A week in Texas?

Your itinerary calls for a LOT of driving: Dallas - Austin (4 hours), Austin - San Antonio (1.5 hours), San Antonio - Corpus (2.5 hours) and Corpus - Houston (5 hours). That's really a full day of your vacation just driving!
I'd recommend paring down what you really want to see and do. If it were me, I'd fly into Austin and spend most of my time in the Hill Country (Austin/San Antonio). There's also lots of neat little towns in the area, like Fredericksburg, which are worth a day trip. Then drive from San Antonio to Houston (3.5 hours) and spend your last 2 days there and fly out of Houston. If you absolutely have to go to a beach, Galveston is only an hour away and Moody Gardens is nice.

That's an awful lot of driving for only one day in most of the cities. I'm not sure you can do justice to all of them in only a week.

Dallas and Fort Worth are far enough apart that getting from one to the other takes a little doing. You easily could spend 2 days in each of them.

Austin is at least 3 hours from the DFW area (depending on from where/to where you are driving and time of day), so you lose about half a day to driving there. San Antonio is at least an hour from Austin, and I always allowed at least 90 minutes.

I would skip Corpus Christi. The Texas coast is just not that pretty compared to other parts of the US. If you really want to see the water, make a trip to Galveston while you are in Houston.

And San Antonio to Houston is at least 3 hours. Traffic around Houston can be horrific, so it easily could take 4 hours or more when you factor inexactly where you are going.

Otherwise, I would say all four of the four specific things you mentioned above are worth visiting.

That should be "factor in exactly" - if you "factory inexactly" you are likely to get lost!

Take seriously the advice longhorn55 and I gave about distances and driving - I'm sure many others will echo it. I don't think I would enjoy the itinerary you are proposing, even without jet lag!

The Hill Country is indeed pretty, and different from the countryside in England, but I am not sure it outranks Dallas and Fort Worth for first-time international visitors. If you were coming when the wildflowers are blooming in spring, on the other hand, I would say by all means visit the Hill Country. Of course, if you want to see more than just cities, a small town like Fredericksburg (founded by German immigrants) might be a welcome change.

I completely agree that is too much driving. And one night in San Antonio is just not enough time! I'd suggest picking a couple of main areas. With only one week, I'd recommend the Dallas-Fort Worth area followed by San Antonio. Maybe one day in Austin if you really want. But I wouldn't suggest squeezing Corpus Christi and Houston in such a short trip.

I would skip Houston and the coast and spend more time in San Antonio and Texas Hill country.

Here my personal recommendations:

- An evening in Fort Worth at the Stockyards is an excellent introduction into Texan lifestyle. Enjoy the hubbub of beer & BBQ places, bars, western stores, arriving and departing trains, Harley Davidsons, middle-aged long-haired bearded men in black leather and their matching brides and colourful street life. I would strongly recommend to stay in a hotel in the Stockyards area (or to come and go by taxi).

Besides, Fort Worth has several art museums. However, I am not sure, if those are so special for a European.

- Austin is a beautiful city with its lake and park, the Capitol building and nice museums. The main reason to visit Austin is, however, the music scene. Walk through the blues clubs on 6th Street or into those famous venues like Antone's Club (actually on 5th Street).

- When you are driving from Austin to San Antonio, take the scenic backroads through Texas Hill country. There are wineries and charming small towns and villages. Fredericksburg has been mentioned. I would add Luckenbach, a tiny hamlet (pop. 3) with lots of ambiance, all-day live music and pulled pork sandwiches, and Gruene, another tiny village with a primordial dance hall where celebrities like Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Taj Mahal, Arlo Guthrie and even Englishman John Mayall performed. I wished we would have stayed overnight in Gruene in order to experience a nightly performance in Gruene Hall.

- San Antonio deserves much more than one night. It easily wins the "Most beautiful City of Texas"-contest. The riverwalk is just one attraction. There are others: The five (!) missions, all different and easy to visit, the King William Historic District, the Spanish Governor's Palace, the colourful Mexican market, the Buckhorn Saloon, the Institute of Texan Cultures and, again, several other museums.

