I am coming to visit my cousin who recently moved to Abilene in June. I will be there for the weekend and we want to go out and have fun. Where is the best place to go Dallas, Austin or SA?

Flying? Driving? What exactly do you want to see/do?

It's 180 miles from Abilene to Dallas and even at our relatively higher freeway speed limits that's about a 3 hour drive each way.

Austin is 220 miles from Abilene - figure 3.5 to 3.75 hours drive time each way.

San Antonio is 250 miles away - 4.5 to 5 hours drive time each way.

Those are pretty long distances to go to "do something" while visiting a friend in Abilene.

Depending on what you call fun? I guess this is for a weekend type getaway from Abilene?

Schlitterbahn Water Park in New Braunfels
You could do a day or two in San Antonio too.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park and Guadalupe National Park
(do the wild cave tour there offered on Sunday and Saturdays only)

Carlsbad and Big Bend are about 8 and 5 hours' drive away from Abilene. That's a little too far to drive for a weekend!

Many people from Abilene drive to Fort Worth for the weekend. You will definitely need to stay in a hotel overnight since it is a 3-hour drive. Downtown Fort Worth has lots of clubs/bars and is very walkable. It will be hot in June, but everythign in Texas has air conditioning!

Abilene to Dallas is less than 200 miles and 3 hours is about right.

Carlsbad is 275 miles away. Texas is a big state, so that is a weekend drive in many peoples mind in Texas. So, really it's only about 4 hours. Speed limits are 80 MPH(85 in a couple of spots), so pedal to the metal. I don't remember exactly what it is in that area, but we drove from Oklahoma once to Carlsbad and I remember seeing really high limits in several stretches.

I didn't mention Big Bend. I mentioned Guadalupe which is less than an hour from Carlsbad. 2 National Parks that can easily be done in a weekend. I've flown into Midland or El Paso and done it 4 times.

I would not do shitterbahn on a weekend in June ...crowds to big. However I would think Austin or San Antonio would be better from a travel perspective for Texas.

I would look into maybe a best BBQ journey

http://www.texasmonthly.com/eat-my-w...arbecue-joints

This list is updated every five years with it coming out last year. A group of us generally go for a round of golf and two BBQ places every three months or so. A few are towards Abilene