10 Places to Go in Texas for the Weekend

The capital city of Texas, Austin draws millions of visitors every year with its toe-tapping tunes, gastronomic innovation, and razzle-dazzle rodeo shows. It’s also jam-packed with galleries, museums, and colourful bars where you can gather over craft beers and cocktails.

This cosmopolitan city calls itself the Live Music Capital of the World — which means you’ll find emerging talent and established acts in clubs, concert halls, and coffee houses playing a broad array of music including country, bluegrass, new wave, and punk. Visit in March to attend South by Southwest, a mammoth festival of music, film, and culture.

Battle-scarred but ever beautiful, San Antonio is famous for The Alamo (circa 1836) — the scene of Texas’ bloody fight for independence from Mexico. This historic city is sprinkled with well-preserved Romanesque and neo-Gothic Revival architecture and a collection of superb UNESCO Spanish missions.

San Antonio is situated a short drive from Texas Hill Country’s wildflowers, wineries, and whimsical small towns. Its 15-mile River Walk is a trendy visitor draw that’s lined with ritzy restaurants, quirky bars, and outdoor artisan markets. The city is also home to a number of world-class religious and cultural attractions including the 18th-century San Fernando Cathedral and the McNay Art Museum.

Corpus Christi overlooks the warm blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The area charms with its unblemished beaches, sumptuous steak and seafood restaurants, and irresistible island escapes. South Texas hospitality dominates here, so expect the warmest welcome at the city’s boutique hotels, five-star resorts, and waterfront bed-and-breakfasts inns.

If you love wild stretches of windswept coastline, head to Padre Island or Mustang Island for kite surfing, nesting sea turtles, and camping under the stars. Closer to town, the legendary King Ranch offers adventurous tours across its 825,00 acres, while the Texas State Aquarium hosts snorkelling with sharks.

Fort Worth was a 19th-century trading post for cowboys of the Chisholm Trail, yet it’s now a buzzing economic and cultural enclave famed for its art galleries, museums, and Stockyards district, where you’ll find the ongoing Stockyards Championship Rodeo and the world's only twice-daily cattle drive. For country music, visit Billy Bob’s Texas, a venue featuring live bands, a bull-riding arena, and authentic western dining.

Visit the Amon Carter Museum of American Art or Kimbell Art Museum to see western paintings by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, and masterworks by Van Gogh, Matisse, Cézanne, and Michelangelo. The National Cowgirl Museum pays tribute to the pioneering women of the American West with its rare archival footage and rhinestone-encrusted rodeo costumes.

Lake Conroe is a mammoth body of water spanning 22,000 acres in Montgomery County. It’s a haven for watersport enthusiasts, with 157 miles of unsullied shoreline. You can enjoy kayaking, fishing, swimming, and jet skiing, as well as dry activities not far from the shore. There’s lakeside dining, forest hikes, and a farmer’s market city centre.

Lake Conroe is home to hundreds of migrating bird species as well as beautiful native raptors including bald eagles and ospreys. Purchase a craft drink pass for access to the region’s breweries, wineries, distilleries, and cellars where you’ll enjoy tasting flights and spirit sampling.

Marfa is quite intense for a small desert town. It’s located 60 miles from the Mexican border. Art installations pepper the arid Texan landscape including Ballroom Marfa’s transcendental Stone Circle and the isolated Prada Marfa (an art installation that’s a perennial favourite on Instagram).

Marfa is sandwiched between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park. The surreal Lone Star outpost is home to the Chinati Foundation (which showcases aluminium and concrete sculptures) and the New Star Grocery Art Museum (filled with intriguing and unusual works). For an authentic saloon experience, swing by the popular Marfa Spirit Co. to enjoy steaks and cocktails among people in cowboy attire in a rustic setting.

Affectionally called “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” Amarillo is as well known for its burnt orange canyonlands as for its quirky roadside attractions and niche cultural museums. Out here the skies are big, the plains are vast, and the steaks could feed a family for a week.

Stop by Cadillac Ranch on Route 66 to see kaleidoscopic vintage cars emerging from the hot desert sand, or horseback ride across the alien landscapes of Palo Duro Canyon to witness awe-inspiring rock formations. The Buddy Holly Centre (in the nearby town of Lubbock) pays homage to one of America’s most celebrated rock ‘n’ roll performers with a guitar-shaped gallery that houses memorabilia.

Texas Hill Country covers 31,000 square miles. It’s beloved for its rolling farmland, towns rich in Americana, and diverse restaurants serving a broad variety of fare including Tex Mex, German food, baked goods, and barbecue. Wine-lovers will delight in more than two dozen vineyards including the award-winning Flat Creek Estate and Messina Hof Winery.

This expansive region on the outskirts of Austin boasts a number of natural swimming spots including Hamilton Pool Preserve (near the town of Dripping Springs), which sparkles a seductive shade of emerald green when the sunlight hits the water. Visit the Blanco Lavender Festival in June for fragrant flowers, cold beer, and plenty of live music.

Mustang Island, near Corpus Christi, is an 18-mile seaside sanctuary that overlooks the Gulf of Mexico. Celebrated for its gold sand beaches and big wave surfing, it’s also a veritable hotbed for birding enthusiasts (keep watch for the rainbow-plumed painted bunting and the candy floss roseate spoonbill).

It’s billed as the fishing capital of Texas; the town of Port Aransas (situated at the northern end of the island) draws anglers from far and wide with its exhilarating offshore excursions, picturesque piers, and channels teeming with speckled trout and redfish. Watersport fanatics will be in their element with an abundance of opportunities to parasail and jet ski.

The river city of Beaumont is only minutes from the Louisiana border. It’s a former oil boomtown dating to 1835. This timeworn Texan treasure is resplendent with architectural feats including the McFaddin-Ward House (Beaux-Arts Colonial) and the Pompeiian Villa (Classical Revival).

Learn about Beaumont’s lucrative black gold history with a visit to Spindletop-Gladys City Boomtown Museum, which documents the year Spindletop Hill spewed 10,000 barrels of oil for nine consecutive days. Alternatively, drive to Heritage Village in the nearby town of Woodville to discover an eclectic collection of pioneer buildings.