Dallas



Dallas, the ninth largest city in the United States and the third largest in the state of Texas, is an impressive melting pot of culture and character. Boasting high-end luxury hotels, innumerable fine dining spots, and one of the busiest airports in the world, Dallas maintains an upscale ethos reflected by an affluent population, world-class museums, and a shimmering modern skyline. Its history was marred by the infamous assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, but there is more historic and contemporary heritage to be discovered in the city.

As a center of the oil and cotton industries in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Dallas was a classic American boom town and remains one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. Dallas fell victim to its own success in the automobile era, becoming a prime example of urban sprawl as highways strangled its city center, but has been trying to reinvent itself since the turn of the millennium.

Understand
It is virtually impossible to neatly categorize Dallas. It is a wonderful place with an immense and diverse set of attractions, food and people. From the posh, ultra-modern Uptown and Victory developments, to the old-world elegance and upper-crust attitude of Turtle Creek, to the "real life" feel of largely-suburban North Dallas.

The home of Erykah Badu, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Chicks, Norah Jones, and St. Vincent, Dallas is an eclectic place with cultural influences from all over the South and West.

Climate
Being in the American South, Dallas has a subtropical climate with mild winters, hot summers, and a very wet spring and fall in between. In winter and summer it can also be a very dry place, as it receives warmer, drier weather from the Mojave Desert in the west and the Great Plains in the north.

Winters are generally mild, with average highs in the 50s and 60s F (10-20 °C) and average lows around the freezing mark. It often snows in Dallas a couple of times a year, and there is the rare day when temperatures will not get out of the 30s F (0-5 °C), but for the most part winter is just drier and cooler. There is, however, the danger of freezing rain and ice storms.

Spring and fall bring very pleasant temperatures, but spring is also known for its storms. Because Dallas lies within Tornado Alley, springtime weather can be quite volatile and severe storms often occur. Summers are hot, with temperatures often surpassing 100 °F (38 °C) and mostly low humidity.

Average rainfall in Dallas is 37.1 inches (942.3 mm) per year, and average snowfall is about 2.5 inches (63.5 mm) per year.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
The sprawling Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth (equally inconveniently for both), is American Airlines' largest hub and is served by all other major domestic carriers.

Various shared-ride shuttle services are available, with door to door pickup and drop off, costing ~$30 for ~20 miles (~30 km), which will get you to most places. Like all major airports in the United States, you can easily hail a cab outside of any terminal by following the signs for the taxi stand, and most car rentals and chain hotels have courtesy shuttles.

The DFW Airport DART station is outside terminal A on the lower level and offers a direct light rail connection to downtown. To get there, take an escalator to the airside Skylink tram (fastest way) to Terminal A. If you have baggage to claim, claim it, then take an orange TerminalLink bus on the lower level of any terminal to Terminal A. From there, follow the yellow signs for DART light rail. Once at the station, take the Orange Line to downtown, where you can transfer to any other line. Alternatively, you can take a DART bus in the opposite direction to CentrePort/DFW Station on the TRE and catch a commuter train to downtown. Be aware, however, that the TRE runs only once an hour during most of the day. Using DART is covered in more detail in the Getting Around section.

Love Field


Love Field is within the city limits, not far northwest of downtown. Due to the city's strategy of promoting DFW only, a rail link has never been built to DAL, but you can take the Love Link bus (DART route 524) from Love Field to Inwood/Love Field Station, served by the Green and Orange Lines. There are also various shared-ride shuttle services available which offer door-to-door pickup and drop off. They cost ~$30 for ~20 miles (~30 km), which will get you to most places.

Private aviation

As a major hub for American oil & gas industries, and serving as home to several Fortune 500 headquarters and regional offices, Dallas is a major business jet center. There are hundreds of planes based at private airports in Dallas and surrounding areas, including corporate aircraft and privately owned luxury planes. Many of these planes are available through charter operators and air taxi companies that provide shuttle flights, with the most common routes flown between Houston or Oklahoma City.

