Travel

Ready to get away? Me, too. Lately, though, planning a vacation that involves an airport, a rental car, and none of the comforts of home, isn’t that appealing.

There are few places in Texas where you can wake up to the smell of salt on the wind, and walk down a sand-dusted sidewalk, straight onto the beach to greet the ocean. South Padre is one of those places.

Drive up the highway toward Amarillo, and the city fades away. The land turns into rocky terrain stubbled with cacti under hazy blue skies. There, you’ll find the second biggest canyon in the United States, Palo Duro Canyon.

Just outside Burnet, Texas, towering at 90 feet high, Castle Falkenstein confuses and astounds passersby with its towers, stone gates, and sweeping balconies. It’s often mistaken for a tourist attraction, but it’s really so much more.

Marfa TX should be unremarkable. Instead, it’s an artistic paradise on the Texas edge of the Rio Grande. It is a center of culture where dozens of artists—and even more tourists—come to find themselves and collect pins, bongs, and bumper stickers.

Big Bend National Park spans hundreds of thousands of acres in Southwest Texas, swallowing an entire mountain range, slices of the Rio Grande, and endless desert.

It’s “a sandy beach that will make you forget you’re in North Texas,” according to Lakefront Little Elm’s website . While this may sound like a dream, it’s not only real, but it's not as far away as you may think.

In the clearwater cradle of the Paluxy River, you’ll find Glen Rose, Texas. The small town’s claim to fame is its natural parks, historic downtown, swimming holes only the locals know, and most importantly, dinosaur tracks.

The historic town of Fredericksburg lies past cacti, native wildflowers and the occasional armadillo on the winding roads of the Texas Hill Country. The city has a rich history, but that’s not the main attraction.