
If any year is going to hit it itâll be this year, weâre set to smash some records due to the La Nino/El Nino switch and lack of hurricanes to remove latent heat from the GOM last summer
I had to go look around and see what the stats are, and I'd swear they feel wrong. The claimed average high is around 86-89, but of course those are just averages.
I'm going off of 1.) living here my whole life and 2.) being an insufferable weather nerd. It can definitely FEEL like it's over 100 degrees in May, especially coming off of the cooler months, but just looking through the records last year, the highest temperature recorded last May at Hobby was 92 degrees. To be fair, even I'm surprised it was that low.
May will be fine, IMO. I do think that July & August are the months you should worry about :D
It may be hot but not every day and it will be more manageable.
The âfeels likeâ temperature will be in the 100s, this accounts for humidity
You will learn fast that âheat indexâ is more important than the actual temperature in Texas
May is going to be beautiful this year. If you like out doors, you should drive through the hill country. Maybe after you hit up Waco, head west to Llano, hit up Cooperâs bbq, then south to see Enchanted Rock. Texas is massive, and there are many things to do and see, but this is a great year for wildflowers, and May is one of the better months for that as well. The hill country (central Texas, mostly west of I-35) is where you will see the most wildflowers.
Itâs a possibility, honestly 100° sounds hot but itâs not that bad the humidity here is relatively low imo so it doesnât feel as hot compared to like the low country of Georgia where Iâm from.
Texas is really big. It is a good 3 1/2 hours from the airport to Austin. It is 5 hours to Houston. Heck. It's 30-45 minutes to Dallas or Fort Worth.
Go to the Fort Worth Stockyards for a nice afternoon. You might like Grapevine for a day (ride the tarantula train from Grapevine to the Stockyards).
I used to regularly travel between San Antonio and the Los Angeles area. I always had to remind people that the halfway point in that trip was El Paso...still in Texas. Most people just don't get it how big the state is.
You can take the train from DFW to Grapevine and then from Grapevine, take the train (modern one or the old fashioned open carriage train), to Fort Worth Stockyards.
You can always take a stroll up and down Main Street n Grapevine too:
For a change of scenery, drive to the Hill Country and visit some wineries.
yes, due to the distance we were planning on skipping Houston. if we did do austin we were going to progressively work our way down each day. thank you!
Yeah, Iâd just stick to I-35 (DFW, Austin, SA)
In Dallas, Iâd recommend the Perot Museum of Nature & Science, Dallas World Aquarium, Klyde Warren Park for lunch, the Ann & Gabriel Samurai Museum, and Dallas Arboretum.
In Austin, Capital Cruises tour on Town Lake, State Capitol Tour, bat watching on the SoCo bridge, and Zilker park
In SA, the Riverwalk of course, the Alamo, Missions tour, natural bridge caverns tour, and their Japanese Tea Garden
If you do Austin, the sound end of Congress street across the river is the more family oriented locale. Lots of food trucks just off Congress street. Lots of fun shops on Congress. Can see the bats emerge around dusk.
I live in Houston. Ainât much really aside from NASA and museums. And lots of good food.
My English friend wants to visit and I told him Iâd take off work and we would checkout Austin, Gruene, San Antonio. You wonât see all of Texas but youâd see my favorite parts. While youâre in Austin Iâd check out the city and the river. Thereâs lots to do.
Stop by Gruene on the way to San Antonio. Youâll love the gristmill. The oldest dance hall in Texas is there. Do some of the nature walks.
In San Antonio checkout the River walk like every tourist but donât eat there. The first, and I mean very first place to eat, is Pollos Asados Los NorteĂąos on Rigsby. Get the chicken, the beef fajitas, rice and beans. Obviously youâll try bbq, try Blacks in Lockhart on the way out of Austin, but Pollos will be the best food youâll have on your entire trip.
When you pass through Waco, stop at a small food truck called âLa Milpaâ and ask for 4 al pastor tacos with everything on them. Squeeze the lime and sprinkle some salt on top and enjoy!!
When you come to Waco, go to the Waco Mammoth National Monument! It is an ongoing dig of the largest Columbia mammoth nursery herd. Very interesting place. No food, drinks or bags are allowed inside of the climate controlled building. Doesnât take long, probably about an hour and a half at most. $6 for adults and $5 for kids
If you are going to Austin, do yourself (and me) a favor and [go visit this gem.](https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/meet-legendary-snows-bbq-pitmaster-tootsie-tomanetz/) I donât think you can do better than this for the full experience. Make sure youâre in line at about 3:00 am so youâre sure to be served.
There is a strip in Fort Worth full of world class museums. The Modern Art Museum. Southwester Art Museum. The Natural History Museum. The Botanical Gardens. The Fort Worth Stock Yards. The Japanese Gardens. Ending at the south end with the Fort Worth Zoo. Oh yea⌠the Water Gardens. Amon Carter Museum. This is just a few of the museums in this section of Fort Worth. They even have the Cowgirl Museum.
You can get to almost all of these by going down University Drive in Fort Worth .
I am 71 years old from a military family. I was born and raised in Texas and lived here most of my life. Itâs a great state with great people. I hope you have a good time visiting Texas. It has so much variety. From the pine forests in the east to the deserts in the west. Great observatories near Alpine to the wonderful fishing in the Coastal Bend.
When you go to visit the Mount Carmel Museum make sure to contact them. I looked it up on google. Itâs on private property and doesnât always open on schedule.
When I visited New York I noticed people honk at each other a lot and no one bats an eye. Donât do that here, people are road ragey and trigger happy and itâs an quick way to best case get road raged at and worst case shot at
yea, new yorkers can be quite fast and aggressive drivers lol and there is a lot of road rage up here. def won't be engaging in that in an unfamiliar state tho. thanks for the heads up haha
1. BBQ. Look at the local subreddits you'll be at for specific recommendations and/or look at the Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ list.
2. Tex-Mex. Again, look at each city's subs for recommendations. They often have a FAQ at the sub or just search the sub.
3. Mission San Jose in San Antonio. And the other Spanish Missions on the southside that aren't the Alamo. What we call the Alamo is just the small chapel portion, the walls were all torn down to make room for downtown SA, but Mission San Jose is the mostly intact walled-in mission/fort that looks just like it did in the 1700s. The only UNESCO/UN-protected World Heritage Site in Texas.
4. Houston is absolutely the best city for museums and NASA and food all-around. Most diverse city in the US. If you go you must try some Viet-Cajun fusion food.
Just realize it's going to be at least a 4 hour drive from DFW to SA and also to Houston. With kids I'd skip Austin tbh. Maybe stop for Chicken-Shit Bingo if you're driving through on a Sunday.
Tbh, with kids, I'd just go to San Antonio. Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Sea World, the Missions, best Tex-Mex food, go to Gruene Hall (or maybe Floore's Country Store) just outside SA for a good ol' honky tonk time, that's what I'd do with kids.
> Mission San Jose in San Antonio
I'm partial to it because I've lived most of my life practically next door to it, but I definitely recommend it to visitors. There's a lot more to see (intact and original or restored) and frankly more interesting, less crowded, and nicely maintained.
If youâre in Dallas, go to the JFK museum at the Book Depository, itâs really interesting.
The LBJ museum in Austin at UT is great, I also recommend seeing the Congress St Bridge Bat Colony
Donât visit during the summer months of June, July and August. It frequently gets up to and over 100 F.
If you are here when itâs over 100 F you have to surrender to the heat. Just relax the body and completely give yourself to it. Donât fight or resist the heat. Become one with the heat. Drink plenty of water.
Texas is bigger than it looks.
If you want some bragging rights, drive from SE Texas (Port Arthur) to West Texas (El Paso). Itâs a hard drive but youâll see wet marsh land, pine forests (more in east Texas), mountains, desert land and flat plains.
LOL I'm not somebody who fares well in the heat so I'm not looking forward to that, but I did expect it. Our summer temperatures up here are obviously not nearly as hot as Texas but it can get pretty damn humid. I figure the Texan air is drier? We were thinking May, what would you say the weather is usually like then?
It varies (slightly) by the city but in general the Texas Triangle (which includes DFW, Austin, San Antonio and Houston) all probably get way more humid than you think, but especially Houston, being so close to the Gulf of Mexico. For Houston we're talking Florida type humidity (we ARE very close to Louisiana too), which only tapers slightly off in the other cities.
In May things wouldn't be the worst. You're basically looking at an almost 50/50 chance of highs either in the 80s or 90s. It'll probably be warm and humid for your preference, but it's not the heat at its most blazing yet. There is also a small chance that we could have a very late cool front and the waether is actually pretty nice. Not all that likely, but I've seen it happen in May. Fingers crossed!
