Dallas and Fort Worth
Two cities 50 km apart that could hardly be more different: Dallas, the city of glass towers, of the museum of the Kennedy assassination and of an arts district designed by Renzo Piano, Norman Foster and I. M. Pei, and Fort Worth, the old cattle town where longhorns still parade down the street twice a day. Between the two, the Cowboys' stadium, brisket barbecue and the frozen margarita, whose machine was invented here in 1971, set the tone for a Texas that is more urban than you might imagine.
By PierrickLocal Guide ★8 · 14M+ views on Google MapsBy PierrickLocal Guide ★8 · 14M+ Maps views
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Dallas and Fort Worth · Photo Pixabay / Pexels
Things to do in Dallas and Fort Worth in 3 days
Day 1
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On the sixth floor of the old Texas School Book Depository, the museum retraces the assassination of John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1963, with the sniper's corner reconstructed behind glass.
💡 All tickets are timed: buy them online to choose your slot, as the queue on site gives you the next free time. The museum opens Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm, last entry at 4.15pm. Price: $24, about €21, online, $27, about €23, on site, free up to age 5.
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A Renzo Piano pavilion and garden holding modern sculpture by Rodin, Matisse, Picasso, Giacometti, Calder and Henry Moore, with a James Turrell Skyspace framing a square of sky.
💡 Open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 5pm. Entry is free on the first Saturday of the month, and the museum stays open until midnight on the third Friday, from March to October. Then cross the street to Klyde Warren Park and its food trucks. Price: $10, about €9, free for under-12s.
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Five thousand years of art, from West African masks to Frederic Church's The Icebergs and the Reves collection of Renoirs and Van Goghs, with free general admission since 2013.
💡 The museum opens Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 5pm and closes on Mondays and Tuesdays. Book your free ticket online, and come on the first Sunday of the month to see the paid exhibitions too without paying. Price: free, temporary exhibitions extra.
Michael Barera / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 2
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The Dallas Cowboys' Arlington stadium, with its retractable roof and giant screen above the 50-yard line, offers tours of the locker rooms, suites and sometimes the field itself.
💡 Arlington has no conventional bus network or train to the stadium: come by car, about 30 minutes from Dallas outside rush hour. Bring an American football to play on the field if it is open. Price: varies with the option, self-guided or guided tour, to be booked on the stadium's official website.
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A few streets of 1920s and 1930s brick buildings in Oak Cliff, packed with independent shops, galleries, cafés and restaurants: walkable, human-scale Dallas, reached by streetcar from Union Station.
💡 The Dallas Streetcar links Union Station to the Bishop Arts District in about fifteen minutes, without a car. Come in the late afternoon and stay for dinner; most shops open around 11am. Price: free.
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A former working-class Black district and 1920s cradle of Texas blues, whose brick warehouses are now covered in murals and filled with music venues, bars and the famous Pecan Lodge.
💡 Come Thursday to Saturday evening for the gigs, and in the afternoon to photograph the murals without the crowds. The Deep Ellum light rail station, on the DART Green Line, saves you looking for a parking space. Price: free, concerts charged depending on the venue.
Michael Barera / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 3
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The old Chisholm Trail cattle market keeps its brick streets and saloons, with cowboys driving a longhorn herd down East Exchange Avenue twice a day and country concerts at Billy Bob's.
💡 The Fort Worth Herd's cattle drive takes place at 11.30am and 4pm, except in bad weather, at Thanksgiving, at Christmas and at Easter. Arrive half an hour early and stand in front of the Livestock Exchange Building. Price: free, rodeo and concerts charged.
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Louis Kahn's silver-lit concrete vaults house a small but first-rate collection, including Michelangelo's first known painting, Caravaggio's The Cardsharps, Velázquez, Rembrandt, Monet and Cézanne.
💡 The museum is closed on Mondays; it opens from 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Thursday and on Saturdays, from noon to 8pm on Fridays and from noon to 5pm on Sundays, with free parking. Exhibitions are half price on Tuesdays and on Fridays after 5pm. Price: permanent collection free, temporary exhibitions $18, about €15.
Photo: Andreas Praefcke / Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)"Book" (hotels) and "via GetYourGuide" (activities) are affiliate links (Booking, GetYourGuide). Prices, times and distances are approximate.
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Good to know before you go
🍽️ Must-try food
Burgers and barbecue
brisket and ribs cooked low and slow, done differently in every state.
Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl
the classic lunch on the San Francisco waterfront.
Mexican food
tacos from a truck in Los Angeles, a Mission burrito in San Francisco.
Pancakes and weekend brunch
a national habit, generous to the point of excess.
Craft beer, and California wine from Napa and Sonoma.
Dishes to look for in the good places: Dallas and Fort Worth.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Tipping is not optional: add 15 to 20% in restaurants and bars.
- Prices on menus and in shops exclude sales tax, which is added at the till.
- Do not plan more than four or five hours of driving a day: the distances are larger than they look on the map.
- Never travel without health insurance. A night in hospital can cost thousands of dollars.
- In summer, do not hike down into the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day: the climb back out is where people get into trouble.
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The little details that make all the difference once you're there.
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