Air charter brokers such as Alliance Air Charter and Private Jets Dallas offer access to charter planes in Texas across the country. Aircraft can range from twin-engine propeller planes to luxury Gulfstreams and executive aircraft. There are several Dallas-area airports focused on private and business aviation, including Addison Airport, Dallas Executive Airport, formerly known as Redbird Airport , Arlington Municipal , Mesquite Metro , Lancaster Regional , Grand Prairie Municipal , Terrell Municipal , and more.

By train
Two Amtrak routes serve Dallas/Fort Worth:
 * The Texas Eagle between San Antonio and Chicago
 * The Heartland Flyer between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City.

From Fort Worth, you can reach Dallas via either Amtrak's Texas Eagle, which runs daily, or the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) commuter rail line, which runs from downtown Fort Worth to Dallas with stops in Irving and close to DFW Airport. TRE trains run every half-hour during rush hour and every hour outside it, and take just over an hour for a full journey from Fort Worth to Dallas. Note that TRE trains do not run on Sundays.

Amtrak's long-distance trains are slow and unreliable, and can run hours behind schedule. Most track is owned by the private freight railroads, and while private freight trains are legally required to pull over for Amtrak passenger trains, this is hardly ever enforced. In practice, Amtrak trains frequently pull over to allow long, slow freight trains to pass. Arriving from Houston involves a train change of five or more hours in San Antonio. However, Amtrak offers views and legroom that you can't get while flying and a unique laid back experience that you can't get while driving. If you want to meet people, taking the train is one of the best ways to do it. That being said, if you're short on time, flying is a better option.



By car
To get to Dallas from Oklahoma, take I-35 then I-35E at the fork, or US 75 south. From Houston, take I-45. From Austin, take I-35, then I-35E at the fork. To get here from Louisiana, take I-20 west. Dallas is the junction-point for most cities within a 200- to 300-mile (300- to 500-km) radius, with good road service to and from. Any road map of the United States should have enough information to get you into Dallas with no problems.

By bus

 * Greyhound. The terminal is near the center of downtown at 205 S. Lamar.
 * Buses also run to and from Shreveport on the weekends, sponsored by the casinos in that city. These are more geared toward locals seeking to get their gambling fixes, but ask around if you're interested.
 * Megabus. Service from Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Memphis, and Little Rock. The bus stops at the DART East Transfer Center at 330 N Olive St. Fares from $1.
 * Echo Transportation. Independent bus charter with full-size motor coaches, shuttle vans, luxury sedans and SUV's. Travel within DFW, beyond to other Texas destinations and across North America.
 * El Expreso. Mexican trans-border bus line, also serving destinations throughout the southeastern United States. The bus stop is at 1050 N. Westmoreland St. #124 in Dallas.
 * Autobus Americanos. Mexican trans-border bus line with service to various points in Mexico. The bus stop is at 627 N Westmoreland St in Dallas.
 * Turimex Internacional. Mexican trans-border bus line with service to various points in Mexico. The bus stop is at 501 E. Jefferson Blvd in Dallas.
 * Omnibus Mexicanos. Mexican trans-border bus line with service to various points in Mexico. The bus stop is at 201 E. Jefferson Blvd in Dallas.



By car
The car is by far the simplest and most reliable way to get around Dallas. Local rental companies offer better prices, but national chains offer more convenient locations and return policies. As in most cities, the worst traffic is in the direction of the city center during the morning and away from it in the afternoon. The roads where rush hour is the worst, especially in the mornings, are I-35, US-75 (where what would be a 20-minute trip without traffic can become a 1-2-hour trip with traffic), and the stretch of I-635 between them.

The grid
Dallas' street system is built on three nested grids. The smallest grid, running west-by-southwest to east-by-northeast, covers only the central business district and neighborhood of Deep Ellum in downtown. The next-largest grid runs southeast from Love Field through downtown and South Dallas to end at the 7,000-acre (30-km2) Great Trinity River Forest, the largest urban hardwood forest in the nation. The rest of the city and most of the suburbs roughly adhere to a simple north/south by east/west grid of one-mile (1.6-km) square blocks.

