10 Most Inviting Towns in Texas
In the Lone Star State of Texas, you will never feel alone or unwelcome, especially when you visit its most inviting small towns. From the southern coasts bordering the Gulf of Mexico to the arid regions and forested landscapes where fabled outlaws roamed, there are a number of destinations for you to cherish the unique and compelling cultures deep in the cultural heart of Texas. Not only will there be cowboys and Native Americans to be admired, but also a vibrant German culture in towns like Fredericksburg and Gruene. Furthermore, there is a plethora of spots for you to cool down in the summer, whether you are soaking in the waters of Dripping Springs or admiring the coastline in Port Aransas. Let yourself roam wild and free like a tumbleweed into the welcoming streets of the most inviting towns in Texas.
Wimberley
Wimberley is a chill and inviting town along the Blanco River and Cypress Creek. Wine aficionados can savor the heavenly drinks from the Wimberley Valley Winery. You can cool down from the intense Texas heat while wading and floating on the several swimming holes of the Blue Hole Regional Park. This 126-acre region is also shaded by magnificent cypress trees and cooled further by the Cypress Creek. Additionally, you can lounge at the artesian spring of Jacob’s Well, the best scuba diving spot in Wimberley. Jacob’s Well also happens to be the largest flowing karstic spring in the Texas Hill Country and the headwaters of Cypress Creek. Rather than squelch about in the water, take to the skies on the Wimberley Zipline Adventure for a scenic surveillance of the whole area. Only 19 minutes from Dripping Springs, you will not feel so unwelcome in Wimberley while staying in fine establishments like Wimberley Inn + Bar, Prow’d House Bed & Breakfast, the Bygone, or the Blair House Inn.
Port Aransas
In the Texas coast of Mustang Island, travelers from land and sea can find themselves welcome in Port Aransas. Because the town overlooks the majestic Gulf of Mexico Basin, you can spend your lovely days and nights frolicking along the 18-mile wide and white-sand beaches of Port Aransas or hook some fishes in the bountiful bays of the “Fishing Capital of Texas.” At Roberts Point Park, you can climb to the top of an observation tower to catch glimpses of dolphins in the water. At Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, you can walk along a boardwalk which leads visitors to wetlands teeming with alligators and birds such as the roseate spoonbills.
You can learn all about the rehabilitation of sea turtles and marine birds at the Amos Rehabilitation Keep. Appreciate the past and the present at the Port Aransas Museum, or preach your faith at the Chapel of the Dunes, the oldest consecrated church on Mustang Island. Only 40 miles away from the city of Corpus Christi, find yourself a room in either the Seaside Boutique Hotel, Seashell Village Resort, or The Island Hotel.
Fredericksburg
When immigrants from Germany settled down in Texas in 1846, they built a thriving community and named it after Prince Frederick of Prussia. Today, Fredericksburg—only an hour and a half from Austin and San Antonio—honors its German heritage with its own version of Oktoberfest each year. Also in October, the townsfolk celebrate the Knights of Columbus Bestfest with craft beer and polka as well as the Fredericksburg Food & Wine Fest, where more than 50 Texas wineries sell their produce in the town square. And for those of you eager for exploration, the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area is filled with enchanting granite monoliths and vast wilderness for you to unravel.
In the Marktplatz—the town square—you can observe the remnants of a 19th-century German church called the Vereins Kirche. Fredericksburg’s history and historical artifacts can be perused at the Pioneer Museum and Vereins Kirche Museum. Meanwhile, the National Museum of the Pacific War chronicles the activities of a local named Chester W. Nimitz, who commanded the United States Pacific Fleet in World War II. Finally, the Lyndon B. Johnson State and National Historical Parks highlights the legacy and labors of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. If you are ever exhausted from all the traveling and festivities, you can always retire at Barons CreekSide, Hoffman Haus, Chuckwagon Inn, or Onera Fredericksburg.
