Advice on vacation in texas

[apnep]

McDonald Observatory/Frank N. Bash Visitors Center
3640 Dark Sky Drive, McDonald Observatory 79734
(432) 426-3640 www.mcdonaldobservatory.org F: Passport visitors receive free admission & guided tour (11am and 2pm daily).

Now you're talking my language. This is a great thing to do with the kids and the views are gorgeous. We went the week before Thanksgiving but my guess is in the summer is the best time to go. We stayed at a quaint little lodge in Ft. Davis and then strolled up and down the small town shopping for goodies. We also did a self guided tour of Ft. Davis where they have a museum, and the original officer's quarters with interesting displays. It was gorgeous. Close by is Balmorhea that has a natural spring too where you can swim in 70 degree water year round. I may try to hit this area again so my kids can experience the waters...

My kids really enjoyed it.

 

[Sandy61]

What is the best beach in Texas for families?

 

[Dominus]

The best beach is South Padre, but it's almost in Mexico, so it's a very long drive from most anywhere. I'd spend 3 days in Houston before I'd spend 3 days in SA, Dallas, or Austin. All the stuff around Central Texas is cool, the caves and rivers and stuff. SA has the Alamo (highly over-rated, blasphemy for a Texan to say I know), the River Walk (pretty much just a glorified drainage ditch), and that's about it. Dallas has Six Flags, and nothing more. Austin has the Capitol and a bunch of clubs and bars, so It's good. Houston has Nasa, Battleship Texas with the San Jacinto monument, tons of great museums, tons of great restaurants, and many other things to do. I know the SA, Dallas and Austin people will jump on me, but it's the truth. Houston is by far the most metropolitan city in Texas, and has by far the most things to see and do. Houston stands on it's own, while the other cities will go with the "close by" bit. Well, Houston is close by Blue Bell, and Old Towne Spring, and Galveston, and Washington on the Brazos...but we never try to sell Houston with that stuff. Good luck and take care.

 

[rnorwo1]

Thanks green tea for looking up the museum membership perks, that was so helpful! I am going to do the same for the zoo membership we have. We've let our museum membership expire but it looks like it'll be worth it to renew before the trip.

Thanks for all of the advice and the additional recommendations on places to go and stay... after I set an itinerary, I'll work on accommodations and food! I need to get a spreadsheet together with all of these suggestions. Y'all are so amazing, we are going to have a fabulous trip and we can definitely return another year if we don't get to do it all! Houston is only 4 1/2 hours, so we can do that on weekends even.

Thanks again!

 

[hmdavid]

Don't forget that Sea World San Antonio is opening an Aquatica park in May. It is included with your park admission. It is going to be gorgeous and themed around sting rays. Worth a Sea World visit if you like water parks. You can see a video of the plans on the Aquatica San Antonio facebook page. Sea World also has Bay of Play which features Sesame Street characters and rides that your younger kids would probably like! My kids love the Riverwalk, they beg us to go down there. The Alamo is half a block from the RW, so you can do the Alamo, a river tour (my kids love those) and lunch and be out of there before it gets too hot and busy.

Have a fun trip!

 

[adriawest]

Naomi78155- We live about 2 1/2 hours north of Houston. I saw the Schlitterbahn tickets at the Lufkin Sam's club.

 

[It'sOffToDisneyWeGo]

Hi,
A couple of summers ago we did a Staycation in the DFW area. Here is a list of the things we did and the places we went.

The Heard Museum in Mckinney, TX
The Dallas Zoo (New orleans zoo is much better)
The Dallas Aquarium -took Dart train and also ate at Spagetti Warehouse
The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens (Hot in summer!)
Fort Worth Cattle Drive and ate lunch at Joe T. Garcias
Hurricane Harbor- Arlington, TX
Six Flags- Arlington, TX
Medieval Times Dinner and tournament
Mesquite Rodeo
Circus @ American Airlines Center (late July/ early Aug?)
Dinosaur Valley State Park- Glenrose, TX

Hope this helps.

 

[Planogirl]

I've been told that the New Braunfels Schlitterbahn does have a hotel on the premises. It's not much of a place but a lot of people stay there to be close to the park.

