In a state as big as Texas the road trip possibilities are pretty much endless. It’s diverse too. You can hop between thrumming cities, pull up in tiny towns surrounded by forests and wine lands or spend hours on desert roads without meeting another soul.
Click through the gallery for our favourite road trips through the Lone Star State and start planning your next Texan automotive adventure…
There are myriad roads routing through Texas’ Hill Country, a land of bluebonnet-flecked fields and vine-striped hills that are perfect fodder for oenophiles. Take the long way from Austin to Boerne and you’ll be plenty rewarded. This is Texas’s premier Viticultural Area and you’ll begin on Highway 290, which wriggles out west from Austin. Its many wineries have earned it the moniker 'Wine Road' and the portion between Johnson City and Fredericksburg is the most fruitful. Turreted Messina Hof Hill Country Winery (pictured) is a failsafe option, and it’s got some cute guest cottages to boot.
Next, continue on to the town of Fredericksburg, which wears its German heritage proudly on its sleeve. Soak up some history at the Pioneer Museum and feast on bratwurst or Wienerschnitzel at Altdorf Restaurant and Biergarten. You’ll then head southward for the journey’s final leg: a 40-minute jaunt down US 87 that will bring you to the dinky city of Boerne, with its slew of art galleries, elegant guesthouses and yet more wineries. You’ll need a long weekend for this wine-washed trip, which covers about 116 miles (187km).
The Texan coast is hugely underrated, and offers everything from kitsch beach towns complete with pleasure piers to windswept barrier islands home to trails and turtles. You’ll experience both on the route from Houston to Corpus Christi, pit-stopping in Galveston (pictured) and heading southwest along the arching coast on Highway 35. Galveston is just an hour southeast of Houston and it’s the perfect beach bolthole for families. Kick back on popular East Beach, and get dizzy on the pier’s Iron Shark roller coaster.
Heading southwest, Matagorda Bay offers a change of pace. Nicknamed the 'Treasure of the Texas Gulf', it has abundant birdlife, unspoilt beaches and plenty of kayak trails. Artsy Rockport is another top stop, known for its stellar seafood restaurants and surprising creative scene. Finally, push on to Corpus Christi for family-friendly attractions such as Hurricane Alley Waterpark and epic views from Sunset Island. Set aside about five days to complete this 283-mile (455km) trip.
The wild expanses of western Texas open up on this week-long road trip, which mops up 711 otherworldly miles (1,144km). Set off from Fort Worth – a city with a western spirit, known for its historic Stockyards district and twice-daily cattle drive – on Interstate 20. The highway will whisk you to Abilene, a small city with a youthful buzz, and on to Odessa, whose star attractions are the Ellen Noel Art Museum and a curious replica of England’s Stonehenge.
From here, the skies get bigger and the land gets wilder. Strike south until you reach Marathon, a one-horse town known for its first-rate stargazing and quirky accommodations, from casitas to the mission-style Gage Hotel. No West Texas pilgrimage is complete without a stop in Marfa, either. This bohemian artists’ enclave plonked in the Chihuahuan Desert is known for Prada Marfa, an art installation pretending to be a Prada storefront hawking designer shoes to no one. More art awaits at your final stop, El Paso, which also delights visitors with its wineries and live music spots.
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You could spend days on end exploring Big Bend National Park, whose monumental expanse includes winding river-hewn canyons, cactus-strewn deserts and ink-black skies studded with stars. But the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive is one of the park’s most popular routes for good reason. It's just 30 miles (48km) long, so it’s easily doable in a day, but you can spread it out over a longer period if you want to, staying in camp sites, lingering at overlooks and tailing off on side roads.
Don’t miss a stop at Sotol Vista Overlook, which offers sweeping panoramas over the west side of Big Bend National Park. A 1.5-mile (2.4km) detour will take you to the colourful cliffs of Burro Mesa, where a rugged hiking trail winds towards a scenic box canyon. The Santa Elena Canyon is another big hitter: it plunges down 1,500 feet (457m), carved out by the Rio Grande.