Dripping Springs
Nearly halfway between Fredericksburg and the city of Austin, the rural town of Dripping Springs serves as a “Gateway to the Hill Country” and a launching point to some of the many natural attractions in the area. Among these local hotspots are the Pedernales Falls State Park, a soothing series of rivers and streams running all over the landscape. There is also Reimer’s Ranch Park and the Hamilton Pool Preserve, two water-themed parks that will wash away all your worries and woes. But the best among them is a 40-foot waterfall cascading down into an evergreen pool which gave the town the name Dripping Springs.
In the town itself, you can walk down the historic Mercer Street or Old Fitzhugh Road to admire the unchanged buildings from 1870 to 1940. You might also be interested in touring the Dr. Pound Historical Farmstead Museum, which showcases the rural lifestyle of early pioneers in the 1800s. When it comes to accommodations, the Outpost Motel and Cedar Break at Howard Ranch will provide you with enough necessities to keep you entertained and safe in Dripping Springs.
Marfa
When it comes to being unusual, the town of Marfa does not disappoint those with intriguing and artistic aptitudes. The town was named after a character in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s existentialist novel, The Brothers Karamazov. It is also surrounded entirely by mountains such as the Davis Mountains to the north, the Chisos Mountains to the southeast, and the Chinati Mountains to the southwest. On the Davis Mountains specifically, you can soar on the long-winged Marfa Gliders to get a bird’s eye view of the town and its semiarid landscape.
As an arts hub about two hours north of Terlingua, art enthusiasts can marvel the outdoor and indoor installations of Chinati Foundation, which renowned artist Donald Judd established on an old army base. From June 6 to 9, Marfa hosts the annual Agave Festival which attracts dozens of cultures in the Trans-Pecos and Chihuahuan Desert regions. Most importantly, on August 30 to September 1, visitors and locals alike will be able to witness the enigmatic and enchanting Marfa Lights Festival, also known as the Marfa Mystery Lights. This unexplained phenomenon—with lights of unknown origins pulsating in different colors on the southeastern horizon—will certainly dazzle and bamboozle you with its mesmerizing displays. No need to feel unassuaged in Marfa, because fine lodgings like El Cosmico, Hotel Saint George, and The Lincoln Marfa have what you need and want to rejuvenate your spirit for another exploration in Marfa.
Bandera
It would not be Texas without some cowboys in the mix. And the town of Bandera, the “Cowboy Capital of the World,” has seen its fair share of Wild West bravados and outlaws in its turbulent heyday. A bronze monument of the National Rodeo Champions, for example, memorializes the last great cattle drives in the 1800s. In Bandera Pass long ago, the Apache, Comanche, and the Spanish conquistadors have struggled for control for this crucial chokepoint. There is even a local legend claiming that a red bandera (Spanish for “flag”) was flown over the battlefield in Bandera Pass to delineate the boundary between Spanish and Native American hunting grounds.
Notwithstanding the Spanish, Native American, Mexican, and Wild Western cultures that shaped Bandera, there were also sixteen families from Poland who firmly established a functioning town in 1855. Indeed, you can find evidence of these early immigrants based on the Polish designs of the town’s current structures—for instance, Saint Stanislaus Catholic Church, the second oldest Polish Catholic Church in the US. There is more to admire in Bandera, so let your cowboy spirit fly like a tumbleweed into the busy streets of the town.
Terlingua
Near the Rio Grande and the border of Mexico, you will find a hauntingly alluring ghost town called Terlingua. Once a former mining district in the Big Bend region of south Texas, Terlingua also played host to the first famous championship chili cook off in 1967, and is still celebrated every November with challengers and hotheads competing for first place. Tourists can roam through the deserted ruins of The Terlingua Trading Company and the Starlight Theatre, as well as dozens more abandoned structures and remnants of the ghost town’s mining past. A good time to visit this ghost town is during Dia de los Muertes (Day of the Dead) when the night comes aglow with candlelit skulls and bones.
