Please take note that this article was written before the pandemic. Before you plan an outing anywhere, please visit the website of each location for details of their opening status.

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Planning a road trip to West Texas? What an unbelievably beautiful part of the Lonestar state! Read all about our adventures to Big Bend, Balmorhea, Fort Davis, Marfa and the McDonald Observatory. Whether you’re heading out on a hot summer vacay or simply planning ahead for future travel, here’s some suggestions about taking a family vacation out West.

Things to do in West Texas:

Balmorhea State Park: Famous for its spring-fed swimming pool, the kids will surely love making a big splash at Balmorhea. The pool is open year round and the water temperatures stay between 72 and 76 degrees — which is lovely on a hot desert day. You can also snorkel and scuba dive among the fish, or take a big jump off one of the diving boards. While the park does have campsites as well as a retro motel-style lodge built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, please note that as of June 2019, these facilities are under renovation construction, so the park is only open for day-use from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Because of a high volume of visitors on most warm days, they close when they reach 900 visitors. You can purchase “Save the Day” passes to guarantee entry using the new state parks reservation system.

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Marfa: What a popular and trendy destination this has become! This sleepy little small town is very charming and well-known for its mystery lights as well as its art scene, most famous being the Chinati Foundation. Tours of the Chinati are well worth it, but not geared towards little ones, for sure. Tours are reserved in advance and take about 4.5 hours to see the full collection with a break for lunch. (Note, when our editor went on the tour with a total of 5 children, the guide was able to take us through in “record time” being about 3 hours. But if your kids have short attention spans, perhaps just peeking around the outside collection or opting for a self-guided tour of smaller collections might be a better bet. You can browse the town’s galleries for a peek into Marfa’s art collection. Be sure to pop by the Ballroom Marfa to see their latest exhibit. Restaurant options are limited and hours are surprisingly limited (check schedules before you go). Check out Jett’s Grill at the Hotel Paisano for more upscale dining or Food Shark or The Water Stop for more casual options.

If you want to take a try at seeing the famous Marfa Lights, take note that the official Marfa Lights Viewing Area is located 9 miles east of town on U.S. 90, towards Alpine. Accounts of the strange spectacle began during the 19th century and continue to this day, although we can’t claim to have had much luck on our own viewing.

If you’re interested in staying in a tepee, yurt, or trailer while in Marfa, El Cosmico is the place to go. This 21-acre nomadic hotel and campground was developed by Liz Lambert of Hotel San Jose, Hotel Saint Cecilia and Jo’s Coffee fame in Austin. Kids will love lounging in the hammocks on the property and you can even reserve a heated tub for a soak under the stars.

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Fort Davis: Situated at the base of the Davis Mountains, the Fort Davis National Historic Site was a key defensive post in west Texas and housed troops from 1854 until 1891. Look around the museum’s preserved barracks, officer housing and the hospital which really brings to life what it must have been like in that era. In town, the Fort Davis Drug Store and Hotel has an old-fashioned soda pull ice cream parlor and a menu that appeals to most kiddos.

The Davis Mountains State Park is a gem that offers hiking and biking trails in an extensive mountain range. The Indian Lodge offers unique lodging built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and was one of our personal favorite places to stay on our travels West. The rooms are charming and you can’t beat the ice cold waters of the onsite swimming pool. Be sure to make your reservations well in advance, as this charming hotel is very popular.

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McDonald Observatory: West Texas is known for its dark skies and is home to the McDonald Observatory, a world-class location to observe the stars and planets through their telescopes. The Star Party that they host are unforgettable and will thrill your budding astronomers. You see the sky’s beauty as you don’t usually get to living in a light-polluted city. The Star Party is offered on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and lasts about two hours. The first half is a seated tour of the constellations and then you get to go look at various celestial objects and planets through telescopes. It’s a very popular program and while the capacity of the tour is high, you must make a reservation to be sure you get your spot. Be sure to dress for the weather. It’s a higher elevation and can get pretty cold once the sun goes down.

