Texas – All the Information on the Lone Star State
The state of Texas is the second largest in the USA and features some of the most fascinating and unique cultural expanses in North America. The Lone Star State is a well-known concept, famous for its cowboy plains, especially fat Texas cattle, tough people, and a lot of Mexican charm spilling over from the southern border. The eastern part of Texas is industrialized and populated, home to two of the five largest cities in the USA – Houston and Dallas.
San Antonio is the most attractive travel destination among the big cities, known for its ancient Spanish history and vibrant downtown. Southern Texas boasts the stunning beaches of Padre Island and further west, up the Rio Grande Valley, you'll find large cities with Mexican character like Laredo and El Paso. The national parks of West Texas complete an American experience with desert landscapes, stunning ridges, gigantic steaks, cowboys with rolling accents, and plenty of open spaces.
How many days do you need to tour Texas?
A trip across Texas requires between a week and two weeks, in both cities and the countryside.
15 Must-See and Do Things in Texas
- Ancient American history and amusement parks in San Antonio
- Modern American history in Dallas
- Cowboys at Sundance Square in the heart of Fort Worth
- The Space Center and excellent museums in Houston
- Relaxation in Galveston
- German festivals in New Braunfels and Fredericksburg
- The monumental Capitol building in Austin
- Texan wildlife at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
- The sight of the aircraft carrier Arlington in Corpus Christi
- Amazing white sand beaches on Padre Island
- Crossing the Rio Grande to Mexico at El Paso and Laredo
- Astronomical observations in Fort Davis
- Breathtaking views of ridges and cliffs at Guadalupe Mountains National Park and a quick trip to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico.
- An exciting road trip on the highway crossing Big Bend National Park.
- The Buddy Holly Hall of Fame in Lubbock.
What is Texas?
Texas is the second largest state in the union by area, after Alaska, and the second most populous, after California. The state's size is nearly 270,000 square miles, making it the largest in the contiguous United States. Texas is home to about 30 million people, most of whom live in the eastern part, in the three major metropolitan areas—Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio.
The state boasts two of America's top five largest metropolitan areas – with over eight million residents in Dallas-Fort Worth and about seven million in the Houston metropolitan area. Houston and Dallas are also the fourth and fifth largest cities in the U.S. (respectively). The major urban cluster of the Eastern Triangle also includes the Texas capital, Austin.
- Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State, a moniker celebrating its iconic flag, as the state was briefly an independent nation
- In the vast plains of Texas, indigenous tribes lived whose ways of life were disrupted with the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century. The Spanish and the French tried to settle the territory, but it was not until 1718 that the first Spanish settlement was established there, at the Mission San Antonio de Valero or the Alamo (cottonwood trees), the heart of today's San Antonio city
- With Mexico's independence in 1821, Texas came under the control of the new nation. The Mexicans revoked the Spanish law that prevented the purchase of land by non-Spaniards, leading to massive immigration of land buyers from the US Union states, who took over large territories. The tension due to immigration waves led to the Texas Revolution in 1835 and the famous Battle of the Alamo where Texans were defeated in San Antonio, merely as a prelude to their great victory at the Battle of San Jacinto under the leadership of Sam Houston (after whom the city built immediately afterward was named)
The Tumultuous History of Texas in the Union
Independent Texas was a southern state where slavery was legal. Due to border disputes with Mexico, in 1845, Texas joined the Union as the 28th state. Joining the USA led to the Mexican-American War during which all the southwestern states of the USA were annexed to the Union – New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and of course California.
- Texas seceded from the Union in 1861 and joined the Confederacy, meaning the South, during the American Civil War.
- With the South's defeat, it rejoined the Union in 1870, but it was severely affected during the war and underwent a long reconstruction.
- In 1901, massive oil reserves were discovered in the state and the Gulf of Mexico, leading to its rapid growth. The important city of Galveston was destroyed by a hurricane in 1900, but new cities quickly sprang up in its place, mainly Houston and Dallas.
Today's Texas is an important cultural center of America, combining cowboy and Wild West culture with industrial development and great wealth. The city of Houston is the center of the American Space Agency and the hub of American oil production, along with Alaska. The state has always been part of the cattle raising culture, making it synonymous with cowboys.
