One Epic Week In Dallas - 5 Day Itenary

There are a lot of different activities to do in Dallas.

You can relax at a pool/spa spa or you can get out and do all the different sites that the city has to offer. The city is sprawling so there are a lot of different areas to explore. You will want to decide what type of vacation or trip you are doing before you arrive.

Flying - You will either fly into DFW or Love Field. Love Field is a smaller airport, but closer to downtown. DFW is the much larger airport, but it about 20 min from downtown Dallas or Fort Worth.

Most people fly into DFW. American Airlines is headquartered in Fort Worth and most flights leave or connect through DFW. DFW is a large airport so you may need to ride the tram from one terminal to the next.

Love Field is home to Southwest Airlines, also headquartered in the city. So it is more for domestic travel.

There is a train that takes you from DFW Airport to Downtown Dallas, called the DART rail. You can take the train around the metroplex, but Texas is definitely not known for its good public transportation.

Make sure to get those airline points when flying.

I should mention Addison and other private airports. There are many different private airports you can fly into if you are chartering an aircraft.

Back to trains and lack thereof.

Which leads me to...

Driving - If you really want to experience all of Dallas rent a car. Dallas has a massive highway system and it is easy to drive around the metroplex. Traffic warning. It can get backed up and people tend to drive a little bit faster, because there are a lot of highways.

Watch out for Tollroads. Texas loves its tollroads.

They generally are faster to get from point A to B. But it can really add up in price over a few days. Honestly, you can get anywhere in the city without taking the tollroad.

Staying - Dallas has more than a few hotels.

What kind of trip is this? Work, vacation, staycation, family, high class?

Dallas has everything from cheap hotels all the way up to the Ritz Carlton and boutique hotels. Decide what type of trip this is going to be and book your stay accordingly.

Don't forget to get join a hotel rewards program and get those points for your trip.

Also there are a ton of Airbnb VRBO options if you would prefer to rent a house.

- Fort Worth.

DFW is a metroplex. There are a lot of different cities combined into one general area. Dallas is the largest followed by Fort Worth. Fort Worth has a 'country' vibe. Or so they would like you to believe. It is really just like any other city, but it does has a lot of offer.

If you are staying at a hotel in Dallas, you will want to rent a car and drive over to Fort Worth. It is about 30miles between the 2 cities.

Fort Worth could be a one day visit or you could easily break it up into several days.

Fort Worth is home to American Airlines headquarters, BNSF and a military base.

Fort Worth is known for having one of the biggest and best Zoo's in the nation so you could easily spend a day just doing the zoo or do the zoo in the morning and the rest of the town in the afternoon.

Fort Worth is also home to TCU so you could catch a college football game if you are there during the right season. TCU also has a beautiful campus that you can explore.

Day Schedule

Morning

- The Zoo

- TCU

- The Botanic Garden - Don't forget the Rainforest area - Skip the Japanese Garden

Lunch

- Velvet Taco on 7th

Afternoon

- The Ft. Worth Stockyards

- West 7th

- The Museum District - The Kimball and Modern Art and Amon Carter

Dinner

- Reata Restaurant downtown

Evening

- Downtown

- The Water Gardens

- Comedy Club and or drinks at a local bar

More Fun

- A Drive in Movie - Just north of downtown is the drive in theater with a great view of downtown.

- You can rent a Kayak or go for a long hike or bike ride.

- Hike in the Fort Worth Nature Center

- Fort Worth Bureau of Engraving and Printing

- Skydive west of the city

- Southlake Town Center - Southlake is a suburb of Fort Worth that has a lot of big houses and a nice outdoor shopping center. Apple Store, Hilton, Tesla. Great to walk around and enjoy the shopping and dining. This is also near all the fancy corporate headquarters: Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Deloitte

Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor

Cowboys, Rangers, Mavericks, Stars, FC Dallas

The most valuable team in the world is located in Dallas. The Dallas Cowboys play at AT&T Stadium in Arlington along with the Texas Rangers.

Arlington is also where Six Flags and Hurricane Harbour are located.

You could easily do a full day at Six Flags and be worn out by the end.

If you are into sports Dallas is the place to be. Take in a game and then eat dinner before or after somewhere fun in the city.

Time for downtown

Morning

- Walk around downtown Dallas

- The Giant Eyeball

- The JFK Memorial - Dealey Plaza

- Klyde Warren Park

- First Baptist Dallas

- Thanksgiving square

- AT&T

- Neiman Marcus store

- Reunion Tower - The Ball observatory - overrated in my opinion, but the primary observation deck.

