Texas? I recommend Montana. I’m from there and can give you lots of recommendations. You can go see real mountains!

I love the Southwest. I lived there for years and I’m glad you’ll be heading out there. I don’t have recommendations for guide books but I do have recommendations for places! Will you be going to Arizona or New Mexico? There are beautiful canyons out there with small native american villages at the bottom. Such different people out there too, so different from the northeast! It’s refreshing. My wonderful New Mexican roommate from college had grown up in a trailer park and showed me a whole other life, and forever changed my snotty Northeastern ‘tude. Now the term “trailer trash” makes my skin crawl, thankfully!

Wow – even that’s ambitious for just a week, but it sounds like it could be a wonderful trip. I’m afraid I don’t have a guidebook recommendation, either. I’ve lived in Houston most of my life, and it hasn’t been a need. I can give you some of my own opinions, though!

Sometimes people don’t work out just how far it is from Houston to Big Bend – it’s 12-13 hours driving, so unless you like marathons, it’s probably two days on the road. You’d make the most of your time if you could arrange to fly into Houston, then back out from somewhere in West Texas – probably Midland or El Paso – so you didn’t have to drive all the way back, as well.

In Houston, one of the most interesting sights is the NASA Space Center, which is actually about half-way between Houston and Galveston – about 25 miles Southeast of downtown Houston. Not too far from NASA, you’ll find Kemah, on Galveston Bay; a place for a good dinner of fried jumbo shrimp.

Also on the same side of town, the San Jacinto monument is sort-of interesting. The monument itself is similar to the Washington Monument in Washington DC, so unless you are a history buff and want to dig into Texas history, it might not be worth a lot of your time. (San Jacinto is the site of the battle where Texas defeated the Mexican army and gained its independence.) But, driving by there is interesting as you will go through the heart of one of the biggest oil and chemical centers in the world, and it is on the banks of the Houston Ship Channel. You can also cross the Ship Channel right next to the monument on a free ferry.

In San Antonio, you’ll want to stay downtown along the river walk, if possible. It’s a very nice area to stroll around and eat Mexican food. The Alamo is also in walking distance. If you are interested in history, there are also other Spanish missions around the city to visit.

The drive from San Antonio to Big Bend goes through an awful lot of empty space, but there are a few small towns along the way that you might enjoy seeing. Nothin’ fancy, but certainly a different slice of American culture than you’ll find around New York.

Big Bend itself is worth 2-3 days, especially if you enjoy hiking or camping.

Have a great trip!

I hope you can make it to NM and AZ next time, but I do love Texas too. I’ve driven through Texas many many times on my way to and from the East and it’s flat but a lovely and romantic ride. I’d recommend bringing some Johnny Cash and Neko Case for road music! San Antonio is lovely and I agree with David, stay near the river walk. And I hope you get to go to Big Bend, it looks amazing. I can’t wait to read what you write about your trip, from the perspective of an Englishman in Texas!

Giving travel advice is really subjective. I personally don’t think you get a real sense of Texas in a city like Houston or Dallas. Not to diss either of those fine cities, I like them both and have had great times in each.

But if given one week in Texas, I would start in Austin (I recently booked a $74 one way Jet Blue flight there), rent a car (cheap there), stay at the Hotel San Jose one night (sorta expensive , but so very cool). Next night, move 50-60 yards down the road to the $80/night Austin Motel. Austin is, well, just go. See the Capitol-beautiful. Go to The Broken Spoke and dance. EAT great food, go to Barton Springs, go watch the bats, hear some great music (Continental Club is directly across street from San Jose and Austin Motel). My (non Texan) wife worshiped at her alter-the Whole Foods Flagship Headquarters (huh). Drive rental car 1.5 hours to San Antone, do SA in a day, drop off car there, fly Southwest ($50 if you book far enough in advance-like 3 weeks) to Midland, rent a car (really cheap), go to the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum for, like 3 hours, learn everything you want to know about that most Texan of things—the AWL bidniss. Now, get in the car, drive the backroads at 95 mph to Balmorhea (Bal (rhymes with pal)-mor-A) http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/balmorhea/, eat some real Mexican food, look at and/or swim in (if hot enough) the beautiful natural springs there. Refreshed and satiated, you now begin your final approach to that most magical of places—Big Bend and the golden triangle of Alpine, Fort Davis, and the once cool but quickly getting F’d up by, dare I say it, NYers and Californians, town of Marfa. PLACES TO STAY: the Gage Hotel in Marathon, Texas (gateway to the Big Bend)—http://www.marathontexas.net. Also, consider
Indian Lodge in Ft. Davis. Many happy memories of this old Texas place built by the CCC in the 1930′s.
In Big Bend, try staying at Chisos Mtn Lodge-http://www.nationalparkreservations.com/bigbend.htm or in Lajitas. Music recs-Terry Allen, early Joe Ely, James McMurtry, Gary P. Nunn, Texas Tornados. Good Luck

Thank you all so much. As one friend e-mailed me this morning, I don’t have any need for a guide book after all this help. Best. Paul.

Tickets booked. We leave in 6 weeks.