The Grand Canyon of Texas, a ghost town where the stars are so bright they wake you up, the oldest town in the state, the southernmost beach in America, a Hill Country wine town, and a highway that’s been calling road trippers for 100 years — these are the six Texas summer road trips worth doing before the calendar turns to fall.
School is coming. August is running out. And Texas is enormous. Before the alarm clocks and homework folders come back, there are six corners of this state that your family deserves to see at least once — each one completely different from the others, each one genuinely unforgettable. Here is your last-of-summer road trip guide, with everything you need to plan each trip from start to finish.
Trip 1 — Palo Duro Canyon and Amarillo: The Panhandle in a Weekend
Distance from Dallas: 4 hours / From Houston: 8 hours
There is a moment when you’re driving flat, featureless Panhandle highway — the kind that goes on so long you start to doubt what you’re heading toward — and then the earth just disappears. The canyon appears all at once, 800 feet deep and 120 miles long, carved by wind and water over a million years into red and orange and purple formations that look like they belong in Utah or Arizona, not Texas.
Palo Duro Canyon State Park is the second-largest canyon in the United States, and almost no one outside of Texas knows it exists. That is your advantage. Start with the Lighthouse Trail — a 6-mile round trip to the canyon’s most iconic rock formation, best hiked at first light before the heat builds. Drive the scenic road through the canyon floor for roadrunners, mule deer, and longhorn cattle. If you’re there on a Tuesday in July, Shakespeare in the Canyon performs at the Pioneer Amphitheater at night. Any other evening, the TEXAS Outdoor Musical runs with the canyon walls as its backdrop — the most spectacular natural stage in the country.
From the canyon, head north to Amarillo for Cadillac Ranch — ten graffiti-covered Cadillacs half-buried nose-first in a field off I-40, free and open 24 hours. Drive Historic 6th Avenue’s neon-lit Route 66 stretch, attempt the 72-ounce steak challenge at the Big Texan Steak Ranch, and browse Antique Road 66’s vintage shops. This summer marks Route 66’s 100th anniversary — Amarillo has been celebrating all season.
Palo Duro Canyon State Park: 11450 Park Rd 5, Canyon, TX 79015 / Park entrance $8 per adult / tpwd.texas.gov TEXAS Outdoor Musical: texasoutdoormusical.com Big Texan Steak Ranch: bigtexan.com Cadillac Ranch: Free — I-40 Frontage Road, Amarillo
Trip 2 — Fredericksburg and the Hill Country: Wine, History, and Peaches
Distance from Austin: 1.5 hours / From San Antonio: 1.5 hours / From Dallas: 4 hours
Fredericksburg is the most visited small town in Texas for good reason. The German Hill Country community sits at the intersection of everything the region does best — wine, wildflowers, peaches, historic architecture, live music, and enough restaurants to eat somewhere different every meal for a long weekend. August is when the peach season wraps up, which means the orchards along Highway 290 are making their final push before autumn. Stop at a roadside stand before you arrive. Buy a half-bushel. You will not regret it.
The National Museum of the Pacific War — a Smithsonian-affiliated institution honoring Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, who was born in Fredericksburg — is one of the finest military history museums in the country and worth at least three hours. The Fredericksburg Main Street is lined with original German stone buildings, tasting rooms from nearby wineries, boutiques, and bakeries. Enchanted Rock State Natural Area is 45 minutes north — a 640-acre pink granite dome rising 425 feet above the Hill Country, with trails that reward the climb with views across multiple counties.
Stay overnight in one of the dozens of historic B&Bs and Sunday Houses on the backstreets. Add a drive to Luckenbach — 12 miles east — for a cold beer under the oak trees and live music in the oldest dancehall in the county.
National Museum of the Pacific War: 340 E. Main St., Fredericksburg, TX 78624 / pacificwarmuseum.org Enchanted Rock: 16710 Ranch Rd 965, Fredericksburg, TX 78624 / tpwd.texas.gov — reservations required in summer Visit Fredericksburg: visitfredericksburgtx.com
Trip 3 — South Padre Island: The Last Beach Before Summer Ends
Distance from San Antonio: 4.5 hours / From Houston: 5.5 hours / From Austin: 5 hours
South Padre Island sits at the absolute bottom of Texas — a 34-mile barrier island where the Gulf of Mexico meets the Laguna Madre, the water is warm, and the pace slows to something that feels genuinely earned. It is the southernmost point of Texas, and getting there feels like leaving the rest of the country behind.