Map of Texas
How to Get to Texas?
How to Fly to Texas?
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
Dallas-Fort Worth Airport is considered one of the largest airports in the USA. It is the home base and headquarters of the American aviation giant, American Airlines, making it one of the busiest airports in the USA, particularly for connecting flights. The airport was built at the end of the 1960s, within the developing metropolis, halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth. The airport has five terminals and is connected to all regional and major airports within the USA, Canada, and Mexico, as well as all major airports in Europe and the Far East.
The airport is just a fifteen-minute drive both east to downtown Dallas and west to the center of Fort Worth. There is public transport from the airport that you might want to avoid because it's slow and goes through places you'd rather not visit. So, to get to the cities – either rent a car or take a taxi (or Uber). Between the airport and downtown, there’s also the old Dallas airport – Love Field (DAL) Dallas Love Field, which still receives flights from major airports across the U.S.
George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) – The international airport for the Houston metropolitan area, is one of the largest in the U.S. and serves as a major hub for the American airline giant, United Airlines. The airport connects with all major airports in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as well as regional airports in the central and western parts of the United States. It also has flights from major airports in Europe, the Far East, and the Middle East.
The airport is located 40 kilometers north of downtown Houston, just a 25-minute drive away. You can reach the center with bus number 102. The airport has five terminals and is one of the largest in the USA in terms of area. It's a relatively new airport, built after Hobby Airport in the city center became too small to handle the high passenger traffic.
William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) – Houston's historic airport is located in the southeastern part of the metropolitan area, a short drive from downtown. It was the city's historical airport until the giant airport to the north opened in 1969. The airport serves as the home base for Southwest Airlines, connecting Houston with all major airports in Texas, the southern USA, and the Midwest.
San Antonio International Airport (SAT) – The SAT is San Antonio's modest airport (compared to the giant airports of Houston and Dallas), but it serves the city's tourist traffic optimally. The airport is located in the northwestern part of the city and serves as a secondary home airport for Southwest Airlines. San Antonio has flights from all major airports in the US as well as a wide variety of Mexican airlines connecting the city with major cities south of the border. The airport is connected to downtown by direct metropolitan bus lines, 5 and 7, which reach downtown in about a fifteen-minute drive.
Austin–Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) – Austin's international airport is located in the southeastern part of Texas' capital city. It's a relatively large airport serving as a home airport for Southwest Airlines. The airport offers flights from all major airports in the US, Canada, and also from Mexico.
How to Get to Texas by Car?
Texas is the best example in the USA of the Deep South combined with the warm and cultural parts of the West (the Wild West culture). This large state spans the Deep South of the USA – with Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama to the west. The eastern part of Texas is also the most densely populated and developed in a state whose western part is desert.
Access to Texas is part of the approach to the Deep South, with Interstate 10 being the main route connecting Texas with New Orleans and Northern Florida to the east and with Phoenix to the west. Parallel to it to the north, Interstate 20 connects Atlanta in Georgia with the large Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Interstate 35 connects Texas with its northern neighbor, Oklahoma.
When is the best time to visit Texas?
The weather in Texas, much like the overall aspects of the state, is a mix of a southern tropical climate like Florida and Louisiana and nearly desert-like expanses in the western parts of the state. Large areas of Texas enjoy this tropical-desert seam, sometimes hot and dry, sometimes very hot and humid, but mostly not cold.
- If traveling in the eastern part of Texas, where the major metropolitan areas of Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin are, it is best to visit from late fall to late spring. Summers in East Texas are hot and humid, reminiscent of Florida, and air conditioning is a must. The summer is relatively rainy, mostly as a release of humidity in the late afternoon hours
- Traveling in the western parts of Texas is perfect during the winter months, when it is cool and pleasant and not too rainy
- Summer in Texas is very tough no matter where you travel, with high temperatures and either very humid or very dry with a scorching sun
- The spring and autumn months in Texas are usually relatively rainy, especially in the fall, but not enough to seriously alter plans (unless a hurricane is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico)
How to Plan a Travel Itinerary in Texas?
