West Texas
The hottest ticket in West Texas? A reservation for one of the thrice-weekly Star Parties at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis. Located on Mount Locke…
Must-see attractions in Texas
West Texas
As you step inside the historic artillery shed, with its enormous windows, sweeping desert views and sun-dappled aluminum boxes, the Marfa hoopla suddenly…
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area
Hill Country
A pink granite dome rising 425ft above the grasslands north of Fredericksburg, Enchanted Rock cuts a striking but mild-mannered profile. At first glance,…
San Antonio
For proud Texans, the much-fabled Alamo, entered freely off San Antonio’s central plaza, is not so much a tourist attraction as a place of pilgrimage…
San Antonio
The River Walk is a 15-mile-long glorious network of waterside pathways that’s tucked below street level and lined with bars and restaurants. It's the…
Panhandle Plains
Buddy Holly was born in Lubbock, Texas, in 1936, and by the 1950s, he was an instrumental and prominent figure in rock n’ roll. The Buddy Holly Center…
Bat Colony Under Congress Avenue Bridge
Austin
Austin is known as the capital of Texas quirk, so it shouldn't be surprising that it's a city tradition to sit on the grassy banks of Lady Bird Lake and…
San Antonio
This Spanish Colonial revival-style mansion, 5 miles north of downtown and originally owned by artist Marion Koogler McNay, is spectacular. McNay's 700…
Dallas
Dallas means many things to many people, but for tourists, the city is still indelibly linked to the assassination of President John F Kennedy. Movies and…
Dallas
The city's major art museum offers a high-caliber world tour of ancient and contemporary art. Founded in 1903, the Dallas Museum of Art is an impressively…
Dallas
For a Texas-sized photo op, or simply a sight of what claims to be the largest bronze monument on earth, head to Pioneer Plaza in the heart of Dallas…
Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Gardens
Dallas
Spreading northeast of Dallas along the shores of White Rock Lake, this gorgeous 66-acre arboretum is a rainbow-colored wonderland of plants and flowers,…
Houston
Commissioned by Dominique and John de Menil (also founders of the Menil Collection) in 1964 to create a nondenominational chapel, American abstract…
Austin
Completed in 1888 using sunset-red granite, Texas’ state capitol is the largest in the US, backing up the familiar claim that everything’s bigger…
Houston
This 445-acre park is home to playgrounds, a lake with paddleboats, a picturesque Japanese Garden, the Hermann Park Miniature Train and the Houston Zoo…
Houston
The Menil Collection is considered one of the most important privately assembled art collections of the twentieth century and is a Houston highlight…
Houston
This sinuous 160-acre city park follows Buffalo Bayou west from downtown, with easy pedestrian access and plentiful parking en route. Sweeping views…
Houston Museum of Natural Science
Houston
Don’t even dream you’ll see the whole of this colossal and absolutely stellar museum – the most popular in Texas – in a single visit. The permanent…
East Texas
Dream of landing on the moon? You can’t get closer than the visitor center/museum alongside NASA's Johnson Space Center, where interactive displays…
San Antonio
Known in its time as the Queen of the Missions, San José is certainly the largest and arguably the most beautiful of all the sites on the Mission Trail…
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
Gulf Coast & South Texas
For birdwatchers, this 115,000-acre refuge is the premier site on the Texas coast. Although only 15 whooping cranes remained in the wild in 1941, more…
San Antonio
Founded in 1731, San Antonio’s cathedral ranks as the oldest church in Texas. On the edge of Main Plaza, its prime interest for modern visitors is as a…
Fort Worth
Western-wear stores and knickknack shops, saloons and steakhouses now occupy the Old West–era buildings of the Stockyards. Although it can seem touristy…
Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site
East Texas
This state historic site preserves and recreates parts of the original settlement that numbered 200 people in 1835. Make sure to watch the visitor center…
Palo Duro Canyon
This multihued canyon was carved by the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River, a big name for a little river. Its 26,000 acres attract hikers, horseback…
Fort McKavett State Historical Park
Panhandle Plains
This remote but remarkably well preserved fort, near the San Saba River 70 miles southeast of San Angelo, was established by the Eighth Infantry in 1852…
Gulf Coast & South Texas
Alligators. Alligators everywhere. You'll surely enjoy the diversity of wetland and forest landscapes, bird-watching, maybe even get some use out of the…
Fort Worth
While the small Kimbell Art Museum holds treasures from Greece, Egypt, China, Japan and the ancient Americas, it’s the astonishing array of big European…
Galveston
This sumptuous Gothic mansion, built in the 1880s for the Gresham family, became home to the Catholic bishop of neighboring Sacred Heart Church in 1923…
Panhandle Plains
Located off I-27 at Broadway St and Ave A, 248-acre Mackenzie Park has two dynamite highlights amid what's otherwise a mundane urban park.
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument
Panhandle Plains
It's not every day you can pick up a hammer stone used to make tools 10,000 years ago or hold discarded shards of beautifully colored flint left behind by…
National Ranching Heritage Center
Panhandle Plains
A true Lubbock gem, this open-air museum, part of the large, modern Texas Tech museum complex, provides a fascinating snapshot of what life was like on…
Fort Worth
Each morning and afternoon, spectators line the street to watch cowboys wearing authentic 19th-century garb drive the 16 longhorn cattle of the Fort Worth…
Fort Griffin State Historic Site
Panhandle Plains
Some 15 miles north of Albany, the Fort Griffin State Historic Site showcases a handful of somewhat-restored buildings and the ruins of a fort that served…
El Paso
This thoroughly enjoyable small-scale museum is housed in a former Greyhound station. Its pride and joy is a 13th-century Byzantine Madonna and Child, but…
Northeast Texas
Romantics, be prepared to swoon: home to the country’s biggest domestic supply of roses, Tyler is also home to this 14-acre garden with 38,000 plants in…
Panhandle Plains
To millions of people whizzing across the Texas Panhandle each year, the Cadillac Ranch, also known as Amarillo’s ‘Bumper Crop,’ is the ultimate symbol of…
Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge
Gulf Coast & South Texas
This 70-sq-mile federal preserve, northwest of Port Isabel, has recorded more bird species sightings (400 and counting) than any other national wildlife…
Gulf Coast & South Texas
No, you can't handle the sea turtles. But you can see rescued turtles and learn firsthand about the slow regrowth of critically endangered Kemp's ridley…
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
Palo Duro Canyon
A Texas plains must-see, this magnificent museum covers a tremendous amount of ground, both literally in terms of floor space, and thematically, with an…
