Your Guide to the Best Texas Road Trip
As many of you know, Adam and I went on a Texas road trip last month! I had never been to the Lone Star State before, so I was super excited to explore all new territory. And I loved that so many of you messaged/commented to tell me would have thought to do a Texas road trip before… but after following along, you want to go! Mission accomplished!
Over the course of this week, I’ll dive into each city that we explored: Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio. (You’ll hear about Houston in this post, too!) But before I guide you through each one, I wanted to start you off with some context. So without further ado, here we go!
Your Guide to the Best Texas Road Trip
Fly to Dallas
Whenever we told people we were doing a road trip, we always clarified that we were NOT driving from Chicago all the way down there. No way! Hop on a flight down to Dallas and call it a day. So easy.
Start with Dallas and Forth Worth
After picking up our rental car (a pick up truck is a must!), we made our way to the Westin Galleria Dallas. This hotel is located right inside the big Galleria Mall, which happens to be beautiful in itself. We picked up a few souvenirs, but opted out of exploring any more of the city that night. After getting sad news earlier in the day, we were happy to take advantage of such a beautiful and cozy hotel by ordering some amazing room service and resting up.
The next morning we had breakfast in the Westin’s Executive Lounge and then explored a few spots around Dallas. By mid-afternoon, we made our way to the Sheraton Fort Worth Downtown. You can read more about Dallas and the cattle drive at the Fort Worth Stockyards in this post!
Stop in Waco on your way to Austin
The drive from Forth Worth to Austin is about 3 hours, and Waco is smack dab in the middle of that drive. I kept joking about stopping there to say hi to Chip and Joanna Gaines… so when we were actually hungry for breakfast as we approached Waco, why fight it?! We ate at a cute little restaurant, drove past Baylor University, and YES – we stopped in Magnolia Market! It was madness inside so I didn’t go crazy with any purchases, but it was still so fun to walk around and check it out. It’s Pinterest and Instagram goals literally everywhere you look. So pretty!
*PS. You can shop their collaboration with Target now!
Explore Austin for as much time as you can!
If we could only go back to one city from this road trip, it would be Austin. Hands down. Even though we were only there for a day and a half, this city won us over pretty quickly. We stayed at the beautiful W Austin which is really centrally located to a lot of the stuff we wanted to see. Our room had an awesome view of the river – and I got way too excited when I remembered that W Hotels have Bliss products in the bathroom! WIN! You can read more about the city itself in this post, but I still feel like we barely scratched the surface. We’ve already talked about how we want to go back with a group of friends!
Spend the night in Georgetown
Before or after you go to Austin, spend just one evening in Georgetown. Trips like this can be a little overwhelming, so it was so nice to disconnect a bit outside of a city. We checked in to the Sheraton Austin Georgetown Hotel, which was newly renovated and gorgeous. The staff couldn’t have been nicer and recommended we go “downtown” for dinner. When we got there, it felt like we were stepping into the past a little bit! There is literally a town square with cute little shops and restaurants surrounding the Courthouse in the middle. Such a charming and relaxing stop.
San Antonio is next!
The drive from Austin to San Antonio is about 3 hours, so we got on the road so we could get there by mid morning. I’m so glad we maximized our time there, because we loved San Antonio! We stayed at The Westin Riverwalk, which (you guessed it!) is right on the riverwalk. Our suite was huge and lovely, but my favorite part was our little balcony overlooking the river. Seriously, it is such a cool city – read more about it here!
Finish it up in Houston
As many of you know, due to my Uncle’s passing, I didn’t make it Houston. Luckily, Adam was able to continue on without me and report back! If you saw his insta-story takeover, you got a few sneak peeks of the St. Regis in Houston ? But really, Adam loved that hotel and said he especially liked the convenient location, the pool deck, and the very comfy beds. He also got to explore a bit outside of the hotel and even found a Chicago bar to watch the Cubs game that night! His biggest takeaway was how welcoming and friendly the people of Houston were. Even as a long time rival of the Cubs, we are SO happy they got a World Series victory this year!
And that’s how you do it!
As I mentioned, I’ll be deep diving into Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio this whole week. You now know where we stayed and in what order, but these individual posts dive into what we saw, what we did, what we ate, what I wore – all of that fun stuff! Have you/would you ever go on a Texas road trip? I’d love to know!!
*This post was sponsored by Starwood Hotels, but (as always) all opinions are my own! Thank you for supporting the companies that make Lake Shore Lady possible!
