The state of Texas covers 171.901 million acres, or 268,596 square miles. Texas geography comprises ten natural ecosystems, and five major cities, each with their own unique personalities. That amount of space and diversity allows for a whole bunch of places to visit.
What Is the Best Part of Texas to Vacation?
The Texas Parts and Wildlife Department divides Texas’ ecosystems into the Blackland Prairies, the Cross Timbers, the Edwards Plateau, the Gulf Prairies and Marshes, the High Plains, the Piney Woods, the Rolling Plains, the Post Oak Savannah, the South Texas Plains, and the Trans-Pecos.
The best part of Texas to vacation depends on people’s interests, so the answer is as subjective and diverse as Texas’ geography. Texas has five exciting cities, desert, mountains, an ocean, pine forests, a prairie, ranches, the Hill Country with crystal clear water and caves, about 150 significant lakes, 15 major rivers, and 3,700 streams with names.
What Is the Prettiest Place in Texas?
A native Texan will tell you that every single inch of Texas is not only pretty, but absolutely gorgeous, stunning, and incredible. How does one define the prettiest place in Texas? This is also an extremely subjective question.
Spring wildflowers paint the Blackland Prairies beautifully. Magnificent describes the Gulf Prairies with dolphins and handsome boats. The Piney Woods smell like Christmas year-round. The Trans-Pecos shines brightly with iconic canyons and a serene aura. The High Plains reclaimed their buffalo at Caprock Canyons State Park.
The Edwards Plateau, known as the Texas Hill Country, boasts one of the most biologically diverse regions in the U.S. The Post Oak Savannah stretches from the Red River through the Houston Wilderness and down to the Guadalupe River. The Cross Timbers region is bordered on the east by the Blackland Prairie Ecological Region and on the west by the Rolling Plains Ecological Region.
What Is The Number One Attraction In Texas?
Texas is famous worldwide to the envy of many western U.S. states, and Hollywood took part in creating the enigma that is Texas. We can measure the number one attraction in Texas by the amount of visitors recorded per year. However, there are plenty of Texas attractions that do not record how many visitors it sees.
The Alamo is the number one Texas attraction in San Antonio, Texas, and welcomes over four million visitors a year. Barely trailing behind the Alamo are the San Antonio River Walk, the Houston Space Center, the Texas State Capitol in Austin, the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, and the Padre Island National Seashore on the Gulf of Mexico.
Some of the most beautiful places in Texas to visit include the Hamilton Pool, 23 miles west of Austin, Santa Elena Canyon, 121 miles south of Marfa, Palo Duro Canyon, 32 miles south of Amarillo, Gorman Falls, 100 miles northwest of Austin, Caddo Lake, 60 miles south of Texarkana, Caverns of Sonora, 190 miles northwest of San Antonio, the Dallas Arboretum and Gardens, the Bayou Bend Gardens in Houston, the Ft. Worth Water Gardens, and the Zilker Botanical Garden in Austin.
Which City In Texas Is The Most Fun?
Again, any native Texan will tell you that any city in Texas is not only fun, but full of lively entertainment venues and well-known to little-known neighborhood enclaves with distinctive personalities. Each of Texas’ five major cities offers their unique cultures for every visitor to discover. Every city in Texas proudly displays a contrasting mix of spicy and exciting amusements.
Ranging from places to go in Texas for the weekend to places to visit in Texas to couples to vacation to Texas to destinations for families, Texas has it all in Austin, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Any Texan would be hard-pressed to decide which city in Texas is the most fun.
Definitely go to Austin for the music, San Antonio for the Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, Ft. Worth for the rodeo with its oh-so-handsome cowboys on wild horses and bulls, Dallas for a Cowboy’s football game, and Houston for the Houston Space Center (NASA). However, Texas cities radiate so much more excitement than what they are best known for.
What City in Texas Has the Most Tourist Attractions?
How to pick and choose? All the cities in Texas have fascinating and inspiring tourist attractions. It is doubtful that anyone has counted all the tourist attractions in Texas’ cities, towns and vast uninhabited lands.
All five metropolises in Texas have an amazing number of tourist destinations. Each city in Texas has downtown districts full of life, history, arts, museums, sports and entertainment venues, kid-friendly entertainment, pet-friendly establishments, restaurants, and nightlife.
Also, spread throughout each Texas city and its suburbs are well known and little-known tourist attractions. Visitors to any Texas city can find a wild party venue or a down-home family-friendly place for children to enjoy and learn. To top these off these attractions, there is Texas’ vast, expansive, unoccupied public lands to explore.
Places To Visit In Texas With Kids
There are thousands of kid-friendly vacation destinations in Texas. The following are some of the most popular places for families to visit.
- Texas Air and Space Museum, Amarillo
- Silver Spur Guest Ranch, Bandera
- The Dallas Arboretum, Dallas
- KidZania USA, Frisco
- Dinosaur World, Glen Rose
- Great Wolf Lodge, Grapevine
- Children’s Museum of Houston, Houston
- Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston
- Space Center, Houston
- Joyland Park, Lubbock
- National Butterfly Center, Mission
- The Alamo, San Antonio
- Natural Bridge Caverns, San Antonio
- River Walk, San Antonio
- Six Flags Fiesta Texas, San Antonio
Places To Visit In Texas For Couples
Some of the most frequently used words to describe Texas are freedom, oil, cowboys, and romance. Texas romantic getaways feature succulent dining, intimate lodging options, and pastimes made for just the two of you. Texas is chock-full of B&Bs in big cities and small off-the-beaten-path towns.
San Antonio offers some of the best romantic dining in Texas on its River Walk, but you cannot go wrong dining at the “ball” in Dallas at Reunion Tower either. Rent a cottage on the beach in Galveston and take in a sunset dinner or a dolphin cruise. Embark on a romantic ride on the 1920s-era Grapevine Vintage Railroad in Grapevine.
Fredericksburg exudes charm and coziness with the quaintness of yesteryear Germany. Sundance Square in Fort Worth has witnessed many a marriage engagement on Valentine’s Day. Snuggle up in the car at the Blue Starlite Drive-in Theater in Austin. Experience the enchanting lights show as evening falls at the James Turrell Twilight Epiphany in Houston.
Marble Falls features spas, wineries, and vineyards, plus the very romantic Marble Falls themselves. Bandera calls itself the “Cowboy Capital of Texas”, where you can take an intimate horseback ride for two. The Gruene Historic District in New Braunfels invites you to dance the night away at the oldest continually operating dance hall in Texas with live performances every night featuring folk to blues to good ol’ country music, and most shows are free.
Dripping Springs easily trends high as one of the most picturesque and romantic getaways in Texas west of Austin. Float on almost any stretch of the Brazos or Guadalupe Rivers tangled up on a raft made for two. For couples who like to party hearty, boisterous South Padre Island boasts an endless array of entertainment both on and off the water.
Whatever you like to do with whatever type of vacation time you have and whoever you like to travel with, Texas has your back. Texas simply offers some of the best traveling adventures in the U.S. These are some of the more significant destinations in Texas, but certainly, these suggestions do not cover even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to traveling Texas. Many native Texans take staycations because there are so many beautiful and exciting attractions without spending their whole bank account in their own backyards.
Author: Kendall Davis
Author: Kendall Davis Company: Lumini Services Kendall currently lives on the shores of Lake Texoma in Texas. She traveled across two-thirds of the U.S. for many years camping at lakes, rivers, and three oceans before motels and hotels if at all possible, and she continuously saw God's presence in nature. Writing for Lakehub allows Kendall to share her experience with God's creations. https://kdavis1836.wixsite.com/luminiwrites