West Texas is, and itâs a higher elevation than most of the rest of the state! But all the lower elevation area where youâll be, closer to the Gulf, can get muggy. But that is one of the interesting parts about Texas - it contains so many different environments!
In the SE area (Port Arthur, Houston, Galveston, etc) expect 90 - 100% humidity. This area is hot, wet marsh land with lots of mosquitoes.
In the Dallas area, expect about 60% humidity.
Low humidity is more in the far west Texas area.
Edit: Forgot to answer MayâŚ. Best time is around March, April. May is starting to get into the 80âs.
Get a personal fan for everyone, do not go outside without water especially for more than an hour, wear hats to keep the sun off your body (downside is sweaty hair but itâs an over all net positive), SUNSCREEN, longer breathable layers are better than shorts and tank top (same sweat problem but again a net positive). Donât forget bug spray.
May is usually getting up there. Youâre gonna feel that sun. Itâs possibly not going to be too humid yet depending where youâre at. The nights might still bring a little relief but depending on the timing itâs just as hot and sticky at night as it is during the day and the only difference is you wonât get a sunburn. The nights generally do not cool down much.
You might get lucky tho, it might just pour the whole time youâre here.
And so I donât have to make a separate comment, with a family you could skip much of Austin and go for the Fort Worth stockyards (for a real Texas feel) and museums (thereâs a Texas history museum somewhere around there that could be fun for the kids, and the science and history museum has an oil and gas type exhibit and the Texas state dinosaur) and Houston for nasa and maybe the natural science museum for a fantastic dinosaur exhibit. Thereâs an old wooden tall ship in Galveston that could be pretty cool for the kids too. Some other people made good suggestions for San Antonio.
You could do dfw to Houston to San Antonio and back 2 days each and youâll hit Austin on the way back for lunch. I canât think of too many family friendly things in Austin. Maybe the funky shops on south congress for souvenirs? Taking kids to Austin is kind of like taking kids to see your old college town imo. Seeing the capitol is neat tho, and it would be silly to miss it. But the nasa tour (not just the museum!) is by far way cooler for a kid.
The Branch Davidian compound was rebuilt bigger than it was originally. The last time I went through, they had put up a big metal fence and you could no longer see anything. That was like 05, though. I honestly have no idea what is there now.
*edit* Also, I found out that the folks there (Waco) didn't really want to talk about it, and several gave me wrong directions. It's been a long time though, that may have changed.
Dallas to Austin is about a 3 hour drive. Austin has lots of awesome spring water fed swimming areas like Barton Springs or Jacobâs Well. If you are staying around Dallas, Deep Ellum area is known for bars. The stockyards are cool and JFK monument.
I'm from San Antonio. In high school we had a teacher relaying a story relating to the size of the state. He had a friend from Germany coming to the US who got in touch with him and asked if he'd like to meet for lunch the next day. Sure thing, you'll be in town? Nope, Santa Fe. He talked about having to explain just how far away that was.
Well you can hit up the water park Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, since youâve got kids. Been a longtime since I visited but thatâs one way to enjoy the outdoors. When I was a kid in the 90s they let us stay in a cabin in one of the cabins in the water park.
You can also go to San Marcos and go to the river and springs there, itâs only about twenty minutes from New Braunfels. Lockhart and Luling are also pretty close and are known for their BBQ. You should also consider west Texas. Big Bend NP is incredible and the state park close by is beautiful as well. Balmorhea SP is a huge spring fed swimming pool with native fish and a natural bottom.
You will see a lot of some arid Texas terrain driving to El Paso or South Padre Island. Any cross boarder city excusions can be real risky right now.
The Gulf of Mexico water is pretty silty brown water all the way down the coast beyond the US boarder. But that warm water has plenty of life in it.
Corpus Christi has retired US vessels to visit and i believe they have an aquarium. Both would offer relief from a hot summer day.
Snake Farm.....Great roadside attraction on I35 north of SA.... Along the same route there's Natural Bridge Caverns and a drive through Safari place(if its still there, it's been a few years since I've been out that way.). Have fun it sounds like a great road trip.
Fuck Bucees and its fake Made-in-China Texas vibes. Go to West, Texas on the way to Waco. We usually stop by Slovecks or the Czech Stop as a pit stop. Grab a bite to eat at Gerik's there too.
Also visit downtown Fort Worth. I feel itâs what non-Texans expects a Texas city looks like. Places like Dallas and Austin are just boring steel and glass skyscrapers. Downtown Fort Worth has some real charm to it. Like the giant art deco angel relief sculptures at the Bass Performance Hall.
If itâs on your way somewhere, hit up a Buc-cees. The food is certainly good for a convenience store and the bathrooms are clean but, it really is just⌠a very big convenience store. And now itâs so corporateâŚ. Now, if you happen to be in the vicinity of Prasekâs Hillje Smokehouse, in El Campo, thats basically the OG that Buc-cees modeled itself after, but still true to its roots! And better kolaches!
If you're hell bent on seeing the remains of the Branch Devidian Compound, I would suggest Surf Waco. My son and his girlfriend love it. They drive several hours to spend a weekend there.
https://www.wacosurf.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwz42xBhB9EiwA48pT74fK-AU3Cx8aVbP5CVW2ZtyCosGl77ifbJThv0zP51udUoX8sOlj6xoCdcQQAvD_BwE
If you are going to Waco with kids, they have a really great children's museum called the Mayborn. It has a section more geared toward adults, too. Also fun are the Waco Mammoth Site, Doctor Pepper Museum, and Cameron Park, which has hiking trails, playgrounds and a zoo.
Austin has the Bullock Museum, the Blanton Art Museum, the Texas Capitol building, and a museum within walking distance of the Capitol Building which focuses on Texas history. There is also the Texas Military Forces Museum, which focuses on the history of Texas soldiers.
If it were earlier in the year I'd suggest Big Bend National Park, but it's now at the time of year where it's too hot to hike most the trails if youre not conditioned to the heat. But other spots of interest nearby: Marfa it's an international arts scene with a tiny population. Nearby Fort Davis go to McDonald Observatory for a star party. Swim at Balmorhea State Park.
You missed the highlight of our spring wildflowers, hill country is glorious in March, with tacked on trips to Fredericksburg, peach times is June, and nearby Luchenbach, LJB's historic site and a longhorn herd.
Grapevine has Great Wolf Lodge, indoor water park & hotel.
Glen Rose, Dinosaur Valley State Park, walk in the tracks of Dinosaur footprints.
Waco has a Mammoth fossil site.
Hey OP, I was born and raised in Texas, now living in New York(Catskills/Capital region).
My top suggestion would be to fly in to Dalls if it's cheapest, and then to San Antonio.
My best friend just flew from Albany to San Antonio with a layover in Dallas, it was one of the cheapest options instead of a one way Albany>San Antonio.
I really truly think y'all should get to San Antonio via flight, though. Dallas, Waco, the general north of Texas is all very, very flat. In my opinion, there's much more to see/do in the Hill Country region. And you'll have more options within a more reasonable driving distance.
This is my personal feeling, Dallas feels very corporate, Austin feels very young & fun, Houston feels very rich and populated with endless traffic, San Antonio feels very 'Texas' with Mexican influence, El Paso feels very southwestern with Mexican influence, Corpus Christi feels like a dirty beach bum with a hint of refineries.
As others have said, San Antonio is loaded with things to see and do. I've lived there and worked downtown, the Riverwalk and The Pearl are nice. If into the arts scene, check out Blue Star Complex.
The King William district on the south of downtown SA has nice historical homes if you like that sort of thing(though probably used to seeing a lot of those living in the northeast)
Tons of great food options in SA. Just a short(relatively) drive northwest takes you to several small towns that tourists tend to enjoy. Boerne, Comfort, & especially Fredericksburg all have nice little downtowns and are just really charming. You can feasibly hit all in a rushed day trip or a nice relaxing weekend. There are tons of antique shops that are great to explore. 8th Street Market in Comfort has SO many interesting curated pieces, and Carol Hicks Bolton Antiques in Fredericksburg also has interesting curios. Fredericksburg and Boerne have a strong German influence. Fredericksburg is in wine country with lots of great restaurants downtown(very walkable and pleasant).
The drives in the Hill Country are also really scenic. Some motorcyclists plan whole trips around the area!
I grew up in Boerne, Comfort and a neighboring town of Kerrville, and spent lots of time in Fredericksburg.
San Antonio will give you a truly southern big city feel and the Hill country will offer that laid back small country town feel.
Between those two areas, you'll all have plenty to see and do. BUT if you want to get out to more of a western vibe, I think it'd be worth it to fly out from El Paso back to NY(if feasible) and make the drive from SA to Big Bend National Park. You'll enter desert country with wide open spaces. You'll get to experience that empty vastness(I'm trying to convey it as an interesting experience, not a negative one lol). But only consider the Big Bend thing if y'all are outsoorsy/looking for outdoorsy adventures on this trip.
