Texas

In the airport, at the grocery store, in a record shop or at an actual bar or nightclub – a concert might take place anywhere. To say that Austin is the 'live-music capital of Texas' is to promote truth in advertising. Austin country classics such as Dale Watson or Kelly Willis are some of our favorites, but you can also rock out, get the blues, go punk, dig rockabilly or turn alternative. You name it, you can hear it here. Where to start? You'll never go wrong at the Continental Club.

A small chapel and a long barrack don't seem quite sufficient for remembering the Alamo, but that doesn't deter more than 1.4 million visitors from paying homage annually. Never mind the tacky tourist attractions nearby and the fact that the site is now dwarfed by its big-city surrounds. A few hundred Texas freedom fighters battled and died here during the 13-day siege by Mexican forces of this fortified mission, a fact that still stirs the feisty independent spirit of locals and underdog-lovers alike.

You knew Texas was big, but did you know that it has a national park larger than Rhode Island? Out in way-far-west Texas, the Chisos Mountains (7825ft) provide an excellent place to take a hike. But then so, too, does the Chihuahuan desert or the Rio Grande Valley. Having three distinct ecosystems in one vast and remote parkland provides something for everyone. Make sure to plan ahead, though – the mountaintop lodge has limited accommodations, and campgrounds fill up quickly in spring and fall.

The 6th floor of the old Texas School Book Depository, looking down on Dealey Plaza: Lee Harvey Oswald stood here almost 55 years ago and fired the shots that killed John F Kennedy. Or did he? This museum investigates the dark ambiguities that swirl at the heart of the tragedy. Through video, audio clips and interactive exhibits, you'll relive moment by moment the events that transpired on that day, as well as looking into the lead-up to them. History – powerful and tragic – is alive here.

When the weather finally cools down in October, it's festival season around the state – and no event is more iconic than the State Fair of Texas. Although Big Tex, the 50ft-tall cowboy that welcomed fairgoers starting in 1952, burned down in 2012, there's still the state's largest Ferris wheel, a midway full of carnival rides, livestock and other animal shows – plus all those crazy fair foods to try. The corny dog debuted here, as did fried butter. Our favorite? Deep-fried Oreos.

The now-iconic mural on the wall of Jo's Coffee (at the corner of W James St) says it all: 'I love you so much.' A heady mishmash of everything we love about the town, South Congress is lined with funky thrift stores and boutiques, locally owned restaurants, cool food trailers, lively bars and a hip couple of hotels – without a single Chili's or Starbucks in sight. In the surrounding residential area, the neomodern environmental-standard homes and the arts-and-crafts bungalows – one or two turned B&B – add heaps of charm to the neighborhood.

Sure, the world-class Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Houston Museum of Natural Science (with its stunning paleontology hall) make their home here. And there are smaller, more specialized museums focusing on topics such as the weather and the Holocaust. The new themed gardens and viewing hill at Hermann Park are also worth a stroll. But the star of the neighborhood really is the Menil Collection – one of the country's top private holdings–based museums, the complex contains everything from 10,000-year-old antiquities to abstract art.

A narrow ridge of sand dunes backs the 70-mile-long protected coastline at Padre Island National Seashore. To say this place is windswept is an understatement: Bird Island Basin, on the lagoon side of the park's barrier-island home, is a mecca for windsurfers. While the first mile or so of beach south of the visitor center is usually busy, it doesn't take long to walk away from the crowds. If you have a 4WD vehicle, 60 miles of beach is open for you to explore.

Now stretching all the way to the museum district to the north and the missions to the south, the River Walk is earning a newfound reputation as an adventure mecca, with hiking, paddling and cycling. Downtown, it remains a mighty entertaining experience: located below street level, stone footpaths following the riverbank are lined with places to eat and drink, while outdoor stages host frequent events and there are hotels aplenty. Take a cruise along the canal or a tour during Christmas-light season to get the full festive effect.