Lunch

- PS 214

Afternoon

The Museums

- Perot

- Museum of Art, Nasher Sculture

- Human Rights aka Holocaust Museum

Dinner

- Campisi's Restaurant - Great pizza

Evening

Deep Ellum - Lots of bars, restaurants and live music. I recommend just bar hopping.

Also there is some BBQ in this area.

Seriously look up and see if there are any music artists playing in Deep Ellum when you there. Lots of big names come through.

More Fun

- State Fair of Texas, if in season

- Dallas Music Hall - This is located on the fairgrounds and is where all the broadway shows are performed.

- Music - Dallas has many different music venues big and small. Find a concert to go to when you are there.

Uptown, Highland Park, Knox Henderson

Morning

- Uptown is right outside of downtown dallas

- Myseron Symphony, Opera House other arts venues. The Perot Museum - which is essentially a Natural History Museum with dinosaur bones.

- Shop in the west village

- Walk from American Airlines area up the Katy Trail to Knox Street aka beginning of highland park.

- Turtle Creek, Greenwood Cemetery

Lunch

- Flower Child

Afternoon

- You will be tired from your work along the Katy Trail so relax by shopping and dining on Knox Street. RH store and rooftop. Apple store. Lots of high end furniture and clothing stores.

- Drive around the Highland Park neighborhood and view the massive houses and trees.

- Preston Hollow is also another neighborhood nearby where the billionaires have their estates.

- Highland Park Village is a super cute outdoor shopping center where you can grab a coffee and walk around. Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, Cartier, Starbucks.

- This would be a great area for a spa day.

Dinner

- Neighborhood Services

Evening

- Uptown bars - This is where most of the young professionals go to have a drink after work.

- Lower Greenville is a good nightlife area with a few bars and restaurants.

- Cedar Springs Road - This is the gay area where all the gay bars, stores and restaurants are located. Watch the drag show at night.

More Fun

- White Rock Lake - Just West of downtown is White Rock Lake - You can walk, jog, bike around the lake or rent a kayak on the lake to enjoy. Really popular place to walk your dog.

Northpark Mall, SMU, Bush Library, Galleria

Remember that I mentioned that Dallas is a large sprawling metroplex? This is where a car comes in handy. You will driving up the highway a little ways to the next couple of spots.

Morning

- The Bush Library - The Library is the President Bush Museum. It features a lot about 9/11 and has a mock oval office.

- SMU - right outside the library is Southern Methodist University which has a beautiful campus.

Lunch

- Front Room Tavern or Torchy's Tacos - I love me some tacos.

Afternoon

- You will drive a little ways north to Northpark Mall. This is the largest mall in Texas. Seriously, it is shaped like a cube with a lawn in the center. It often features different sculptures and artist work throughout the mall. This is where you will find all the high end stores - Gucci, LV, Apple, Versace etc.

- You could easily spend a full day going from store to store.

Dinner

- The mall has a P.F. Chang's and it never disappoints.

Evening

- Catch a movie and drink at the AMC upstairs.

- Go get a drink at one of the establishments around the mall.

More Fun

- Galleria Mall - If you keep driving north you will reach the other large mall. This one has the ice skating rink.

- Nebraska Furniture Mart - Texas is big. And there are plenty of massive stores to browse. NFM and ikea are 2 massive furniture stores that you could spend days wandering through checking out all the merch.

- Half Price Books. Goodwill. AKA Discount shopping - People in Texas love a deal. You could easily spend a day antique shopping or bargain hunting.

- Waco - One of my favorite yearly weekend trips to do is from Dallas to Austin with a stop in Waco. Waco has Magnolia, Baylor, Zoo, Hiking, Schmaltz's Sandwiches. You could spend a full day in Waco.

- Austin - This could be its own trip, but is better as a weekend. Shop for a music, Kayak along the river, UT, The graffiti wall, Capitol etc.

- Winstar or Choctaw - Drive to the Oklahoma border and spend a day at the massive Indian Casinos.

- Lakes - Texoma, Lewisville, Fork - Texas has a ton of lakes you can swim, ski or fish on.

- Tyler, Paris, Abilene - drive through the countryside to one of the many small towns in Texas.

- The Spiral Diner

- Rodeo Goat

- Glorias Mexican

- Eno's

Explore the map. Dallas has so many restaurants to choose from do some research and find out which ones are right for you.