Meant to add, stop in Fredericksburg on the way from Austin out west....

I agree with everyone who says to opt for Big Bend instead of El Paso, and Santa Fe instead of Amarillo. Also, I'd stay in Houston and day-trip to Galveston instead of vice-versa.

The State Fair in Dallas is a unique Texas institution, and I'd recommend that.

Another very Texas activity during the fall is high school football. If your schedule works out that you can see a game on a Friday night, that might be fun and interesting.

Also, if you visit Austin on a weekend, be sure to take into account the University of Texas football schedule. Austin is packed on those weekends, and it is hard to find hotel rooms, restaurants are packed, etc.

You have been given lots of good info here. I too agree with skipping El Paso and Amarillo for other points; going to the State Fair; and, adding more time to the San Antonio / Austin area. In addition Galveston is still recovering from Hurricane Ike. I know you are not going for six months, but I just don't see it recovering even by then to warrent staying there. Even in a good year you would need to go lots further south to see blue as opposed to brown ocean water. Sounds like you have a great trip planned, enjoy!

I know how hard it is to plan a visit to a place you have only read about or seen on maps!

The Texas coast is not usually considered a fall and winter vacation destination. It's too cold to swim and a lot of what there is to do is not really happening out of season. I'm from Texas and grew up used to the local beaches, but you might not know that the water is brown and the beaches are not white sugar sand. Just FYI.

The posters who advised Palo Duro or Big Bend instead of Amarillo and El Paso are also right! More time in San Antonio, Austin and the Hill Country is a great idea. You'll find plenty to see and do. And, Albuquerque is too close to NOT see Santa Fe which has much more to offer. You'll probably enjoy Dallas/Ft. Worth if you are into museums, clubs, theatre and big city sights.

Texas is a big state and you will be spending a lot of time driving if you are trying to see it all. You might want to look at posts for individual Texas cities that will give you much greater detail. I know that there are lots of trip reports and good advice for Austin in particular.

Have a great trip!

I think you'd be fine to visit Galveston and Kemah; we've been to both since the hurricane and were able to do all the activities we wanted. Cleanup in the tourist areas gets first priority. Things were in a lot better shape than we were expecting, should be even better by the time you come for your visit.

Since you're from the UK, you may actually be able to go swimming in the Gulf, as the water temp is still in the low 70's even to the end of October, and the air temps can be 80's. I've been swimming in Lake Travis in late October before, so you never know. The water was a bit cold for me, but probably warmer than the water ever gets in the UK even in the summer I would presume.

aga, advertising is a big no-no on these boards.

aga has posted on about every forum and has been reported to editors.

Wow!!
Thanks everyone. As I said this is my first time and I never imagined that I would get so much useful information.
I'll need to really go through it in detail in revising our first thoughts. We'll certainly go around the other way to take advantage of the weather, and we'll incorporate the various sights mentioned - I've already had a quick look at the web-site for the drive-ins and hope with a bit more work we'll find one we can get to.
Looks like Amarillo and El Paso will be out or curtailed and replaced with your suggestions. We'll probably aim to go down to the Gulf, but not for so long.
Lots of planning still do do.... but thanks again, you can't beat info from those in the know. I'll be watching the UK forum in case any of you are heading this way!

vacationbug - just another note on the coast that might help with planning. Our beaches get nicer (and warmer) the further south you go. They are not like Florida. This is because the currents in the Gulf move counterclockwise, so the western Gulf picks up some deposits of silt from the Miss. River, while the eastern Gulf doesn't. So, the beaches and water on North Padre Island (near Corpus) are nicer than the ones in Galveston and the beaches on South Padre Island are nicer than those on North Padre. The beaches on South Padre are actually quite nice.

Since you've got Galveston and Corpus on your list, thought this may help. And there's plenty to see and do in Galveston without the beaches.

bug, I can't seem to locate the name of that drive-in theater. I think it was Starlite, but not positive. If you want another fun theater experience, the Alamo Drafthouse (in Austin and Houston) is a fun place to take in a movie. They have removed every other row of chairs and replaced them with long tables, so you can eat in the theater while you watch the movie. The food is pretty good, and they have buckets of beer, sangria, dessert.

Hi vacationbug! I'm based in Houston, but have a son in college just north of Dallas. Here's what I have for you:

Driveinn Movie Theaters:
Just north of Houston in Hockley TX (www.theshowboatdrivein.com)
And Ennis TX (www.galaxydriveintheatre.com), about an hour south of Dallas on I45.

Corpus is nice in November, but not much to see. I haven't been to Galveston since Ike hit last September, but I hear that they're cleaning it up and restaurants are opening weekly. Definitely would stay in Houston & visit or no more than 1 night there.

We went to check out a college just south of Amarillo in early November last fall. I agree - skip it. There's not much there. We did visit the Palo Duro Canyon, but it's a drive through experience (maybe stop for a picnic). It was in the high 20's to low 30's at night (& foggy), but warmed up to the 50's during the daytime.

Austin & San Antonio will give you plenty to do. Be sure to check out their visitor bureaus online as I'm seeing lots of coupons and discounts being offered lately!

Good luck.

There is also an active drive-in in Gatesville, Texas on HWY 36. And the Alamo Drafthouse Theatres mentioned in another post are unique and fun.

