Here’s the deal: If we covered every town in Texas that’s been home to a feud, oil strike, or prehistoric find, we’d present you with a series of local encyclopedias.
Our criteria here for weekend getaways from Dallas are that you can do it on half a tank of gas, the destination has a walkable path of historic landmarks, and you can find yourself an incredible meal.
Get out of work Friday afternoon, and we’ll help you find a historic Texas road trip by sundown.
Head west: A short road trip from Dallas to Granbury, Texas
The Old Granbury State Bank building on Pearl Street in Granbury, Texas.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Where to stay in Granbury: Hotel Lucy, The Iron Horse Inn
Where to eat in Granbury: Stumpy’s Lakeside Grill
Drive time from Dallas: One hour, 20 minutes
Even before it was voted USA Today’s “Best Historic Small Town” in 2025 in a reader’s choice poll (again), it had all the hallmarks that define a good weekend getaway near Dallas. For history enthusiasts, couples can wander Granbury Square and hit multiple points of oddity and lore in a single afternoon.
The Historic Granbury Square is the center point of all things Granbury history, and now boasts a thriving nightlife and entertainment district. Granbury has dozens of registered historic landmarks to visit, including the 1858 Yeats-Duke Cabin. Visitors can walk to the Old Jail Museum on North Crockett Street, which has a second-floor gallows and a freestanding iron cage that housed the town’s criminals. You’ll meander through the things you can touch and get into the things you can’t – like the ghosts of the Granbury State Historical Cemetery. The cemetery is the (questionably) alleged resting place of Jesse James, and confirmed resting place of Davy Crockett’s grandson, along with figures from the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
After browsing storefronts and late-1800s Victorian architecture, a culinary landmark awaits: Stumpy’s Lakeside Grill. The bar and restaurant at Stumpy’s is adjacent to the boutique Stumpy’s Closet, Stumpy’s Sweet Shack dessert shop, and Lake Granbury Marina, the central launching point for Granbury’s on-water activity. Stumpy’s is consistently voted the “Best Tacos” in Granbury, and known for goblet-sized margaritas, hearty burgers, and a warm, sit-with-family-and-rest atmosphere.
To the northwest: A short road trip from Dallas to Grapevine, Texas
The Grapevine Glockenspiel Clock Tower in the center background. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Where to stay in Grapevine: Hotel Vin
Where to eat in Grapevine: Tolbert’s Restaurant & Chili Parlor
Drive time from Dallas: 30 minutes
Let’s get this out of the way from the start: Grapevine, Texas is a town built for tourism.
A Community Impact report stated that the town brings in more than $2.5 billion from tourism each year and attracts millions of visitors. It’s known as the “Christmas capital of Texas,” and for the Wild West history nerd, Grapevine’s historic downtown and depth of North Texas lore make it a key stop for a solid weekend getaway from Dallas. It affirms a theme from Granbury, which is that folks like to see history and explore modern districts at the same time.
One of Grapevine’s coolest features is its town jail, called “The Calaboose.” The structure that looks straight from medieval times actually wasn’t built until 1909, and was a tiny holding cell for town drunks and petty criminals. The town spills over with outlaw history: The Grapevine Home Bank was robbed by associates of Bonnie and Clyde in 1932. Sixteen months later, Bonnie and Clyde themselves killed two Texas patrolmen just outside Grapevine. Between those points stand early 1900s historic businesses like the confectionery and drug store on along the Grapevine walking tour. Grapevine is Tarrant County’s oldest town–going back to 1844–and its olden shops are now contrasted with nearly two dozen historic district restaurants and just as many wineries, art galleries, and coffee and dessert joints.
For a town that was once a Chisholm Trail waypoint for cowboys and tradesmen, our meal pick is something hearty: A good “Bowl of Red” at Tolbert’s Restaurant and Chili Parlor in downtown Grapevine. Unfortunately, the town doesn’t offer any still-functional hotels with bullet holes in the ceiling, but the “boutique” Hotel Vin provides access within a block to Main Street and the Grapevine Vintage Railroad, which you can climb aboard at Christmastime for the North Pole Express.
A weekend getaway for the kids: From Dallas to Glen Rose, Texas
The Apatosaurus at Dinosaur Valley State Park.