Texas is a vast state, and travel within it should be done in segments. The eastern part of the state is densely populated compared to the desert-like western part. An urban travel itinerary in Texas includes the three major metropolitan areas of Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and San Antonio. Also within this triangle is the state capital, Austin. A significant portion of Texas's population resides within this triangle, and nearly everything worth doing in the state is found here.
A trip through the three major metropolises can also be separate from the rest of the state, and it's worth dedicating at least a full day of travel to each city. From Houston, set out on a journey through southern Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico coastline where you'll find the resort city of Galveston, and head south to Aransas National Park and Corpus Christi. South of Corpus Christi stretch the stunning beaches of the enormous Padre Island, where you'll find the resort town of South Padre Island on its southern part.
From the southern tip of Texas, climb along the Rio Grande route to Laredo, Big Bend National Park, and up to Fort Davis. From Fort Davis, you can continue to El Paso or head north to Guadalupe Mountains National Park and the crazy stalactite caves of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. From the caves, you can continue to Lubbock, Texas's musical city (birthplace of Buddy Holly), and from there to the canyon and the mighty canyon nearby, and the desert city of Amarillo (yellow in Spanish).
San Antonio
San Antonio is the most historic city in Texas and a cornerstone in building the American ethos. Historically, the city is known as the site of the Battle of the Alamo, the fortress (formerly Mission San Antonio) where all the Texan rebels were killed, and which became one of the symbols of the United States. The fortress is located in the heart of the city's downtown, near the popular River Walk promenade. Next to the promenade is the Tower of the Americas, a needle tower from the sixties with a stunning view of the city, as well as the restored streets of La Villita.
Today's San Antonio is an empire of American domestic tourism, with SeaWorld and Six Flags Fiesta amusement parks also drawing a massive number of travelers and tourists.
Click here for all the information on traveling to San Antonio….
New Braunfels
The small tourist city of New Braunfels is part of the San Antonio trip. The city is located just a 35-minute drive from downtown San Antonio and is a great spot for a day trip, almost like hopping abroad. New Braunfels is named after a small city in Germany, north of Frankfurt, because of the settlement of Germans from around that area in Texas in the mid-19th century.
The center of New Braunfels is a stunning blend of Texas and Germany, both in the architecture and the character of the residents. The heart of the small city is the Main Plaza, surrounded by shops, German restaurants, bakeries like in Berlin, popular pubs, and more. The city is the venue for the famous Polka Festival held in August and the sausage festival – Wurstfest, held at the beginning of November.
Fredericksburg
Just like New Braunfels, Fredericksburg is a vibrant Texan-German town where you can experience the blended culture of the Wild West with what feels like a German colony. The city has about ten thousand residents and is also a favorite destination for a day trip from San Antonio, just an hour's drive from downtown.
The heart of Fredericksburg is Main Street, where a dense row of German beer houses, German restaurants, and everything that combines Texas with Germany line the broad avenue. On Main Street, you'll also find the Marktplatz von Fredericksburg, where each October the city's traditional Oktoberfest is held, one of the Texans' favorite attractions.
Kerrville
The small town of Kerrville is home to 25,000 people, just an hour's drive northwest of downtown San Antonio. The city lies along the banks of the Guadalupe River. The main attraction in the city is The Museum of Western Art, which showcases the best Texas artists. Kerrville is a very sleepy town that comes alive in the spring when crowds flock to the famous Polka Festival held at the Quiet Valley Ranch, just south of the town center.
Austin
Austin is the capital of the state of Texas and the fourth largest city in the state after Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. The city itself is home to about a million people, with an additional 900,000 in its metropolitan area. Austin's metropolitan area nearly touches that of San Antonio. It sits on the Interstate 35 highway en route from San Antonio to Dallas, with just an hour's drive between the two downtowns. Austin's metropolis is a significant part of the large Texan triangle, the populated zone in the east with corners being San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston. The city lies along the path of the Texas Colorado River (not to be confused with the Colorado River on the western slopes of the Rockies), which flows into the Gulf of Mexico south of Houston.
Austin was founded in 1835 with the Texan Revolution and was built to serve as the capital of the new state. Ten years later, it was annexed to the United States along with the entire state of Texas. It is named after Stephen Austin, known as the Father of Texas, as a leader of the settlement of Union citizens in territories that were then part of Mexico.
