Cosmopolitan Texas: A City-Hopping Road Trip from Houston to Dallas

Rise and shine, it’s your first full day in Texas and there’s not a moment to waste in the huge city of Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest metropolis. While it’s size can be a little disconcerting, you can relax knowing we’ve done the hard work discovering exactly what to do on a time-sensitive visit. We recommend taking a few hours to tour the Menil Collection, an impressive collection of modern and contemporary art displayed in a museum designed by renowned architect Renzo Piano. Here you can admire modern works by Magritte, Pollock, Ernst, Klee, Warhol, Matisse, Picasso and Cézanne, as well as ancient pieces dating back to the Byzantine and medieval periods and even tribal works of art. As for this afternoon, you can get in touch with our local Concierge, who will be happy to give personalised recommendations of things worth seeing and doing, from gentle strolls in elegant neighbourhoods to wining and dining in innovative bars and restaurants.

After a delicious breakfast this morning, you’ll be setting off for a visit to one of the city’s unmissable attractions: NASA's coastal space centre. Dedicated to mission control and astronaut training and home to the Saturn V, the giant rocket which landed on the moon, as well as the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules, NASA is a treasure chest of fascinating space gadgets.

It’s time to bid a warm farewell to Houston and continue on to your next city destination. After breakfast, hop back into your hire car and drive three hours west through rolling green hills to San Antonio, a beautiful city known for its rich colonial heritage. Your home for the next two nights is a boutique hotel located in a historic building filled with nostalgic Hispanic charm. The rest of today is dedicated to discovering Hopscotch, a collaborative art space, which we’ll pre-book you tickets for. This one-of-a-kind art space brings together the works of around forty artists in an individual and immersive way. There are several different installations spread across the 6,500 square foot building, as well as a bar and food truck.

You have one full day to soak in the many scenic and cultural delights of San Anotonio, so make sure to start your day bright and early with a walk along the river banks to Fort Alamo, one of the city’s most important historic sites. Fifteen miles of the San Antonio River, from Brackenridge Park (San Antonio Zoo) to Mission Espada, has been beautifully developed as a pedestrianised riverbank where locals walk, jog, cycle and enjoy picnics. Enjoy a leisurely stroll here before ending up at Fort Alamo, the state’s most visited historic site and one of the most photographed in the entire country. The former Spanish mission acted as a fort (and later, tomb) for folk hero Davy Crockett, who perished here in the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution.

Your Texan road trip continues today with an hour-and-a-half drive to the delightful state capital of Austin. Along the way you can make a stop at Luckenbach, an authentic American town that oozes the charm of yesteryear. Today, the small community of local cowboys rub shoulders with globe-trotting travellers, who come here to sip beer under 500-year-old oak trees and enjoy country music performances. From here, continue on to Austin and spend the rest of today relaxing in your next accommodation: a trendy new hotel in the heart of the lively Downtown.

Nestled along the banks of the Colorado River and dominated by the pink granite Texan State Capitol, Austin is a city known for its pretty architecture, masses of greenery and eclectic music scene, which centres around the rock and country music that has flowed through its veins for decades. Some big names in music have left their mark here, including singer-songwriter Janis Joplin and guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. One of the most unmissable sites here is the Texas State Capitol, which is made of pink granite and was built between 1882 to 1888, so is a typical example of late 19th century architecture.

Today is all about getting out of the city centre and into the beautiful surrounds of the city. You can gain height by strolling along the paths that hug Lake Austin; enjoy lunch at County Line on the Lake, a legendary BBQ joint with privileged views across the lake; take a refreshing dip at the Barton Spring Pool, a swimming pool near Downtown that’s a favourite among locals; and explore Zilker Park, a huge wooded park and haven of tranquillity for city dwellers. As for this evening, we recommend joining the locals for live music and maybe even a line dance at the White Horse or the Broken Spoke.

The next stop on this city-hopping road trip is Dallas, a thriving cosmopolitan hub known for its creative spirit and laid-back lifestyle, which is a three-hour drive north. Your home for the next two nights here is a stylish hotel in the lively Deep Ellum district, a neighbourhood full of avant-garde galleries, trendy boutiques and alternative theatres. Once you’ve settled in and freshened up, head out to enjoy an afternoon soaking in the delights of the city. You can stroll through the many parks and green spaces; bar-hop along the lively central streets; discover the many museums of the Arts District, a neighbourhood designed by some big names in architecture, including Pei, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas and Thom Mayne; admire the immense bronze sculpture of fifty longhorns (Texas cows) in Pioneer Plaza; visit the 50ft memorial designed by Jacqueline Kennedy paying tribute to JFK’s 1963 assassination; learn more about the conspiracies swirling the assassination at the Conspiracy Museum; and delve into local life in Texas during the second half of the 19th century at the Old City Park.

For your final full day in charming Texas you’ll be heading to nearby Fort Worth to watch a rodeo show at the Cowtown Coliseum. The shows takes place in the evening, but we recommend taking the day to soak in the charms of the city. In recent years Fort Dallas has emerged as an arty and creative city, featuring museums like the Kimbell Art Museum, the Modern Art Museum and the Amon Carter Museum. But the heart of the city still beats in the old Stockyards, a beautiful district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Here you can find longhorn cows casually parading across classic country streets, home to saloons and honky-tonks (country music bars). Later on, head to the legendary Cowtown Coliseum, one of the most popular rodeo venues in the United States, and settle in for an evening of cowboy-fuelled entertainment.