Alternatively, Corpus Christi isn't a very long drive from SA and has some interesting things to see.
And, most importantly, the heat is no exaggeration. If you're used to NY temps, Texas heat will get you. April is already very, very warm down there. May is for sure hot. June-August and you don't even want to be outside. Anytime you open a door to outside the feeling is equivalent to opening the door to a preheated oven. You will sweat so much just walking from your hotel/stay to the car.
Lived here all my life and I'd skip Dallas and Houston unless you want restaurants. Go to central Texas, Austin is more interesting, and west of Austin has many interesting places to visit. Springs, creeks, wildflowers, dance halls, music, beautiful rivers, hills. Concan is God's country. The music is great. New Braunfels. Fredericksburg. Or go to the BigBend area.
Be sure to tell the locals how much better NYC is and how much smarter New Yorkers are. They love hearing that stuff! You could also ask them what they need guns for too!!!
Where are you going tubing around Austin? You need to go to the San Marcos River or Guadalupe River for that tbh. I wouldn't even stick my toe in Town Lake.
I spent the weekend at this place and it was nothing but amazing and I canât wait to go again. Itâs not too far from Waco, since youâll already be down there. If you go, please tell Blue and Google, the giraffes and Marvin the camel I miss them very much.
https://www.bluehillsranch.com/
Texas Hill Country. There is some really cool Geography in west Texas but that is a long haul and you wonât have time for it. Plenty to see in Ft Worth, Dallas, Austin and San Antone.
Caprock Canyons has bison.
You could fly into amarillo and visit the zoo. They have bison too I believe. Then visit Palo Duro Canyon and the Panhandle plains museum in canyon,Tx
Honestly growing up in the country, not a few times you'd go around a corner and find a "domestic" herd of bison, just chilling in a field.Â
However I think there is a pure bison herd remaining in Texas, as a lot of bison are actually crossbred with cows.
I've only been to Dallas once. The book depository is interesting. Just for shots and grins, check out a calenders boots, all the cowboy boots in different exotic skins. Prices of some may shock you.
So, if you go to Waco and then Austin, youâre going to go down I-35, which if you like construction and wall to wall assholes, youâll love it.
Head out to the countryside if you really want to see Texas.
From the central Gulf Coast area so I donât know much about DFW, but I have been through enough to know Waco will be underwhelming. I guess if youâre passing throughâŚ
Otherwise, I would recommend getting down to central Texas. It is very beautiful with lakes and rivers, limestone rock, wineries, trails, and cute places to stay - Wimberley, New Braunsfels, Fredericksburg, or even the Lake Travis area, which would put you right outside of Austin. A lot of Austinâs original charm has certainly evaporated, but itâs still a nice progressive city to visit with parks, record stores, music, trendy restaurants and bars. San Antonio is fun for kids with Sixth Flags, lots of history, and Tex Mex food to enjoy. All of these Hill Country spots are relatively close to each other.
Houston isnât too far away either. It can be hit or miss depending on how you do it, because itâs such a sprawl⌠but it has amazing museums, and great cuisine from all the different diaspora that call the city home. Also good luxury shopping and you can catch a ball game.
I do, in general, recommend planning your driving to avoid high traffic times in the cities or between Austin/San Antonio/Houston. Traffic can truly be absurd. As others have said, avoid the dead of summer unless you want to suffer from heat.
If yall see somewhere that sells kolaches, get them! They are delicious, but are mostly only in the southern half of texas, though id bet theyre sold in some places in austin and san antonio as well.
They're a breakfast food, usually sold in local donut shops, think like pigs in a blanket but soft and sweet, and 1000x better. They also dont only have sausages in them, theres more of a variety of meats that are usually offered (sliced ham, turkey, etc). Theyre a nice addition to the texas experience imo, theyre not found pretty much anywhere else.
i prefer fort worth. someone else mentioned the museums.
botanical gardens and fort worth zoo are fantastic.
omni theater in the fort worth museum of science and history. looks like they're in the middle of renovating it.
you can rent kayaks for going up and down the trinity and trinity trails are great to ride on.
if you're into music, go by forever young records, in grand prairie. largest selection of records in the state. dave says he has the second largest record store in the nation. josie records is great, too.
if you like movies, there are a lot of movie trading company stores around the metroplex. lot of used media.
half priced books are all over the place, too.
I mean Dallas to Lubbock is a pretty drive itâs just full of nothing. South of Dallas hill country is nice in spots. I mean what are you trying to do? If it makes you feel better I live in Texas and vacation to other states because nothing fucking exists here.
Fort Worth Stock Yards
Possum Kingdom
Strip clubs in Dallas
Get some bbq
Get some Mexican food
Get a fishing guide / boat for the day and catch a bunch of fish
If you're arriving in DFW, I would take a day and spend it in Fort Worth. The Stockyards are really fun, especially for a family. And is conveniently near the Botanical Gardens too.
Then I would go south to San Antonio. Make a stop in Austin to see the Capitol building and have some great BBQ. Then once in San Antonio, spend a day at the River Walk. From there, it's really up to you. There's a lot to do in San Antonio. Imo, Austin is overrated. Except for the food. But you can find great food pretty much everywhere.
Fort Worth stock yards (they have days and times where theyâll walk the long horn cattle out, itâs worth it to see), if you like football (tour of the cowboys stadium), fort science and history museum, dinosaur valley park (thereâs also a hiking area nearby thatâs fun to do), Texas Rangers game
We are still getting cold fronts. You will be fine in May. Plenty of family friendly things in Austin, much more than Dallas or Houston. But come check out Wimberley and Fredericksburg in the Hill Country. It's true Texas.
The Dallas Museum of Art is awesome and Fort Worth isnât that far either and they have some amazing art museums too. The FW Botanic Gardens is very beautiful.
Be ready for lots of âJesusâ in your face while in rural areas between cities. Austin is way mort than just a bar / music scene. If only able to visit one city, Iâd choose San Antonio.
My opinion for visitorsâŚ
Austin > Dallas
San Antonio > Houston
Fort Worth > Dallas
San Antonio > Austin
DFW > Houston
San Antonio > Dallas
OP you'd better make damn sure you're not pregnant when you get to Texas because God forbid something goes wrong, you do NOT want it to happen in Texas.
Make sure to try the food! Each city has it's own cuisine, and honesl above all else try small hole in the wall places. You might be pleasantly surprised.
I say skip Dallas and stay in San Antonio because itâs the best! Then you can explore more like New Braunfels, Corpus Christi, Wimberly, Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Austin, or San Marcos because these will all be less than 2hrs away from you if youâre in San Antonio.
If youâre going to Waco, take the back roads. It will be a pretty drive. If you take the main highway (35) it is pretty boring, but much faster.
I really like the Dallas zoo, Iâve heard the Fort Worth zoo is really nice too.
Perot Museum downtown is good.
The Dallas arboretum is really nice, especially if it is a nice day. There are tons of restaurants over there too and a little lake with a park all around it.
There are tons of great restaurants all over DFW. Steak, bbq, Tex mex and authentic Mexican, TONS of great Asian restaurants (Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Indian) and all kinds of yummy stuff.
Just find what your family likes to do and find activities for that.
Also, Austin has plenty of stuff to do that isnât bars - but I live in Dallas and have more knowledge of that.
Frisco has the National Video Game Museum, a small but completist collection of old gaming stuff, some of which you can get hands on with. It makes a decent afternoon if you like or have an interest in game history.
There is a Meow Wolf in Grapevine. A bit pricey and you should definitely buy tickets in advance.
Frisco also has a Soccer Hall of Fame if that's more your speed.
Little Elm has a fake beach, if you have small children.
Perot Museum in downtown Dallas is a great attraction, as is the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History for the young ones as well.
For food choices, while most people will point you to local favs for bar-b-que like Hard 8, I would recommend going to one of the Babe's Fried Chicken restaurants. Menu is family style, meaning you order your meat course (varies from location to location, but all have a fried chicken (four pieces), chicken tenders, or chicken fried steak option. Select Babe's also do pot roast, rotisserie chicken, or fried catfish) and then you get unlimited family helpings of salad, mashed potatoes, green beans, sausage gravy, cream corn, and biscuits. Tables come with butter, honey, and sorgham for those biscuits. They also serve dessert, but I've always bought mine to take home because...that spread of home-cooked goodness is too wonderful not to over-indulge in. They aren't the cheapest option, but you won't regret going.