Touring Austin
The most important, well-known, and monumental building in Austin is, as befits Texan pride, the Texas Capitol Building, which seals downtown from the north. The building is designed like any American Capitol building (modeled after the Massachusetts State House in Boston), but it is much larger. Completed in 1888, it features a light-colored granite dome almost a hundred meters high. Around the building is a large park with monuments to the most important Texans.
The dome of the building dominates all the streets of downtown Austin and the city's main avenue – Congress Avenue. Along the avenue, you'll find several museums such as the Texas Toy Museum and Arcade, Mexic-Arte Museum, and The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center, which is the modern art museum of Austin. The heart of downtown is the intersection of Congress Avenue with Sixth Street, the city's entertainment avenue, featuring bars and restaurants nestled in tightly packed wooden houses with facades restored from the Wild West era.
Between the Capitol Building and the University of Texas campus is the Bullock Texas State History Museum. Next to it is the wonderful Blanton Museum of Art, featuring paintings by important European artists. On the campus itself, you’ll find the Texas Science & Natural History Museum. Overlooking the campus from the west is the massive UT Tower, completed in 1937, and standing about 92 meters tall. On August 1, 1966, the tower became the scene of a massacre when Charles Whitman, a sniper positioned at its top, shot and killed about 17 people on the campus grounds in one of the most notorious mass shootings in the USA.
Driving north from Austin to Dallas (also known for a very famous assassination, that of President Kennedy) on the I-35, you pass by Waco. Waco also has a place of infamous reputation in the darker sides of the USA, with the deaths of 82 members of the Branch Davidian cult led by David Koresh, who died during the siege of their compound in 1993.
Dallas Dallas
Dallas is the most modern city in Texas and the largest metropolis in the Lone Star State. It's a new city with very little old history but a wealth of history from modern America after World War II. Unfortunately, Dallas was the site of one of America's most profound wounds, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
The assassination of the president in downtown Dallas is a significant part of the public urban fabric and is very present during a visit to the city. Besides the Kennedy-related sites, the city has an art museum with a rare quality collection, an iconic tower from which you can view the city, and many professional sports teams whose games are worth catching during the season.
Click here for all the information on touring Dallas…
Fort Worth
The city of Fort Worth is an integral part of the massive Dallas metropolis, considered the fourth largest city in the entire USA. Unlike modern and somewhat impersonal Dallas, whose downtown is just a short drive east, Fort Worth offers a more historical atmosphere and is much more tourist-friendly.
In its past, the city was known as the hub of Texas cattle trade, and to this day, there are cattle auctions at the Stockyards district north of downtown. The center of Fort Worth, the Sundance Square district, has become a sort of Wild West Disneyland, with a precise reconstruction of the city from over a hundred years ago. Around the square, there are replicas of old saloons, grand theaters, cowboys, and all the fun of the Wild West.
Click here for all the information on traveling to Fort Worth…
Houston
Houston is the fourth largest city in the USA. Still, unlike the three larger ones, Houston doesn't have a captivating downtown. However, what it lacks in a central hub, it makes up for with a variety of great attractions like excellent museums, parks brimming with activities, and, notably, the Space Center—the official visitor center of NASA and one of the most unique spots in all of Texas. Just south of Houston, along the charming coastline of the Gulf of Mexico, is Galveston, a city that once was Texas's commercial hub and was devastated by a hurricane in 1900. Today, it's a lively and fun holiday destination with a wide range of tourist attractions.
Click here for all the information on a Houston trip…
Galveston
While Houston is a new city sprawling over a vast area, Galveston is indeed a separate city but somewhat functions as the historic center of Houston itself. Galveston is located in the southeastern part of the Houston metropolitan area, about a fifty-minute drive from downtown. Between the two cities, there is a sequence of suburbs and towns all absorbed by the metropolis. Galveston at the end of the 19th century was the main and most important city in all of Texas, even before Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas developed.