Slow down and take a scenic country drive. Meander through the green rolling hills covered in live oaks, climb up to a vista and cruise down a curve. In spring the roadsides and fields are colored with Indian paintbrushes and Texas bluebonnets. But all year you'll find a tiny old Texas town, a tranquil ranch, a pretty vineyard or a friendly dance hall around the next bend. Stop to sit in a river or enjoy a pie in an old cafe. This is small-town Texas life at its best.

How to sum up Texans' affection for football? 'Obsession' might just cover it. At the corner cafe on a Saturday morning you'll hear 'em hotly debating the stats and stars of last night's game – and they're talking about the local high school. College rivalries are even more heated, whether you're chanting on your feet as the '12th man' for the Texas A&M team or signaling 'hook 'em horns' for the University of Texas. Game day is party time, whether at home or on a tailgate in the stadium parking lot.

With a permanent population of three, you can't really call Luckenbach a town. What remains today is a cluster of Old West–era buildings that typify Texas country charm. Grab a Shiner Bock beer and listen to guitar pickers and singers under the giant live oak tree. In colder weather, musicians move inside the general store, which is also the post office and a saloon. If you're lucky there will be a Friday-night dance on at the 1880s hall. And yes, Willie and Waylon have played here.

The best beef brisket has a visible pink smoke ring around the edge, testament to the fact that it takes hours and hours of cooking under precise conditions to produce the juiciest cuts. From Tyler to Temple, Texans know their barbecue. They eat it at home, at famous hole-in-the-walls or bought from a roadside smoker. It's in central Texas that you'll find the state's unofficial BBQ capital, Lockhart, with several of the most lauded meat market–style joints in the state.

Wander into the Old West at the Fort Worth Stockyards, where you can drink at the saloon bar after a mini cattle drive comes through town. The old steam train that was once used to take the herds north now offers tourist rides. It sure is fun to watch the kids (and some adults) get their pennies flattened on the wheelhouse rail. In addition to Western shops, there are several in-theme restaurants and bars. Conquer both the mechanical bull and the two-step at Billy Bob's, one of the world's largest honky-tonks.

The South Texas coast is known worldwide for its excellent bird-watching. Herons and egrets, shore and seabirds – hundreds of species congregate along the marshy coastal plains. But the premier site is Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, home to the only naturally migrating flock of whooping cranes in the United States. These 5ft-tall white birds with red crowns would be noteworthy anyway, but what's incredible is that the population has risen to more than 250 from its lowest point in 1941, when just 15 birds remained.

Repeated hurricanes have not been able to destroy Galveston, a beguiling bit of the Old South on the Gulf Coast. Victorian neighborhoods still stand, and shops and restaurants have come back to the century-old downtown Strand District. Tour an 1800s tall ship, and learn about the town's heyday from local films. On the flip side of the island, sandy stretches beckon residents from nearby Houston. Surf-bum bars and condo rentals make kicking back at the beach all the easier. When little ones get bored, entertain them at mid-island amusement parks.

No one thinks of soaring pine forests when they say Texas, but that's exactly what comprises most of the northeast, aka the Piney Woods. The cypress swamps of Caddo Lake State Park are an excellent place to start exploring. Nearby, you can shop among the old downtown buildings and stay in a B&B at the riverboat town of Jefferson. Other old towns await – or else go for a hike in one of the region's four national forests and one national preserve.

Mysterious lights, an obsession with the classic film Giant, and renowned modern-art installations: Marfa is nothing if not out there. This West Texas desert outpost attracts a mix of artists and rugged individualists; the number of New Yorkers here may surprise you, but then so might the replica Prada store in the middle of nowhere. Sleep in a tipi, a brand-new modernist cube or the old Hotel Paisano, where James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor once stayed. A midnight drive to the lonely lights-viewing platform will rattle even the staunchest skeptic.

