Fun things to do in Texas with kids

Welcome to part two of my travel post about places to visit in Texas! As written in my earlier post about places to visit in and around Houston, I gave you information about must- visit places with family in Houston and San Antonio. In this post I am writing about Texas travel ideas with kid-friendly places to visit in Austin, Dallas, Corpus Christi and Padre Islands.

I am a Houstonian and we have lived in Katy, a suburbs just outside of Houston, for almost a decade before moving to Houston city about 2 years back. City life has its positive and negative. We love the shorter commute and proximity to downtown area in addition to being close to anything else happening in the city.

In my last travel post about places to visit in and around Houston, I included places to travel in Houston, day trips, and San Antonio. Please check the post here. In today’s post I will write about our trips taken to Corpus Christi, Austin, Dallas and Padre Islands, and give you some Texas travel ideas.

Austin

Austin is the state capital of Texas and is 165 miles away from Houston, taking about 2 hours to travel there. In addition to visiting Austin with my family, I also visit Austin every year in the spring with my school field trip with students. You can read about my field trip here taken in March this year just before the pandemic hit us.

Texas State Capitol building: You can do the guided tour at the Capitol and learn about the history of the building, and visit the chambers of the Texas House of Representatives as well as the Texas Senate. While visiting with my students, we learned about the following fun facts:

• The building is 132 years old
• The ceiling is 218 feet high
• The star on the ceiling is 8 feet wide
• The longest world record of debate is from 1977, with 43 1/2 hours (no food, drink, or restroom breaks & standing the entire time!)

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Texas State History Museum: The museum is just across from the state capitol building and houses artifacts, exhibits, and educational resources for all ages. You can find more information about the museum here.

University of Texas at Austin: If you have a teen or kids interested to do college tour, do visit UT Austin which is ranked #48 in national college ranking. We attend the U T Explore day in spring every year during our school field trip; due to COVID-19 it was cancelled this year. If you are ever planning to be here in March, do check it out: it is very fun, informative, interesting and educational!

Barasana Dham/Radha Madav Dham: This is a temple spread over more than 200 acres of land with lot of serenity and peace, if you like visiting such places. It is one of the largest Hindu Temple and Ashram in the U.S. The place welcomes hundreds of visitors every day, regardless of their backgrounds, to its religious services, family festivals, and devotional retreats. The place includes beautiful gardens, fountains, and wildflowers. We always see friendly peacocks from up close and kids really enjoy the view. You can find more information here.

Dallas

Dallas is about 240 miles north of Houston taking a little more than 3 hours to reach. We have visited Six Flags in Dallas few times, in addition to visiting Six Flags in San Antonio. The water park entrance is separate or outside here while the San Antonio water park is inside the theme park and included in the entrance ticket. You can read more information about the Six Flags in Dallas here.

In addition other places to visit in Dallas include the city center, The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, Museum of nature and science, art museum, flight museum, aquarium, zoo, reunion tower and the Sculpture Center, and more. For more information, read here.

Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi is located a little more than 200 miles away from Houston taking around 3 hours to reach. Corpus Christi is famous for its many beaches. We have gone to north beach and it was an amazing experience. Click here to know more about the beaches there. Other attractions include botanical garden, nature centers, USS Lexington Museum on the Bay, harbor bridge and the aquarium. Read here for more details.

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Padre Islands

You can visit Padre Island any time of year and enjoy nature, entertainment and beautiful beaches! They are located along the Gulf of Mexico and offer many fun activities like fishing, sailing, golf, windsurfing, kiteboarding and more!

North Padre Island is located about 250 miles and little less than 4 hours away from Houston. South Padre Island is 350 miles away and takes less than six hours to reach from Houston. We have visited both the places driving from Houston on different occasions but not both of them together. The distance between the two is around 200 miles. Both North and South Padre Islands are beautifully located with many sight-seeing beaches. From Corpus Christi, North Padre Island is about 30 miles away so staying closer and sight-seeing both the places would work great.

South Padre Island: You will not want to miss the dolphin watch boat tour! It starts at $10 per person and is 90 minutes long. There is also a private sunset cruise available at couple hundred dollars, if you would be interested. You can enjoy sky dive, dolphin watch, adventure park, as well as take cruises and go diving. You can find more information about attractions and fun things to do in South Padre Islands here.

North Padre Island: We visited White Cap beach in July when my sister and her family were visiting us from Canada. The four kids between 4 years and 16 years had such a fun time! In addition to beaches, there are many water sports to try and engage in. For more information on attractions in North Padre Island, click here.

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Wrap up

To wrap up, there are many places to visit in Texas with kids which are short trips from Houston. In this post I wrote about Texas travel ideas with sight-seeing places in Austin, Corpus Christi, South and North Padre islands, and Dallas. There are many more but I have only listed the ones I would recommend based on my travel experiences with family and friends.

Dear readers, please share about a kid-friendly vacation that you have enjoyed as a family or the last vacation you have taken to beach and/or mountains. We would love to do virtual traveling with you this year, and hope that 2021 resumes travel for all of us. Please comment below or send an email to nishtha@dawnandhope.com. Take care and stay safe!