Hi,

My wife and I are from the UK & we'd like to have a week in Texas during our USA holiday in early November, starting in Dallas. We'd like a mixture of cities, countryside and coastline. Include some shopping and an art gallery/museum please!

Go to www.traveltex.com and you can order a full guide to Texas and all it has to offer. There are also other travel planning tools for Texas there.

While not as scenic in November, a drive in the Texas Hill Country would be Luckenbach, Fredericksburg, Johnson City, Marble Falls, and Wimberley. I think that the area is very pretty and deserves at least one night of your 7 day trip. Coming from the UK you might also like San Antonio because of the history associated with the Texans and Mexicans. The most popular mission is the Alamo but the area has at least 4 other noteworthy missions. Austin is another great city and it is very unique. Probably about 3 hours from Dallas and you could day trip to the Hill Country from Austin. For museums in Austin I always enjoy the Umlauf Sculputre Garden. Others include the Bob Bullock Museum(Texas History) and the new Blanton Art Museum. I haven't been to the Blanton but I hear it is good. Hope this helps.

Definately order the guide on traveltex.com - it comes with an excellent driving map showing local roads if you want some scenery vs. highways.

In Dallas, there's Nasher Sculpture Center which is a must see.
Ft Worth has the Kimabll as their must see museum. Many others as well...but you only have 7 days!!

I like to drive to Glen Rose and visit Fossil Rim - it's an African style drive through safari. Then we visit Dinosaur Valley State Park - where you can see fossilized dino footprints in the riverbed of the Paluxy River.

For coastline, I prefer Port Aransas over the other towns. I has a nice feel to it. Stay on the beach - either Sandollar Sity or The Beach Lodge.

I just noticed that www.traveltex.com has driving routes on the site, too.

In Dallas, do not miss the 6th Floor Museum which was the Texas Book Depository from which JFK was shot. The museum is very well done and a definite do not miss.

If you do the Hill Country, note that most shopping in Fredricksburg is closed on Sunday. It's great down there and definitely pretty.

Thanks a lot everyone. I'll give the link to traveltex a try.

You will definitely want to make sure you include a visit to Austin, San Antonio, and the Texas Hill Country.

The weather should be nice for strolling around the Riverwalk in San Antonio, and the scene in Austin is quite lively.

I'd say fly into Dallas, one night there and do JFK Museum/etc... and then head over to Austin for a night (do 6th Street) and then San Antonio for two nights (Alamo, Riverwalk, and SeaWorld if open). Then, head on over to Galveston, spend two nights there while touring Moody Gardens, historic homes, the dock area, and the Seawall. Finally, drive on back to Dallas and spend your last night in Dallas before heading back to the UK.

Itinerary:

1 Night Dallas
1 Night Austin
2 Nights San Antonio
2 Nights Galveston
1 Night Dallas

That would give you 7 nights/8 days and you would have seen most of Texas, except for Corpus Christi and South Padre Island.

I like the itinerary posted. Except I wouldn't drive back to Dallas from Galveston. I'd buy really cheap tickets in advance on Southwest and fly back to Dallas.

How long is the drive from Galveston to Dallas? Surely that's a waste of time. Though it does complicate logistics to be without a car in Dallas and have to get from Love Field to DFW.

Rather than spending 2 days in Galveston, spend 1 day and spend the other in Fort Worth. It is part of the metro Dallas-FW area, but has a very different vibe and character than Dallas and its suburbs.

Thanks for your replies, I'll give them all careful thought,

Steve