Back in October I visited Dallas, Texas for the first time, and well it wasn’t my first time to Texas — see my trip to Austin here — it was my first time to Dallas. Thanks to my pal Padraic from my Valencia (Spain) study aboard days: I had some great recommendations on what to do, eat, see, and of course drink!

Here is my guide on what to do in Dallas:

Dallas has more recently become most well known for being the home to the Real Housewives of Dallas but beyond the housewives glossy lives there is quite a bit to do in this lone state city!

Visit old Fort Worth and the Stockyards Historical District

Forth Worth is the sister city to Dallas (apparently there is a bit of a rivalry). In any case it’s about a 40 minute drive from Dallas and the old town will make you really feel like you’ve been transported to the Wild Wild West.

Filled with saloons, cowboy hat shops, rodeos and restaurants its most well known for the cattle drives of the famed Texas longhorns (no, not the football team). Twice a day, every day, at 11:30am and 4pm, authentic Texas cowhands drive a herd of cattle down the main street. There’s no cost to observe this!

Tour the The Sixth Floor Museum

Before the Housewives and Troy Aikman help to popularize Dallas, sadly, this city was known as the place that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Lee Harvey Oswald was presumed to be on the sixth floor of a book depository and the President was shot while in his motorcade with First Lady Jackie Kennedy, the Governor of Texas and his wife.

The entire building is now dedicated to JFK and on the sixth floor there is a museum.

This is a must visit while in Dallas.

Eat Texas BBQ and Whataburger

You can’t go to Texas and not have traditional BBQ. When I am traveling, I always want to try the local fare and with BBQ there are a lot of options. The image below pretty much sums up what I ate (insert meat sweats emoji). Topo Chico and Lone Star beer reign king in Texas.

Pro Tip: the Lone Star beer caps have word puzzles on the back of them, this makes for a very fun activity while imbibing!

In-n-Out who? Try “Whataburger” while in Texas — it’s their fast food burger and it’s tasty!

Shop in Bishop Arts

This is an up and coming area in Dallas. The main street has adorable shops, BBQ, newer trendy restaurants and more. It’s a great place to take a stroll. Try Paradiso if in that part of town. Try this dress and these boots for touring Dallas!

There are of course major sports in Dallas and many other activities but these were the main ones I did. Hope this helps give you some ideas for what to do in Dallas!

My hat above is a must have this season!

Shop my Dallas looks:

Plus see my previous post on my visit to Texas (where I stayed and more outfits!)