14 Best Small Towns To Visit In Texas

The big cities get the headlines but Texas small towns hold their corners well. Lockhart calls itself the Barbecue Capital of Texas and the smokehouses on the courthouse square back the title up. Bandera lays claim to the Cowboy Capital of the World. Marfa is a minimalist art destination with installations on a former military base. Brenham is where Blue Bell makes its ice cream. Fourteen Texas towns below, picking up where the big cities leave off.

Dripping Springs

Dripping Springs runs as the gateway to the Hill Country, with limestone bluffs, deep canyons, and cool springs in the surrounding country. Hamilton Pool Preserve is the headline attraction, a collapsed grotto with a 50-foot waterfall feeding a jade-green pool. Reservations are required to enter the preserve, and capacity is capped. The surrounding woodland holds native species like the golden-cheeked warbler, which breeds only in the Texas Hill Country.

Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg sits about 80 miles west of Austin and was founded in 1846 by German settlers led by Baron Otfried Hans von Meusebach. It is one of the main Hill Country towns where Texas German, a dialect carried over by the first generations of immigrants, took root and survived (other Texas German strongholds include New Braunfels and Boerne). Many local businesses still use the old nickname Fritztown. The National Museum of the Pacific War occupies most of a downtown block and includes a separate Garden of Peace and the George H.W. Bush Gallery. Main Street holds over 150 independent stores, boutiques, and galleries, with a National Historic District restricting chain stores and franchises. Wineries on US-290 to the east (the Texas Hill Country AVA, the second-largest wine region in the US by acreage) round out a typical weekend itinerary.

Luckenbach

Luckenbach sits a short drive south of Fredericksburg and was established in 1849 by German farmer Albert Luckenbach. The town's dancehall has hosted Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Lyle Lovett among many others, and Waylon Jennings's 1977 single "Luckenbach, Texas" put the place on the national map. Pickers Circle and Song Swap Sunday keep the music tradition going year-round, and a centuries-old live oak shades the venue. The General Store handles souvenirs and cold beer. The town's population sits in the single digits.

Bandera

Bandera puts itself forward as the Cowboy Capital of the World. Trail rides, working dude ranches, rodeos, and a Saturday afternoon gunfight reenactment fill out a typical visit. The Medina River runs through town for kayaking, and Arkey Blue's Silver Dollar on Main Street is one of Texas's longer-standing honky-tonks (Arkey Blue, born Roger Schutz, has owned the saloon since the late 1960s). The Frontier Times Museum covers regional history with collections donated by early twentieth-century editor J. Marvin Hunter. Hill Country State Natural Area, a 5,400-acre preserve of plateaus and canyons just outside town, opens for hiking and trail riding.

Marfa

Marfa sits in the high desert of West Texas at 4,688 feet of elevation and was founded in the 1880s as a railroad water stop. The Chinati Foundation, established by Donald Judd on the grounds of the former Fort D.A. Russell military base in 1986, holds large-scale permanent installations by Judd, Dan Flavin, John Chamberlain, Carl Andre, and others across 340 acres. Prada Marfa, an art installation built to resemble a Prada storefront, sits along US Highway 90 about 26 miles northwest of town near Valentine. The Marfa Lights, unexplained orbs that appear at night on the eastern horizon, draw observers to an official viewing platform east of town off US-67. The downtown holds galleries, shops, and a small set of restaurants in a quiet desert setting.

Shiner

Shiner is the home of Spoetzl Brewery, the oldest independent brewery in Texas, founded in 1909 by Kosmos Spoetzl and the maker of Shiner Bock. The brewery runs an Oktoberfest celebration each fall and offers tours and tastings most weekdays. Kaspar Companies, founded in Shiner in 1898 and best known for its wire products, is one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in Texas. The Gaslight Theatre opened in the late 1890s and was revived in 1975 by Sister Lucia of the local Sts. Cyril and Methodius parish and her drama class. The Cigar Factory building dates to 1895. Howard's Convenience Store, a Shiner institution, runs a stocked beer garden out back.

Dublin

Dublin runs as the Official Irish Capital of Texas, with an annual St. Patrick's Day celebration that pays homage to its Irish roots. Dublin Bottling Works was the original bottler of Dr Pepper, producing the cane-sugar version locally from 1891 until losing the right to the Dr Pepper name in 2012. The plant now produces its own line of pure cane sugar sodas. The Ben Hogan Museum covers the legendary golfer's early years in Dublin, where he was born in 1912 before moving to Fort Worth as a child. The Dublin Historical Museum and the Rodeo Heritage Museum cover the rest of the town's history. Lucky Vines Vineyard and Winery handles wine tasting on the edge of town.

