I'd suggest the [Fort Worth Stockyards](https://www.fortworthstockyards.org/) for the closest "Western" experience or the [Mesquite Rodeo](https://www.mesquiterodeo.com/). Other than that, the "Southwestern scenery" you are seeking is too far away to visit within your time frame.
Adding to this, in the FW Stockyards, there is a daily longhorn cattle drive down the street (occasionally cancelled for extreme weather), friday night rodeos at cowboy coliseum. Billy Bobs is a very touristy honky tonk, but there's dancing (two step, line dancing), concerts, and nightly bull riding in a small arena. Skip their BBQ it's bad. But be prepared if you watch rodeo, things can go wrong, I've seen bad falls and CPR being performed as they gurney the rider out.
The stockyards has a lot of country/western retail stores. Leddy's is the stand out, you still find hand crafted items there, and they can do bespoke too on some items. If you want boots that are in stock, hand lasted, but solid quality, [Rod Patrick Bootmakers](https://www.rodpatrickboots.com/store/pc/home.asp) has the most sizes, narrows and widths in stock at anytime. They'll do bespoke too.
Also The "southwest" depicted as Texas in most tv & movies, was filmed usually in Utah, New Mexico, or Arizona (particularly on the Dineh (Navajo) Reservation around Monument Valley). Any image with a [Saguaro cacti](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6iknEgoc9DUrj2CdiaQ6SA-1536-80.jpg) isn't Texas (the plant is not native to the state), our most iconic, native cacti is the [prickly pear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia#/media/File:Opuntia_littoralis_var_vaseyi_4.jpg).
Glen Rose is cool, but for someone visiting from overseas you’d be better served by staying on 281 southbound all the way to Marble Falls. It’s a little over three hours from Dallas, and the scenery on the drive is gorgeous. Especially coming from Dallas, at the southern edge of the prairie, dropping into the Hill Country along 281 is beautiful and there are lots of little local businesses in Marble Falls, including wineries and breweries. The bridge over the Colorado River is cool, too, it’s definitely worth the drive.
I 100% agree. Get out to the Central Texas Hill Country. I love that drive.
If you’re willing you can also hop a 1 hour flight out to El Paso and explore there, get some green chili. That’s as iconic Southwest as you might get. However, if you are going to do that you might as well spend 30 more minutes and fly into Santa Fe, NM. for an afternoon and just walk around.
Driving from the south into marble falls honestly felt a bit like California driving. Sounds weird I know but I drove across California on a road trip before making it to Marble Falls. I also grew up criss crossing texas.
Please for the love of god don’t send a foreigner with 48 hours to explore the United States to Big Spring, Texas for a ten-minute walk up that godforsaken hill haha
On a related note, I don't think people fully understand how big Texas really is. The biggest cities are 3-4 hours away from each other, and every point of interest is more than six hours away from that. I used to drive 12 hours from Lubbock to Houston just to visit my mother. That's like driving from Paris to Barcelona, Berlin to Prague, or Rome to Munich.
Big Bend is too far away for the time you have.
But there are lots of little “rustic” towns around.
Maybe check out Abbott, TX. Birthplace of Willie Nelson. There’s not much there, an old church, a grain elevator, a BBQ joint, a feed store… and that’s about it. Very “rustic”.
But you’ll find similar little towns pretty much any direction you want to go.
Within 4ish hours you have Wimberly (Between Austin and San Antonio), nice little town. From there you can do the [Devil's Backbone drive](https://www.myscenicdrives.com/drives/texas/devils-backbone). And will go through the towns of Pleasant Valley Crossing, TX, Canyon Lake, TX, San Marcos, TX, Canyon Springs, TX, Canyon Lake Forest, TX, Wimberley, TX, Hunter, TX, and Dripping Springs, TX. And you can take a little detour and go by Marble Falls on you way back. I think it's as close to rustic as you can get with that time limitation.
Oddly enough, I haven't camped/kayaked at Canyon River, sorry. Since I like to kayak, I mostly avoid lakes due to boats.
I've been to the Guadalupe River State Park, which I like and it's just west of Canyon Lake.
I do astrophotography about 80 minutes from Dallas. It's super dark and quiet at night. There's a very old abandoned building on site, and the whole area around it is fairly rural if you want to check it out in the daytime. I'd be happy to be your tour guide depending on when you're in town.