Visiting Texas is really an experience, and the heart of Texas is not in the big cities but in the small villages. What can you expect from a State, whose capital city's motto is "Keep Austin weird!"? - Really weird people. You will see them in the Stockyards, in Luckenbach, in Gruene Hall, in the Buckhorn Saloon and at many other places. These people, their music, excellent (German style) beer, pulled pork, barbecued steaks and the mixture of cultures make Texas a unique experience.

Wow, such good replies already - thanks! OK, so far I think we can cut out Corpus Christi and maybe see Galveston when we're in Houston. That gives us an extra night for San Antonio and a visit to Frederickburg on the way. I don't mind driving (in fact I quite enjoy the experience of driving in the States). Keep the ideas coming!

If you can time your trip to have you in San Antonio for a Saturday night/Sunday morning, I really enjoyed the Mariachi Mass at one of the local missions. Enjoy dinner and nightlife on the Riverwalk then visit the church/mission the next morning. It was about 1/2 locals and about 1/2 tourists when I was there but it was a memorable service.

What interests you in Houston?

Not sure if you're traveling w/ children, your ages or if this is even your thing but there are also two fabulous parks in SA - Seaworld and Fiesta Texas. In September Seaworld is open on weekends only so you'd need to take that into consideration. If you're into amusement rides, Fiesta Texas is open on Sept. 4, 5, 6, 11 & 12th. My husband and I have 2 kids - ages 4 and 8 - and we go at least once - if not more - every summer. The dates are limited as it's the end of the season but if you're "riders" you may want to try and work them into your plans.

Here are the websites:
http://www.seaworld.com/sanantonio/
http://www.sixflags.com/fiestaTexas/index.aspx

Ya'll have a great time...lol!

We won't be looking for theme parks this time (too old!). I thought about visiting Houston because of NASA and because we tend to like visiting cities for a couple of nights. Thanks for the tip about the Mariachi Mass. I just 'googled' it and like the sound of it.

Have you been to Texas previously? Much of the driving between cities is incredibly boring and far from scenic. You will also want to check out the added cost of picking up a hired car in one location and returning it to another, as it can be quite dear.
Are you locked into arriving into Dallas? What will be your departure in England? You could fly into Houston, spend two days there, pick up a car and drive to Austin (3 - 3.5 hours) for a night or two, then drive through the Hill Country to San Antonio (allow 2 hours, more if stopping along the way) for two or three days, continue back to Houston/Galveston (3.5-4 hours), return the car and depart from Houston.

jaguar7777777-
I'm a native Texan and happy to welcome you to the Lone Star State! There is so much to see and do here that, since you only have a week, I'd suggest you concentrate your visit on the central area of Texas: Austin, San Antonio and the surrounding Hill Country. Your original itinerary is way too much time driving on the interstate and not enough time enjoying what Texas has to offer. Echnaton gave you some great recommendations here! If you will post again with a little more detail about your interests and taste in food and entertainment, we can give you lots of excellent tips and trip ideas.

I second Saige's sentiments and also advice. I am also a native Texan and live very near Houston. Austin, though, is my first love. There is so much to do there and in the surrounding Hill Country area. I would fly into DFW and see Ft. Worth if you are interested in the "cowboy" side of Texas. I would drive to Austin and make that your "day trip" location. You can see Austin, New Braunfels/Gruene, Fredricksburg, some really good wineries, and San Antonio. If you must drive to see NASA, then the drive from Austin to Houston is just about 2.5 hours. NASA is another 45 minutes with traffic. Galveston is nice but would not be on my list if I only had a week. Rental car rates as a rule are fairly inexpensive in Texas, compared to other parts of the US, even with a one way charge tacked on. Use Priceline to book your hotels. The four and three star downtown choices in Austin are all good options and will save you a lot of money that you can spend on the great food in Austin and beyond. If you let us know the types of things you are interested in, we all can probably help you out a bit more.