The city was halted by the hurricane of September 8, 1900, known as the 1900 Hurricane, considered the deadliest to ever hit the United States. It claimed the lives of about ten thousand people, most of them when it made landfall in Galveston. The hurricane devastated the city, which was then the industrial center of Texas. Since then, the city hasn't fully recovered, but today it is a popular resort town with around fifty thousand residents, not much more than lived there in 1900. The city has undergone considerable restoration, with many of the Victorian mansions meticulously restored, and now it’s just delightful to drive through the city's beautiful streets.
Along the waterfront, in what's called the Seawall, there is a row of large resort hotels and resorts from the top American chains. The city is a popular vacation destination for Texans themselves for domestic tourism and is considered one of the leading vacation spots in all of the Southern states.
Southeast Texas
Aransas National Wildlife Refuge
The enormous Aransas Wildlife Refuge is situated on low marshland between San Antonio Bay and the waters of St. Charles Bay, about a three-hour drive southeast of San Antonio and three hours southwest of Houston. The major city nearby is Corpus Christi to the south, a mere hour and a half drive away. The refuge features boardwalk trails over the marshes or forest paths where you can spot all kinds of Texan wildlife, including alligators, coyotes, armadillos, and more. It's a perfect spot for birdwatching enthusiasts, especially those keen to see the majestic Whooping Crane.
Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi is the largest city on the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. The city has a population of about three hundred thousand people and is mainly known for the significant presence of the US Navy. The city's deep harbor is unique because it is protected by a long island that acts as a barrier between the landfall of a hurricane and tidal waves, and the harbor itself. The massive carrier USS Lexington is permanently stationed at the harbor. Near the aircraft carrier is the city's main attraction – the Texas State Aquarium, featuring a stunning collection of fish and marine mammals typical of the Gulf of Mexico waters.
Padre Island
Padre Island is the longest barrier island in the world, stretching along the Texan coast from Corpus Christi in the north almost to the Mexican border. The barrier island measures over 180 km in length and is no wider than three. Along the island are stunningly beautiful natural white sandy beaches on the coast and a semi-marshy expanse of shallow lagoons to the west, with especially wild and beautiful nature. Laguna Madre (Mother), echoing Padre (Father) Island, is named after Father Jose Nicolas Balli, who gained ownership of the island in the early 19th century.
The place to stroll and relax on the long island is the resort town of South Padre Island at its southern tip. In the town, there are several large resorts belonging to Holiday Inn and private businesses, and a large water park. The town is one of the most popular destinations for students during Spring Break, when it is packed with student parties. The town is accessible by the long Queen Isabella Causeway that crosses the lagoon from the city of Port Isabel.
Laredo
Laredo is a dusty and rather tough border city, about a three-hour drive south of San Antonio. The city sits on the Rio Grande River, a beautiful river that has unfortunately become a quite heated border line. The city has around three hundred thousand residents, and to the south of the river, another three hundred thousand live in the Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo (Spanish is mainly spoken on both sides of the border). There are two major border crossings right in the heart of the city. The core of the city is San Agustín Plaza, which has been the heart of the city since its founding in 1755. Overlooking the plaza is the city's cathedral, San Agustin Catholic Cathedral.
West Texas
El Paso
El Paso is a vast desert city dominating the arid side of the Rio Grande River, at the tri-border area of Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico itself. The city is part of a massive metropolis anchored by a border wall, together with the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez. The entire connected metropolis is home to about two and a half million people, with around eight hundred thousand on the American side, yet Spanish is the dominant language throughout the area. The center of El Paso is the San Jacinto Plaza where the modern structure of the El Paso Museum of Art stands. Downtown El Paso is a mix of an American city with large buildings and orderly avenues, but with a completely Mexican street life, including restaurants, bars, and shops.
Fort Davis
Fort Davis began as a strategic military fort built in 1854, on the route between El Paso and San Antonio. Today, the town is home to almost two thousand people who enjoy the most pleasant weather in Texas' western desert region. The town sits on a ridge at an elevation of 1,500 meters and has a desert climate that is cool with dry air which is great to breathe. The clean atmospheric conditions and the town's isolation also led to the establishment of the McDonald Observatory on Mount Locke, about a half-hour drive west, making it an astronomical hub.