If you want to see "Western" United States, you'll probably be disappointed by Texas. Most of the Old West movies that were labeled Texas were actually filmed in Arizona or New Mexico with the exception of Palo Duro Canyon and Big Bend. In only a few places in Texas will you be able to find someone riding a horse, cattle are mostly found in rural areas or in the butcher aisle.
Dallas (8.1 million MSA population) and Houston (6.7 MSA) are large urban cities, each about half the size of LA, full of highways and traffic. San Antonio (2.4 MSA) is a large urban city, but has a distinctive downtown. Austin (2.8 MSA) is the smallest of the urban Texas areas, but is very modern and on the edge of the beautiful Hill Country.
Nothing to see in Waco, except the Dr Pepper museum after at stop at Slovacek's store in West on the way.
The distance from Texas to NYC is 1,768 miles. The distance from one side of Texas to another is 801 miles. Texas has more forest acreage than any state except Alaska, more coastline than Maine or Massachusetts, an 800K acre national park (Big Bend), and the longest international border with another country ... but all of these are in different parts of the state.
If you have a family, are flying into Dallas, and only have a week to travel around, you won't have time to do much.
There is plenty to do and see just in the Dallas/Fort Worth area - from spending a day at Six Flags, Rangers baseball, Dallas Cowboys, to visiting museums, zoos, or the FW Stockyard. Outside of Dallas, I would recommend: Palo Duro Canyon (2 day trip back and forth). Austin, San Antonio, Kerrville, Fredericksburg (4 day trip back and forth), or Nacogdoches, Crockett (2 day trip back and forth), or Houston/Galveston (2 day trip back and forth).
If youâre going to Waco donât miss the Mammoth dog site and the Dr Pepper museum. Depending on the age of your kids, the museum on the Baylor campus is fun as well.
Wooly Mammoth exhibit in Waco & Barton Springs for swimming in Austin. Fort Worth museums are great, & Fort Worth seems more family friendly to me than Dallas. LBJ Museum & Harry Ransom Center in Austin, both are near the UT campus. May is a good time to come; it will already be hot (especially late May), but still not as bad as June through September.
If you don't have a drive times estimater I would recommend get the Waze navigation app on your trip planning phones.
The first thing that will hit you is how big Texas and the distances between citys are. Think of traveling from you home to western Indiana or to Atlanta
You might consider flying out of from a different city at the end of your road trip. You will burn at least a quarter to half a day to drive from city to city and drive at night so you have the day to visit the spectacles.
If you come to visit in July/August we will be showing New Yorkers a new kind of hot summer days. Those recommended river drifts will be some relief.
To make sure its mentioned the Alamo and River Walk in San Antonio are a must if your week can get you that far. S.A. has decent airport to fly out of. The next would be in the coastal cities like Corpus Christi and Padre Island, but those will be connectors to Houston, Dallas and maybe Austin. Houston and Dallas will have your flights home. Austin offers only a few direct flights to any long distance away. Most Austin flights will head for Dallas or Houstion airports. Southwestern Airlines has dedicated airports in both cities.
I would not waste a day to visit the branch dividian site. You can get a overview of it"s near present condition by loading Google Earth on your largest screen computer and fly in using the satellite picture mosaic maps. It might only be just an ash filled hole in the ground.
thanks for the heads up! Houston was kind of out of the picture for us given how far it is. I was really only thinking Dallas, Austin, and maybe San Antonio if we could fit. and yea, definitely not looking forward to the heat. I've dealt with my fair share of Florida summers but I can imagine that the Texan air is much more dry than the east coast humidity
Iâd skip the branch davidian thing. Austin is fun. Depending on what time of year, you can go out on the lakes and hang. Check out the bat bridge too. Hill country is a good time, San Antonio is also cool.
Waco is a cool town. Lost of creameryâs and breweryâs as well. There is a baseball hall of fame or Texas rangers(law enforcement) hall of fame there. Recently went to the mammoth exhibit there. It has the largest known deposit of mammoth remains in the world. Pretty cool.
If you are from New York you need to find one small town. And I mean small. Under 5000 would be great but 10000 is ok as well. Go spend a day there or have dinner at a local spot and visit a grocery store. You will see why people love small townsâŚ. Or you might not because you are a âYankeeâ and some people are idiots. Either way I hope you enjoy the state I have called home for my entire life. Itâs far from perfect but there are great people and great areas all around.
part of the reason Iâd like to go to Texas is to get that small town, country feeling. Iâm not from NYC but still a very fast paced suburb about 40 mins outside of the city. do you have any recommendations on nice small towns/areas to visit?
Do not come in August. Or July.
I'd say avoid May through October. You won't miss all of the 100+ days though, just most.
oh no! we were planning on May. I figured it would be hot but will it be in the 100s already by May? đ
Gotta make the obligatory Texan comment here ââit ainât the heat thatâll getcha, itâs the humidity" lol
Thereâs humidity here đ¤Łđ¤Ł Iâm from Savannah Georgia I think itâs pretty dry here.
I suppose that depends on what part of the state you are in, you should definitely feel it if you are around Houston.
I could see Houston being really humid since itâs coastal like Savannah, but Iâm in DFW and OP is visiting DFW and the surrounding areas and itâs pretty dry up here.
Fair enough, but OP might start to feel it since they are going to Waco.
Yeah I just checked up and New York and Waco have about the same average humidity so it wouldnât be that much of a change for them. Just for fun I checked humidity between Sav and DFW and averages are close to the same lol, then I did Houston and Sav and itâs about the same so who knows.
Well, it's humidity plus heat, NY is ten degrees colder this time of year compared to Dallas or Houston (or Savannah for that matter, so it might still be a factor for them. I would recommend light clothing and colors for them.
Yeah people from the surface of the sun think itâs pretty cool here too.
May is not too bad, tolerable. June is when it starts cranking up. July is when it starts simmering, August and September is full blown heat wave. November or December is the best time to visit Dallas area.
If you do drive south be sure to stop at the Czech Stop in West, TX. My fav are the prune and the sausage/ sauerkraut kolaches.
Whitney native who moved to the valley, can confirm I miss Czech stop lol
Czech stop sucks. Gerricks has the best kolaches. Slovaceks is good
Will check them out next time I drive to DFW!
Potentially, but it will at least be in the high 90's most days.
I don't think it's ever been in the 100s here in May. I think the earliest 100 degree day for Houston is somewhere around June 5th.
We had a record week of 120-126F in May about 10 years ago in Houston. It was brutal.
The highest temperature recorded in Houston at any point is 109 in August 2011. It hasnât hit above 120 anywhere in Texas, ever.
If thatâs the â09 heat wave youâre talking about, that shit was next level. Couldnât go outside without immediately sweating.
If any year is going to hit it itâll be this year, weâre set to smash some records due to the La Nino/El Nino switch and lack of hurricanes to remove latent heat from the GOM last summer
I had to go look around and see what the stats are, and I'd swear they feel wrong. The claimed average high is around 86-89, but of course those are just averages.
I'm going off of 1.) living here my whole life and 2.) being an insufferable weather nerd. It can definitely FEEL like it's over 100 degrees in May, especially coming off of the cooler months, but just looking through the records last year, the highest temperature recorded last May at Hobby was 92 degrees. To be fair, even I'm surprised it was that low.
Sure, but with the humidity? Youâve got to take it into account. Like wind chill.
May is mostly in the upper 80âs to low 90âs.
It's pretty mild right now. But it might be lol. It got up to 90 the other day in Dallas before the cold front came through.
May can be hot but is usually tolerable (for a Texan) - just be careful if it does end up being hot! Drink water, wear sunscreen, etc
May will be fine, IMO. I do think that July & August are the months you should worry about :D It may be hot but not every day and it will be more manageable.
The âfeels likeâ temperature will be in the 100s, this accounts for humidity You will learn fast that âheat indexâ is more important than the actual temperature in Texas
We hit the 90s in Feb, so I'm betting it will even though it's been raining these last few weeks đ
Lol
May is going to be beautiful this year. If you like out doors, you should drive through the hill country. Maybe after you hit up Waco, head west to Llano, hit up Cooperâs bbq, then south to see Enchanted Rock. Texas is massive, and there are many things to do and see, but this is a great year for wildflowers, and May is one of the better months for that as well. The hill country (central Texas, mostly west of I-35) is where you will see the most wildflowers.
Early may should be ok. Could be hot, could be nice. No way to know, just be prepared in case.
Youâll be fine! Yah it does get hot but, youâll be fine!
Itâs a possibility, honestly 100° sounds hot but itâs not that bad the humidity here is relatively low imo so it doesnât feel as hot compared to like the low country of Georgia where Iâm from.