San Antonio has a wonderful Mission trail that might be interesting. The Missions on it are virtually free and a few are still working missions. They are more interesting than the Alamo IMO.

The Riverwalk is nice and a good place to walk and get a bite to eat. I wouldn't discount it.

If you go to Galveston, try to see the tall ship Elissa. It would make an interesting contrast to the Battleship Texas (which I think is wonderful). Also the ferry ride to Bolivar Peninsula is fun.

 

[madelyn]

We live in the Austin area (Round Rock) and I was born and raised and San Antonio. My in-laws live in the Houston area and my sister lives in Fort Worth. You mentioned watching the Austin bats and I assume that you mean the ones in the downtown area. There are also bats in Round Rock: http://impactnews.com/round-rock-pflugerville/135-inside-information/5747-bats-in-round-rock

A stop at Round Rock donuts to buy a "Texas size donut" could be fun:
http://www.roundrockdonuts.com/donutsPage.html

They have been featured on Food Network shows. My kids love the Houston Children's Musueum and right next door is the Health Musuem http://www.mhms.org/
Both have free nights if you don't buy a membership w/ reciprocal admission. In the past we have been members of the Witte in San Antonio http://www.wittemuseum.org/ and have been allowed reciprocal admission to the Children's and Health Musuems in Houston as well as the Children's Musuem in Austin. We have been to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine and also Schlitterbahn. Schlitterbahn is a one of a kind water park (actually 3 parks in 1) but if your kids are younger it could be hard to keep track of them. It's been a few years since we have gone to Schlitterbahn. My kids are now 13, 10 and 5 but when we went, they were younger so my husband and I had to take turns taking the older one down some of the rides while the other stayed w/ the younger kids. Great Wolf Lodge is a kid's paradise. But the indoor water park is not a relaxing place for adults (at least not in July when we went). Noise levels and chlorine smells are high. We (the adults) much prefer resorts like the Hyatt Hill Country or Wild Oak Ranch or the JW Marriott in San Antonio and the Hyatt Lost Pines near Bastrop. We get Six Flags Fiesta Texas passes yearly and this also allows entry into the Six Flags park in Arlington. The Fiesta Texas Park admission includes a waterpark inside the park. Sea World in San Antonio used to include a waterpark as part of the admission but I believe they are making it into an Aquatica park and charging separate admission. If you do go to the Legoland Discovery Place in Grapevine, I hear it is best to buy the reserved tickets, otherwise you may not get in.

 

[Bunnyfeather]

I live in Fort Worth, have lived in Houston, Austin and San Antonio

Houston is cool. I would second the City Pass. The museums in Houston are great, and I think you can spend 3-4 days easily. The Houston Zoo is big, probably not as pretty as Audobon but a different experience. Skip the aquarium, it is just a commercial for seafood and overpriced. The port of Houston is kind of icky and industrial. There are no beaches worth spending time at in Texas.

Do Austin. The Hill Country is different from any other place I have ever been. It's charming and outdoorsy and fun.

San Antonio is touristy, do the wax museum and the Alamo. The Six Flags in San Antonio is nicer than the one in Arlington, which is showing signs of its age.

Skip Dallas.

Fort Worth Zoo is not worth visiting if you live near New Orleans. We just went to Lego for my DD's Kindergarten field trip, and it was worth the trip for free. If I had paid $20 I would feel a bit cheated. Science museum, after my kids went to the Houston one, they thought the Fort Worth one was dumb.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I realize you are getting all sorts of opinion on this. But I live in Dallas, and I've been to all the places on your list.

I'd recommend skipping Austin and hit Houston/Galveston and San Antonio.

San Antonio has lots to do besides Seaworld. Just north of San Antonio are the Natural Bridge Caverns and the Natural Bridge Zoo (a drive-through safari zoo). There is a Six Flags there, I've heard Enchanted Springs Ranch is fun.

Have fun with your vacation planning!

 

[Scrappin'Maniac]

I'm a mom of three boys (7,9 and 12) in Austin.

They loved the Battleship TX last year, and the USS Lexington in Corpus.

We all enjoyed the WWII museum in Fredericksburg; we went last year and this year at Xmas. http://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/index.asp Fredericksburg is a cute town. LBJ ranch is out that way too, but we haven't done that yet.

