Texas’ 267,000-plus square miles contain seven distinct travel regions, each with a vast number of attractions and activities likely to appeal to honeymoon couples and other romantics. What’s your passion? In Texas, you can explore it to your heart’s content.
Sophisticated Pleasures
City Life. Travelers with a taste for big-city fun — including shopping, dining, live music, theatrical performances, and overnighting in fine hotels — will find that and more in Texas’ Big Five:-
1 - San Antonio
2 - Austin
3 - Houston
4 - Dallas
5 - Galveston
Houston’s Museum District includes museums of fine and contemporary art. Fort Worth’s Kimbell Art Museum is considered one of the best small ones in the country.
San Antonio’s Institute of Texan Cultures highlights 26 cultural and ethnic groups. And Kerrville is home to the unique Cowboy Artists of America Museum.
Hispanic Culture. The Spanish, who arrived in the 1500s in search of gold, are among the state’s longest residents. Many missions and forts they built as bulwarks against hostile Native American neighbors still stand.
Today, Hispanics comprise 25 percent of the state's population and their foods and festivals inspire visitors to join in celebrating Tex-Mex culture and tradition.
The Great Outdoors
Dude Ranches. To harness your inner cowboy and cowgirl, saddle up at a real working dude ranch. There you can learn to rope, ride, and wrangle Texas-style.Spas, swimming pools, hot tubs, and similar facilities make this kind of vacation appealing even to tenderfoot couples.
Hiking. One of the best ways to experience Texas is on foot. The Lone Star State’s diverse scenery includes open spaces, verdant hills and woodlands, and coastal areas.
State parks, such as Palo Duro Canyon in the Panhandle Plain — a 1,000-foot-deep, multi-hued canyon carved by the Red River — offer awe-inspiring views and camping facilities.
Beaches. Gulf of Mexico waters lap at 600 miles of south Texas coastline, and beaches are anchored off Galveston, Corpus Christi, and South Padre Island.
Hundreds of historical landmarks on Galveston Island, an hour's drive from Houston, give this area a Victorian feel. Port Aransas, south of Corpus Christi, is one of a few places where visitors can go horseback riding on the sand.
Birding. More than 600 species of birds flock to Texas, America’s most popular state for bird watching. Find locations to observe winged wonders along the Gulf Coast, where the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail stretches 624 miles.
Golf. Texas’ wide open spaces encompass 900-plus golf courses, seven of which host the world’s top professionals competing on the PGA Tour. Favorites open to the public include the Fazio Foothills Course at Barton Creek Resort, which boasts both a cave and a waterfall; the undulating Arthur Hills Course at Hyatt Hill Country Resort; and the newer South Padre Island Golf Course, with five picturesque holes overlooking the Gulf.