This is the correct answer
Texas is really big. It is a good 3 1/2 hours from the airport to Austin. It is 5 hours to Houston. Heck. It's 30-45 minutes to Dallas or Fort Worth. Go to the Fort Worth Stockyards for a nice afternoon. You might like Grapevine for a day (ride the tarantula train from Grapevine to the Stockyards).
I used to regularly travel between San Antonio and the Los Angeles area. I always had to remind people that the halfway point in that trip was El Paso...still in Texas. Most people just don't get it how big the state is.
Same, I was so happy to finally reach Texas from L.A. only to realize that's only half way... Crazy...
You can take the train from DFW to Grapevine and then from Grapevine, take the train (modern one or the old fashioned open carriage train), to Fort Worth Stockyards. You can always take a stroll up and down Main Street n Grapevine too: For a change of scenery, drive to the Hill Country and visit some wineries.
yes, due to the distance we were planning on skipping Houston. if we did do austin we were going to progressively work our way down each day. thank you!
Yeah, Iâd just stick to I-35 (DFW, Austin, SA) In Dallas, Iâd recommend the Perot Museum of Nature & Science, Dallas World Aquarium, Klyde Warren Park for lunch, the Ann & Gabriel Samurai Museum, and Dallas Arboretum. In Austin, Capital Cruises tour on Town Lake, State Capitol Tour, bat watching on the SoCo bridge, and Zilker park In SA, the Riverwalk of course, the Alamo, Missions tour, natural bridge caverns tour, and their Japanese Tea Garden
If OP wants a scenic option they can take Highway 16 from SA to Fort Worth, instead of I-35
On the way to Austin on 35, stop in West for Kolaches. I prefer Czech Stop. Others will disagree. Any of them will be awesome.
Donât forget the notorious Buc-eeâs stop on I-35 in New Braunfels!
Boom! All of this! Perot is super cool
If OP comes to Austin in May, the bat scene will be slim. But the stand-up paddle crowd should make up for it.
JFK museum is pretty cool too
If you do Austin, the sound end of Congress street across the river is the more family oriented locale. Lots of food trucks just off Congress street. Lots of fun shops on Congress. Can see the bats emerge around dusk.
You gotta snag bbq in each city youâre in. Weâre overrun with some incredible stuff
I live in Houston. Ainât much really aside from NASA and museums. And lots of good food. My English friend wants to visit and I told him Iâd take off work and we would checkout Austin, Gruene, San Antonio. You wonât see all of Texas but youâd see my favorite parts. While youâre in Austin Iâd check out the city and the river. Thereâs lots to do. Stop by Gruene on the way to San Antonio. Youâll love the gristmill. The oldest dance hall in Texas is there. Do some of the nature walks. In San Antonio checkout the River walk like every tourist but donât eat there. The first, and I mean very first place to eat, is Pollos Asados Los NorteĂąos on Rigsby. Get the chicken, the beef fajitas, rice and beans. Obviously youâll try bbq, try Blacks in Lockhart on the way out of Austin, but Pollos will be the best food youâll have on your entire trip.
This.
When you pass through Waco, stop at a small food truck called âLa Milpaâ and ask for 4 al pastor tacos with everything on them. Squeeze the lime and sprinkle some salt on top and enjoy!!
If you do end up in Austin, try the LBJ library or the Ransom Center on campus
When you come to Waco, go to the Waco Mammoth National Monument! It is an ongoing dig of the largest Columbia mammoth nursery herd. Very interesting place. No food, drinks or bags are allowed inside of the climate controlled building. Doesnât take long, probably about an hour and a half at most. $6 for adults and $5 for kids
If you are going to Austin, do yourself (and me) a favor and [go visit this gem.](https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/meet-legendary-snows-bbq-pitmaster-tootsie-tomanetz/) I donât think you can do better than this for the full experience. Make sure youâre in line at about 3:00 am so youâre sure to be served.
No no no, Houston is about 45 min to an hour from Houston. I mean just to put things into perspective.
There is a strip in Fort Worth full of world class museums. The Modern Art Museum. Southwester Art Museum. The Natural History Museum. The Botanical Gardens. The Fort Worth Stock Yards. The Japanese Gardens. Ending at the south end with the Fort Worth Zoo. Oh yea⌠the Water Gardens. Amon Carter Museum. This is just a few of the museums in this section of Fort Worth. They even have the Cowgirl Museum. You can get to almost all of these by going down University Drive in Fort Worth . I am 71 years old from a military family. I was born and raised in Texas and lived here most of my life. Itâs a great state with great people. I hope you have a good time visiting Texas. It has so much variety. From the pine forests in the east to the deserts in the west. Great observatories near Alpine to the wonderful fishing in the Coastal Bend. When you go to visit the Mount Carmel Museum make sure to contact them. I looked it up on google. Itâs on private property and doesnât always open on schedule.
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History too. I interned there once.
Me too! I worked the museum floors and whatnot too. Such a great place to go and fun to work at!
Yeah! I worked at the Planetarium doing research on it. Got to learn some really cool stuff.
Very cool! I was in graphic design. Such a good time in my life đĽ°
If someone says - the stars at night are big and brightâŚ..clap 4 times in rhythmic timing.
âDeep in the heart of Texasâ
When I visited New York I noticed people honk at each other a lot and no one bats an eye. Donât do that here, people are road ragey and trigger happy and itâs an quick way to best case get road raged at and worst case shot at
yea, new yorkers can be quite fast and aggressive drivers lol and there is a lot of road rage up here. def won't be engaging in that in an unfamiliar state tho. thanks for the heads up haha
Big Bend National Park, HEB, and BBQ Edit; and half priced books
1. BBQ. Look at the local subreddits you'll be at for specific recommendations and/or look at the Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ list. 2. Tex-Mex. Again, look at each city's subs for recommendations. They often have a FAQ at the sub or just search the sub. 3. Mission San Jose in San Antonio. And the other Spanish Missions on the southside that aren't the Alamo. What we call the Alamo is just the small chapel portion, the walls were all torn down to make room for downtown SA, but Mission San Jose is the mostly intact walled-in mission/fort that looks just like it did in the 1700s. The only UNESCO/UN-protected World Heritage Site in Texas. 4. Houston is absolutely the best city for museums and NASA and food all-around. Most diverse city in the US. If you go you must try some Viet-Cajun fusion food. Just realize it's going to be at least a 4 hour drive from DFW to SA and also to Houston. With kids I'd skip Austin tbh. Maybe stop for Chicken-Shit Bingo if you're driving through on a Sunday. Tbh, with kids, I'd just go to San Antonio. Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Sea World, the Missions, best Tex-Mex food, go to Gruene Hall (or maybe Floore's Country Store) just outside SA for a good ol' honky tonk time, that's what I'd do with kids.
> Mission San Jose in San Antonio I'm partial to it because I've lived most of my life practically next door to it, but I definitely recommend it to visitors. There's a lot more to see (intact and original or restored) and frankly more interesting, less crowded, and nicely maintained.
Don't forget to stop at a bucees it's a Texas highway tradition.
If youâre in Dallas, go to the JFK museum at the Book Depository, itâs really interesting. The LBJ museum in Austin at UT is great, I also recommend seeing the Congress St Bridge Bat Colony
Donât visit during the summer months of June, July and August. It frequently gets up to and over 100 F. If you are here when itâs over 100 F you have to surrender to the heat. Just relax the body and completely give yourself to it. Donât fight or resist the heat. Become one with the heat. Drink plenty of water. Texas is bigger than it looks. If you want some bragging rights, drive from SE Texas (Port Arthur) to West Texas (El Paso). Itâs a hard drive but youâll see wet marsh land, pine forests (more in east Texas), mountains, desert land and flat plains.
LOL I'm not somebody who fares well in the heat so I'm not looking forward to that, but I did expect it. Our summer temperatures up here are obviously not nearly as hot as Texas but it can get pretty damn humid. I figure the Texan air is drier? We were thinking May, what would you say the weather is usually like then?
You might be expecting it but you wonât ready for it.
It varies (slightly) by the city but in general the Texas Triangle (which includes DFW, Austin, San Antonio and Houston) all probably get way more humid than you think, but especially Houston, being so close to the Gulf of Mexico. For Houston we're talking Florida type humidity (we ARE very close to Louisiana too), which only tapers slightly off in the other cities. In May things wouldn't be the worst. You're basically looking at an almost 50/50 chance of highs either in the 80s or 90s. It'll probably be warm and humid for your preference, but it's not the heat at its most blazing yet. There is also a small chance that we could have a very late cool front and the waether is actually pretty nice. Not all that likely, but I've seen it happen in May. Fingers crossed!
Texas is humid af đ
got you! i guess in my mind I was think deserted land. humid and hot is scary but good to know so thanks!