The highways

 * US-75 is also called or "Central Expressway," or "Central," and changes into I-45 south of Downtown.
 * The road east of downtown that connects US-75 and I-45 is called I-345. Though rarely mentioned in daily life, it is the subject of heated debate in Dallas politics in 2020: some city leaders have proposed burying it underground or demolishing it entirely and replacing it with a boulevard, while others want to keep it.
 * The Mixmaster is a hectic and confusing 5-mile (8-km) stretch southwest of Downtown where I-35E and I-30 briefly merge into a single highway.
 * Woodall Rogers Freeway (TX-366) is the 2.6-mile (4.2-km) highway that forms the traditional northern boundary of downtown, connecting I-35E in the west to U.S. 75 in the east.
 * I-635, the highway that runs the north and east perimeter of the city, is also called LBJ, or Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway.
 * There are two branches of I-35: I-35E, which runs north-south through Dallas; and I-35W, which runs north-south through Fort Worth. They merge at Denton in the north and Hillsboro in the south.
 * I-35E is called I-35, Stemmons Freeway, and just "Stemmons," but rarely by its official name.
 * TX-114, the highway that runs from I-35E to DFW Airport, is also called John W. Carpenter Freeway, or Airport Freeway.

Public transportation
Dallas Area Rapid Transit, or DART, runs an extensive light rail network and dozens of bus routes. The light rail system hits many tourist destinations around downtown and connects to many of the suburbs, but generally works best for commuters. Buses will get you almost anywhere from the train stations, but are slow, very infrequent during off-peak hours, and not always reliable.

Dallas also has two commuter rail lines: the Trinity Railway Express (TRE), which links downtown Dallas to downtown Cowtown (Fort Worth), and the A-Train, which runs from the end of DART's Green Line to Denton, a northern exurb of both cities.

As Texas culture and the urban sprawl of the Metroplex strongly encourage the use of cars, locals will generally be unable to help you use public transportation, but you can get an excellent trip plan by visiting the DART website, calling their information phone number, or using DART's GoPass app, through which you can also buy and use mobile passes.

DART fares
Bus drivers will check passes upon boarding, but light rail trains operate on the honor system, with infrequent random pass checks that occur most often during rush hour. This doesn't mean you can ride without a pass - fines for being caught without one can be quite steep.


 * You can pay any local DART fare (except the GoLink on-demand service) by tapping a contactless credit card or NFC-pay-enabled device (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, etc.) to the blue and gray contactless readers at stations and on buses. Just tap your card or device to the reader and you will automatically be charged for the cheapest pass that meets your needs.
 * Traditional paper passes are available at all DART rail stations and some grocery stores for cash or card. Keep your pass until you get off in case your train is fare-checked.
 * All passes except the Single Ride pass are valid for unlimited travel and transfers on DART buses and trains (plus the TRE, up to D/FW Airport) until they expire.
 * Single Ride bus passes are only sold on buses, only sold for exact change in cash (not a credit/debit card), and only available in paper form.
 * If you want to ride the TRE past the airport or take the A-Train to Denton, you'll need a regional pass. Regional passes cost twice as much as local passes, but are valid on Fort Worth and Denton's transit systems as well as on DART.
 * You can buy mobile passes in DART's GoPass app. To use a pass you bought in the app, you must activate it before you board your bus or train.

Reloadable fare cards
The awkwardly named GoPass Tap card is available at many area convenience stores and at Akard Station downtown. It works the same as the other passes, but is reusable - you simply tap it on a card reader as you board or transfer instead of buying a new ticket. The card itself is free, but you must load it with at least $6 (the price of a day pass) to start. You can reload it in the stores that sell it or on the GoPass website, which also has a map of all the stores that sell the card. If you're planning on staying in Dallas for a while and using DART often, the card or the app is your best option. Visit the GoPass site for more information.

Scooter and bike-share
Two dockless e-scooter companies operate in Dallas (Lime and Bird) along with the local dockless bike-share company, vBike. Each has a mobile app that can be used to find and rent nearby bikes or scooters. In Dallas, scooter and bike-share is most useful for short trips around downtown and for shortening walks to or from public transit.