May I also add a question about your including a visit to the coast? I'm not sure what your expectations are of the Texas coast, so it would be good to know what you are expecting. You aren't really going to find a beautiful coastline at Galveston either. Galveston itself is very interesting, just want to check on what you are looking for in the coastal visit.

Thanks for your kind replies and offers to help. We've visited 23 States on our holidays over the years and Texas would be No.24! We keep coming back because, as well as the great scenery and cities, almost invariably the people are very kind and helpful. Having read your replies so far, maybe we'll look into flying into San Antonio (hopefully from Manchester although we accept we may have to fly from London), stay in SA for 3 nights, then take in the Hill Country and Austin (2 nights?) and then choose between Houston or Dalles/FW (2 nights). We'll forget about the coast I think. Our second week will be a cruise from Fort Lauderdale, so we'll need to fly there from our last Texan city. The one-way charge for a rental car is a good point, but I'll shop around to get a good deal. Our interests are varied. It seems a shame to travel all that way and not see The Alamo and the Dallas Sixth Floor Book Depository Museum but equally we'd like to get a taste of what the real Texas is all about. Cheers!

There is a lot of good information in other posts by city on this forum that you might look at as you decide where to spend your time in Texas.

When you visit the Riverwalk in San Antonio, the Alamo is just a short walk from that area. There are many good hotels and dining options on the Riverwalk.

Unless you plan to take advantage of the cultural opportunities in Houston, I would not make that a destination on this trip. NASA is not actually in Houston but about an hour away.

A recent post on Fort Worth has some good suggestions for museums.

Continental has two flights daily from Manchester to their hub in Newark from which you can fly direct (or via Houston) to San Antonio. In fact, CO also serves Fort Lauderdale so you might check whether you can book a multiple destinations itinerary on my favorite airline. Do check out booking the international and domestic US portions separately, as it sometimes works out to be less expensive.

The Alamo is very much a part of the real Texas, so your are right that it would be a shame to miss seeing it! Must visitors, however, are surprised to discover that it is squarely in the middle of San Antonio, so you have the iconic façade surrounded by the concrete of the city.

The Alamo is right in the heart of SA, as Cranachin said, across the street from Ripley's Believe it or Not (why, oh why?). It's pretty small, so don't expect it to take you much more than an hour to view. On your way from SA to Austin you might enjoy Natural Bridge Caverns - we thought they were pretty spectacular.

Thanks again. I've just asked three travel agents for a price. The first one suggests flying to Dallas/Fort Worth from Manchester via Chicago. Rental car for 7 nights. Staying Dallas (or FW) 3 nights, San Antonio (3 nights), Austin (2 nights). He says no drop-off fee for car. He suggests visiting Austin last because there's a direct Jet Blue flight to Fort Lauderdale (for the second week of our holiday). I suppose the down side is the lng trip from Dallas to SA. Never heard of Jet Blue.

Don't forget to visit Fort Worth- you can easily spend most of the day there and you don't need to drive from Dallas as the Trinity Rail Road is very cheap and quick. Infact, also being English when we visited the Dallas area last year we didn't hire a car at all as we used the DART (tram system) and Trinity Rail Road train for our entire vacation.

You shouldn't forget the shopping at NorthPark mall which is awesome, Dallas Zoo and trying to catch a basketball or ice hockey game at the American Airlines Center. Also, not sure if you will be there for the start of the NFL season but catching a game at the new £1 billion Dallas Cowboys stadium should not be missed! Finally, the food in Dallas is some of the best in the world!! (I ate at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant last week and still think the French Room, Abacus and Bob's... are better)

Skip HOuston! It is hard to get around, flat and my opinion - hot, humid and somewhat boring.

I have not flown jetBlue, but I have friends who do regularly and think it is wonderful.

What is there to see in Houston? (I've been once, and IMHO, the answer is not much).