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Big Bend National Park: The most exciting destination on a trip to West Texas is a visit to Big Bend National Park. One of two National Parks in Texas, it’s one of the largest, most remote and the least visited national parks with an average of 300,000 visitors a year. Big Bend is a unique and dramatic desert beauty surrounded by mountains, full of cactus and home to canyons carved out by the Rio Grande.

Because it is in a desert, plan your visit accordingly and be prepared for the weather. Summer is dry and hot with little shade. Temperatures can soar in June with an average high of 103.4. Planning a trip in the fall or spring however, can be a little more comfortable with November having an average high of 77.7 and a low of 44.2 or March having an average of 82.9 and low of 56.2. Thus, Big Bend a popular Spring Break destination for Texans — meaning you need to book your lodging or campsite well in advance.

Big Bend is a budding geologists’ paradise, with limestone, faults, volcanoes and fossils including a world-record pterosaur and a 50’ crocodile on display. But don’t let desert and great geology make you believe that Big Bend is lacking in flora and fauna. The park is the habitat for 1200 species of plants, 450 bids, 56 reptiles and 75 mammals. (The kids were constantly on lookout for bears or cougars.)

Big Bend is best known and visited for its hiking trails. We loved the views on the The Window Hike! If you are heading out with enthusiastic kids that might fade at any point, you should know that you start out mostly downhill and the route back is more uphill. This hike offers great panoramic views of desert and rock formations and ends with a dramatic “window” view. Other hikes that are of moderate difficulty and duration worth checking out are the Lost Mine Trail, the Chisos Basin Loop Trail, and the Santa Elena Canyon Trail.

While we surely encourage you to get out on foot for some hiking, you will also be wowed by the views of Big Bend from the car. There are over 100 miles of paved roads that give provide gorgeous vistas and allow you to appreciate the geology. If you catch the park at the right time you can see wildflower and cactus blooms. (Note that some roads are unpaved and can be difficult to access depending on conditions.)

Down one gravel road drive is a hot springs where you can soak adjacent to the Rio Grande. You hike .25 miles down to the springs, passing the remains of a bathhouse and a store and some interesting petroglyphs.

Check out the Sam Nail Ranch which sits on an oasis (creekbed) and has the remains of an abode house built in the early 1900s. The remnants of planted fig trees plus the water source makes for some interesting bird watching.

Big Bend offers river adventures as well. You can float the Rio Grande through local outfitters who provide a variety of services including shuttles, rentals and guided trips down the Rio Grande. Sounds like a very fun way to experience the Big Bend canyons.

If you want to stay overnight, the Chisos Mountain Lodge is operated by an independent group but is inside Big Bend National Park. They have hotel rooms, motel rooms and the Roosevelt stone cottages. There are 72 rooms and they are very popular at peak travel times such as Spring Break and Thanksgiving. There are only 5 Roosevelt stone cottages, which are small houses that hold up to 6 people each and some allow pets as well, and boast great views of the Chisos.

Reservations can be made online 16 months in advance. Campgrounds are available at the Chisos Basin and the Rio Grande Village. Reservations can be made up to 180 days in advance. Reservations are not taken the rest of the year because the sites rarely fill up.

If you’re looking for more of an upscale stay, you can check out the Lajitas Golf Resort which offered beautiful scenery right on the Rio Grande between Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. The hotel itself has a Wild West feel, and has a lot to offer including a golf course, movie theatre, pool, a bar and a restaurant. You can also take a trail ride through the Chihuahuan Desert for an authentic west Texas experience.

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Marathon: One last suggestion would be a stop at the historic Gage Hotel in Marathon. The hotel was originally a house built for pioneer Texas rancher Alfred Gage. Pop into the White Buffalo Bar to toast the finale to a memorable and fun-filled West Texas road trip.

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For more info about traveling to West Texas, you can check out these helpful websites: Big Bend National Park, Visit Big Bend, and Visit Marfa.

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Renting an RV could make your roadtrip to West Texas extra special: RVshare.com makes the process pretty simple since it connects you with local RV owners. You can search through thousands of options including Camper Vans, Motorhomes, Travel Trailers. Plus RVshare offers give you piece of mind with insurance and 24-hour roadside assistance. If you want to get more info about spending some family time hitting the road in an RV, visit Texas RV Rental.