The main attraction in the town is the Fort Davis National Historic Site where you can experience a period reconstruction of the mid-19th century and the fort that was once there. About an hour and a half south towards Mexico, above the Rio Grande, lies Big Bend National Park, featuring hiking trails through breathtakingly isolated landscapes and channels descending to the river.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Just a two-hour drive from Fort Davis and almost two hours east of El Paso lies the stunning Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This park visit is part of a trip to the nearby Carlsbad Caverns National Park, about a half-hour northeast drive across the New Mexico border. The heart of the national park is El Capitan, the southern spur of the range that has been dramatically carved, creating high cliffs that stand out above the park's access road. El Capitan marks the edge of Guadalupe Peak, the highest summit in Texas, towering nearly 9000 feet above sea level. The national park offers several hiking trails of varying difficulty levels.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park (New Mexico)
Carlsbad Caverns are the more popular part of a trip in west Texas. The caverns are part of a trip to Guadalupe Mountains National Park and are located on the northern slopes of the range, in the state of New Mexico. Those traveling in the area often drive from El Paso through the Guadalupe Mountains National Park with the goal of reaching the unique caverns. These are stunning karstic dripstone caves formed by groundwater seepage and salt dissolution within the limestone of the Guadalupe Range. The caverns are one underground system that's connected (it's possible there are many more caves not yet discovered or detached from the main system) and create what is likely the largest underground system in the world.
The logistic center of the national park is in Whites City, a twenty-minute drive south of Carlsbad city. The visitor center is a particularly winding fifteen-minute drive from Whites City, up the ridge. An elevator descends directly from the center to The Big Room, a colossal cave 230 meters underground, beyond words in size. You can also enter the cave on a natural trail, discovered in 1901 by local cowboy Jim White. While you can explore the vast cave on your own, touring other caves requires local park ranger guidance.
Lubbock
Lubbock is the largest city in the western part of Texas, a five-hour drive west of Dallas. The city hosts Texas Tech University, with forty thousand students that make the city particularly young and vibrant. The city is home to about a quarter of a million residents in a vast suburban area that over the years has been one of the important centers of Texas cattle raising.
Lubbock is considered the Texan version of Nashville, Tennessee, mainly because of the number of musicians who were born and operated here, with Buddy Holly at the forefront. In the northern part of downtown lies the Buddy Holly Hall of Performing Arts and Sciences, serving as the unofficial hall of fame for Texan musicians.
Canyon Canyon
The small town of Canyon sits along the road between Lubbock and Amarillo, above the Palo Duro Canyon to the east, commonly referred to as the Grand Canyon of Texas. The canyon is a green oasis amidst Texas's yellow and dry prairie. The main site in the town is the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, perhaps the most important historical museum in all of Texas. It's an enormous museum with millions of paleontological, prehistoric, and archaeological exhibits from western Texas and eastern New Mexico. The museum is part of the West Texas A&M University campus in the city and serves as a very significant research center as well as a beloved tourist destination.
A twenty-minute drive north from Canyon takes you to Amarillo, a dusty and tough cattle town known mainly as a hub for cattle trade. To the west of the city on Highway 40, which was once the iconic Route 66, is the Cadillac Ranch where ten Cadillac cars are buried in the sand.
Sports and Entertainment Events in Texas
Basketball in Texas
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs is one of the leading teams in the NBA. The team was founded in 1967 in the city of Dallas and moved to San Antonio six years later, adopting the Texan cowboy symbol. Since their arrival in the city, they have been considered an excellent team and rarely fail to make the playoffs at the end of the regular season. They claimed their first championship title in 1999, under the rare combination of the “Twin Towers” duo – the veteran David Robinson and the young (at the time) Tim Duncan. By 2014, the team had won five championships, often led by these two great players.
The team plays at the Frost Bank Center in the east of the city, formerly known as the AT&T Center. The stadium holds 19,000 spectators, and it's relatively easy to get tickets for games during the season (harder in the playoffs).
Home stadium address for the Spurs: Frost Bank Center Dr. 1, San Antonio
Click here to purchase online tickets for the Pacers games on the NBA website…
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are one of the top teams currently in the professional basketball league, the NBA. The team was founded in 1980 and has won the championship only once, in 2011, under the leadership of the German giant Dirk Nowitzki. Affectionately known as the Mavs, they play at the American Airlines Center slightly north of downtown, with a capacity for nearly 20,000 spectators.