Texas Memorial museum here in Austin is nice, but not great (although it's free and indoors)
Bob Bullock museum is great, but the younger ones would probably be bored.
McKinney Falls state park is beautiful if we've had rain. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/mckinney_falls/

My guys liked the TX Ranger museum in Waco.

Hopefully this added some new info for you. Have a great trip!

 

[TALB]

We just returned from a week in Texas over Xmas. We stayed at the YO Ranch one hour outside of San Antonio. My kids loved it. You stay on the ranch in amazing old cabins, eat at the chuck wagon every meal(food was amazing) and see how a real ranch works. There is horse back riding, hunting, feeding the animals, etc. Can't say enough about the place. We then went into San Antonio and did the river walk cruise, Alamo, Ripleys Believe it or Not and the Market. Be sure to eat at Mi Tirra. Kids loved it!!

 

[carj]

I would definitely visit San Antonio. We like to visit the Alamo, the Riverwalk, Natural Bridge Caverns, Sea World and sometimes Fiesta Texas when we are there.

There are cool things to do in Austin for kids, but I don't really think of it as a kid destination.

We live in the DFW area. The FW museum is good. We have a membership there. I don't know that I would devote a day to that just because it is similar to other children's museums.

We like to go to the Japanese Gardens (there is a small fee for this inside the Botanic Gardens. My kids (8 and 10) have always loved following the paths and feeding the fish. (Bring quarters for fish food)

The Fort Worth Zoo is nice but it is kind of pricey. They do have half-price days but they are usually very busy.

We like going to Six Flags in Arlington. It will be hot and there will be crowds but we still have a good time when we go. We are not fans of the waterpark across the street, Hurricane Harbor. We prefer NRH2O, smaller but more relaxing for us. If you are only going to one theme park, then I suggest Fiesta Texas which is a Six Flags park. There is a waterpark at that park as well. If you think that you might go to both, get a season pass at Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. It is good at both parks and usually slightly cheaper than the Arlington version. You can usually get them for about $65 each.

We have been to Lego Land in California and it was awesome. We were so excited for the new one in Grapevine but it was pretty disappointing. My 10 year old is too tall for the play structure and they only allow you to do the best ride once. This one is small and inside a mall. I think that we would have had a better experience if the kids were younger. It is definitely geared toward the younger kids.

I can't help with Houston, as we haven't been there as a family. There is plenty to do in Texas! When we travel, I like to do things that we can't do at home. I hope you have a great trip!

 

[MagicalMawMaw]

San Antonio is great. We go here often & never tire of going.

I love the Riverwalk & the boat tour is great! Eating at Casa Rio there on the Riverwalk is a must. The prices are cheap & the food tops! Sitting by the water & watching the boats go by is fun.

At the Riverwalk area is the Alamo, Ripley's, Guiness World Book of Records, Tower of America's & it is all in walking distance. Also, the Mexican Market is really close by & is great fun.

I priceline there often & always do great. I priceline a 4 star in the Riverwalk area & always get a great one [name your own price] parking is expensive though!

I dislike Austin. The traffic is horrible & we rarely go there. We drive though Austin to go to San Antonio & that is enough for me!

Galveston is fun but a busy area...we like Moody Gardens there. We perfer Port Aransas. You ride the ferry to the island & it is laid back here...not a big town. You can rent a buggy car to ride around the island & that is fun! Walk the beach, feed the sea gulls, go to the Candy store, eat at Moby Dick's...it is all fun. If you go towards Corpus Christi...there is a putt putt place to play golf at. Also, there are lots of sea shell shops. We go here every Thanksgiving & often another time during the year.

Long ago we took our kids to the Port of Houston. We went several times. We took the free boat tour of the port & it was great. I just did a search & they still have it. It was awesome then...

http://www.portofhouston.com/samhou/samhou.html

Fort Worth Zoo is a good one. And if you come though Waco our Cameron Park Zoo is small but great.

We love the Hill Country too. Really pretty that direction.

Have fun.

