Destinations: Seven Regions, endless adventures
What better way to understand the frontier and the people who settled it than to browse the fascinating museums and experience the rugged grandeur of the Panhandle Plains. Those who travel these wide open spaces find abundant opportunity for camping and scenic vistas, challenging nature photography and exploring the paths of the ancient people who once roamed this land.
Visitors find adventure in Big Bend Country – the tallest region in Texas. The landscapes are straight out of an old Hollywood western, with thorny sun-bleached and jagged terrain. Ancient rock strata lie exposed in rocky mountains over a mile high. Excellent highways expand the wilderness, leading to sites where the great Comanche Trail swept across two nations, where conquistadors and cavalry troopers marched and where cowboys made their home on the range.
The Texas Hill country offers green slopes, rocky landscapes, bubbling springs, rolling hills and river valleys shaped by ancient seas, enormous geological forces and a millennia of erosion. Today, skyscrapers stand in cities just miles away from open space teeming with native wildlife. Visitors explore cliff-edged lakes, dude ranches, deep canyons and states parks that offer historical treasures and natural beauty. It’s Texas’ handsome capital city to charming small towns, from aquatic playgrounds to highland vistas.
Ballet, symphonies, museum, sporting events, outdoor activities and a calendar full of fairs and festivals assure plenty of options for entertainment and fun in the Prairies and Lakes region. Green landscapes are home to dozens of major lakes where anglers take hefty stringers of black and sand bass, crappie and catfish. Whether you’re looking for a taste of the big city or a bit of a lakeside adventure, this vast Texas region offers something for everyone.
This region, stretching from San Antonio (and its many top attractions) to the Mexican border, offers a bicultural experience, complete with Mariachi music and the tangy taste of Mexican cuisine. Grassy green citrus groves, rustling palms and blazing bougainvilleas supply the backdrop for the lower Rio Grande Valley at the southern tip of the state.
To appreciate the vast East Texas Piney Woods – whose acreage almost equals that of the combined forests of New England – get out and explore a walk or a drive. Travelers savor outdoor recreation in verdant landscapes and enjoy historic structures in delightful small towns.
From the moss-draped bayous of Louisiana, the Texas Gulf Coast stretching in a 624-mile curve to the sunny shores of Mexico. Natural habitat, historic fishing villages, busy ports, offshore islands, sheltered bays and abundant recreational areas are sprinkled along the seashore. Campers and anglers enjoy superb coastal parks. While nature loves delight in some of the best bird-watching opportunities in the Western Hemisphere. As a seaside playground, South Padre Island has hosted visitors from Texas and Mexico since the 1800s. They are joined today by tourists from all over the world.
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Panhandle Plains