The Panhandle is one of Texas’s most overlooked regions – but these little-touristed plains have charms aplenty. Motorheads will be right at home in Amarillo, where this off-the-beaten-track odyssey begins. There’s Bill's Backyard Classics, a museum packed with cars from the 1920s onwards, and the camera loves Cadillac Ranch, a series of paint-covered Cadillacs jutting out of the desert floor just off iconic Route 66. From here, a hike in Palo Duro Canyon State Park is a must, as this red-rock wonderland is second in size only to the Grand Canyon in the US.
Next, set your sights south, stopping at interesting museums such as the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, which provide some fascinating context for the region. Lubbock is the road trip’s final flourish: rock and roll legend Buddy Holly was born here, and the Buddy Holly Center, a performing arts space and museum, pays homage to the musician. It’s worth saving at least five days for your trip, which covers more than 123 miles (200km).
A long weekend will suffice for this road trip, which sees you swoop eastward from Dallas/Fort Worth, taking in woodland, wineries and one of Texas’ most stirring lakes. Begin in Dallas and push southeast towards Palestine in the bucolic Piney Woods region. It’s the perfect jumping off point for a ride on the Texas State Railroad, with vintage locomotives chugging through the greenery.
Head deeper into Piney Woods until you hit Nacogdoches, reportedly the oldest town in Texas. From here, various hiking trails wiggle into the woodland, and the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site preserves an ancient Indigenous settlement. The trip's big finale is Caddo Lake State Park, which seeps across the Texas-Louisiana border. The cypress swamp here is alive with birds and there are camp sites with varying amenities. The route totals 298 miles (480km) and around five hours on the road.
A highlight en route is the McDonald Observatory, which offers both daytime and evening activities plus guided tours. Beyond this, nature steals the show. The jagged peaks of Sawtooth Mountain are a photographer's dream, while the Madera Canyon Trail takes you into a forest of pinyons, oaks and junipers. When you're back in Fort Davis, the Blue Mountain Bar and Grill at Hotel Limpia is a top spot to refuel.
There are treasures to be found in every corner of Texas and this southern swathe is no exception – particularly if you’re a history lover. Save a San Antonio deep dive for another time and beat south out of the city towards Laredo. A highlight here is the Republic of the Rio Grande Museum, which tells the story of the region's short-lived 19th-century independence movement. More fascinating Rio Grande Valley towns await as you push south down US 83. Spend a while in teensy McAllen, home to the peaceful La Lomita Mission.
Drive another hour and 30 minutes east and you’ll finish up in South Padre Island, a glorious beachside resort town that warrants a few days’ stay. The Port Isabel Historical Museum holds a huge store of relics from the Mexican-American War, but you might content yourself with paddling in South Padre’s famously calm waters. Set aside at least five days for this trip, which covers more than 387 miles (623km).
One for lovers of all things urban, this easy drive is all about the fizzing metropolises that bookend the route. The distance between San Antonio and Austin is just 79 miles (127km) and you can drive it in an hour and a half – but set aside a week and you can really soak up these attraction-packed cities. San Antonio's energy is infectious: the Riverwalk is packed with shops and restaurants, and Historic Market Square is a hub of culture and cuisine. Don't miss a trip to the Alamo, which preserves the history of its 1836 namesake battle.
This route on Highway 170 is the big, brash Texan landscape distilled, with wide, open, desert-fringed roads, and mountains piercing the horizon. Before you start the road trip proper, make the quick jaunt east to Terlingua, just 15 minutes outside of Lajitas (with its popular golf resort). The pint-sized former mining town is now home to an artsy community that imbues the place with a bohemian spirit.
Next you'll dance through the Mexico-US borderlands, inching past the edges of Big Bend Ranch State Park, where the ghost town of Contrabando is a popular stop-off. There are myriad scenic spots for you to pause in and drink in the view (take your own provisions as there's little en route) and you'll finish north in Presidio, a great base for exploring more of Big Bend Ranch State Park's wild expanses.
Read on for nostalgic images of American road trips from every decade...