 

[Swan4Me]

You are spreading yourself too thin

I'd skip Houston-its just a very hectic city that most want to get away from to vacation

Go to Galveston-Moody Gardens & the Skiteerdam Water Park

San Antonio-SEaWorld there is awesome!

Fredericksburg..........we love the LBJ Ranch nearby and the Perdineles Falls-short hike to the waterfalls

 

[BeBeCee]

Houstonian here. Read quickly through your iteneray and you have a well thought out plan. I received a groupon notice today for the Children's Museum in Houston. Admission for 4 is $15...thats a big savings. And my vote for Dallas...also include the Dallas Aquarium. Skip the Houston one and while in Houston go to the Kemah Boardwalk...its a great time and includes a boardwalk with amusements. Have fun.

 

[christygobar]

Dallas girl, born and raised, here

You have gotten a TON of information. I have lived here my entire life and wow - you guys are picking out a ton of things to see!

I agree, Austin isn't really a kid stop (although you can see the bats here). I'm not as familiar with Houston or Galveston area. San Antonio is a lot of fun - we will probably take DD there in the next year or two for Sea World and stuff.

Definitely (just about) everyone in DFW would agree the Ft. Worth Zoo is way better than the Dallas Zoo. Great Wolf Lodge sounds like a great alternative to Schlitterbahn!

Hopefully this isn't too overwhelming - but I think you have a good making of a great vacation

 

[rnorwo1]

You are spreading yourself too thin

You're right, I'm exhausted already, lol. I have looked at and researched all the suggestions and I think I planned a two week trip! I want to maximize what we do but balance it with rest and swimming at the hotels so the kids aren't exhausted each day. Houston is only 4 1/2 hours from us so we're going to drop several things there b/c we can easily come back over a long weekend or mardi gras break to do things there. I also dropped most of the park/nature/hiking things b/c of the heat... we'll have to make that a different trip in the fall or spring perhaps. So I think this is what we have right now as a basic plan:

1. 2 nights/3 days in Houston: Museum of Natural Science, Battleship TX, San Jacinto monument, then will add these if extra time and energy: Children's museum, Museum of fine arts (depending on exhibits there then), Hermann Park, Port of Houston.

2. Brenham for Bluebell creamery

3. 1 night/two days in San Antonio (Alamo, riverwalk, missions... will add another night if we can talk kids into caverns! Will skip sea world since we just did the one in Orlando in Nov, although we loved it!)

4. Austin 1 night two days (bats, Zilker park/Barton Springs) if extra time can add Military forces museum and state capitol or TX history museum. May add another night here just for convenience, to get an early start in the morning.

5. Waco for 1/2 day: TX ranger museum, maybe Mayborn if have time, soda fountain at Dr. Pepper museum (but not the museum itself.)

6. Dallas: Bureau of engraving and 6th floor museum. Will probably spend two nights here so we can get to Grapevine early the following day.

7. Grapevine 1 night at GWL, 2 days enjoying resort/waterpark.

8. Maybe Mckinney, Heard museum/wildlife sanctuary.

Then we can mosey on home and stop at a hotel whenever we feel we need to rest, or drive straight home, appx 6.5 hours.

I know this is still a lot, but each of the cities has at least one major thing we want to do. I could drop Austin, for example, but I really want to see the bats. Could also drop Dallas, but DH really wants to do the bureau of engraving, etc. So thoughts on this?

Also, if there are any suggestions on where to stay that would be kid friendly with a great pool in any of these cities, that would be wonderful. The JW in San Antonio looks wonderful, but don't think we can swing that and GWL, and I think we want to be on the riverwalk. Also, suggestions for fun and different places to eat or something would be great. LOVE the giant texas donuts, we'll definitely stop there on our way out of Austin the following morning.... the kids will really enjoy that. I've written down the restaurant suggestions so far, thanks!

 

[Planogirl]

I believe that the Blue Bell factory is only open on weekdays. That catches a lot of people by surprise.

The 6th Floor Museum is pretty impressive. I feel extremely emotional when I'm there. Expect it to be fairly busy.

My favorite thing in Austin is the capitol building. It's pretty impressive. The Austin area is lovely with hill country nearby and lots of wonderful little towns. It's hard to tour those though.

As for hotels, do you prefer historic or resort or chains? There are a lot of options.