Terlingua is most renowned for its ferociously dynamic landscapes and landmarks. Among these are the domineering Santa Fe de Los Pinos Mountain ranges, and travelers can ascend the Chisos Mountains and Mule Ears peaks for a remarkable view of the region. There are also the Big Bend Ranch State Park and the Big Bend National Forest—arboreal oases amidst starkly arid savannahs. Amazingly enough, there are dozens of lodgings for you to spend your hot days and cold evenings in Terlingua, such as the Casa Agave, Villa Terlingua, El Dorado Motel, Perry Mansion, and La Posada Milagro Guesthouse.
Jefferson
About two and a half hours east of Dallas, the town of Jefferson entreats travelers to the beauties of northeastern Texas and the state borders of both Louisiana and Arkansas. One can go paddling and swimming in the serene Lake O’ the Pines. Or you can venture into the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge for which Caddo Lake shares its waters with both Texas and Louisiana.
For those of you invested in the paranormal, brave the lonesome rooms and vestibules of The Grove, a private residence said to be one of the most haunted locations in the Lone Star State. If you prefer to tour Jefferson in style, then purchase an authentic horse-drawn carriage ride from the Sacred Spur Carriage Company. From there, you can visit the Jefferson Historical Museum for Civil War relics and Caddo Native American artifacts.
Movie fans might be intrigued by the memorabilia and references from the classic Gone With the Wind at the Scarlett O’Hardy’s Gone with the Wind Museum. As for horologists, you might fall in love with the clockwork displays at the Museum of Measurement and Time. However, be careful while roaming around in Jefferson since, according to the Texas Bigfoot Research Center, Bigfoot sightings are in abundance in town. So stay safe in comfortable lodgings like the Old Mulberry Inn & Cottages or Carriage House Bed & Breakfast.
Gruene
As part of the larger New Braunfels metropolitan area, the German-Texan town of Gruene is its own unique and independent community apart from the major city is resides in. When it was first established by immigrants from Germany in 1845, Gruene was a major producer of on the Guadalupe River. The whole town is a National Historic District, with over 15 acres of land filled with historic buildings and architecture that have barely changed in two hundred years. Among these structures is a Victorian cottage that is now called The Pomegranate, the Gruene Haus, and the Gruen Dance Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas that continues to play every genre of American music from Blues, Country, Rock, and Americana. There is more to uncover in this small pocket of Texan culture, and you can stay for a long while in a place like the Gruene Mansion Inn.
Salado
Situated between the cities of Waco and Austin, the serene village of Salado is the quaint and beating heart of Texas. It was there that the Tonkawa Native Americans made their camps along the lush Salado Creek, and who welcomed American settlers in the 1850s to establish a permanent homestead. It was also there that one of the nation’s first coeducational colleges, Salado College, was founded. One can go camping at Chalk Ridge Falls Park and be lulled by the placid, endless streams and falls in the area. Paddlers and swimmers will rejoice on the languid surface of Stillhouse Hollow Lake. Dana Peak Mountain Bike and Equestrian Trails are perfect spots for exercising. As for lodgings and accommodations, the Inn on the Creek, Stagecoach Inn & Restaurant, and Rose Mansion Bed & Breakfast are some of the many opulent establishments that will keep you invested in Salado’s charms.
Parting Notes
Outside the NASA home bases in Houston and the historical values of the Alamo, you will find yourself in a home away from home in the most inviting towns to visit in Texas. As the largest state in America alongside Alaska, there are huge swathes of land to travel when you are touring these excellent small towns. But the trip will all be worth it when you are experiencing the natural wonders surrounding Terlingua, admiring the living histories in Jefferson, and watching the fey lights in Marfa. Each town promises a new experience and a memorable adventure as you walk on streets that legendary cowboys stamped their names into the history books. So make your own version of history in these inviting small towns in the Lone Star State.
