Travel Guides > Texas > Dallas

Dallas is the most mythical city in Texas, with a past and present rich in all the stuff American legends are made of. The 'Big D' is famous for its contributions to popular culture - from the Dallas Cowboys football team and its cheerleaders to the long-running Dallas television series. Dallas is endlessly occupied with growth and status; it's a city known for its business acumen (especially in banking), its restaurants and its shopping. In the materially minded USA, Dallas stands tall as a paragon of conspicuous consumption.

But the city has its surprises, and they're not hard to find: a tiny sliver of downtown set aside to promote the ideal of gratitude, not greed; a stirring museum devoted to one of the greatest tragedies in US history; and acres of parks providing oases of relaxation and recreation.

Events

It doesn't get any bigger than the big Texas State Fair held for a month every fall in Fair Park. The fair is a hundred-year-old institution and features buckets of barbecue, bronco busting rodeo and America's biggest ferris wheel, the Texas Star. The Deep Ellum Arts and Music Festival is a weekend of alternative art and live music on multiple stages throughout the Deep Ellum district; it occurs every April. Artfest, held over the Memorial Day weekend in May, brings visual artists to Fair Park to raise money for Dallas' cultural scene. Aviation buffs can kick the tires of military planes on display during the Dallas Airshow held at Love Field every September.

In 1958, a 24 year old Louisiana native named Van Cliburn became the first American to win the Tchaikovsky piano competition in Moscow. Today, he lends his name to the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held every four years in Fort Worth. Up to a million people attend Fort Worth's annual three week Southwestern Stock Show and Rodeo held late January through early February. The show marked its 100th anniversary in 1996. The Chisholm Trail Round-Up is another Fort Worth cowboy lovefest, held each June. The Texas Storytelling Festival is a tall-tale competition held at the end of March in Denton, located 36 miles (58km) northwest of Dallas.

When to Go

Dallas' summers are hot and its winters cool, making spring and fall months the best times to visit. Spring and fall are also the peaks of the festival season in Dallas and neighboring towns, offering hearty Texas helpings of art, barbecue, music, rodeo and tall tales.

Getting There and Away

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is one of the world's busiest airports, with more than 2000 scheduled flights arriving or leaving daily from an airfield bigger than Manhattan island. Most flights are to other US cities, but there are Canadian, Mexican and European carriers. Love Field, the area's secondary airport, is served almost exclusively by regional US carriers.

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