Texas is located at the neighbor states of New Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and at the border of Mexico. It is the State offers a great variety of scenery, including desert, canyons, and beautiful beaches. Also, it is a world-class travel attraction especially in San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin. Texas is a multicultural states with the Spanish influences due to its previous colony of Spain. The perfect timing to visit Texas is between March till May or September till November. However, it comes to peak at June till August where it is the summer vacation for all children.
The top list of must visit attraction in Texas is The Alamo, where is it a historic attraction site that represents the history of Texas, that battled during the independence from Mexico. The Alamo is situated on the Eastern of San Antonio, it was established in year 1718 and it is open daily besides Christmas. The Alamo is a memorial for heroes such as Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett. Many visitors are attracted by the numberless artifacts about history of the fort and the Long Barracks. There are more to see at the Alamo, such as church, arcade and gift shop. The admission is free for public, however, visitors might have to pay an additional fee for audio accompaniment. This popular historical place has attracted almost 2.5 million visitors annually.
There are two popular marine attractions in Texas, one from Galveston and another from Padre Island. Both these attractions are unique and worth the visit especially for marine and nature lovers. The National Seashore located in Padre Island and it is the longest natural barrier island in the world, which covers a total of 70 miles stretches long. It takes up about 130,000 acres of land, includes dunes, beaches, home to sea turtles, and other marine life. Also a hub for a lot of migratory birds. This is indeed a paradise for bird watchers with more than 350 species birds stopover at this point. There are other interesting activities offer at the Sea Life Center with aquariums and special “touch tanks” where visitors enjoy the close interaction with the marine creatures such as crabs, starfishes, and octopus. While dolphin tours are being offered by Dolphin Research, which provides the opportunities to watch dolphins at the Laguna Madre Bay.
Another significant attraction is located at Galveston, Aquarium and The Moody Gardens. The gardens features three impressive glass pyramid, such as Aquarium Pyramid, Discovery Pyramid and Rainforest Pyramid. Each pyramid offers unique displays. For example, the Aquarium Pyramid is the hub for marine life reside at the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. This is a 12 floors blue glass giant aquarium features close views of the marine life across the world. The newly added displays such as the Humboldt penguins and jellyfish is a must visit by all guests. The Discovery Pyramid features many interesting science display in a pink color building. The 180 degree Ridefilm Theater is the biggest selling point of the pyramid for visitors to enjoy motion-stimulation movie experience. Finally the Rainforest Pyramid is the home for many animals, flora and fauna. It is a 10-floor high replicate rain forest with thousands of wild animals, reptiles, insects and birds living freely inside the pyramid. There are monkeys, bats, sloths, alligators and otters walking around in the wonderful forest just like being in South American or Safari in Africa. Besides these pyramids, visitors would get a chance to visit the authentic replication of paddle wheel boats in 1800s. This is a triple-decker cruise that offers great sightseeing activity, delicious buffet and live band music while cruising to bayou.
Sunny Flea Market at Houston covers about 35 acres. This is a great place to shop for local fruits, spices, and delicious international food. There are about one thousand vendors, selling wide range of products from beauty products, health care supplements, fashion clothing, and shoes. Recently antique decorations and furniture just got added to the list of items. Up to 50,000 guests visit to Sunny Flea Market weekly just to check out great deals from many of the vendors there. Another must go shopping district would be the San Antonio’s River Walk located at the center of San Antonio. It is a historical area discovered since 16th century by St. Anthony. Today it has become a popular shopping district with river boat tours offer to guests. There are many restaurants, parks and museums available along the river walk. It is over two plus miles of shopping street that is open daily. There are special events and festivals hosted annually, especially the Ford Fiesta Festival in every December.
The only National Park in Texas is the Big Bend. It is situated in between the border of Mexico and Texas by a River – Rio Grande. The parks covers variety of landscapes such as desert, rivers, canyons and mountain with the elevation levels up to eight thousand feet. The weather can be dramatic contrasts at the low elevations, where freezing temperature in winter but dry hot during the summer. There are outstanding canyons by the river border, namely Mariscal, Santa Elena and Boquillas Canyon, which offers an amazing scenery and a great whitewater rafting activities to general public. Visitors can explore the parks via hiking while bird watching, and fishing are the other activities available. The park is divided into three main zones, Chihuahuan Desert, Chisos Mountains and Rio Grande Valley. All are home to thousand of plants species 500 different types of birds include roadrunners and golden eagles to just name a few.