Museums

 * Trammell Crow Collection of Asian Art - A smaller museum, also adjacent to the DMA, featuring rotating collections of Asian art. At the bottom of the pyramid-topped Trammell Crow building. Admission is always free.
 * The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum (The Samurai Collection) - Small Uptown museum displaying a private collection of samurai arms and armor. The museum is only open Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., although the museum's website says you may be able to set up a weekday appointment if you call in advance. Admission is always free.
 * - A large science museum featuring permanent educational exhibits that are mainly geared toward kids but may also be entertaining for adults, plus more serious temporary exhibits that appeal more to adults.
 * Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum - Museum displaying various artifacts and eyewitness testimony from the Holocaust. $16 for adults and $12 for students.
 * Frontiers of Flight Museum - A museum dedicated to the history of flight and space exploration. Dozens of aircraft and hundreds of artifacts from many time periods are on display. Some of the most notable include the Apollo 7 command module; the only Vought V-173, an experimental plane said to resemble a "flying pancake;" the only XQM-93, a '70s drone prototype; and an entire Southwest Airlines 737. $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $7 for youths 3-17, and free for children three and under.
 * Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum - Museum displaying various artifacts and eyewitness testimony from the Holocaust. $16 for adults and $12 for students.
 * Frontiers of Flight Museum - A museum dedicated to the history of flight and space exploration. Dozens of aircraft and hundreds of artifacts from many time periods are on display. Some of the most notable include the Apollo 7 command module; the only Vought V-173, an experimental plane said to resemble a "flying pancake;" the only XQM-93, a '70s drone prototype; and an entire Southwest Airlines 737. $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $7 for youths 3-17, and free for children three and under.

Do

 * State Fair Dallas Texas.JPGState Fair of Texas - A large part of Dallas' culture and probably its biggest attraction, the State Fair is hosted annually for three weeks around September and October.
 * More than anything, the Fair is known for its fair food, most of it deep-fried. Heated competitions held for the best-tasting and most creative of these have seen deep-fried incarnations of practically every food (and drink) imaginable. Concoctions can range from delectable (Fried Peaches and Cream and Fried Jerk Chicken) to bizarre (Fried Jello, Fried Dr. Pepper) to downright disgusting (Fried Butter).
 * The Fair's iconic mascot, Big Tex, is a 55-foot-tall (17-meter-tall) cowboy who smiles, talks, and waves at fair-goers, and the Texas Star Ferris Wheel, the tallest in North America until 1985, is a fairground institution.
 * There is also a huge array of commercial shows and marketplaces, including a large car show.
 * More traditional attractions include a wide assortment of carnival games and rides, rodeos, pig racing (yes, pig racing), and livestock shows.
 * Fair Park itself is the architectural jewel of the city - its Depression-era buildings were constructed in a stately Texan spin on Art Deco not found anywhere else in the world.
 * Try to avoid the second weekend, when UT and OU play their annual football game. Students from both colleges flood the Fair that weekend and lines and parking are horrible.
 * Speaking of parking, it's best to park for free at a DART station and ride the train to Fair Park Station to avoid the hassle and expense of on-site parking.
 * White Rock Lake. Escape the city bustle for a stroll at this large park in East Dallas. This is really a beautiful getaway, but locals would tell you to avoid driving around here at night — ghosts haunt the waters.
 * Golf - There are a lot of wonderful courses in the Dallas area. The city boasts five municipal courses with reasonable greens fees. Of these, Tenison Highlands in East Dallas and Cedar Crest in South Dallas offer the best test of golf, and can be the most crowded, especially on weekends. There are any number of terrific daily-fee public courses in the D/FW area as well.

Buy
Shopping is big in Dallas. In days of yore, folks would come from all over the country to shop in Dallas' exclusive shops.


 * Popular shopping malls include the Galleria and NorthPark Mall in North Dallas and the West Village in Uptown, among others. A bit further afield is Grapevine Mills in nearby Grapevine. Amazing malls can also be found in Plano, Frisco, and other suburbs.
 * Neiman Marcus was founded in Dallas, supplying dresses and diamonds to debutantes and family scions. The downtown flagship store remains a popular destination for visitors and locals alike, and the NorthPark Mall location is the chain's most successful.
 * Neiman Marcus was founded in Dallas, supplying dresses and diamonds to debutantes and family scions. The downtown flagship store remains a popular destination for visitors and locals alike, and the NorthPark Mall location is the chain's most successful.