I'd limit San Antonio and Austin to 2 days/nights each, with a day in-between for Gruene and Fredericksburg. You could spend more time in San Antonio if you're interested in the missions or things like Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not and SeaWorld, otherwise, you can see everything there is to see (Riverwalk, Mexican marketplace, King William District, the Alamo) in a day and a half. I don't know anything about the Dallas area, but if that's worth 3 days, then you have your week -- Dallas 3 days, San Antonio 2 days, Austin 2 days.

Thanks guys. I agree with sf7307 that Dallas/FW 3 nights, San Antonio 2 nights and Austin 2 nights is just about right. Cranachin - thanks for the feedback about Jet Blue. I'd love to see the Cowboys but I'll bet the tickets are hard to get (even if they do happen to have a home game when we're there). I do enjoy the NFL and I've been lucky enough to see 4 games so far. The DART and Trinity Railroad sound good also. Maybe we should only hire the car when I'm about to leave Dallas. That would make it cheaper, presumably. My wife would enjoy the mall. Hey - no-one's mentioned Southfork! lol

<<<Hey - no-one's mentioned Southfork! lol>>>

That might be the ONLY good reason to go to Dallas LOL (I've never been in Dallas for sightseeing - just for a family wedding).

As for the Cowboys, IF you're interested, tickets can always be gotten for sold-out games, either on the "ticket trader" portion of the team's own website (where season ticket holders can sell their unused tickets) or on craigslist.

jaguar,

I'm wholly disappointed in the responders who are encouraging you to skip Dallas/Fort Worth.

I am from Chicago originally, but have called the D/FW area "home" for more than 20 years now.

There is MUCH to see and do in the area. And the Sixth Floor Museum is one of my favorites. It is an emotional visit, but extremely well-done. DO rent the audiotour.

In addition, Dallas has some fine museums and excellent shopping. I'm sure you have searched the internet for same.

Someone suggested it is a long haul from Dallas to Fort Worth. That is simply not true (unless you are driving in rush hour traffic on a weekday morning or evening). In the middle of the day and on weekends, you can get from city center to city center in 50 mts.

I do recommend "hiring" a car while you are here. The Metroplex (as we are known locally) is very spread out. The stop to see the new Cowboys Stadium is almost halfway between the two cities, and just off the interstate you would travel to get from one to the other (I-30). It is a beautiful stadium and I wouldn't miss it if you like American football. Additionally, they do offer tours when games are not being played. Here is the website: http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/

The schedule is not out yet for 2010. But if you are interested in tickets, (they will probably still be in pre-season and tickets should be less expensive and easier to come by) the Cowboys have a link on their website for ticket "re-sales". More season ticket holders sell their pre-season tickets than regular-game tickets. Schedules for new season generally come out 10 weeks after the Superbowl. So, around mid-April you should start checking the website for tickets. The new stadium is awe-inspiring. (We locals refer to it as "The Death Star" since, lit up at night, it kind of does look like the Death Star. hahaha)

If you like American baseball, the Texas Rangers play in The Ballpark, just a couple blocks from the new Cowboys stadium! They will still be playing in September and it is a beautiful ballpark. Here is their website (home games are in dark blue): http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=tex&m=9&y=2010.

In Fort Worth, the Stockyards, as suggested, does have much in the way of cowboy-themed history and sites. There is a standing rodeo and a daily walk by some famed longhorn steer:
http://www.fortworthstockyards.org/ You can also sign up for email at that website and you will receive emails about updated events, etc.

Not too far from the Stockyards is Sundance Square. A very fun Saturday night for all. I love it. http://www.sundancesquare.com/

Fort Worth also has a wonderful zoo and a beautiful Botanic Gardens. They also have some of the best museums in the country. The Kimbell is awesome: https://www.kimbellart.org/index.aspx The Amon Carter has some of the most extensive and fabulous collections of American art, especially Western art. They have more Remington's than any other museum I know. http://www.cartermuseum.org/ The National Cowgirl Hall of Fame can also be found in the Arts District: http://www.cowgirl.net/

Well, there is a starter for you! If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer. But I think 4 days in D/FW could be quite fun!