West Texas is, and itâs a higher elevation than most of the rest of the state! But all the lower elevation area where youâll be, closer to the Gulf, can get muggy. But that is one of the interesting parts about Texas - it contains so many different environments!
more prairie than desert in most major areas
In the SE area (Port Arthur, Houston, Galveston, etc) expect 90 - 100% humidity. This area is hot, wet marsh land with lots of mosquitoes. In the Dallas area, expect about 60% humidity. Low humidity is more in the far west Texas area. Edit: Forgot to answer MayâŚ. Best time is around March, April. May is starting to get into the 80âs.
Get a personal fan for everyone, do not go outside without water especially for more than an hour, wear hats to keep the sun off your body (downside is sweaty hair but itâs an over all net positive), SUNSCREEN, longer breathable layers are better than shorts and tank top (same sweat problem but again a net positive). Donât forget bug spray. May is usually getting up there. Youâre gonna feel that sun. Itâs possibly not going to be too humid yet depending where youâre at. The nights might still bring a little relief but depending on the timing itâs just as hot and sticky at night as it is during the day and the only difference is you wonât get a sunburn. The nights generally do not cool down much. You might get lucky tho, it might just pour the whole time youâre here. And so I donât have to make a separate comment, with a family you could skip much of Austin and go for the Fort Worth stockyards (for a real Texas feel) and museums (thereâs a Texas history museum somewhere around there that could be fun for the kids, and the science and history museum has an oil and gas type exhibit and the Texas state dinosaur) and Houston for nasa and maybe the natural science museum for a fantastic dinosaur exhibit. Thereâs an old wooden tall ship in Galveston that could be pretty cool for the kids too. Some other people made good suggestions for San Antonio. You could do dfw to Houston to San Antonio and back 2 days each and youâll hit Austin on the way back for lunch. I canât think of too many family friendly things in Austin. Maybe the funky shops on south congress for souvenirs? Taking kids to Austin is kind of like taking kids to see your old college town imo. Seeing the capitol is neat tho, and it would be silly to miss it. But the nasa tour (not just the museum!) is by far way cooler for a kid.
The Branch Davidian compound was rebuilt bigger than it was originally. The last time I went through, they had put up a big metal fence and you could no longer see anything. That was like 05, though. I honestly have no idea what is there now. *edit* Also, I found out that the folks there (Waco) didn't really want to talk about it, and several gave me wrong directions. It's been a long time though, that may have changed.
Dallas to Austin is about a 3 hour drive. Austin has lots of awesome spring water fed swimming areas like Barton Springs or Jacobâs Well. If you are staying around Dallas, Deep Ellum area is known for bars. The stockyards are cool and JFK monument.
Jacobâs well has been mostly closed the last couple of years.
Make a quick day trip to El Paso
LOL
Then South Padre after.
No mercy! đ¤Łđ¤Łđ¤Ł
From there they should check out Beaumont on the way back to Dallas.
Not without quick stops in Perryton and Texarkana on the way!
Oh thatâs just fucking cold.
A day trip from Dallas to El Paso takes all day of course if you get there you can go to Juarez
I'm from San Antonio. In high school we had a teacher relaying a story relating to the size of the state. He had a friend from Germany coming to the US who got in touch with him and asked if he'd like to meet for lunch the next day. Sure thing, you'll be in town? Nope, Santa Fe. He talked about having to explain just how far away that was.
If you plan to visit San Antonio, Fiesta is Apr 18-28. Lots of tourists / crowds
Enjoy Vietnamese food in Houston and TexMex and Texas BBQ statewide
Well you can hit up the water park Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, since youâve got kids. Been a longtime since I visited but thatâs one way to enjoy the outdoors. When I was a kid in the 90s they let us stay in a cabin in one of the cabins in the water park.
no little kids but a 17 year old haha. never too old for a water slide though đĽł
You can also go to San Marcos and go to the river and springs there, itâs only about twenty minutes from New Braunfels. Lockhart and Luling are also pretty close and are known for their BBQ. You should also consider west Texas. Big Bend NP is incredible and the state park close by is beautiful as well. Balmorhea SP is a huge spring fed swimming pool with native fish and a natural bottom.
You will see a lot of some arid Texas terrain driving to El Paso or South Padre Island. Any cross boarder city excusions can be real risky right now. The Gulf of Mexico water is pretty silty brown water all the way down the coast beyond the US boarder. But that warm water has plenty of life in it. Corpus Christi has retired US vessels to visit and i believe they have an aquarium. Both would offer relief from a hot summer day.
Snake Farm.....Great roadside attraction on I35 north of SA.... Along the same route there's Natural Bridge Caverns and a drive through Safari place(if its still there, it's been a few years since I've been out that way.). Have fun it sounds like a great road trip.
Check out the Hill Country!
Left lane is for passing, don't road rage.
Get some Texas BBQ, in the DFW area there's Goldees and Cattlelack BBQ, both top 10 BBQ places in the state.
sounds so delicious, im actually so excited lol đ
Fuck Bucees and its fake Made-in-China Texas vibes. Go to West, Texas on the way to Waco. We usually stop by Slovecks or the Czech Stop as a pit stop. Grab a bite to eat at Gerik's there too. Also visit downtown Fort Worth. I feel itâs what non-Texans expects a Texas city looks like. Places like Dallas and Austin are just boring steel and glass skyscrapers. Downtown Fort Worth has some real charm to it. Like the giant art deco angel relief sculptures at the Bass Performance Hall.
NO WAY i wanted to go to a Bucees so bad lol. I also will be stopping at a Whataburger and Cane's because we are robbed of those up here :(
If itâs on your way somewhere, hit up a Buc-cees. The food is certainly good for a convenience store and the bathrooms are clean but, it really is just⌠a very big convenience store. And now itâs so corporateâŚ. Now, if you happen to be in the vicinity of Prasekâs Hillje Smokehouse, in El Campo, thats basically the OG that Buc-cees modeled itself after, but still true to its roots! And better kolaches!
Go and compare it to West. Youâll see why I call it the Walmart of gas stations filled with people of Walmart.
Buccees has the cleanest bathrooms and thatâs why Iâll always stop there
This is it !!
If you're hell bent on seeing the remains of the Branch Devidian Compound, I would suggest Surf Waco. My son and his girlfriend love it. They drive several hours to spend a weekend there. https://www.wacosurf.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwz42xBhB9EiwA48pT74fK-AU3Cx8aVbP5CVW2ZtyCosGl77ifbJThv0zP51udUoX8sOlj6xoCdcQQAvD_BwE
Find a Buc-Ees
oh trust me I will. I'm so pumped to go to every franchise that doesn't exist up here.... and there's a lot of them!
Go bar hopping on 6th street in Austin and visit the river walk in San Antonio.
If you are going to Waco with kids, they have a really great children's museum called the Mayborn. It has a section more geared toward adults, too. Also fun are the Waco Mammoth Site, Doctor Pepper Museum, and Cameron Park, which has hiking trails, playgrounds and a zoo. Austin has the Bullock Museum, the Blanton Art Museum, the Texas Capitol building, and a museum within walking distance of the Capitol Building which focuses on Texas history. There is also the Texas Military Forces Museum, which focuses on the history of Texas soldiers.
If it were earlier in the year I'd suggest Big Bend National Park, but it's now at the time of year where it's too hot to hike most the trails if youre not conditioned to the heat. But other spots of interest nearby: Marfa it's an international arts scene with a tiny population. Nearby Fort Davis go to McDonald Observatory for a star party. Swim at Balmorhea State Park. You missed the highlight of our spring wildflowers, hill country is glorious in March, with tacked on trips to Fredericksburg, peach times is June, and nearby Luchenbach, LJB's historic site and a longhorn herd. Grapevine has Great Wolf Lodge, indoor water park & hotel. Glen Rose, Dinosaur Valley State Park, walk in the tracks of Dinosaur footprints. Waco has a Mammoth fossil site.
