Texas Itinerary

[smithlane]

So with our holiday this year up in the air as to whether we get to go I'm trying not to think too much about it and have instead set my sights on planning a 3 week road trip around Texas for next summer.

I know it will be hotter than the sun but was hoping to take advantage of going after our children's A-Levels and GCSE's, so end of June beginning of July.
I have read whatever trip reports I can find and have come up with a rough plan that I hope anyone who's been can tell me if it's doable. We like to be active 90% of the holiday with a little down time thrown in.

Obviously no idea on flights but potentially flying into DFW and out of HOU

Fort Worth - 3 nights - Stockyards Rodeo, Billy Bobs, Southfork Ranch, JFK museum, Dallas Cowboys Stadium

Waco - 1 night - Dinosaur Valley State Park, Magnolia Market

Lake Travis - 3 nights - Hamilton Pool Preserve, chill time, golf

San Angelo - 1 night - Just to break the journey to Big Bend

Big Bend NP - 2 nights - National Park sights

Del Rio - 1 night - Just to break the journey up from Big Bend

Bandera - 1 night - Horse Ranch

Austin - 3 nights - Friday Night Lights locations, bats, Rainey Street, Capitol Building tour, sports game

New Braunfells - 1 night - River tubing, Gruene dance hall

San Antonio - 3 nights - Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, Riverwalk Cruise, Alamo

Galveston - 2 nights - Pleasure Pier, Johnson Space Centre, beach

[KarenG]

Sounds fab. I had a friend who grew up in Texas and he always told me to have as much time as you could in Austin as it was better than the rest of Texas put together! I have no idea whether he was right or completely wrong though so I’m following with interest!

[MsSparkles]

We did a Texas road trip in October 2018. We flew into Austin with BA and flew out of Houston. We stayed in Austin, Dallas, Fredericksburg, Bandera, San Antonio and Galveston.

We loved Fredericksburg in Hill Country. Very cute little town but be warned - pretty much everything closed at 5pm (restaurants 9pm)! It was good for a couple of days as plenty of places to go out and explore such as the LBJ Historic Park, Enchanted Rock and the Pacific War museum. Austin was good to explore for a day, lots of music and just a cool place to hang out. I wish we'd gone to Lake Travis as that looks lovely.

We didn't stay at Waco but we did visit it on the way from Austin to Dallas. Nice little town with the Dr Pepper Museum!

Our ranch night in Bandera wasn't very good as they had lots of storms and we couldn't take the horses out.

We didn’t think much of Galveston but we were there in October so maybe it was a bit out of season. Don't expect Florida beaches!

Loved San Antonio, the RiverWalk was great, we saw a college football game here and went to the Alamo which was really interesting.

Dallas/Fort Worth was ok for the JFK museum, the Stockyards and we went for the Texas State Fair.

Hope this helps.

[Disneyfreaks]

Sorry to hijack, but I’m really interested in your replies too..!

[skalexander]

CrispyA did a really good trip report of her family’s Texas road trip. I highly recommend tracking it down and having a read.

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by KarenG

Sounds fab. I had a friend who grew up in Texas and he always told me to have as much time as you could in Austin as it was better than the rest of Texas put together! I have no idea whether he was right or completely wrong though so I’m following with interest!

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Thank you Karen, I’ve heard great things about Austin!
It’s funny I was thinking of you today as I found your Hawai’i guide you kindly lent me, I’m so sorry I completely forgot I had it! I’ll PM you now as I’ll get it posted back to you ASAP. I’ve read it back to back about 10 times 😂. Have finally decided on Oahu and Maui with a day trip to Big Island but that holiday will have to wait for us to become kid free though in a couple of years!

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by MsSparkles

We did a Texas road trip in October 2018. We flew into Austin with BA and flew out of Houston. We stayed in Austin, Dallas, Fredericksburg, Bandera, San Antonio and Galveston.

We loved Fredericksburg in Hill Country. Very cute little town but be warned - pretty much everything closed at 5pm (restaurants 9pm)! It was good for a couple of days as plenty of places to go out and explore such as the LBJ Historic Park, Enchanted Rock and the Pacific War museum. Austin was good to explore for a day, lots of music and just a cool place to hang out. I wish we'd gone to Lake Travis as that looks lovely.

We didn't stay at Waco but we did visit it on the way from Austin to Dallas. Nice little town with the Dr Pepper Museum!

Our ranch night in Bandera wasn't very good as they had lots of storms and we couldn't take the horses out.

We didn’t think much of Galveston but we were there in October so maybe it was a bit out of season. Don't expect Florida beaches!

Loved San Antonio, the RiverWalk was great, we saw a college football game here and went to the Alamo which was really interesting.

Dallas/Fort Worth was ok for the JFK museum, the Stockyards and we went for the Texas State Fair.

Hope this helps.

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Thank you this is all really helpful! I’ve not looked into Fredericksburg but will do so now.

The Dr Pepper museum is now on the list as that is my DD’s favourite drink

Such a shame the ranch night was a complete washout, I’d be gutted as they’re not cheap!

To be honest I’ve not heard great things about the beaches in Texas but thought it might do for some chill out time at the end of the hol. I’ll try not to compare it to Anna Maria Island 😂

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Disneyfreaks

Sorry to hijack, but I’m really interested in your replies too..!

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No problem, hijack away. It seems Texas is a popular place to visit, we’ve wanted to go for a few years now so really looking forward to it

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by skalexander

CrispyA did a really good trip report of her family’s Texas road trip. I highly recommend tracking it down and having a read.

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Thank you, I’ve read Elizabeth’s report about 3 times now. I’ve pretty much pinched most of their itinerary for mine 😂

[capecoralfl]

We did a Texas road trip last September- flying into Houston (BA Club class - which was fab, and picking up a Grand Cherokee Avis rental car covering 1000 miles in our 3 week trip). We really enjoyed Austin, San Antonio and Houston (Austin was my favourite, hubby loved San Antonio) and we did the usual stuff (Riverwalk, the Alamo, Congress bridge, Barton creek, etc). We did a mixture of Airbnb and Hilton/Hyatt hotels. We also visited Galveston to get some beach/ coast time but would not rush back as it was just a long stretch of pretty boring open coastline and unattractive touristy buildings.
We also spent a few days in Sugarland and Katy in Houston (both cute towns).
Having been all over the US we were used to the size of the place but Texas is truly HUGE. Have a great time planning your trip.