The beach is the main event — wide, white, and largely uncrowded compared to Florida or California equivalents. Dolphin-watching cruises leave from the causeway marina several times daily and are genuinely spectacular — South Padre sits on one of the most active dolphin corridors on the Gulf Coast. Sea turtle rescue tours at Sea Turtle Inc. run Tuesday through Sunday and are one of the most meaningful family experiences on the island. Kiteboarding, windsurfing, and paddleboard rentals line the southern end of Seawall Boulevard.
For dinner, the Pier 19 restaurant is the classic South Padre experience — fresh Gulf seafood, cold drinks, and the water visible from every table.
South Padre Island CVB: visitsouthpadreisland.com / (956) 761-6433 Sea Turtle Inc.: seaturtleinc.org / 6617 Padre Blvd., South Padre Island, TX 78597
Trip 4 — Nacogdoches: Deep East Texas and the Oldest Town in the State
Distance from Houston: 2.5 hours / From Dallas: 2.5 hours
Nacogdoches has been continuously inhabited for longer than any other community in Texas — its history predates European settlement and runs through Spanish colonialism, the Republic of Texas, and the Civil War in a way that feels tangible in the brick streets and preserved buildings of the historic downtown. The stone fort at the center of the Stephen F. Austin State University campus is one of the oldest surviving structures in Texas.
The drive to Nacogdoches from either Houston or Dallas passes through the transition zone where Texas’s rolling prairies become the Piney Woods — towering loblolly pines, red clay roads, and a canopy so dense the temperature drops noticeably. This is the Texas that most Texans don’t know exists.
Visit the Thomas J. Rusk Street historic district, walk the nine flags of Nacogdoches interpretive trail, and stop at Banita Creek Trail for a quiet canopy walk through the heart of the city. Mast Arboretum on the SFA campus has 250 species of trees labeled and mapped. The Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden is post-bloom in August but worth knowing for next spring.
Stay overnight at any of the historic B&Bs on the square and combine the trip with a visit to the Blueberry Festival grounds — the farms that make the festival possible are still selling fresh blueberries and blackberries at their farm stands through August.
Nacogdoches CVB: visitnacogdoches.org / (936) 564-7351
Trip 5 — Terlingua and the Big Bend: West Texas Under a Billion Stars
Distance from San Antonio: 5.5 hours / From Midland: 4.5 hours
Terlingua is the end of the road in the best possible sense. It sits at the edge of Big Bend National Park, in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert, 100 miles from the nearest supermarket, at an elevation where the nights are cool even in August and the sky is so dark that the Milky Way is visible as a physical object rather than a concept.
The Terlingua Ghost Town is what remains of a mercury mining community abandoned in the 1940s — crumbling adobe walls, a cemetery used as a community gathering spot, and a cluster of funky establishments including the legendary Starlight Theatre restaurant and bar. Every evening, the porch of the Terlingua Trading Company fills with locals, tourists, and people who stopped for a night and stayed for a decade, watching the sun go down over the Chisos Mountains.
Big Bend National Park is the anchor of the trip — the Chisos Basin loop drive, the Boquillas Canyon trail, the Santa Elena Canyon walk, and the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive are all reachable from Terlingua. The park requires advance reservation during peak seasons, but mid-summer is one of the less crowded periods.
The drive from San Antonio on US-90 through Uvalde, Del Rio, Marathon, and Alpine is one of the great American highway experiences — a slow unwinding of the landscape from Hill Country to desert basin that takes hours and rewards every mile.
Big Bend National Park: nps.gov/bibe / Entrance fee $35 per vehicle, valid for 7 days Starlight Theatre: thestarlight.com / Terlingua, TX 79852 Terlingua Trading Company: terlinguatradingco.com
What to Pack for a Texas Summer Road Trip
Sunscreen — actual amounts, not symbolic applications. A cooler with ice, water, and snacks — gas station distances on West Texas routes are not like Houston. A physical map of Texas — cell coverage disappears completely in Big Bend and is spotty in the Panhandle. Bug spray for East Texas. Closed-toe shoes for any canyon hiking. A blanket for evening concerts at Palo Duro. A bathing suit for South Padre. And the willingness to stop at anything that says “historic” or “peaches” on the side of the road.
The school year comes back fast. Texas is right here, waiting. Go see it.
