Texas
Hotels in Texas- Code:TX
- Type:state
- Population:29.1M (2020)
- Area:696,241 km²
- Elevation:520 m
- Capital:Austin
Introduction
Texas is a country-sized state — bigger than France, with a coastline, a desert, pine forests, hill country and four of the eleven largest cities in the United States. It runs from the piney woods of the east to the mountains of Big Bend, from the Gulf beaches to the high plains, and its culture is a blend of Southern, Western, Mexican and a fast-growing global mix.
Overview
Texas is best understood as several distinct destinations. Austin, the capital, is the live-music and food city — Sixth Street and the Continental Club for music, smoked brisket at the legendary barbecue joints, food trucks, swimming in Barton Springs, and the bat colony that streams from the Congress Avenue Bridge at dusk. San Antonio, ninety minutes south, holds the most history: the Alamo on its main plaza, the cool River Walk threading the downtown, and four more Spanish colonial missions that share the Alamo's UNESCO World Heritage listing. Houston, the biggest city, is the most diverse and the most underrated — NASA's Space Center, a world-class museum district, the Menil Collection, and some of the best and most varied food in the country. Dallas-Fort Worth pairs the modern art and dining of Dallas with the genuine cowboy culture of the Fort Worth Stockyards, where longhorns are still driven down the street. Between and beyond the cities lies the rest of Texas: the Hill Country west of Austin and San Antonio, with its wineries, German towns like Fredericksburg, spring wildflower drives and swimming holes; the Gulf Coast at Galveston and the long barrier beaches of Padre Island; and, far out west, the desert mountains and dark skies of Big Bend National Park and the art-world outpost of Marfa. For travellers the appeal is exactly that range: a city trip to Austin or San Antonio, a road trip through the wineries and spring wildflowers of the Hill Country, a remote desert week in Big Bend, or the food, space history and museums of Houston — all under the same enormous sky. One constant governs all of it: Texas is huge, the distances between regions are long, and a car or a short internal flight is not optional.
Discover Texas
Austin built its identity on live music — it bills itself the “Live Music Capital of the World”, and the venues of the Red River and South Congress districts, plus the giant SXSW and Austin City Limits festivals, back the claim. The other obsession is barbecue: central-Texas smoked brisket, served by the pound on butcher paper, is a genuine pilgrimage food, with queues forming early at the most celebrated joints. Beyond eating and music, Austin is an outdoors city — swimming in the cold spring-fed Barton Springs Pool, paddleboarding on Lady Bird Lake, hiking the greenbelt — and a quirky one, summed up by the “Keep Austin Weird” slogan and the 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats that pour from under the Congress Avenue Bridge at sunset from spring to autumn. The State Capitol and the LBJ Presidential Library add the civic layer.
Ways to Experience This Destination
Austin's live music and central-Texas barbecue, and Houston's globe-spanning, top-tier dining.
The Alamo and San Antonio's UNESCO Spanish missions, the River Walk and Dealey Plaza in Dallas.
The Fort Worth Stockyards' longhorn drives, dance halls and the working-ranch heritage of West Texas.
Fredericksburg's wineries, spring bluebonnets, swimming holes and Enchanted Rock west of Austin.
Big Bend's canyons and dark skies, Marfa's art scene, and the Gulf beaches of Galveston and Padre Island.
Frequently asked questions
Cities in Texas
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