🤠 Texas

About Texas

🏛 The Alamo, San Antonio

Texas is, as its residents will quickly point out, effectively a country unto itself — the second-largest US state by area (268,596 square miles, larger than France), the second most populous (30 million), the largest economy of any US state ($2.6 trillion GDP), and home to the most diverse set of landscapes, cultures, and experiences of any state in the union. The Texas that most visitors imagine — cowboy culture, barbecue, and oil wells — is real and worth experiencing; but it represents only one facet of a state that encompasses mountain wilderness, Gulf Coast beaches, subtropical coastline, desert canyonlands, and one of the world's most dynamic technology economies.

Big Bend National Park, in the remote Trans-Pecos region of far west Texas, is one of the least visited major national parks in the country — a 800,000-acre wilderness of Chihuahuan Desert, Chisos Mountain highlands (8,000+ feet), and the dramatic canyons of the Rio Grande, where the river has cut 1,500-foot limestone cliffs at Santa Elena Canyon. The park's remoteness (the nearest large town is 100+ miles away) and the quality of its bird watching (more bird species than any other US national park), backcountry canyons, and hot springs along the river make it one of the country's finest wilderness destinations for those willing to make the drive.

San Antonio's River Walk (Paseo del Río) is one of the most successful urban linear parks in America — a network of walkways along the San Antonio River, 15 feet below street level, lined with restaurants, hotels, and galleries in a setting that blends Spanish colonial, Mexican, and American cultures in a genuinely distinctive way. The Alamo, adjacent to the River Walk, is the site of the 1836 battle that became the defining moment of Texas independence mythology. The Missions National Historical Park, encompassing four other Spanish colonial missions south of downtown, is the most complete collection of Spanish colonial missions in the United States.

Austin has transformed from an eccentric state capital into a global technology and creative hub — the 'Silicon Hills' concentration of tech companies (Apple, Tesla, Oracle, Dell) combined with the University of Texas, a legendary live music scene (6th Street, the Continental Club, and the Paramount Theatre), James Beard-recognized restaurants, and the Austin City Limits Music Festival make it one of America's most exciting cities. The Texas Hill Country's wildflower season (March–April, when bluebonnets carpet the hillsides) and the Fredericksburg wine trail make Central Texas one of the state's most accessible weekend escapes.

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