The Texas Hill Country Bucket List (From a Local)

I live in the Hill Country, and every summer I am reminded that people fly across the world for what is in my backyard. Spring-fed rivers, peach stands, lavender fields, dance halls, some of the best food in Texas. Here is the list I actually run people through when they ask what to do — built for summer, but good most of the year.

Get in the water

This is the whole reason summer here is bearable. Find a cold, spring-fed swimming hole and stay until you are a person again. I broke down the best ones — what is open, what needs a reservation, where to float — in my swimming holes guide. Wimberley alone (Blue Hole and Jacob’s Well) is worth the trip.

Eat your way through the towns

• Fredericksburg — the best food town in the area, hands down. Here is where I actually eat in Fredericksburg, from Korean-Texan barbecue to bone marrow.
• Kerrville — my home base, and quietly excellent. My Kerrville restaurant list has the real spots.

The summer-only stuff

• Pull over at a peach stand on Highway 290. Fredericksburg peaches in June and July are the kind of thing you think about all winter.
• Walk a lavender farm. They bloom early-to-mid summer just outside Fredericksburg, and it is as pretty as it sounds.
• Tube a river. The Guadalupe and the Comal are the classic lazy-afternoon float.

The big rocks and the dance halls

• Hike Enchanted Rock — go early or at sunset to dodge the heat, and reserve your spot ahead in summer because it fills up and closes.
• Spend an afternoon at the wineries. The 290 wine road outside Fredericksburg is the easiest day-drinking day trip in Texas.
• Two-step at Luckenbach. The tiny dance hall with the “everybody’s somebody” sign is exactly as charming as people say.
• Look up. The Hill Country has some of the darkest skies in the state — drive ten minutes out of any town and the stars are unreal.

And if you are coming to shop

Time your trip around Round Top antiques week if you can. It is its own world, twice a year, and worth planning a whole trip around.

That is the short version of a place I will probably never run out of things to love about. Pick two or three, leave room to pull over, and do not over-schedule it — the Hill Country rewards a slow pace.