Home Stadium Address: 2500 Victory Ave., Dallas
Click here to purchase tickets for Mavericks games on the team's website…
Houston Rockets
The Rockets are Houston's illustrious basketball team and one of the three great gems of Texas, along with the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs. The Rockets also boast a distinguished tradition of wins and legendary playoff games, but the last championships they won were in 1995, under the leadership of Hakeem Olajuwon, who led the team to their second consecutive championship (and the only ones the team has won). The team was founded in 1967 in San Diego and moved to Houston about four years later. They play at the Toyota Center in downtown, which seats 18,000 fans.
Home Stadium Address: 1510 Polk St., Houston
Click here to purchase tickets for Rockets games on the NBA website…
Baseball in Texas
The Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers are the city’s baseball team and one of the lions of the MLB league. The team was founded in 1961 in Washington D.C. and moved to Dallas 12 years later. The Rangers were considered one of the weaker teams in the league until suddenly blossoming in the early 2000s. Since 2010, the team almost reaches the playoffs every year and has advanced to the World Series three times, winning only once in 2023.
The team plays at the covered Globe Life Field stadium in Arlington. The stadium can hold over forty thousand spectators, and there's usually no problem getting tickets for the team’s games.
Home Stadium Address: Stadium Dr. 734, Arlington
Click here to purchase tickets for Rangers games on the MLB league site…
Houston Astros
While the Rockets are considered Houston's flagship team, it's the Astros who have been flourishing in recent years and are ranked among the top teams in MLB, the American baseball league. The team was originally founded as the Houston Colts, named after the revolver, but three years later, it changed its name to the Astros, after NASA's space center located in the city. The Astros were always seen as a weak team, but in the last ten years, they've had a surprising resurgence and even won two World Series titles, in 2017 and 2022.
Today, the team is considered very strong in the baseball league, and their games are packed with fans. The Astros play at Minute Maid Park (yes… the fresh competitors to Tropicana), located in downtown Houston near the Toyota Center. The stadium holds 40,000 spectators and is one of the few in the league with a roof that can close in case (quite common) rain falls in the city.
Home Stadium Address: 501 Crawford St., Houston
Click here to purchase tickets for Astros games on the MLB site…
Football in Texas
Dallas Cowboys
If the Mavericks are perhaps Dallas' most well-known team due to their recent rise, the biggest sports empire in the Dallas metropolitan area is the formidable Cowboys football team. Established in 1960, the Dallas Cowboys have become a legendary name in American sports. They've clinched five Super Bowl titles over the years, but they're also famed for their esteemed cheerleading squad and for being the most valuable sports team in the world today.
The team plays at the gigantic AT&T Stadium in Arlington, right in the middle of downtown Dallas and central Fort Worth. The stadium holds over 80,000 fans, yet tickets are hard to come by. The team is the city's darling, and games are considered a real experience (there aren't many games each season).
Home Stadium Address: AT&T Way, 1, Arlington
Click here to purchase tickets for Cowboys games on the team's website…
Houston Texans
The Texans represent the city of Houston in the professional football league, the NFL. They are the newest team in the professional league, founded in 2002 after the local empire – the Oilers left the city for Nashville, where they changed their name to the Titans. The team hasn't achieved remarkable success yet but is generally quite good and delivers exciting games (if you manage to get tickets). The Texans play at the large NRG Stadium in the southern part of the city, which holds 72,000 spectators.
Home Stadium Address: NRG Pkwy, Houston
Click here to purchase tickets for Texans games on the team's website…
Hockey in Texas
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars represent the city of Dallas in the professional hockey league. The team was founded in Minnesota in 1967 and moved to Dallas in 1993. About six years after relocating to the city, they also won the Stanley Cup in an unforgettable season. Since then, the team has reached the playoffs several times and even lost in the 2020 Stanley Cup. The team plays alongside the Mavericks at the American Airlines Center, located north of downtown, which can accommodate almost 20,000 spectators.
Home Stadium Address: 2500 Victory Ave., Dallas
Click here to purchase tickets for Stars games on the NHL's website…
