I'm planning a trip to visit the painted churches around Schulenberg and Flatonia TX. It's not clear to me if they are all open to the public or if you need to be part of a guided tour. Any advice?

We toured the painted churches several years ago and it was a self guided tour using maps from the Chamber of Commerce. They may have changed their procedure since then, as implied on their website.

http://www.schulenburgchurches.org/c...sp?pageid=1798

These 2 other threads may help too:
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...d-churches.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...lenberg-tx.cfm

Thanks! Looking forward to checking them out.

Hello honestaeb

Just this past spring, my DH and I did a self-guided tour of several of the painted churches. They are truly lovely!

The tourist office in Schulenburg has a map you can purchase (several dollars as I recall), or their website has lots of information.

http://www.schulenburgchurches.org/c...sp?pageid=1798

Of course, they are interested in having you book a tour with them, but it is so easy to do on your own.

Other good websites to explore:

http://www.klru.org/paintedchurches/churches.html

http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralT...urchesTour.htm

http://www.schulenburgchamber.org/Vi...-Churches.html

We set up our tour of the churches to visit 2 in the morning, then lunch at the Oakridge Restaurant (if you've never tried chicken fried steak, this is the place!), then 2 churches in the afternoon.

We visited in a.m.:
* Ammansville (St. John the Baptist Catholic Church)
* Dubina (St. Cyril & Methodious) - without a group tour, access to this church is limited to the narthex, where there is an iron gate separating the church. You can see thru the bars, take some pictures, but no walking thru without a tour

In p.m. we visited:
* High Hill (Nativity of Mary Catholic)
* Praha (St. Mary's)