Wimberley

Wimberley sits in the Hill Country with the Blanco River and Cypress Creek running through it. Jacob's Well Natural Area is a karst spring with an underground cave system that has been a popular swimming hole for over a century, though access is now reservation-only to protect the aquifer. Blue Hole Regional Park, on Cypress Creek a short walk from downtown, has trails, picnic spots, and a stone amphitheater. The Devil's Backbone, a scenic ridge highway (FM 32) running west of Wimberley, gives some of the best Hill Country viewpoints. Old Baldy, also called Prayer Mountain, climbs 218 stone steps to a viewpoint over the surrounding country. The annual Wimberley Arts Fest draws regional artists each spring.

Johnson City

Johnson City is the boyhood home of President Lyndon B. Johnson, and the LBJ National Historical Park covers his boyhood home in town along with the LBJ Ranch (the "Texas White House") 14 miles west near Stonewall. The Science Mill on Main Street runs hands-on science exhibits in a converted historic gristmill. Pedernales Falls State Park sits ten miles east of town with limestone falls and rugged trails along the Pedernales River. Several wineries on the east edge of town, including William Chris Vineyards and Pedernales Cellars, put Johnson City on the Texas Wine Trail.

Lockhart

The Texas Legislature officially named Lockhart the Barbecue Capital of Texas in 1999, and the smokehouses on and near the courthouse square back the designation up. Black's Barbecue (operating since 1932), Kreuz Market (since 1900), and Smitty's Market (in the original Kreuz building, run by the descendants of the founding family) are the legacy joints. Originally called Plum Creek and later renamed for Texas Ranger Byrd Lockhart, the town also holds the Dr. Eugene Clark Library, the oldest continuously operating public library in Texas (opened 1899), and the Southwest Museum of Clocks and Watches. The 1894 Caldwell County Courthouse, a richly detailed Second Empire structure, anchors the square. The Chisholm Trail Roundup runs each June with rodeos and a parade.

Terlingua

Terlingua sits near the western entrance to Big Bend National Park in the West Texas desert. The town was a quicksilver (mercury) mining settlement that boomed in the early 1900s and went bust in the 1940s, leaving weathered adobe ruins still standing along the road into town. The annual Terlingua International Chili Cookoff, held on the first Saturday in November each year since 1967, is the original world championship of chili cooking and now draws around 10,000 visitors. The Starlight Theatre, in a restored 1930s movie house on the ghost town porch, and the Terlingua Trading Company across the street anchor the small downtown. Lodging runs from desert tipis to high-end glamping camps spread out across the surrounding scrub.

Granbury

Granbury sits on Lake Granbury about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth, with a town square that has been continuously occupied since the 1880s and holds Victorian architecture, shops, and restaurants. The 1886 Granbury Opera House on the square runs theatrical productions throughout the year (now operated by Texas Heritage Theatre). Annual events include the Old-Fashioned Fourth of July Celebration and the Granbury Wine Walk. The lake, formed in 1969 by the Brazos River De Cordova Bend Dam, handles boating and bass fishing.

Brenham

Brenham is the home of Blue Bell Creameries, the ice cream maker that has been operating in the town since 1907, with a Country Store and Visitor Center for ice cream and merchandise. The historic district holds antique shops, vintage storefronts, and the Brenham Heritage Museum. Unity Theatre runs live performances year-round in a restored downtown space. The annual Maifest each May and the Christmas Stroll each December are the two largest events on the calendar. Antique Rose Emporium just outside town runs an eight-acre rose garden open year-round.

Jefferson

Jefferson sits in East Texas along the Big Cypress Bayou and was, for a stretch in the 1860s and 1870s, the second-largest inland port in Texas after Galveston, with steamboats running through the bayou network to the Red River and on to the Mississippi. The town today retains nearly 100 antebellum and Victorian historical structures in its district. Steamboat-style cruises on the bayou give a different angle on the town. The Jefferson Carnegie Library, funded by Andrew Carnegie in 1907, is one of the smaller Carnegie libraries in the country and still operates as a public library. The Historic Jefferson Ghost Walk runs Friday and Saturday nights year-round at 8 p.m., and locals call Jefferson the most haunted town in Texas.

How the Fourteen Cover Texas

The list spreads across barbecue capitals, German wine country, dance halls, art destinations, and ghost towns. Bandera handles ranch culture. Marfa handles minimalist art. Lockhart handles barbecue. Terlingua handles desert and chili. Fredericksburg and Luckenbach handle the German Hill Country. Brenham and Shiner handle the Czech and German central belt. Granbury, Jefferson, and the rest fill the gaps. Most of these towns sit within two hours of a major Texas city, which keeps the weekend math working.