Finding places to indulge your inner cowpoke is surprisingly difficult in Texas. Not so if you head for Hill Country. The area around Bandera hosts more than a dozen dude (or guest) ranches. Don't expect cattle drives; do expect daily horseback rides, hay wagons, swimming holes, rodeos and at least one chuckwagon breakfast or outdoor barbecue per stay. Although everything's included in the experience, be sure to take time to trot into town, where there are daily activities and two of the best cowboy bars around.

OK, so the Texas stretch of the Mother Road doesn't amount to much, considering it's only 178 miles long. But Amarillo is a worthy guardian of the route, with timeless roadside attractions such as the Big Texan Steak Ranch and Cadillac Ranch, a series of old spray-painted Caddies planted nose down in the dirt. There's also the McLean Devil's Rope barbed-wire museum, which produces a detailed map of the road's Texas attractions. The best part may be riding through the region's pancake-flat plains – the epitome of an open road.

Every March, the roadsides of Texas erupt with color: red Indian paintbrushes, yellow and red Indian blankets, pink evening primrose, yellow brown-eyed Susans. But the bluebonnet is Texas' state flower, and easily the star. Entire fields turn a vibrant bluish-purple for a couple of weeks, sending families flocking to take pictures among the blooms. Hill Country and Washington County are the usual picture-taking sites, but you can also find 2ft-tall bluebonnets in Big Bend and fields full of flowers as far north as Dallas.

More than nine splendid bird-watching sites roost under one umbrella organization in the Rio Grande Valley. Texas' position on the central migratory flyway and the valley's southern locale make this both a stopover and wintering grounds for transient species. The 760-acre Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park acts as the center headquarters for sites along the border all the way to to South Padre Island. Pick up maps and a bird-watching list, and then test yourself. How many of the more than 600 reported species can you spot?

Cape Canaveral may be where rockets launch, but the trip-planning and astronaut training take place outside Houston in Clear Lake. The Johnson Space Center's official visitor center and museum, Space Center Houston, lets you learn about NASA's history through films and exhibits; you can then try your hand at key astronaut skills. A tram tour leads you through some of the actual working parts of the complex, including space-walk labs and the original mission control. Upgrade your tour and you can even eat with the astronauts.

Built by German, Czech and Polish immigrants as community gathering places in the mid-1800s, many Texas dance halls today are famed for their great live music, singer-songwriter nights and two-stepping masses. You'll find busy dance halls in and around Austin and San Antonio, but you won't fully realize their role in community-building until you head to the Hill Country and central Texas, where they anchor small towns there. At Gruene Hall, check out the photographs of past performers, sip a Shiner, then try two-stepping. It's pretty darn fun.

Texans beat the heat by heading to the nearest river or swimming hole (often formed by cold springs). So pack your swimsuit if you're visiting the Lone Star State in summer. You'll find popular pools in Austin, Dripping Springs and Wimberley, but for a full-on embrace of sweet summer laziness in the east, head to the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels for a day of tubing. In the west, there are springs south of Marfa, as well as a spring-fed pool at beloved Balmorhea State Park – a true desert oasis.

The ruins of the old Butterfield stagecoach station look right at home in the high-country scrub of the Guadalupe Mountains (8749ft) in West Texas. The place hasn't changed much over the centuries – part of the appeal at this national park, which may be one of the state's best-kept secrets just because it's so darn far away from anywhere. (Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico is the closest neighbor.) Make the journey and your reward is stunning upland hikes, scenic drives and excellent fall color, especially in McKittrick Canyon.

Fashionistas love Dallas and Houston, which are both known for their upscale Galleria malls that host top designers. Funkier finds are to be had at Austin's many vintage outlets. Around old town squares in rural Texas, you're likely to find a whole variety of area antiques. For Mexican arts and crafts, you'll find authentic works in San Antonio; and then there's Laredo, where the products are made just across the border. And cowboy boots? Texas is the place to buy your first pair. Try Allen's Boots if you're in Austin.