Cowboy culture, big cities and first rodeos on our Texas family adventure

Texas is a winner for action-packed family holidays – serving big city culture, epic family attractions, cute Christmas towns and plenty of cowboy cool. Lisa McGarry

Historic Main Street, Grapevine ©Travel Texas

Start your Texas family holiday in Grapevine

Fly into Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and you’re just minutes from Grapevine, a small historic town officially crowned the Christmas Capital of Texas. It’s an easy start to a Texas family holiday, perfect for acclimatising before tackling the big cities.

We checked into the Hilton DFW Lakes, a large and comfortable hotel with pools, restaurants and space for kids to burn off energy, perfect after a long flight. Within minutes, we were out in the sunshine and ready to experience Grapevine’s small-town charm.

Grapevine’s Historic Main Street looks like a real-life Hallmark movie set: spotless sidewalks, independent boutiques, winery tasting rooms, delis and public art, and the characterful Glockenspiel Clock Tower and Grapevine Vintage Railroad. It’s compact, walkable and easy with children, which we loved. You’d be forgiven for expecting your high school sweetheart to emerge and ruin your festive knit with a careless coffee spill, or a jolly bearded fellow predicting a very specific future and tilting the universe with a little Christmas magic on your behalf.

Great value is a Texas daily special on family holidays

We also loved the food in Grapevine: it’s great value, the Texan normal.

At Tolbert’s, a saloon-style chilli restaurant giving major Americana in the best way, portions are generous to the point of comedy. Order carefully: the queso arrives in a bowl big enough to feed a small family, and donkey’s ears (deep-fried franks) nearly finished us off during the appetisers. Chili comes in cup, bowl, or dish, so size down.

Judy’s Pies – the pie shop of Thanksgiving dreams we visited afterwards – sadly didn’t get our custom, just our wistful window-shopping as we had no room left.

Harvest Hall is a great spot for dinner, and everyone can choose a different cuisine. We loved the seasonal pop-up bars and craft food stalls, and again it was incredible value. As is the breakfast buffet at Great Wolf Lodge, where you can make your own waffles in the shape of a paw, there was a casual hog roast on offer, and I nurtured my long-standing obsession with coffee creamers.

Meow Wolf, Grapevine Mills ©Meow Wolf

Shopping, immersive art, indoor fun

Just outside town, Grapevine Mills is a vast outlet mall that lets you get all your shopping done in one hit. The Neiman Marcus outlet feels like Selfridges by way of TK Maxx, and there’s enough choice here to satisfy teens as well as parents including Sephora.

But we were here for Meow Wolf: The Real Unreal: an immersive, trippy art experience created by Texas and Santa Fe-based artists. We loved the neon corridors, hidden doors, and surreal installations set around a loose mystery storyline that kids will happily abandon in favour of exploration. It’s creative, playful and mind-blowing, like a colourful Upside Down.

Grapevine Mills also houses a LEGOLAND^® Discovery Center and Peppa Pig World of Play, as well as a Rainforest Café, so it’s perfect for families.

READ MORE: The best destinations for holidays with children of every age, and stage

Ice! at Gaylord Texan Resort, Grapevine ©Travel Texas

Ice sculptures, vintage railways and festive excess

If you visit between mid-November and Christmas, ICE! at Gaylord Texan Resort is a must. Forty master artisans carve more than two million pounds of ice into immersive Christmas scenes; in 2025 the theme was the movie, Elf.

Wrap up in provided blue parkas – which we appreciated – then explore the ice slides, sculptures and frozen sets. Of course, there’s hot chocolate and festive shopping on site to warm up with afterwards. It’s spectacular, over-the-top and very Texan festive fun.

A completely different, but just as much fun experience, is Nash Farm: a 19th-century working farm where kids can help make butter, meet animals and learn how families lived in the 1800s. It’s all very grounding, and hands-on, with cute vintage vibes.

As is the Grapevine Vintage Railroad, and its festive North Pole Express, with jolly bearded fellow in attendance for meet and greets. You can ride the train to the airport if you’re leaving town, which luckily, we weren’t yet.

Reunion Tower, Dallas ©Lisa McGarry

Dallas is a must-do on any Texas family holiday

Dallas is around 30 minutes from Grapevine by road so, by American standards, an easy hop. Watching the city skyline sharpen against an enormous blue sky delivered actual chills. Also, it was an iconic for this Gen X, who grew up watching Sue Ellen and JR duke it out on Dallas.

We stayed at Hall Arts Hotel Dallas, part of Hilton’s Curio Collection, right in the heart of the Arts District, and felt so comfortable there. With 183 rooms, a heated rooftop pool and walkable access to museums and performance venues, it’s an excellent base for families who want culture without constant driving, and there are bikes you can use too. The pool, perfectly heated and a gorgeous, steamy sight first thing in the morning, became our daily Texas family holiday ritual, with its addictive skyline views, which were just as fantastic from our fifth-floor room, any time of day or night.

READ  MORE: 10 experiences of a lifetime you need to share with your kids

Nasher Sculpture Museum ©Lisa McGarry

Museums, architecture and a dose of history

The Dallas Arts District is one of the largest urban arts districts in the US, and several major institutions are free to enter, making them a good fit for a Texas family holiday where flexibility is a gift.

The Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center are within walking distance of Hall Arts, and both seriously impressive. The collection at the Museum of Art is breathtaking, from classical to pop. And the garden at the Sculpture Center bestows awe and calm. It’s a great experience for kids, and the adults were wowed too.

For a more sobering but important stop, the Sixth Floor Museum explores the assassination of President John F. Kennedy from the building overlooking Dealey Plaza. It’s beautifully curated, with photographs, letters and other artefacts to guide visitors carefully through the events of that day. Older children should find plenty to think about, especially if they’re interested in American politics, and it’s perfect if your kids are studying GCSE History.

READ MORE: 11 most magical places to take kids before they grow up

Dallas Mavericks basketball game, American Airlines Center ©Lisa McGarry

Big views, big entertainment, big thrills in Dallas

Reunion Tower gave spectacular city and beyond views via a stomach-lurching glass elevator ride, and there’s a fun dress-up experience where you can have your images transposed onto a variety of backdrops on the way in.

But nothing could beat our experience of a Dallas Mavericks basketball game at the American Airlines Center. Watching from a hospitality box, complete with catering and drinks (warning: they take away the mains and replace with hot dogs before half time) was total culture shock in the best way, especially the cheerleaders.

The game itself is fast-paced and easy to follow, but it’s everything around it that fascinates: the upbeat crowd, the constant music and the sense that sport here is as much about performance as competition (we loved this). For families with teens, it’s an unforgettable experience and a brilliant way to see Dallas like a local. The Mavericks lost, but the vibe was amazing.

A city built for major moments

Holiday at the Dallas Arboretum is another highlight if you visit during festive time. This 66-acre botanical garden transforms itself with 12 Days of Christmas gazebos, a European-style village and themed décor inside the historic DeGolyer House. It’s like Christmas at Kew without the queues or cold, and was pretty fantastic.

Dallas is no stranger to hosting global events, and that’s set to continue: the city will host its first England match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on 17 June, cementing its status as a major international sports destination. Even outside tournament years, the crowd-friendly arenas and excellent transport are exactly what makes Dallas such an easy, exciting stop on a Texas family holiday. Everything’s on a grand scale, and nothing seems impossible.

READ MORE: All welcome in Morgan’s Wonderland, San Antonio’s accessible theme park

Fort Worth Stockyards ©Lisa McGarry

Fort Worth: cowboys, culture and the real Texas

Fort Worth is just 40 minutes from Dallas by car, but it feels like a completely different Texas, rooted in cowboy heritage and family-friendly spectacles like the cattle drives, and of course rodeo.

We stayed at the Omni Fort Worth, a grand hotel with soaring lobby, outdoor pool, spa, and a great location just a short drive from Fort Worth Stockyards. It’s also refreshingly eco for this part of the world, with minimal plastic water bottles in the rooms and no disposable slippers. Rooms had plenty of space to decompress after busy sightseeing days, and the bars and cafes onsite made everything feel buzzy and glamorous, as did the immaculately turned-out reception staff.

The Stockyards are Fort Worth’s main attraction, and for good reason. Twice daily, real Texas Longhorn cattle are driven down Exchange Avenue by cowboys on horseback: a short, theatrical cattle drive that gives kids a genuine sense of the area’s ranching past. It’s free to watch, draws a crowd, and gives great photo opportunities. You can also pay ten bucks to sit atop a Longhorn for pictures, and trust me your kids will want to.

Families with older kids will love exploring the surrounding streets, packed with western stores selling cowboy boots, hats and belt buckles, as well as your casual barbecue spots. We loved authentic Panther City in Southside, and Mexican Joe T. Garcias with its beautiful gardens, a few blocks away.

Cattle drive, Fort Worth Stockyards ©Travel Texas

First rodeo: another first on our Texas family holiday

An obvious highlight of our Texas family holiday was the Fort Worth Championship Rodeo where we watched bull riding, barrel racing, bucking broncos and roping events inside a huge arena.

It’s loud, dramatic and unlike anything you’ll see in Europe. Younger kids may find the noise and length overwhelming, and sensitive kids might take against the lassoing of animals, which can look brutal. But the talent of the riders is not to be denied, and it’s a seriously fun family evening out, complete with a bit where kids chase sheep and baby bulls, which is very cute with all the little cowboy hats.

In the evening, Billy Bob’s Texas – the world’s largest honky-tonk – has live country music and line dancing, and is an absolute trip. You can get in with teens, but must keep them ‘within an arm’s length’ whilst in the venue. They’ll thank you, just don’t try and buy them beers.

Although the standout for us was the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame: a shiny new, beautifully reverential museum celebrating women of the American West, from sharpshooter Annie Oakley to ranchers, rodeo stars and Native American women whose stories are often overlooked. It’s engaging, educational and a welcome balance to the louder Stockyards attractions. We also loved the framed equine Hermès scarfs adorning the walls.

Fort Worth rounds off a Texas family holiday perfectly: more hipster than Dallas, less sweet than Grapevine, and with full cowboy mode activated. This is the Texas trifecta you and your family don’t want to miss.

READ MORE: Try a family riding holiday in the ‘Cowboy Capital of the World’

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*Based on a family of four sharing.