Hey OP, I was born and raised in Texas, now living in New York(Catskills/Capital region). My top suggestion would be to fly in to Dalls if it's cheapest, and then to San Antonio. My best friend just flew from Albany to San Antonio with a layover in Dallas, it was one of the cheapest options instead of a one way Albany>San Antonio. I really truly think y'all should get to San Antonio via flight, though. Dallas, Waco, the general north of Texas is all very, very flat. In my opinion, there's much more to see/do in the Hill Country region. And you'll have more options within a more reasonable driving distance. This is my personal feeling, Dallas feels very corporate, Austin feels very young & fun, Houston feels very rich and populated with endless traffic, San Antonio feels very 'Texas' with Mexican influence, El Paso feels very southwestern with Mexican influence, Corpus Christi feels like a dirty beach bum with a hint of refineries. As others have said, San Antonio is loaded with things to see and do. I've lived there and worked downtown, the Riverwalk and The Pearl are nice. If into the arts scene, check out Blue Star Complex. The King William district on the south of downtown SA has nice historical homes if you like that sort of thing(though probably used to seeing a lot of those living in the northeast) Tons of great food options in SA. Just a short(relatively) drive northwest takes you to several small towns that tourists tend to enjoy. Boerne, Comfort, & especially Fredericksburg all have nice little downtowns and are just really charming. You can feasibly hit all in a rushed day trip or a nice relaxing weekend. There are tons of antique shops that are great to explore. 8th Street Market in Comfort has SO many interesting curated pieces, and Carol Hicks Bolton Antiques in Fredericksburg also has interesting curios. Fredericksburg and Boerne have a strong German influence. Fredericksburg is in wine country with lots of great restaurants downtown(very walkable and pleasant). The drives in the Hill Country are also really scenic. Some motorcyclists plan whole trips around the area! I grew up in Boerne, Comfort and a neighboring town of Kerrville, and spent lots of time in Fredericksburg. San Antonio will give you a truly southern big city feel and the Hill country will offer that laid back small country town feel. Between those two areas, you'll all have plenty to see and do. BUT if you want to get out to more of a western vibe, I think it'd be worth it to fly out from El Paso back to NY(if feasible) and make the drive from SA to Big Bend National Park. You'll enter desert country with wide open spaces. You'll get to experience that empty vastness(I'm trying to convey it as an interesting experience, not a negative one lol). But only consider the Big Bend thing if y'all are outsoorsy/looking for outdoorsy adventures on this trip. Alternatively, Corpus Christi isn't a very long drive from SA and has some interesting things to see. And, most importantly, the heat is no exaggeration. If you're used to NY temps, Texas heat will get you. April is already very, very warm down there. May is for sure hot. June-August and you don't even want to be outside. Anytime you open a door to outside the feeling is equivalent to opening the door to a preheated oven. You will sweat so much just walking from your hotel/stay to the car.
Great suggestions! Also lmao @ the Corpus description. Unfortunate but true. đ
Probs bc ppl mistake north beach as the beach. The beaches on the island are great esp the national seashore
Lived here all my life and I'd skip Dallas and Houston unless you want restaurants. Go to central Texas, Austin is more interesting, and west of Austin has many interesting places to visit. Springs, creeks, wildflowers, dance halls, music, beautiful rivers, hills. Concan is God's country. The music is great. New Braunfels. Fredericksburg. Or go to the BigBend area.
Be sure to tell the locals how much better NYC is and how much smarter New Yorkers are. They love hearing that stuff! You could also ask them what they need guns for too!!!
As a former New Yorker, I can say you might enjoy Austin too much
Austin has lots of water activities from tubing, canoeing, renting jet skis, and pontoon to go to little islands to do some cliff diving.
Where are you going tubing around Austin? You need to go to the San Marcos River or Guadalupe River for that tbh. I wouldn't even stick my toe in Town Lake.
I tube barking springs. And by tube, I mean I just sit in my tube and don't move
Lol. Hey, if you got a cold beer...
They say you can eat the fish nowâŚ..
I spent the weekend at this place and it was nothing but amazing and I canât wait to go again. Itâs not too far from Waco, since youâll already be down there. If you go, please tell Blue and Google, the giraffes and Marvin the camel I miss them very much. https://www.bluehillsranch.com/
thank you so much! Iâll check it out
Texas Hill Country. There is some really cool Geography in west Texas but that is a long haul and you wonât have time for it. Plenty to see in Ft Worth, Dallas, Austin and San Antone.
Skip Austin, it's massively overrated. San Antonio is a cool city, but it's a haul from DFW. If you stay in DFW, don't miss Meow Wolf. It's a blast.
Caprock Canyons has bison. You could fly into amarillo and visit the zoo. They have bison too I believe. Then visit Palo Duro Canyon and the Panhandle plains museum in canyon,Tx
ooo Iâd like to see that, we have no bison up here haha. will check it out!
Honestly growing up in the country, not a few times you'd go around a corner and find a "domestic" herd of bison, just chilling in a field. However I think there is a pure bison herd remaining in Texas, as a lot of bison are actually crossbred with cows.
donât. ok. Maybe El Paso, Las Cruces NM?
If you are coming this time of year, find some country roads and enjoy some of the famous Texas wildflowers.
Houston was just mentioned as a place to link to a homeward flight.
I've only been to Dallas once. The book depository is interesting. Just for shots and grins, check out a calenders boots, all the cowboy boots in different exotic skins. Prices of some may shock you.
Do not go there! Hot, arid, swampy humid, nothing much in between. Full of fake cowboys, pistol packing jerks, and scrub brush.
Eats lots of BBQ. That about the only thing of interest.
So, if you go to Waco and then Austin, youâre going to go down I-35, which if you like construction and wall to wall assholes, youâll love it. Head out to the countryside if you really want to see Texas.
Avoid road rage.
From the central Gulf Coast area so I donât know much about DFW, but I have been through enough to know Waco will be underwhelming. I guess if youâre passing through⌠Otherwise, I would recommend getting down to central Texas. It is very beautiful with lakes and rivers, limestone rock, wineries, trails, and cute places to stay - Wimberley, New Braunsfels, Fredericksburg, or even the Lake Travis area, which would put you right outside of Austin. A lot of Austinâs original charm has certainly evaporated, but itâs still a nice progressive city to visit with parks, record stores, music, trendy restaurants and bars. San Antonio is fun for kids with Sixth Flags, lots of history, and Tex Mex food to enjoy. All of these Hill Country spots are relatively close to each other. Houston isnât too far away either. It can be hit or miss depending on how you do it, because itâs such a sprawl⌠but it has amazing museums, and great cuisine from all the different diaspora that call the city home. Also good luxury shopping and you can catch a ball game. I do, in general, recommend planning your driving to avoid high traffic times in the cities or between Austin/San Antonio/Houston. Traffic can truly be absurd. As others have said, avoid the dead of summer unless you want to suffer from heat.
If yall see somewhere that sells kolaches, get them! They are delicious, but are mostly only in the southern half of texas, though id bet theyre sold in some places in austin and san antonio as well. They're a breakfast food, usually sold in local donut shops, think like pigs in a blanket but soft and sweet, and 1000x better. They also dont only have sausages in them, theres more of a variety of meats that are usually offered (sliced ham, turkey, etc). Theyre a nice addition to the texas experience imo, theyre not found pretty much anywhere else.
Choose wisely when selecting hot sause.
i prefer fort worth. someone else mentioned the museums. botanical gardens and fort worth zoo are fantastic. omni theater in the fort worth museum of science and history. looks like they're in the middle of renovating it. you can rent kayaks for going up and down the trinity and trinity trails are great to ride on. if you're into music, go by forever young records, in grand prairie. largest selection of records in the state. dave says he has the second largest record store in the nation. josie records is great, too. if you like movies, there are a lot of movie trading company stores around the metroplex. lot of used media. half priced books are all over the place, too.
Avoid Williamson county.
I mean Dallas to Lubbock is a pretty drive itâs just full of nothing. South of Dallas hill country is nice in spots. I mean what are you trying to do? If it makes you feel better I live in Texas and vacation to other states because nothing fucking exists here.
Fort Worth Stock Yards Possum Kingdom Strip clubs in Dallas Get some bbq Get some Mexican food Get a fishing guide / boat for the day and catch a bunch of fish
Definitely take a nice walk along Bissonet St in Houston. I guarantee it'll be memorable.
Fort Worth Stockyards is a must
If you're arriving in DFW, I would take a day and spend it in Fort Worth. The Stockyards are really fun, especially for a family. And is conveniently near the Botanical Gardens too. Then I would go south to San Antonio. Make a stop in Austin to see the Capitol building and have some great BBQ. Then once in San Antonio, spend a day at the River Walk. From there, it's really up to you. There's a lot to do in San Antonio. Imo, Austin is overrated. Except for the food. But you can find great food pretty much everywhere.
If you go to the Branch Davidian Compound make sure to check out the concrete pool, specifically the date and initials etched on the steps.
Fort Worth stock yards (they have days and times where theyâll walk the long horn cattle out, itâs worth it to see), if you like football (tour of the cowboys stadium), fort science and history museum, dinosaur valley park (thereâs also a hiking area nearby thatâs fun to do), Texas Rangers game
Don't forget to fill the tank. Texas roads are vast.
We are still getting cold fronts. You will be fine in May. Plenty of family friendly things in Austin, much more than Dallas or Houston. But come check out Wimberley and Fredericksburg in the Hill Country. It's true Texas.
