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Dallas for the first time. Rent car? Activities?

Dallas for the first time. Rent car? Activities?

Old Feb 12th, 2017, 04:54 AM
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Dallas for the first time. Rent car? Activities?

I am trying to put together a quick trip to Dallas March 2017 to attend a professional conference which will last 1.5 days during the week. Since I've never been and am very excited to go to Texas I'll go early and arrive on Saturday mid-day, stay in the Park Central area (on the Hotwire map), will have one full day before the conference and another half day following the conference close at noon. So I'm looking to experience Dallas in one full and two half days.

Should I rent a car? I have no difficulty with using public transportation and in this case it may be the better option because then I don't have to be stressed while driving and can look around. I won't be able to do that while driving (to the extent that I'd like to anyways!). I don't have a hotel yet so I'm not sure if there will be transfers from/to the airport.

Without any research into the area I'm guessing I'll want to spend my full day in downtown Dallas--it's a Sunday. How does that impact tourist options? If I'm driving I certainly won't be contending with M-F commute traffic.

Do you have any recommended must sees in the Park Central area? I'm more a being outside, history and architecture type person and less art museum type.

Feel free to suggest/add as you'd like and thank you.
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Old Feb 12th, 2017, 08:17 AM
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I know absolutely nothing about Dallas other than the fact that I was there for a few hours before a flight from Love Field back to LA last February.

I got a lot of help for that weekend trip (it was to Fort Worth to go to a museum)from those on this board. Everyone said "rent a car". And I discovered why that was very good advice. The streets are large, the area vast, and there is not a lot of decent public transportation. What there is, however, are tons of good, inexpensive parking, and super cheap gas! So easy to navigate (so unlike L.A.!).

My one recommendation for an activity on a Sunday (which is what we did) was visit the 6th Floor Museum and Dealey Plaza. Absolutely brilliant layout for the whole John F. Kennedy shooting experience and, for me, completely laid to rest my former "conspiracy" theory of this tragic event. The plaza itself is a wonderful place to walk around, including the stroll up on the grassy knoll.

There's a number of hawkers trying to get you to take their tour, but there's absolutely no reason to spend the money for that. An easy do it yourself tour. We found street parking right on the Plaza, but there is a parking lot located next to the 6th Floor Museum.
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Old Feb 13th, 2017, 10:40 AM
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You could get around downtown Dallas without a car by using Uber or cabs for short distances and you could use DART (light rail) for venturing further out but a car would be more convenient.

I know you said you don't care for art museums but the Nasher outdoor sculture garden is fun and the Perot Science Museum has a wide variety of interesting exhibits. The Sixth Floor Museum is essential for a history buff.
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Old Feb 16th, 2017, 10:15 AM
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Get a car.

Dallas is physically larger than NYC. Buses are useless. The DART rail is based on commuting patterns not visitor interest. (One of the best places to visit is the Dallas Arboretum and the DART rail is nowhere near it.)

You won't have a hotel in "Park Central" that has a free transfer to the "airport" (DFW, I'm guessing). DFW is west of downtown Dallas (it's not in Dallas at all, it's its own "town" but was created on land from parts of four Dallas suburbs and it is not even in Dallas County). Your transfer will be a SuperShuttle, Uber, Lyft, cab or rental car.

Downtown Dallas is exceedingly small for a city of its size (9th most populous in the US). There are museums at the Arts District and nearby architectural areas of interest. The west end of downtown (conveniently called the "West End") is the site of the Sixth Floor Museum, Dealey Plaza, Perot Museum, and the Dallas World Aquarium.
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Old Feb 20th, 2017, 11:07 AM
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Uber is great here, so I think you could easily get around without a car. There is not much to see in the Park Central area, but you are just about 10 minutes on highway from the Arts District, and you should definitely check out Klyde Warren Park. I'd also recommend the Dallas Arboretum - there is a huge festival called Dallas Blooms in the spring and its really beautiful. The Bush Museum on the SMU campus would be interesting too.
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Old Feb 24th, 2017, 08:00 PM
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White Rock Lake has a great walking biking trail around (9 miles) and it goes right by the Dallas Arboreteum.
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