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A first look at Texas
Get to know Texas with Wolters World’s travel tips, food and sights. Then choose a region and leave room for the unexpected.
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Texas, made for discovery
Welcome to
Texas
First-time highlights and discoveries beyond the beaten path.
Austin and Lady Bird Lake · Photo: Quintin Soloviev, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0 · Display cropped to fit.
Begin your Texas story
First time highlights
Start with the places that show Texas at its most welcoming, lively and unmistakable. Choose a few well, rather than trying to see the whole state in one visit.
City life
Dallas & Fort Worth
Art, city neighborhoods and a taste of cattle-country history.
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History & riverside wandering
San Antonio
Follow the River Walk, discover the city’s Mexican and Texan heritage, and make time for its historic missions.
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A Gulf Coast escape
South Padre Island
Trade highway miles for sea air, long beaches and an easygoing island base beside the Laguna Madre.
Explore this place →Take the slower road
Beyond the beaten path
Head west for desert space or south for the towns of the Rio Grande Valley, a particularly rich part of ATA’s original Texas collection.
Desert & mountains
Big Bend
Rio Grande canyons, broad desert horizons and mountain country reward a slower journey.
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Panhandle history
Alibates Flint Quarries
Discover the colorful flint that connected generations of people on the High Plains.
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Borderland stories
Brownsville
Historic places, birding and Mexican-influenced food give this southern city a character of its own.
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Arts & nature
McAllen
Explore the city’s creative side, regional food and green spaces in the Rio Grande Valley.
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South Texas heritage
Edinburg
Pair the Museum of South Texas History with a gentler outing around local wetlands.
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A seaside town
Port Isabel
A lighthouse, coastal history and the causeway to South Padre make an appealing change of pace.
Explore this place →Worth building a day around
Unique attractions not to be missed
Big Bend
Where the desert meets the river
Make the Rio Grande landscape the destination, with time to explore one park district rather than rushing across the whole park.
Explore this place →Alibates Flint Quarries
Stone that traveled far
A modest-looking landscape holds a much bigger story about craftsmanship, trade and life on the plains.
Explore this place →San Antonio River Walk
A river through the heart of a city
Step below street level for waterside paths and a different perspective on San Antonio.
Explore this place →What are Texans like?
Texas has room for ranchers, musicians, scientists, artists and newcomers from around the world. A friendly “howdy” may open the conversation, but the stories behind it are wonderfully varied.
Meet the people behind the welcome →Let the road tell the story
Give Texas time
San Antonio to Big Bend
Move from city history into West Texas’s open country. This is a substantial journey, best planned with overnight stops and time in the park.
Read ATA’s original driving route →Along the Rio Grande Valley
Link Brownsville, San Benito, Harlingen, Los Fresnos, Weslaco, Donna, Alamo, Edinburg and Mission. Choose a few bases and allow time for local history, food and birding.
Follow the original Valley journey →History, cities and the coast
Combine Austin and San Antonio for a city-focused visit, or build a separate Gulf Coast trip around Houston and a coastal base. Add distant regions only when your schedule has room for the drive.
Browse ATA’s Texas tours →A little planning goes a long way
Distances & transport
Texas is vast. Choose a region first, then check actual driving times. Major cities have different transit options; rural routes generally need a car. Allow for traffic, fuel stops and quiet stretches with limited services.
Weather & the outdoors
Desert heat, coastal weather and mountain conditions can be very different on the same day. Check forecasts and park alerts, carry water, and plan strenuous outings around safe conditions.
Reservations & access
Check attraction hours, tour reservations and accessibility directly before you travel. Parks can have closures or capacity limits. Confirm the current Alibates tour arrangements with the National Park Service.
Where to stay
Stay near the places you plan to explore. For remote West Texas, reserve accommodation before committing to a long drive.
Hotels and group hotel assistance →Official Texas travel informationDriveTexas road conditionsBig Bend alertsTexas State Parks
Good neighbours for your itinerary
New Mexico pairs naturally with West Texas; Oklahoma connects with the north; Arkansas and Louisiana open up woodland and southern routes to the east. A visit to Mexico is an international journey, so check current entry requirements, insurance and travel advice before crossing.
More of Texas, from our original collection
The earlier stories, photographs and driving routes remain part of your journey.
All our Rio Grande Valley town guides
AlamoBrownsvilleDonnaEdinburgHarlingenLos FresnosMcAllenMissionPharrPort IsabelPort MansfieldRaymondvilleRio HondoSan BenitoSan JuanSouth Padre IslandWeslaco
Sources & photograph credits
Planning sources: Travel Texas, Texas Parks & Wildlife, National Park Service and the linked official city visitor organizations. Existing ATA Texas guides and photographs are retained through the links above. Check the official sources for current conditions.
Photo: Quintin Soloviev, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Displayed cropped.
Photo: Leeannoneal, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Displayed cropped.
Photo: david.nahas, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Image displayed cropped; Dallas photograph is an archival skyline view.
Video: Texas Travel Guide, Wolters World, embedded from its published YouTube video.