North America · Touring guide
Austin, Houston and Dallas, big cities with room to breathe and a strong road-trip case between them.
Is it right for you?
A strong fit for
Road trips, city breaks and travellers who want space.
We would think twice for
Travellers without a car or the will to drive, because Texas is scale itself, and its cities sit hours apart across a state the size of western Europe.
What we would want you to know
Distances are vast even within the state, so plan the driving time with care.
We’ve been here
The first thing Texas taught us, on our trip to Austin in September 2025, is scale. When we plan a trip here we start with the map and the hours at the wheel, then fit the cities, the barbecue and the music around them, never the other way round.
The route
Nights 1 and 2
Collect the car and ease in. The Sixth Floor Museum on the first full morning, then Fort Worth for the afternoon cattle drive, and the Stockyards rodeo if it is a Friday or Saturday.
Nights 3 to 5
A long drive south, then the bats at dusk from the Congress Avenue Bridge. Give the days to Barton Springs and a barbecue lunch in Lockhart, and the nights to live music.
Night 6
Climb Enchanted Rock early, spend the afternoon among Fredericksburg's wineries and peach stands, and finish the evening at an old dance hall.
Nights 7 and 8
The Alamo with a timed ticket, the missions by bike, and evenings on the quieter reaches of the River Walk.
Nights 9 and 10
A full day at Space Center Houston, a morning in the Museum District, and a last Tex-Mex dinner before the flight home.
An idea to react to, not a fixed package. We shape the real thing around your dates, your pace and what the flights are doing that season.
Map and stops
Two cities that share an airport and little else. Dallas is glossy and corporate, with its Arts District and the story of President Kennedy's assassination at Dealey Plaza; Fort Worth, to the west, keeps its cowboy past alive at the Stockyards and has fine art museums. Both sprawl, so you drive everywhere, and rush-hour traffic is heavy.
The state capital and its liveliest city, with bands somewhere every night, food trucks, spring-fed pools and a lake on the Colorado River for paddling. It suits couples, groups and music lovers. It is no longer cheap, the traffic on the main highway through town is notorious, and a festival or a university football weekend fills every room.
Rolling limestone hills west of Austin, with Fredericksburg's German heritage, peach orchards, wineries, old dance halls and swimming holes on clear rivers. It suits couples and anyone after a slower pace between cities. Fredericksburg is busy with wine tourers at weekends, and the rivers can rise dangerously fast after heavy rain.
The River Walk winds below street level past restaurants and hotels, with the Alamo a short walk above and four Spanish missions to the south. It is the easiest Texan city for families, with most sights on foot. The central loop of the river is crowded and touristy, so the quieter northern and southern stretches repay a walk.
A vast, diverse city with a museum district of free and low-cost galleries, an enormous range of Vietnamese, Mexican and Texan cooking, and NASA's space centre in the south-east suburbs. It is humid and spread out, with no real walkable centre, so it works best as the last stop on a route, with a car.
Weather and seasons
Texas saves its best for spring. From mid March into April the Hill Country roadsides turn blue with bluebonnets, and Austin averages around 27°C, warm enough for outdoor music and a swim in the springs. By July and August highs sit near 37°C, and each day is planned around air conditioning, water and shade. May is often the wettest month, with around 154mm, and its thunderstorms can bring hail and flash floods to the Hill Country rivers. Winter is short and changeable: January averages 17°C in Austin, but a cold front from the north can bring days of ice to Dallas. October is the other kind month, although big events, from SXSW in March to home football weekends, move hotel prices more than any season.
Worth timing a trip around
Three weeks of rodeo at NRG Stadium, each night followed by a concert from a big country, pop or Latin star. Tickets for the famous names go fast.
Austin's music, film and technology festival brings hundreds of bands and huge crowds. Hotels book out months ahead and prices spike, so avoid it unless the festival is the reason you are going.
The state flower carpets roadsides and fields across the Hill Country and around Ennis, south of Dallas. Displays depend on the winter rain, and the best spots change every year.
More than a week of parades, music and food across the city, including an illuminated night parade and decorated floats drifting along the River Walk.