Groceries and other basics
The major supermarket chains in Dallas are Kroger, Tom Thumb (which is owned by Safeway), Albertson's, and Fiesta Mart. Walmart has several stores in Dallas, most of which are also open 24 hours, and some Tom Thumb and Kroger stores in Dallas are open 24 hours as well. 7-Eleven convenience stores (the first of which was in Dallas) are abundant and open 24-7, but they have limited selection and high prices. Many specialty and organic supermarkets such as Whole Foods Market, Central Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Trader Joe's can also be found throughout the area.

Due to its large expat and immigrant population, Dallas also features a large variety of ethnic grocery stores, including Indian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, and of course, Mexican. These tend to be found in North Dallas, Northwest Dallas, West Dallas, and in the suburbs of Carrollton, Garland, Irving, Richardson, Plano, and Frisco.

Eat
Areas with high concentrations of restaurants include the following: Dallas has a good number of its own chain restaurants which have become quite successful in the area, offering unique local flavors.
 * Beltline Road through Addison and North Dallas, just north of I-635, has perhaps the most restaurants per-capita in the U.S. If there is a type of food you like then you can probably find it there.
 * Greenville Avenue running north to south in East Dallas, has many restaurants along its length, particularly in Lower Greenville.
 * Knox and Henderson streets (the "Knox/Henderson" neighborhood), off US-75 Uptown have many laid-back, stylish restaurants.
 * McKinney Avenue is the heart of Uptown, with a wide variety of quality establishments.
 * The West End in the northwest part of Downtown has a good mix of original local restaurants and successful chain establishments.
 * The Bishop Arts District of South Dallas, one of the city's more bohemian spots, is full of unusual and innovative restaurants.



Main Street in Downtown has seen major improvements over the last few months, with plenty of places to eat and to play. Highly Recommended. Don't forget to stop by the City Tavern for a longneck or two.

Neighborhoods

 * West End - This is an attractive enough historic neighborhood with buildings in a turn-of-the-century redbrick vernacular—the notorious School Book Depository is one of them—in the northwest quadrant of downtown. The area is mostly popular with suburbanites and tourists out for dinner and a quick stroll around the neighborhood but has a number of bars as well.
 * Deep Ellum is a district of bars, dance clubs, music venues and tattoo shops east of downtown on Main, Elm and Commerce streets. It is a hipster haven for young people and a weekend destination for music lovers of all ages, and is named for being on the far ("Deep") end of Elm Street ("Ellum.")
 * Uptown and McKinney Ave - This is where Dallas' beautiful people go to see and be seen. Trendy to the nth degree, this neighborhood contains very upscale, fashionable clubs.
 * Lower Greenville has many older drinking establishments.
 * Downtown is home to a burgeoning nightlife district and upscale restaurants.
 * Addison has some famous drinking spots tucked in among its many restaurants, notably The Flying Saucer.

Drink
Uptown, the area bound by Haskell on the north, Woodall Rogers Freeway on the south, Turtle Creek on the west and Central Expressway on the east, is where Dallas' beautiful people go to see and be seen. Trendy to the nth degree, this neighborhood contains very upscale fashionable clubs. Some of the hottest clubs, Medici, the Candleroom, and Sense are private. If you want to check out one of these places be sure to go with someone that is a member or have a concierge call ahead for you. Wish and Republic are also cool nightspots, with no membership required. No shorts, jeans, team jerseys, tennis shoes, or flip-flops.