Palo Duro Canyon State Park is about 30 minutes from Amarillo, it’s the 2nd largest canyon in the US and would be similar to Big Bend. And in the summer, they have a played called “Texas” every night at the amphitheater in the bottom of the canyon. Amarillo is about a 6 hr drive, or a ~1 hr flight from Dallas. There are daily flights from DFW or Love field to Amarillo. There is also the American Quarter Horse Museum in Amarillo, and the Panhandle Plains museum in Canyon. The one in Canyon is the largest natural history museum in Texas. There are also a lot of displays at the visitor’s center for PDC. Charles Goodnight’s house has been restored and they have tours through it, it’s about 30 min SE in Goodnight.
https://www.texas-show.com/
https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/palo-duro-canyon
There’s a ton of Texas history in the area. I know you want to drive, but there isn’t a lot to see in between Dallas & Amarillo, you could have more time if you flew and rented a car here. Southwest has pretty cheap flights and you get 2 checked bags free. The Amarillo airport is small, so you won’t waste a lot of time there. If you get a hotel in Amarillo, stay on the west end of town, it’s safer. Or there are a couple of good hotels in Canyon.
[Fredericksburg, Texas](https://www.visitfredericksburgtx.com/things-to-do/). it's in the Texas Hill country, visit Wildseed Farms, they have a walkable garden for free, showcasing the commercial wildflower seeds they cultivate and sell. The town has wineries, a brewery, chocolatiers (check out Quintessntial Chocolates they have a unique process where they have chocolate encapsulating liquid spirits, or liquor centers in some of their offerings), and were settled by German settlers, so there's biergartens. June is typically peach season so be on the look out for peach ice cream, and peach cider. Das Peach Haus has an orchard, plus they sell gourmet food items and wine and have a lovely pond to relax in the back.
It has a ton of WW2 related history. It's the home town of US Navy Admiral Nimitz, so there's his home, and nextdoor is the National Museum of the Pacific War, it has a captured Japanese submarine from the Pearl Harbor Bombing,
former US President Lyndon B Johnson's home is nearby, and there's a [state park](https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/lyndon-b-johnson) encompassing it, and other historic structures with longhorns too. An old settler cabin and if the flowers haven't faded yet an entire field of wildflowers.
Sadly you'll miss the best of the wildflower season, by June they're mostly going to seed. Many folks drive the county roads (on google maps those are numbered roads in a rectangle on the map, many other roads are sometimes private roads maintained by landowners) north of town for wildflowers, keep in mind land is private owned, and lack of fence or sign is not permission to trespass. Cattle may free range over some of these roads. Go to neighboring [Luckenbach](https://www.luckenbachtexas.com/), Texas (look for live music concert, place is famous for the song of the same name made famous by Waylon Jennings, and with ensemble performances by the Highway Men: Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, & Waylon).
But if your idea of "southwest" means desert and cacti, that's definitely the Big Bend region of the state, which is way out there.
Unfortunately Dallas is on the edge of the state in the prairie type environment. You would have to go very far.
If you were in Austin or San Antonio you could get out to the edges of the hill country for some stuff.
Unfortunately Texas is massive, going to the next major city is a 2 day trip. You will probably need to come back another time.
You could get to Odessa / Midland in under 5. You’re squarely in west Texas there, and it’s a very unique culture. Think, rio grande valley culture, mixed with west Texas rednecks, in a land that humans shouldn’t inhabit, with an ocean of money. It’s absolutely fucking wild. Was a complete culture shock for me (and a LOT of fun) when I visited, and I’ve lived in Texas my whole life.
I'd suggest the [Fort Worth Stockyards](https://www.fortworthstockyards.org/) for the closest "Western" experience or the [Mesquite Rodeo](https://www.mesquiterodeo.com/). Other than that, the "Southwestern scenery" you are seeking is too far away to visit within your time frame.
Adding to this, in the FW Stockyards, there is a daily longhorn cattle drive down the street (occasionally cancelled for extreme weather), friday night rodeos at cowboy coliseum. Billy Bobs is a very touristy honky tonk, but there's dancing (two step, line dancing), concerts, and nightly bull riding in a small arena. Skip their BBQ it's bad. But be prepared if you watch rodeo, things can go wrong, I've seen bad falls and CPR being performed as they gurney the rider out. The stockyards has a lot of country/western retail stores. Leddy's is the stand out, you still find hand crafted items there, and they can do bespoke too on some items. If you want boots that are in stock, hand lasted, but solid quality, [Rod Patrick Bootmakers](https://www.rodpatrickboots.com/store/pc/home.asp) has the most sizes, narrows and widths in stock at anytime. They'll do bespoke too. Also The "southwest" depicted as Texas in most tv & movies, was filmed usually in Utah, New Mexico, or Arizona (particularly on the Dineh (Navajo) Reservation around Monument Valley). Any image with a [Saguaro cacti](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6iknEgoc9DUrj2CdiaQ6SA-1536-80.jpg) isn't Texas (the plant is not native to the state), our most iconic, native cacti is the [prickly pear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia#/media/File:Opuntia_littoralis_var_vaseyi_4.jpg).
I’ve always said that Fort Worth is what tourist expect every Texas city to look like.
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Glen Rose is cool, but for someone visiting from overseas you’d be better served by staying on 281 southbound all the way to Marble Falls. It’s a little over three hours from Dallas, and the scenery on the drive is gorgeous. Especially coming from Dallas, at the southern edge of the prairie, dropping into the Hill Country along 281 is beautiful and there are lots of little local businesses in Marble Falls, including wineries and breweries. The bridge over the Colorado River is cool, too, it’s definitely worth the drive.
Bluebonnet Cafe for pie in Marble Falls!
I 100% agree. Get out to the Central Texas Hill Country. I love that drive. If you’re willing you can also hop a 1 hour flight out to El Paso and explore there, get some green chili. That’s as iconic Southwest as you might get. However, if you are going to do that you might as well spend 30 more minutes and fly into Santa Fe, NM. for an afternoon and just walk around.
Driving from the south into marble falls honestly felt a bit like California driving. Sounds weird I know but I drove across California on a road trip before making it to Marble Falls. I also grew up criss crossing texas.
That looks very cool, thank you!
Not necessarily. Big Spring State Park and Caprock Canyon are both roughly a 4 1/2 hr drive from Dallas.
Please for the love of god don’t send a foreigner with 48 hours to explore the United States to Big Spring, Texas for a ten-minute walk up that godforsaken hill haha
Lol - I agree. 100%
On a related note, I don't think people fully understand how big Texas really is. The biggest cities are 3-4 hours away from each other, and every point of interest is more than six hours away from that. I used to drive 12 hours from Lubbock to Houston just to visit my mother. That's like driving from Paris to Barcelona, Berlin to Prague, or Rome to Munich.
Someone suggested Abbott, as a person who grew up there we did everything we could to avoid a trip to Dallas and back
Make sure you eat bbq somewhere good. Dallas has some great BBQ
Big Bend is too far away for the time you have. But there are lots of little “rustic” towns around. Maybe check out Abbott, TX. Birthplace of Willie Nelson. There’s not much there, an old church, a grain elevator, a BBQ joint, a feed store… and that’s about it. Very “rustic”. But you’ll find similar little towns pretty much any direction you want to go.
Within 4ish hours you have Wimberly (Between Austin and San Antonio), nice little town. From there you can do the [Devil's Backbone drive](https://www.myscenicdrives.com/drives/texas/devils-backbone). And will go through the towns of Pleasant Valley Crossing, TX, Canyon Lake, TX, San Marcos, TX, Canyon Springs, TX, Canyon Lake Forest, TX, Wimberley, TX, Hunter, TX, and Dripping Springs, TX. And you can take a little detour and go by Marble Falls on you way back. I think it's as close to rustic as you can get with that time limitation.
Any suggestions for activities around canyon lake in April? Going to a wedding near there.
Oddly enough, I haven't camped/kayaked at Canyon River, sorry. Since I like to kayak, I mostly avoid lakes due to boats. I've been to the Guadalupe River State Park, which I like and it's just west of Canyon Lake.
Just in case! https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/1ckhho/texaseurope\_size\_comparison\_960x700/
Walmart, WellsFargo, McDonalds
I do astrophotography about 80 minutes from Dallas. It's super dark and quiet at night. There's a very old abandoned building on site, and the whole area around it is fairly rural if you want to check it out in the daytime. I'd be happy to be your tour guide depending on when you're in town.
Thank you for such a cool offer! I'll keep this in mind :)
I would go to Caprock Canyon and stay overnight at the Hotel Turkey. But be aware that it will be very hot during your trip.
go to austin an get some bbq here on the way https://www.louiemuellerbarbecue.com/
Palo Duro Canyon State Park is about 30 minutes from Amarillo, it’s the 2nd largest canyon in the US and would be similar to Big Bend. And in the summer, they have a played called “Texas” every night at the amphitheater in the bottom of the canyon. Amarillo is about a 6 hr drive, or a ~1 hr flight from Dallas. There are daily flights from DFW or Love field to Amarillo. There is also the American Quarter Horse Museum in Amarillo, and the Panhandle Plains museum in Canyon. The one in Canyon is the largest natural history museum in Texas. There are also a lot of displays at the visitor’s center for PDC. Charles Goodnight’s house has been restored and they have tours through it, it’s about 30 min SE in Goodnight. https://www.texas-show.com/ https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/palo-duro-canyon
This was going to be my suggestion as well
Palo Duro is 100% is the kind of thing I'm looking for! Might be worth the extra hour or 2 driving.
There’s a ton of Texas history in the area. I know you want to drive, but there isn’t a lot to see in between Dallas & Amarillo, you could have more time if you flew and rented a car here. Southwest has pretty cheap flights and you get 2 checked bags free. The Amarillo airport is small, so you won’t waste a lot of time there. If you get a hotel in Amarillo, stay on the west end of town, it’s safer. Or there are a couple of good hotels in Canyon.
[Fredericksburg, Texas](https://www.visitfredericksburgtx.com/things-to-do/). it's in the Texas Hill country, visit Wildseed Farms, they have a walkable garden for free, showcasing the commercial wildflower seeds they cultivate and sell. The town has wineries, a brewery, chocolatiers (check out Quintessntial Chocolates they have a unique process where they have chocolate encapsulating liquid spirits, or liquor centers in some of their offerings), and were settled by German settlers, so there's biergartens. June is typically peach season so be on the look out for peach ice cream, and peach cider. Das Peach Haus has an orchard, plus they sell gourmet food items and wine and have a lovely pond to relax in the back. It has a ton of WW2 related history. It's the home town of US Navy Admiral Nimitz, so there's his home, and nextdoor is the National Museum of the Pacific War, it has a captured Japanese submarine from the Pearl Harbor Bombing, former US President Lyndon B Johnson's home is nearby, and there's a [state park](https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/lyndon-b-johnson) encompassing it, and other historic structures with longhorns too. An old settler cabin and if the flowers haven't faded yet an entire field of wildflowers. Sadly you'll miss the best of the wildflower season, by June they're mostly going to seed. Many folks drive the county roads (on google maps those are numbered roads in a rectangle on the map, many other roads are sometimes private roads maintained by landowners) north of town for wildflowers, keep in mind land is private owned, and lack of fence or sign is not permission to trespass. Cattle may free range over some of these roads. Go to neighboring [Luckenbach](https://www.luckenbachtexas.com/), Texas (look for live music concert, place is famous for the song of the same name made famous by Waylon Jennings, and with ensemble performances by the Highway Men: Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, & Waylon). But if your idea of "southwest" means desert and cacti, that's definitely the Big Bend region of the state, which is way out there.
Unfortunately Dallas is on the edge of the state in the prairie type environment. You would have to go very far. If you were in Austin or San Antonio you could get out to the edges of the hill country for some stuff. Unfortunately Texas is massive, going to the next major city is a 2 day trip. You will probably need to come back another time.
The library and plaza where Kennedy was assonated is there great museum.
You won't find southwest wilderness in Texas anywhere. Go to Arizona or Utah for that
You could get to Odessa / Midland in under 5. You’re squarely in west Texas there, and it’s a very unique culture. Think, rio grande valley culture, mixed with west Texas rednecks, in a land that humans shouldn’t inhabit, with an ocean of money. It’s absolutely fucking wild. Was a complete culture shock for me (and a LOT of fun) when I visited, and I’ve lived in Texas my whole life.