More than three weeks of rides, livestock and deep-fried everything at Fair Park in Dallas, watched over by Big Tex, a giant talking cowboy.
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 17°C | 5°C | 70 mm |
| February | 19°C | 7°C | 47 mm |
| March | 24°C | 12°C | 55 mm |
| April | 27°C | 15°C | 79 mm |
| May | 31°C | 20°C | 154 mm |
| June | 35°C | 23°C | 71 mm |
| July | 37°C | 25°C | 28 mm |
| August | 37°C | 25°C | 48 mm |
| September | 34°C | 22°C | 50 mm |
| October | 29°C | 16°C | 89 mm |
| November | 23°C | 11°C | 60 mm |
| December | 19°C | 8°C | 77 mm |
Temperatures are 2015 to 2024 averages from NOAA records for Austin-Camp Mabry, 6 km away at 204 m. Rainfall is from Austin 1.0 N(45Th&Shcrk), 6 km away and shows the typical (median) month, so one freak storm does not skew it.
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15°C | 4°C | 51 mm |
| February | 17°C | 6°C | 61 mm |
| March | 23°C | 11°C | 99 mm |
| April | 26°C | 14°C | 117 mm |
| May | 30°C | 19°C | 130 mm |
| June | 34°C | 24°C | 129 mm |
| July | 36°C | 26°C | 28 mm |
| August | 36°C | 26°C | 81 mm |
| September | 33°C | 22°C | 51 mm |
| October | 28°C | 16°C | 123 mm |
| November | 21°C | 10°C | 73 mm |
| December | 17°C | 7°C | 82 mm |
Temperatures are 2015 to 2024 averages from NOAA records for Dallas Love Field Airport, 7 km away at 148 m. Rainfall is from Dallas 2.7 Wnw, 4 km away and shows the typical (median) month, so one freak storm does not skew it.
| Month | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 18°C | 9°C | 115 mm |
| February | 20°C | 11°C | 62 mm |
| March | 24°C | 15°C | 59 mm |
| April | 26°C | 18°C | 64 mm |
| May | 30°C | 22°C | 122 mm |
| June | 34°C | 25°C | 146 mm |
| July | 35°C | 26°C | 129 mm |
| August | 35°C | 26°C | 86 mm |
| September | 32°C | 24°C | 130 mm |
| October | 28°C | 20°C | 73 mm |
| November | 23°C | 15°C | 65 mm |
| December | 20°C | 12°C | 99 mm |
Temperatures are 2015 to 2024 averages from NOAA records for Houston Dunn Helistop, 5 km away at 69 m. Rainfall is from Houston 2.1 Ssw, 3 km away and shows the typical (median) month, so one freak storm does not skew it.
Things to do
A spring-fed pool in Zilker Park that stays at the same cool temperature all year, with grassy banks where Austin spends its summer afternoons. It is how the city copes with August; go early in the day for a spot on the grass.
From spring to autumn a huge colony of Mexican free-tailed bats pours out from under the bridge at dusk to feed. Watch from the bridge or the lakeside path below; late summer brings the biggest numbers.
Bands play every night of the week, from honky-tonks and blues bars to rock clubs. Sixth Street is mostly bars and cover bands, so head for Red River Street and South Congress for original music, and check the listings for free early shows.
The old mission church where the defenders fell in 1836 is free to enter with a timed ticket, which you can reserve online. A new museum is being built alongside and is due to open in 2028, so expect building work around the plaza until then.
Four Spanish colonial missions south of downtown, which, with the Alamo, share a single UNESCO World Heritage listing. They are free to visit and linked by a riverside trail that is easy to cycle; Mission San José is the grandest if you only see one.
The visitor centre for NASA's Johnson Space Center, where tram tours head into the working site to the restored Apollo mission control and a hall housing a Saturn V rocket. Arrive at opening, because the tram queues are long by midday.
Cowboys drive a small herd of longhorn cattle down Exchange Avenue twice a day, and a rodeo runs on Friday and Saturday nights all year. Come in the afternoon for the second cattle drive and stay for steak and a dance hall.
