Texas Lone Star Trail Fly Drive

Thirteen nights in a loop from Dallas, self-guided, around Texas and into New Mexico, with the flights included.

Ten stops in thirteen nights across a state the size of France means real distances, and the route uses them: the Gulf coast, the hill country, the West Texas desert and the high plains all appear.

Dallas opens it, then Austin for two nights, with Sixth Street, South Congress and a live music scene of a couple of hundred venues. Houston follows for a night, with Heritage Park and the Johnson Space Centre, then Corpus Christi by way of Galveston’s Victorian seafront. San Antonio comes next for two, with the River Walk, El Mercado and the Alamo. Fort Stockton follows in the ranching country, then El Paso on the Mexican border, and Albuquerque for two, with the Old Town and the site of the balloon fiesta. Santa Fe comes next on the way to Amarillo, where the Cadillac Ranch stands nose-down in a field, with Palo Duro Canyon and its pre-Pueblo remains nearby, and Fort Worth to finish.

Direct flights to Dallas, a checked bag each way, thirteen days of fully inclusive car hire from the airport and thirteen nights across the ten stops are included; fuel, most meals and the admissions are not. The price shown is per person sharing. Spring and autumn are the seasons, since West Texas in July is brutal and the balloon fiesta falls in early October, which is worth planning dates around. Fourteen days and ten stops means several long days behind the wheel, though the roads are straight and empty for much of it, and flying in and out of the same airport keeps the hire cost down.