Beer, wine and liquor stores
If you're looking to fill a mini-fridge or cooler with your own beverages a bit of planning might be required. Alcohol is only sold in certain parts of the city and in certain suburbs so getting to a liquor store can involve some travel. Also, Texas' liquor laws specify that any store that sells liquor cannot open on Sunday nor stay open after 9PM any other day. Stores that sell beer and wine cannot sell either from midnight to noon on Sunday. A smartphone app that locates liquor stores (and shows their hours) is very useful as many of those stores in the Dallas area tend to be well inside neighborhoods as opposed to along highways, and hotel desk staff can tell you if you're in a 'wet' or 'dry' area of Dallas. Liquor stores can become quite crowded after 8PM (especially on Saturday) and remember to be extra-alert after dark. In 'wet' areas beer and wine is easily and safely available at grocery stores.

Additional resources
For useful information on Dallas' nightlife, food, and music-scene offerings, pick up a free copy of the Dallas Observer, the local alternative weekly, at many places around town (particularly in Downtown) or check out GuideLive (an offshoot of the Dallas Morning News) online.

Sleep
The heaviest concentrations of hotels can be found in North Dallas along I-635 and North Central Expressway and in Northwest Dallas along I-35E, while Downtown offers more high-end accommodations.

Some travelers may find it more convenient to stay in Irving closer to DFW airport, in Arlington near the amusement parks, or in one of the northern suburbs such as Lewisville, Carrollton, Plano, or Richardson.

Stay safe
Tourists should avoid anywhere south of the Trinity River at night (and maybe even during the daytime), with the exceptions of North Oak Cliff, the Bishop Arts District, and Fair Park. There is little to see outside those areas anyway. South and West Dallas are mostly low-income, high-crime residential and industrial areas: as in any such area, know where you are going, stay there, and don't dawdle or wander, especially at night. Avoid Downtown's Government District at night (the few blocks around City Hall). It's not inherently dangerous, but it has a lot of homeless people running about. Stick to West End and the Arts District. Uptown and North Dallas are generally safe after dark.

Police officers in Texas are kind and helpful for the most part, and they will generally find ways to make you feel safe. Sadly, this does not (always) apply to police officers in Dallas. Texas law can be strict, but the Dallas Police Department is notorious for its ferocious zero-tolerance attitude to even the slightest of misdemeanors. When approached by a local police officer, listen, cooperate, and speak carefully at all times.

Also, avoid driving on the highways after 2AM on weekends, when all the bars have just closed and many tipsy drivers are in a hurry to get home.

In the event that you fall victim to identity theft while visiting Dallas, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) operates a major field office in Dallas.

Cope

 * Kadampa Meditation Center Texas , . Offers relaxation meditations and meditation classes to increase inner peace at 4 locations in Dallas.
 * Kadampa Meditation Center Texas , . Offers relaxation meditations and meditation classes to increase inner peace at 4 locations in Dallas.
 * Kadampa Meditation Center Texas , . Offers relaxation meditations and meditation classes to increase inner peace at 4 locations in Dallas.

Consulates

 * 🇧🇪 Belgium
 * 🇨🇦 Canada
 * 🇸🇻 El Salvador
 * 🇵🇪 Peru
 * 🇩🇪 Germany
 * 🇮🇹 Italy
 * 🇲🇽 Mexico
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark
 * 🇳🇴 Norway
 * 🇵🇪 Peru
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden
 * 🇨🇭 Switzerland
 * 🇰🇷 South Korea

Go next

 * Head to Arlington for a day of fun at Six Flags Over Texas or Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, the best waterpark in the area. Don't forget the sunblock.
 * Denton, half an hour north on I-35E, has a charming historic town square, and an off-the-cuff nightlife scene driven by the city's disproportionately large number of musicians.
 * Joe Pool Lake lies to the southwest of the city, 4 miles (6 km) past Grand Prairie. There are two popular parks to camp at along the shoreline, including Cedar Hill State Park and Loyd Park. The most popular day use park on Joe Pool Lake is Lynn Creek Park.
 * Lake Texoma is a popular spot an hour's drive north on US-75, on the border with Oklahoma.
 * Go to Mesquite see a rodeo show at the Mesquite Championship Rodeo.
 * Parker and the Southfork Ranch made famous by the TV series "Dallas". An easy day trip from Dallas. Tours run 364 days a year (except 25 Dec).
 * Waco, an hour south on I-35, has a number of attractions including the Dr. Pepper Museum and the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame.