LBJ and Bush Libraries-how to plan
 

We want to spend a few days in Dallas-Austin. Want to see both Bush libraries and LBJ. How far apart?
Cheap t fly in and out of Dallas, but smarter to fly into Dallas and ut f Austin?

You'll need to price both airfare and car rentals to know if it's cheaper to fly into DFW and out of Austin.

It's about a 3- to 4-hour drive depending on traffic, but there could be a drop-off fee for the car if you rent at DFW and drop off in Austin.

However, be aware that the George W Bush library is at SMU in Dallas, while the George HW Bush Library is in College Station (about a similar distance from Dallas as Austin is). Then you have to drive another two hours or so to get to Austin from there.

Basically, a minimum of 3 days.

When are you planning this trip?
College Station is a college town and will be expensive if you pick a home footballl game weekend. Prepare to spend a half day to full day at the Bush Sr library. If you want recs for food and other things in College Station let me know what you like as we have lived here for quite a while

Also Austin has a huge nightlife and music scene along with a foodie destination so let me know your interests there as well.

The above advice for driving is correct but I would add a day for Hill Country and San Antonio if you haven't visited before

Make sure you give yourself a bit of time for roaming the grassland prairie around the George W Bush library at SMU. I was with my mom who can't walk far and didn't get to, but it's an incredible piece of land right in the middle of Dallas.

And if you aren't going to see the 6th floor museum, you really should add that on to your trip as well. It's very well done and very interesting. And you can see the grassy knoll.

I'd fly into Dallas in the morning, see the 6th Floor Museum that afternoon. Spend the night, the next morning go to 43's museum. they also supposedly have a really good restaurant. Get in the car and drive to college station. Depending on what time you get there, you can see the museum that afternoon or spend the night in college station and see it the next morning. Then get up the next day and go to the LBJ library.

You might want to add another few days on and go to Johnson City and see LBJ's ranch. but stay in Fredericksburg. Very cute town with lots of b&bs.

<<We want to spend a few days in Dallas-Austin. Want to see both Bush libraries and LBJ. How far apart?>>

You can google the distances from Dallas-Austin, Austin-CS and CS-Dallas. You'll be in Texas, you need to rent a car, period. You can stop at Rudy's in Waco en route from Dallas to Austin - of the chain bbq places, it's easily the best because it's actually good.

What the previous two responders are telling you is that the elder Bush's library is NOT in Dallas. George H.W. Bush's presidential library is in College Station, which is closer to Houston (and especially the Bush Airport on the NW edge of Houston) than to either Austin or Dallas). Only George W. Bush's presidential library is in Dallas. It may make more sense for you to come into Dallas and leave from Houston, or vice versa, than to have your trips through Dallas and Austin.

And if you do go to the Sixth Floor Museum and the grassy knoll, don't be a fool and go wading out onto Elm Street to take pictures (this happens a LOT). That's still one of the most highly trafficked areas of the city.

To tack on -- I was thinking of a similar trip early next spring. (waiting for the NBA schedule to come out to see if I could coordinate w/ game(s) in Houston/Dallas/SA - but mostly interested in the Pres. museums)

Assuming San Antonio is out of the mix it sounds like it makes sense to fly into Houston, drive to Austin, drive to Dallas, fly home from there (or vice versa) ? If I end up with less time -- are any of the libraries less 'worthwhile' than the others? I know that is TOTALLY subjective but if one only has time for 2 which should they be.

Unless you want to go to Houston or do a round-trip from there (and there is a strong argument for doing that this fall, once the new Menil Drawing Center opens), it doesn't make any more sense to use that as your begin or end point than Austin.

If you just want to see all three presidential libraries, then flying into DFW and out of Austin makes the most sense. Otherwise, you are tacking on an extra 100-mile drive from Houston to or from College Station, and I don't understand why you'd do that. It's not as if Austin is on the way from either Houston to College Station or Dallas to College Station. It's a big triangle.

And all the really interesting stuff beyond the libraries is, in my opinion at least, in Austin or the Texas Hill Country, which is north and west of Austin (while Houston is due east).

<<Unless you want to go to Houston or do a round-trip from there (and there is a strong argument for doing that this fall, once the new Menil Drawing Center opens), it doesn't make any more sense to use that as your begin or end point than Austin.>>

Yeah it does - Houston has a major airport with additional flight options. Austin and San Antonio are two large cities within 70 miles of each other and are both served by small airports.