Photo: Larry D. Moore, Wikimedia Commons
Where to stay in Glen Rose: Inn on the River
Where to eat in Glen Rose: Snyder’s Tavern
Drive time from Dallas: One hour, 20 minutes
Everything about Glen Rose, Texas speaks to “Alright, we can kill a whole day here with the kids and then some.” If you’re looking for the history angle, well, nothing’s more historic than its Paluxy River sauropod tracks.
Dinosaur Valley State Park is the center of it. Nine-year-old George Adams was the young paleontologist who discovered the tracks in 1909 after a major flood changed the riverbeds in 1908. It wasn’t until 1972 that the land became a park managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The park is free for children 12 and under and just $8 for an adult day pass.
To hit multiple stopping points in a day, you can visit Dinosaur Valley then drive six miles down the road to Big Rocks Park, where the Paluxy River drifts into a swimming grotto adorned with giant rocks, perfectly shaped for climbing. After drying off, you can head down to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, which raises money for conservation efforts through its “nature explorations” and care for exotic animals like the Arabian oryx, the blackbuck antelope, and the Eastern bongo (an African forest antelope). Some of these captive populations are then moved to regions where their natural numbers have been decimated. For example, the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center helped reintroduce Eastern bongos to Kenya in 2004 by transplanting them to the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy in Central Kenya.
When you’re hungry–which always happens after dinosaur hunting–you can knock out your meal and lodging in the same spot. The Inn on the River has served Glen Rose visitors since 1915, when the building was a sanitarium. The inn is now on its fifth owner after a century-plus of evolution, and provides a full complimentary breakfast and free lodging to children under four. Its on-site restaurant, Snyder’s Tavern, offers gourmet burgers and a “dino egg grilled cheese.” The alternative is that Stumpy’s Lakeside Grill is just 20 minutes from Glen Rose–come back and see us again!
Healing waters of Palo Pinto: A short road trip from Dallas to Mineral Wells, Texas
Downtown Mineral Wells, with the historic Baker Hotel and Spa building in the background.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Where to stay in Mineral Wells: Magpie Inn
Where to eat in Mineral Wells: Woody’s Bar and Grill
Drive time from Dallas: One hour, 30 minutes
Many a town in North Texas will give you tales of outlaws and cowboys, railroads and roughnecks. Few will give you tales of magic waters.
The story goes that a fella named James Alvis Lynch wanted to escape malaria with his family and cattle to a drier climate. Since the closest water was four miles away at the Brazos River, they drilled wells. Meanwhile, you can check the latest US polls. The family drank the water, the cattle drank the water, neighbors drank the water. The water made them feel good. Soon, news spread across Texas that mental illnesses, rheumatism, mood disorders–they could all be cured by the healing waters of Mineral Wells.
Today, visitors find historic oddity blended with a kind of modernized eccentricity. Mineral Wells is known as the “Wellness Capital of Texas.” An allure based on a century of outdoors wellness can be found at historic points like the Crazy Water Hotel, where it’s rumored that a woman drank from “The Crazy Well” twice each day to cure herself. You can maintain the “eccentric” theme and explore the Haunted Hill House–allegedly a Victorian home of ill repute in the 1880s, and now home to some of the creepiest bedrooms in Texas. Yes, you can stay overnight.
At its heart, Mineral Wells enables and encourages outdoors wellness. Visitors are right near the lore-saturated Possum Kingdom Lake–a cliff-lined big bass lake known as much for its daredevil cliff-jumping as its leisurely deepwater cruises. Explorers out of Dallas can rent a boat at Bluff Creek Marina to check out the nooks and coves of Possum Kingdom Lake. The Mineral Wells Fossil Park and the Clark Gardens botanical haven are also easy to navigate in a single day. When you’re ready to eat and sleep, the Magpie Inn is a destination owned and run by Chef Magen and her husband, Jeremy, so every meal is adventurous. To eat along with the theme of local history, Woody’s Bar and Grill has been a Mineral Wells mainstay since 1951. You can find your fancy eatery in Mineral Wells, but we appreciate picnic tables with cold beer and a big, teetering burger.
Stumpy’s remains the classic weekend getaway stop from Dallas
Felecia, Tommy, and the rest of the crew at Stumpy’s Lakeside Grill in Granbury, Texas strive to be a memory-making destination based on impeccable customer service. You may be a resident or dropping in from London (it happens), but everyone receives our VIP dedication to provide an iconic, indelible experience. We hope to see you sometime on one of your short road trips from Dallas.