Have a wonderful trip!

Tickets for sold out events can also be gotten on the StubHub website, if that's what you're looking for.

I will add an opinion if it not too late... I did not see who is in your group and what your group likes to do. But I would definitely skip Houston and the coast for this trip. When I go to the coast I go to the west side of Florida. There is no comparison in my mind!

In my opinion you will regret not renting a car. We do not have the public transportation in place yet to see all you would want to see via train. The train just does not go all the places you would like to see. And the schedule is limiting!

A suggestion might be to rent a car at DFW and spend a night or two at the Hilton in Southlake Town Center. You can have some great food (Brio is nice) and do some shopping and regroup. We Texans like to eat and shop! In Southlake you are 25 minutes from Fort Worth and 25 minutes from downtown Dallas. So you could take a day and go each way. Roanoke is alittle out of the way to Fort Worth, but a cute little town with Texas Charm. Go to Babes and get some home cooking!

I prefer Fort Worth to Dallas. The downtown area of Fort Worth (Sundance Square) is a great safe place to wander, eat, see live music and get a feel for the area. I agree with the Botanic Gardens. In the fall they have outdoor concerts that are really nice. Don't miss the Bass Hall if something is happening while you are in town! It is wonderful! The museums are very nice! Sage56 hit all the links for you! I would leave out the stockyards. Except for Joe T Garcia's. A great local mexican food that has been in the area since the 20's. Arlington is a great suggestion if you like baseball or to see what is happen ing at the Cowboy stadium or just take the tour. It is impressive. Then I would hop a plane to Austin or San Antonio. In my opinion you do not have time to do both. The hill country around Austin would be my choice. They have great food/music and you can rent a car and drive to Fredricksburg.

NFL Schedule is out. Dallas will be at home Sep. 19 (noon) against Chicago Bears (probably not a game I would like to see). Then they won't be back to TX until October.

There is also a preseason game against Miami that is TBD but will be around Sep. 5th or so. Pre-season games usually don't mean anything (Romo will only play first half), but prices will be cheaper.

If you want to see the Rangers (baseball team) play, they are home the following dates: Sep 10-12 vs Yankees (highly recommend seeing a game in this series), Sep 14-15 vs Detroit, Sep 27-28 vs Seattle, 29-30 vs Angels

In my opinion, there is much greater value in seeing a baseball game than in seeing a football game, and I'm a hard core football fan. There have been many complaints from Cowboys seasons ticket holders that the prices are so expensive at the new stadium that they have been priced out.

Instead of paying several hundred in football just for lousy seats and more for parking and overpriced food and drinks, you can pay $25 for great seats in baseball, less for parking, and less for still overpriced food and drinks. You're talking $500 per person versus $50 per person.

By the way, if you haven't been to a baseball game, I can't imagine a better time to see it than seeing the Yankees play the Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington. It is a beautiful classic ballpark that will give you the full feel of baseball in America.

Houston in early September is still going to be soupy -- 90+ degrees (that's 32+ C) and humid and the city will stink even more than it normally does.

Dallas has a fine arts district in downtown, which is worth a visit. The Ballpark In Arlington is a great place to watch a baseball game.

Whoever is giving short shrift to DFW area is a bit daft. San Antonio is riverwalk and missions but the DFW area has far more to offer.

The Dallas Museum of Art has a fine permanent collection (better than the Kimball's -- the Kimball gets top rank exhibitions but its permanent collection is very modest) and the Nasher museum and Crow Asian Art collection are all within a block or two. The Dallas Zoo's Giants of the Savannah 11-acre exhibit will open next month and promises to be pretty special too.

You need a car in Texas, period.

P.S. -- Texas has 6 of the 25 largest cities in America within its state lines, so I'm thinking the Stockyards in FW don't exactly reflect the "Texan lifestyle" of the 2010s.