Vacation from Dallas? Beach?? (Spring: vacations, best, area)

[lh_newbie]

If you're looking for an affordable type vacation - driving ~ 4.5 hours to Galveston and hopping on a cruise ship is quite affordable. You can get 7-day cruises for $500-600 per person. Considering that this includes food, it really is a great price.

Hill Country is also wonderful. There are a ton of neat towns to visit - for example, Granbury is a neat place to go. There are neat camping areas like Dinosaur Valley, where you get to swim in a creek that actually has real dinosaur footprints!

Other options include non-stop flights to Cozumel, which has some of the best diving. Within 6 hours you can go from your front door to your hotel room.

Brian

[stargazer]

Since the cruise lines started sailing out of Galveston, I have had both sides of my family do more cruises than any other sort of vacation. For years, Texans would go to Florida to hop aboard a cruise ship and I can still remember saying if they ever ported here in Texas, many would flock to the ships.. it is very true for our families. My husband and I are planning on doing that next year with my brother and his family.

Also San Antonio is a very popular destination. San Antonio is where the Alamo is and has The Riverwalk, Sea World, Fiesta Texas and natural caves to explore.

Many too go to South Padre Island for vacation.. we are in a few months for my husband and I's 18th wedding anniversary.

You can also go camping, boating, fishing and hiking in Texas. For mountains near DFW, Arkansas is great, so are going to Arbuckles in Oklahoma which are about an hour and a half from DFW..

We recently just got back from going to San Diego and Los Angeles. We had such a good time and were thankful it was just a 3 hour trip by plane. Lots of nice destinations that are just a plane ride away and not hours and hours of air travel. Central America is about 2 hours from DFW. Many go to Belize for vacation. My parents live there actually and have a business there and chose to do business and live in Belize due to it is an hour and a half by plane from Houston( there home in the states).

Locally, I enjoy going to Glen Rose. Glen Rose is on 67 south of Cleburne. They have a passion play called The Promise which runs in the fall, they have a wildlife park you can drive through and Dinosaur Valley state park where dinosaur tracks have been found.

I think you will be very happy here as far as choices of vacations and places to see. There are lots of things to do here that aren't too far away from DFW.

[5stones]

we too just moved from NOVA (leesburg) and did the OBX trek each summer. (about 6 hours) We will be going to South Padre Island this year. (about 9 hours) But no I-95 to drive on that can add 2 hours or the bridge at Hampton roads than can add another 2 hours.

not as many houses for rent in South Padre Isalnd like in OBX mostly condos and hotels and it seems more expensive than OBX as well. (we can rent a villa in Mexico cheaper than a house in Padre!) We will miss the big 6-7 bedroom houses for family reunions. But the beach is very nice (better than OBX imo) but smaller in area.
Galveston is closer and has ALOT more houses for rent. and you can get bay side (sound sound OBX lingo) It more closely resembles OBX in my opinion as far towns and houses etc... But the beach isn't as nice, the waters are murkier etc...sand is browner (not that OBX had white sand!) I like the communities down in the southren part of the island (away from Galveston propper) The Strand is fun for shopping and site seeing.
But you will have to drive through houston and deal with the galveston bridge so traffic can be a nightmare.

As others have mentioned the Hill country is beautiful and weekend getawys there are plentiful...Frederickburg, NewBraunfields, etc... San Antiono, Austin.

Many lakes in the area as well.

Colorado is a days drive away as well so you have the mountians with in reach for a vacation. Most of the cars on the hiway for spring break were Texans going skiing!! (we were one of them!)

[Lakewooder]

Well if you live in Lakewood, you won't need a vacation trip

Kidding aside, we have great air service here from DFW (mostly AA). The Netsaaver weekend fares are very popular. You can be just about anywhere in the USA or Mexico in 2-3 hours. As everyone has mentioned there are so many great Texas travel destinations that most natives never even get to all of them. Also, as has been mentioned, the mountains in Oklahoma and Arkansas are underrated and much closer than the Hill Country (but they don't have quite the same vibe). Oklahoma State Parks have wonderful cabins with fireplaces and kitchens (with all utensils).

Lake houses are indeed very popular. My family has had one at Lake Texoma since 1961.

And yep Italy is quite popular. I always meet other Dallasites in Europe, especially in Italy.

[NEmommy]

I guess Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and other Caribbean destinations are only big here, on the east coast?! Have not been to MX yet, but hopefully we can get some good deals out of DFW.

[lpepping]

My sister and her husband's family have been to Jamaica. But it is probably not as popular as Mexico.

[scyogi]

When hanging out at kids sports practice I hear most people travel to:

Florida--both Destin and Orlando
Traveling back to see family--Oklahoma and Kansas are the two I hear the most
Mexico
Austin/San Antonio/El Paso -- just FYI--El Paso not near Austin/San Antonio

[Bigtex77]

The problem is getting out of Texas. This state is soooo big.

If you don't want to get on a plane, then head to Austin or San Antonio for the weekend, or the surrounding Hill Country. If you go to Austin...get a hotel near 6th street or overlooking Lake Austin, walk down Congress Ave and take a tour of the capital, check out the views from Mount Bonnell, rent a canoe on Lake Austin, or stroll thru Zilker Gardens. It is about 3 .5 hours South of Dallas, and a straight shot down I-35. But for some reason there is always construction...they never stop working on I-35, ever. You can get a cheap room on priceline, just make sure you say "downtown area".

Keep going down I-35 and check out Gruene (sp?), TX and go shopping at the little downtown, and take a tube down the river.

There are also a ton of cheap all-inclusive vacations to Mexico from Texas.

You can also drive to Arkansas, "The Natural State" (we like to quote the slogan) if you like the outdoors and camping.

And of course, DFW International Airport is right here......

[kline5]

Originally Posted by Bigtex77

The problem is getting out of Texas. This state is soooo big.

If you don't want to get on a plane, then head to Austin or San Antonio for the weekend, or the surrounding Hill Country. If you go to Austin...get a hotel near 6th street or overlooking Lake Austin, walk down Congress Ave and take a tour of the capital, check out the views from Mount Bonnell, rent a canoe on Lake Austin, or stroll thru Zilker Gardens. It is about 3 .5 hours South of Dallas, and a straight shot down I-35. But for some reason there is always construction...they never stop working on I-35, ever. You can get a cheap room on priceline, just make sure you say "downtown area".

Keep going down I-35 and check out Gruene (sp?), TX and go shopping at the little downtown, and take a tube down the river.

There are also a ton of cheap all-inclusive vacations to Mexico from Texas.

You can also drive to Arkansas, "The Natural State" (we like to quote the slogan) if you like the outdoors and camping.

And of course, DFW International Airport is right here......

Coming from the East Coast, the size of Texas is a bit overwhelming for us. We do like to hike and we're beginning to introduce the kids to camping so perhaps we'll be exploring Arkansas (never thought I would be saying that!) With 3 young children, we are used to doing the "rent a beach house" thing, but as they get older, resorts will be better anyway.

[honu1]

If you're looking to stay in TX, I recommend Hill Country and the Big Bend Area (but not the latter during summer!). In winter, many Texans flock to skiing in Colorado and New Mexico. Since moving here we've also vacationed in HI, San Fran, Napa Valley, & UT. DFW international makes getting around the country pretty easy and Southwest Airlines makes in state travel pretty affordable too if you don't want to spend 10-12 hours driving across the state. Not saying its not nice to take a road trip and see the country, but I know that's not everyone idea of a fun vacation. And personally, having driven 4x across west TX, I hope to never have to do it again.