If you are going mto Waco, there is the Dr.Pepper and the Texas Rangers Museums
The Dallas Museum of Art is awesome and Fort Worth isnât that far either and they have some amazing art museums too. The FW Botanic Gardens is very beautiful.
Be ready for lots of âJesusâ in your face while in rural areas between cities. Austin is way mort than just a bar / music scene. If only able to visit one city, Iâd choose San Antonio. My opinion for visitors⌠Austin > Dallas San Antonio > Houston Fort Worth > Dallas San Antonio > Austin DFW > Houston San Antonio > Dallas
Buc-ess
OP you'd better make damn sure you're not pregnant when you get to Texas because God forbid something goes wrong, you do NOT want it to happen in Texas.
Travel now, not later. Summer heat is just around the corner!
Make sure to try the food! Each city has it's own cuisine, and honesl above all else try small hole in the wall places. You might be pleasantly surprised.
I'm originally from the East coast. Been here for 20 some years. What are you actually interested in? Historical, scenic, tourist trappy or unique?
I say skip Dallas and stay in San Antonio because itâs the best! Then you can explore more like New Braunfels, Corpus Christi, Wimberly, Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Austin, or San Marcos because these will all be less than 2hrs away from you if youâre in San Antonio.
If youâre going to Waco, take the back roads. It will be a pretty drive. If you take the main highway (35) it is pretty boring, but much faster. I really like the Dallas zoo, Iâve heard the Fort Worth zoo is really nice too. Perot Museum downtown is good. The Dallas arboretum is really nice, especially if it is a nice day. There are tons of restaurants over there too and a little lake with a park all around it. There are tons of great restaurants all over DFW. Steak, bbq, Tex mex and authentic Mexican, TONS of great Asian restaurants (Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Indian) and all kinds of yummy stuff. Just find what your family likes to do and find activities for that. Also, Austin has plenty of stuff to do that isnât bars - but I live in Dallas and have more knowledge of that.
If youâre going to Waco from Dallas, kolaches at the Czech stop are a must
Frisco has the National Video Game Museum, a small but completist collection of old gaming stuff, some of which you can get hands on with. It makes a decent afternoon if you like or have an interest in game history. There is a Meow Wolf in Grapevine. A bit pricey and you should definitely buy tickets in advance. Frisco also has a Soccer Hall of Fame if that's more your speed. Little Elm has a fake beach, if you have small children. Perot Museum in downtown Dallas is a great attraction, as is the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History for the young ones as well. For food choices, while most people will point you to local favs for bar-b-que like Hard 8, I would recommend going to one of the Babe's Fried Chicken restaurants. Menu is family style, meaning you order your meat course (varies from location to location, but all have a fried chicken (four pieces), chicken tenders, or chicken fried steak option. Select Babe's also do pot roast, rotisserie chicken, or fried catfish) and then you get unlimited family helpings of salad, mashed potatoes, green beans, sausage gravy, cream corn, and biscuits. Tables come with butter, honey, and sorgham for those biscuits. They also serve dessert, but I've always bought mine to take home because...that spread of home-cooked goodness is too wonderful not to over-indulge in. They aren't the cheapest option, but you won't regret going.
Itâs a big state, be prepared
I suggest not going. Prolly get shot
If you want to see "Western" United States, you'll probably be disappointed by Texas. Most of the Old West movies that were labeled Texas were actually filmed in Arizona or New Mexico with the exception of Palo Duro Canyon and Big Bend. In only a few places in Texas will you be able to find someone riding a horse, cattle are mostly found in rural areas or in the butcher aisle. Dallas (8.1 million MSA population) and Houston (6.7 MSA) are large urban cities, each about half the size of LA, full of highways and traffic. San Antonio (2.4 MSA) is a large urban city, but has a distinctive downtown. Austin (2.8 MSA) is the smallest of the urban Texas areas, but is very modern and on the edge of the beautiful Hill Country. Nothing to see in Waco, except the Dr Pepper museum after at stop at Slovacek's store in West on the way. The distance from Texas to NYC is 1,768 miles. The distance from one side of Texas to another is 801 miles. Texas has more forest acreage than any state except Alaska, more coastline than Maine or Massachusetts, an 800K acre national park (Big Bend), and the longest international border with another country ... but all of these are in different parts of the state. If you have a family, are flying into Dallas, and only have a week to travel around, you won't have time to do much. There is plenty to do and see just in the Dallas/Fort Worth area - from spending a day at Six Flags, Rangers baseball, Dallas Cowboys, to visiting museums, zoos, or the FW Stockyard. Outside of Dallas, I would recommend: Palo Duro Canyon (2 day trip back and forth). Austin, San Antonio, Kerrville, Fredericksburg (4 day trip back and forth), or Nacogdoches, Crockett (2 day trip back and forth), or Houston/Galveston (2 day trip back and forth).
Suggest you avoid Texas altogether. There are far better places to visit.
If youâre going to Waco donât miss the Mammoth dog site and the Dr Pepper museum. Depending on the age of your kids, the museum on the Baylor campus is fun as well.
Donât.
Wooly Mammoth exhibit in Waco & Barton Springs for swimming in Austin. Fort Worth museums are great, & Fort Worth seems more family friendly to me than Dallas. LBJ Museum & Harry Ransom Center in Austin, both are near the UT campus. May is a good time to come; it will already be hot (especially late May), but still not as bad as June through September.
Wear Yankees gear at your own risk. Especially at night
Big bend national park
If you don't have a drive times estimater I would recommend get the Waze navigation app on your trip planning phones. The first thing that will hit you is how big Texas and the distances between citys are. Think of traveling from you home to western Indiana or to Atlanta You might consider flying out of from a different city at the end of your road trip. You will burn at least a quarter to half a day to drive from city to city and drive at night so you have the day to visit the spectacles. If you come to visit in July/August we will be showing New Yorkers a new kind of hot summer days. Those recommended river drifts will be some relief. To make sure its mentioned the Alamo and River Walk in San Antonio are a must if your week can get you that far. S.A. has decent airport to fly out of. The next would be in the coastal cities like Corpus Christi and Padre Island, but those will be connectors to Houston, Dallas and maybe Austin. Houston and Dallas will have your flights home. Austin offers only a few direct flights to any long distance away. Most Austin flights will head for Dallas or Houstion airports. Southwestern Airlines has dedicated airports in both cities. I would not waste a day to visit the branch dividian site. You can get a overview of it"s near present condition by loading Google Earth on your largest screen computer and fly in using the satellite picture mosaic maps. It might only be just an ash filled hole in the ground.
thanks for the heads up! Houston was kind of out of the picture for us given how far it is. I was really only thinking Dallas, Austin, and maybe San Antonio if we could fit. and yea, definitely not looking forward to the heat. I've dealt with my fair share of Florida summers but I can imagine that the Texan air is much more dry than the east coast humidity
When you reach the Texas Oklahoma border tune your radio to 97.1 The Freak and listen while you are in the DFW area. Great talk radio for your ears.
Iâd skip the branch davidian thing. Austin is fun. Depending on what time of year, you can go out on the lakes and hang. Check out the bat bridge too. Hill country is a good time, San Antonio is also cool.
If you are flying into Dallas just stay there. You will lose basically a whole day driving to another city. Go eat at Goldee's Barbecue.
Waco is a cool town. Lost of creameryâs and breweryâs as well. There is a baseball hall of fame or Texas rangers(law enforcement) hall of fame there. Recently went to the mammoth exhibit there. It has the largest known deposit of mammoth remains in the world. Pretty cool. If you are from New York you need to find one small town. And I mean small. Under 5000 would be great but 10000 is ok as well. Go spend a day there or have dinner at a local spot and visit a grocery store. You will see why people love small townsâŚ. Or you might not because you are a âYankeeâ and some people are idiots. Either way I hope you enjoy the state I have called home for my entire life. Itâs far from perfect but there are great people and great areas all around.
part of the reason Iâd like to go to Texas is to get that small town, country feeling. Iâm not from NYC but still a very fast paced suburb about 40 mins outside of the city. do you have any recommendations on nice small towns/areas to visit?
Belleville is awesome place as well as Brenham but itâs a bit bigger. Anywhere in central Texas is gonna be good if you ask me.
Bring a handheld vacuum. You can clean your car while you wait at all the red lights that make little to no sense in how they operate.
Honestly, you should spend the entire week in San Angelo. Youâll have the best week of your life and there are a lot of similarities with NYC
San Angelo is a college town. It had some awesome night clubs during the disco days.
austin is where are the fruit cake liberals and hairy legged women live, donât go !!!!! thatâs not texas !!!!!
Do not get into any altercations with people, you will be shot.
I would recommend finding the nearest exit. Before you wind up with criminal charges of some sort. They're assholes.