I just want to weigh in and agree that you may not want to spend 1/3 of your trip at Galveston and Corpus. I was raised here in Texas and have been to these beaches many times but wouldn't cross an ocean to spend a week there.

Unless you have someone you want to see in El Paso, you may want to skip this, as others have said. In my opinion, El Paso is not a destination, it's a town you see through the window on the way to somewhere else (like Cloudcroft New Mexico!)

If you are in our neck of the woods at the right time, New Braunfels (between Austin and San Antonio) has a little festival we call Wurstfest taking place from October 30-November 8 this year.

I don't really see the appeal of Corpus myself - I've just never been a fan. We went for a weekend, and it didn't seem like there was much to do there. Wurstfest is a lot of fun - hope you get to see it! www.galveston.com is a good site for Galveston. They have some beautiful old historic homes like Bishop's Palace that you can tour. The Strand is great for shopping - neat historic area. Moody Gardens has an aquarium, penguins, rainforest pyramid, paddleboat, IMAX theater, etc.

volcanogirl,

Is the strand back open after Ike?

Vacationbug, what kinds of things do you most like to do on your vacations? If you tell us what your interests are, it might generate a whole new string of suggestions from all these knowledgeable folks!

For example, my husband and I recently vacationed for a week in Austin (had a great time and got much help from Fodorites). We originally thought of spending 1/2 in San Antonio, 1/2 in Austin but then decided to make a home base in Austin and really get to know the one place (that part's just our style), and day trip to San Antonio.

We were very, very glad for that decision, as it turned out that we are more Austin people than San Antonio, and although I see that it's been suggested to you that you could do four nights in S.A., one day there was just fine for us (a second could have been fun too, but probably not more).

Also, while many people on various threads recommended the town of Gruene, we spent a couple hours there on the way to S.A. and while we enjoyed ourselves ok, we thought it was pretty touristy and a couple hours was plenty - we could have skipped it. We did like seeing some of the old buildings there, and for full disclosure, I had a cold that day, so maybe I was grumpy Also, we thought maybe we'd stop back at the Gruene music hall on the way back to Austin, but when we peeked in to check it out, I saw that there were ashtrays lined up on all the tables...and I'm allergic, so that was that...obviously that won't bother you if you're a smoker or don't mind being around it.

Otoh, there were some who thought a whole week in Austin would be too long, even with the day trip to S.A., and going in I was a little concerned about that...but we didn't think so at all. So it all depends who you are and what you like to do...

I will say, tho', that while I can't speak to the other posters' suggestions of where in Texas you should spend less time, I can say that on another trip, we loved Santa Fe/Taos!

bk, a lot of the stores are; they are opening on an individual basis. If you go to the website I listed for Galveston, you can click on the shopping link, and it will show all the stores/restaurants that are open. We went down to Galveston one weekend. Driving along the Sea Wall I never would have known there had been a hurricane. Hotels were open, and we ate at a restaurant along the Sea Wall with a view of the water, people were swimming. The Flagship Hotel looked terrible, but everything else looked pretty good. When we got off the beaten path there was still a lot of debris. I think they really focused on getting the tourist areas open again.

There is a beautiful little B&B on the water in Kemah if you're interested. Their website is www.awhitetexaspelican.com. Kemah is between Houston and Galveston. Check out the Duke Room - it has gorgeous views of the water and a private balcony. I know they got some storm damage but are reopening soon.

www.gruenetexas.com is the website for Gruene - very cute town.

"My very rough thoughts are:- 4 nights in Galveston (from which we could visit Houston as well), Corpus Christi (3 nights), San Antonio/Austin (4 nights), El Paso (2 nights with possibly an overnighter on the way to El Paso due to distance), Albuquerque (3 nights), Amarillo (3 nights) and Dallas (3 nights)."

I'm from Texas and this state is huge so you'll be doing a lot of driving. Having said that, I would skip Amarillo and El Paso as others here have said and go to fewer places and spend a little more time. I would fly into Houston and go to Galveston to the beach, however I'd spend a little less time in Galveston unless the beach is your thing. Of course the hurricane hit last year so check on it before you go. In October, it's usually still hot enough to to to the beach however you can check the weather forecast to make sure. I'd skip Corpus Christi altogether unless you can't make it to Galveston because of hurricane damage. I'd go to San Antonio and then Austin. Then I'd head north to Dallas/Fort Worth. After that, I'd head west, skipping Amarillo and El Paso and going straight to New Mexico.

Some quick points of interest:

Galveston-the beach obviously and seafood restaraunts. Also Moody Gardens.

Houston-the Galleria and the NASA space center

San Antonio-the River Walk and El Mercado(the market) a few blocks away. Also, try Tex-Mex food here.

Austin-Sixth or Fourth St. at night for entertainment. Try Tex-Mex or barbecque.

Salado-A tiny town about 45 minutes out of Austin on IH35. It's very small and has a single main street where there are all kinds of little shops that sell jewelry.

Dallas/Forth Worth-The Dallas Museum of Art(I think that's what it's called. I've haven't been there in a awhile. The Texas State Fair, if you're there in mid-October or Six Flags over Texas(amusement park) but Six Flags is expensive. Lots of shopping.

Or you could start in Dallas and go down towards Austin etc.