Traveling Solo in Texas

Create a journey that is uniquely yours and forge your own path through the Lone Star State. Embrace an unknown adventure while connecting with the culture, discovering hidden gems, and exploring vast landscapes. Travel Texas the way you want. Take a surfing class in Galveston or hone your stand-up paddling technique on Lady Bird Lake in Austin or along Houston’s lush Buffalo Bayou. Explore a section of the Chisholm Trail on horseback near the historic Fort Worth Stockyards. Or opt for ATV tours, skeet shooting, fishing, or any number of other activities available in and around each major Texas city.

Here are some ideas for solo travel activities for your Texas adventures.

Texas by Rail

For solo travelers, rail travel allows you to sit back, relax, and experience the diversity of the Texas landscape.

For a longer trip, opt for the Sunset Limited Amtrak service from Houston or San Antonio to El Paso (or vice-versa), moving from the bayous of East Texas, across the hills and prairies of Central Texas, all the way to the deserts and mountains of the Trans-Pecos. Join other travelers in the sightseer lounge, or catch a meal in the dining car.

Or opt for a shorter journey on the Texas Eagle, providing service from Dallas and Fort Worth to Austin and San Antonio, rolling along the green prairies that line the route. More than just a pleasant and social journey, this route provides something truly magical: the chance to avoid big city traffic. Meals can be ordered through onboard café services and in the dining car available on some parts of the route.

Wander, But Not Aimlessly

Audio tours are a great way to absorb the history and culture of the places you visit. You can explore the city streets by foot or the backroads of the countryside in your car with thoughtful audio tours that connect you to your destination. Museums have perfected the self-guided audio tour but they’re not the only ones.

Downtown Houston, Austin, the San Antonio Missions UNESCO World Heritage Site, and even small towns like Lampassas have audio tours available online. Another great resource for history hounds is the Texas Historical Commission’s Texas Time Travel program, which produces a number of “mobile tours.” Many of these include online guides and videos, as well as audio guides covering various topics — from the history of Hispanic Texas to the evocative paintings of El Paso’s Tom Lea found along The Tom Lea Trail.

Learn Something New

Take a class that appeals to you — many cities, towns, resorts, and attractions across the state host one-time cooking and art classes that connect you to local foodways, traditions, and crafts.

Historical sites and living history homesteads around Texas offer classes about such traditional crafts as woodworking, pottery, and even gardening and cooking. For example, try your hand at candlemaking the way pioneers did at Austin’s Pioneer Farms, which also offers the basics of blacksmithing, among other cool classes. Arts classes, often advertised as “paint-and-sips,” where guest paint and sip wine, abound in every city and many small Texas towns. Nearly every community in Texas has artistic, culinary, or heritage experts excited to share their knowledge. Brush up on your cake-decorating skills in Houston, learn grilling basics, tips, and tricks at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) campus in San Antonio, or even experience the magic of glassblowing in Wimberly.

Another option for solo travelers who might want to mingle with locals is to try an improv class at a local comedy club. The Hideout Theatre in downtown Austin offers a free 90-minute class. San Antonio venues like The Overtime Theatre offer free and affordable classes. Houston’s Station Theater also offers free, fun 30-minute intro to improv classes on Friday nights.

Solo travel in Texas offers a break from the everyday, a chance to explore new places, and gather new experiences. Grabbing supplies for a solo picnic, taking a guided tour or class, or paddling or cycling on your own as you explore a city new to you will have you returning home enriched, enlivened, and perhaps even enlightened.