The former book depository overlooking Dealey Plaza tells the story of President Kennedy's assassination in 1963, from the corner where the shots were fired. It is thoughtful rather than sensational; book a timed ticket.
A great dome of pink granite north of Fredericksburg, climbed on a short, steep trail for a view over the Hill Country. Book a day pass ahead, because the park closes its gates when full, and climb early before the rock heats up.
A small town south of Austin that calls itself the barbecue capital of Texas, with old smokehouses serving brisket and sausage on butcher paper. Go at lunchtime, because the best meat sells out.
Food and drink
Central Texas barbecue at its purest: beef brisket rubbed with salt and pepper, smoked slowly over oak and sold by weight with white bread, pickles and onion.
Austin's morning staple: scrambled egg with potato, bacon or chorizo in a warm flour tortilla, bought from trucks and cafés and eaten on the move.
Cheese enchiladas in chili gravy, sizzling fajitas and bowls of melted queso with tortilla chips. San Antonio is its heartland, and nobody there calls it Mexican food.
Tenderised beef steak battered and fried like chicken, then smothered in peppery cream gravy. A country café classic and a meal in itself.
Soft sweet buns filled with fruit or cream cheese, brought by Czech settlers and sold at bakeries along the highway between Dallas and Austin, above all in the small town of West.
Invented in Dallas in 1971, when a restaurant owner adapted a soft-serve ice cream machine to make margaritas in bulk. Tex-Mex restaurants pour them by the pitcher.
Money
By American standards Texas is good value: rooms, barbecue and live music cost less than on either coast, and fuel is among the cheapest in the country. The car is the one cost you cannot avoid, because the cities sit hours apart and nothing works without one. Hotel taxes are high in the big cities, so compare full prices rather than headline rates. Where we would not economise is on the nights that show Texas at full volume: the rodeo, a big football game or a concert, all of which need booking early.
Flights and transfers
One stop from northern England or direct from London into Dallas, Houston or Austin. The state works as a fly-drive triangle, or as a chapter in a bigger southern route toward New Orleans and the music cities.
Flights from UK airports
Route check September 2026. Some routes are seasonal and schedules change, so we confirm the live options when we quote.
Practical details
6 hours behind the UK
US dollar ($)
English, with Spanish widely spoken
Type A and B, 120V
On the right
Safe to drink
Expected, around 18 to 20 percent at table service; at counter-service barbecue places a tip jar is usual but optional
Entry for British passport holders
Visa. You need an ESTA (or a visa) before you fly, including if you are only changing planes in the USA. Apply through the official ESTA website.
Passport. Valid for your whole stay.
Summarised from the FCDO travel advice on gov.uk, checked 29 September 2026. Rules change: read the current entry requirements and the full travel advice before you go.
Questions we get asked
Ten nights covers Dallas, Austin, the Hill Country, San Antonio and Houston without rushing. With a week, drop Houston or Dallas; with two, add the coast at Galveston or a detour west to Big Bend, which needs several days on its own. The longer drives between the big cities take three hours or more.
Austin suits couples and groups who want live music, food trucks and a young, outdoor feel. San Antonio is easier with children and for history, with the River Walk, the Alamo and the missions all close together. They sit close enough to each other that a route can easily include both.
For sightseeing on foot, often yes: August averages 37°C in Austin, and the heat in Houston is heavier and more humid. A summer trip can work with early starts, afternoons in a pool or a spring-fed river, and museums and music indoors, but spring and autumn are far kinder for a driving holiday.
Fort Worth's Stockyards hold a rodeo every Friday and Saturday night all year, which is the easiest to fit into a trip. The big shows are seasonal: San Antonio in February, Houston from late February into March, and Austin in March, each with concerts after the competition.
At the famous smokehouses in Austin the queue can start before breakfast, and the meat runs out by early afternoon. Do it once if you love barbecue; otherwise, the old halls in Lockhart and smaller places across the Hill Country serve superb brisket with a much shorter wait.
Yes. From Houston it is a long day's drive east through the Louisiana bayous, and finishing in New Orleans makes a fine open-jaw trip, flying home from there. Drop-off fees for a hire car returned in another state can be steep, so we compare the options before booking.
Photographs
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