A spring-fed pool the size of a small lake out in the desert between Fort Stockton and the Davis Mountains, gin-clear and a steady 72 degrees year-round — a swim that feels like a mirage made real.
Road trips · Texas
Texas road trips & hidden gems.
The stops worth changing a travel day for in Texas — crowd-voted gems, events worth traveling for, and the public golf you can actually book. Curated by Roamward, the scenic road-trip planner.
Happening in Texas
World Cup 2026
Barely two dozen marquee events hit the whole country in a year — and Texas has one this June. Roamward builds the trip around it: the scenic route in, the detours worth a slack day, and when rooms sell out.
Hidden gems
What locals say you shouldn’t miss.
Crowd-nominated in the Gem Hunt. Add yours and vote the finalists into the app.
The Panhandle's quieter answer to Palo Duro, where red-rock canyon walls glow at sunset and the official Texas state bison herd roams free past the trails near Quitaque, under dark skies.
The closest Texas gets to a Louisiana bayou: a maze of Spanish-moss-draped cypress and still black water near Karnack where you can paddle a canoe through cathedral-like channels.
A handful of plain little white churches in the farm country between Houston and San Antonio that hide jaw-dropping hand-painted interiors of faux marble and ceiling murals, on a free tour loop.
In the high frontier town of Fort Davis, a craftsman still makes brooms by hand on 19th-century machinery, and you can watch the bristles get bound right in front of you.
Way out past Marfa in the near-ghost-town of Ruidosa, an off-grid desert oasis where you soak in naturally warm mineral water under huge Chihuahuan skies — a true end-of-the-road detour.
Worth traveling for
Events that put Texas on the calendar.
Tee it up
Public golf you can book in Texas.
Lajitas · $$$$$ — Canyon golf beside Big Bend
Frisco · $$$$$ — Walking-only Hanse championship test
Frisco · $$$$ — Playful, cart-friendly sibling
San Antonio · $$$$ — 80-foot drop over a theme park
Austin · $$$$ — Caves and waterfalls near Austin
San Antonio · $$$$ — Pete Dye over a nature preserve
Plan the Texas trip
Get the scenic route, the stops, and the timing.
Roamward turns these into a real road trip — the drive, the detours, and the stays. Join early access for the iOS beta.