where to travel right now

Hill Country wineries beckon + 9 more Texas travel ideas for June

School's out, summer has arrived, and with it comes a bounty of weekend getaway inspiration for Houston travelers.

Travelers on the hunt for the ultimate summer adventure outside of H-Town can head down Austin for a Father's Day barbecue showdown, leap to the coast for a restaurant takeover at a Galveston hotel, or say hello to Maisie the Highland cow at a new farm retreat in Jewett, Texas.

Here are CultureMap's top picks for a June vacation around Texas.

Around Texas

As summer arrives and gas prices remain high, fuel-conscious Texas travelers can book their next road trip with transportation startup Shutto, which recently launched new routes connecting major cities like Dallas, Austin, Houston Galleria, and The Woodlands. Each route includes a pit stop at Buc-ee's — a quintessential road trip moment — and travelers can also book private, customizable trips beyond the scheduled routes. Fares start at $87 per person to Austin and $97 per person to Houston, and trips can be booked online.

Central Texas and the Hill Country

The historic Faust Hotel in New Braunfels has finally completed its thoughtful restoration and reopened its doors for Hill Country travelers. All 45 guest rooms and 15 deluxe suites have been updated with king beds, custom vanities, 55-inch streaming televisions, retro Frigidaire mini-fridges, and much more. The hotel's new signature restaurant, Wilhelm & Werner, mixes Texas and European culinary influences with dishes like an "apple strudel" of foie gras and pork, saffron tagliatelle with Gulf shrimp, and poulet rôti with a savory bread pudding. Nightly rates at the Faust Hotel begin at $215 in June.

Faust Hotel New Braunfels The revamped Faust Hotel blends the property's historic bones with new furnishings. Photo by Jason Risner

A Gonzales County wellness retreat is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a roster of new services, events, workshops , and more to come later this year. Ottine Mineral Springs is now offering private Watsu experiences, a massage performed in the mineral pools by licensed therapists before the general public arrives. The oasis will soon offer poolside cabana rentals, and open a climate-controlled indoor lounge and soaking space. Guests can book day passes (starting at $65), events, and spa services online. Reservations are required.

Limestone Fields, a new farm retreat on Lake Limestone in Jewett, is now accepting reservations for stays on its 16-acre property that sits along Lake Limestone. Guests are welcome to explore the expansive area, which also includes a working farm with chickens, ducks, and two Scottish Highland cows. Limestone Fields hosts 10 furnished cabins with front decks that overlook a pond and back decks that open to the lake. Stays start at $200 a night and usually have a two-night minimum. Prices vary with seasonality.

Maisie the Scottish Highland cow at Limestone Fields Maisie is a miniature Highland cow that lives on the farm.Photo by Ashley Estave

Texas trade organization Texas Hill Country Wineries is offering a new way to experience its participating wineries' vintages with a new Barrels & Bites weekend event pass running from June 12-14. During the weekend, passholders can visit up to four wineries each day for winemaker-led experiences including elevated tastings or curated food and wine pairings. New this year is the Grand Tasting event at Ron Yates in Johnson City on Friday night from 5-7 pm, where passholders and single-ticket holders can try samples from 21 different wineries. Individual passes are $175, couples passes are $300, and single tickets for the Grand Tasting are $35 per person.

Austin

Adventurers can take their barbecue-loving dads for a smoke-filled weekend at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin for Father's Day weekend from June 19-20. The resort will host its second annual barbecue festival, Smoke: A Celebration of Fire and Flavor, bringing together the most prolific pitmasters and acclaimed restaurants for two days of live-fire cooking and live entertainment. The weekend kicks off with a VIP dinner experience on Friday featuring a multicourse meal of elevated barbecue dishes from chefs, and the barbecue showdown will commence Saturday with an open-air tasting event, live music, and a fireworks finale. Weekend bundle passes are $479 per person, with single admission tickets available for each day of the festival.

San Antonio

Magik Theatre, a beloved San Antonio children's performing arts center, is getting ready to for its grand reopening after months of renovations with a celebration party and a performance of The Very Hungry Caterpillar starting Saturday, June 13. The reopening party will feature a ribbon-cutting at Hemisfair Park, plus children's activities, a live DJ, and more. The Party in the Park is free to the public. Tickets for The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which will run until August 2, range from $26.50-$33.50 per person.

On the Gulf Coast

Galveston's seaside refuge Hotel Lucine is hosting the third annual Bludorn by The Sea dining series from June 12-13. Acclaimed Houston chef Aaron Bludorn will stage a two-night takeover of the hotel's on-site restaurant, The Fancy, with a raw bar pop-up from 4-7 pm, and elaborate four-course dinners planned each night. A Courtyard Party will precede Saturday's dinner from 12-3 pm with a yakitori-style grill-out and live music. Dinner reservations for Friday and Saturday ($95 per person) can be booked via OpenTable, and visitors are encouraged to book a stay at the hotel for the weekend.

Dallas-Fort Worth

June brings the arrival of World Cup season, and one Dallas-Fort Worth hotel is making its debut just in time to welcome FIFA fans from all over the world. The retro Caravan Court Hotel in Arlington will open at 205 N. Collins St. on June 1, less than a mile away from AT&T Stadium. The hotel offers 143 luxuriously appointed guest rooms, an in-house restaurant, martini bar, and a rooftop lounge. Room rates begin at $109 per night in June.

Photo courtesy of Texas Hill Country Wineries

The Barrels & Bites pass offers Hill Country wine lovers upscale tasting experiences or curated food and wine pairings.

Hotel Vin in Grapevine has launched a new "Route 66 Pit Stop" package in celebration of the iconic roadway's 100th anniversary. The package includes an Americana snack basket, Texas wine flight, disposable camera for capturing the journey, and grab-and-go breakfast for the road. Guests can also visit “The Vin Pit Stop" Lounge at WineYard Grille + Bar, the hotel's al fresco dining concept, for light bites, road trip-inspired specialty cocktail flights and Texas wine. Nightly rates for the "Route 66 Pit Stop" package start at $419.

travel texas vacation galveston grapevine hotels resorts hill country central texas festivals

Pack Your Patience

Houston's IAH declared 10th worst airport for delays and cancellations

United Airlines plane at George Bush Intercontinental Airport

Photo by David Syphers on Unsplash

As if flying wasn't stressful enough already, George Bush Intercontinental has landed among the top 10 worst airports for delays and cancellations.

Ahead of the busy holiday season, Houstonians should budget extra time into their travel plans before flying out of the metro's bustling George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

IAH was just declared the 10th worst airport in the nation for flight disruptions by consumer review platform ConsumerAffairs, which analyzed the rates of moderate and severe delays, diversions, and cancellations at the 29 biggest U.S. airports. IAH also appeared as the 10th worst airport where holiday travel causes the biggest disruptions.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia led the nation as the No. 1 worst airport overall.

The report revealed IAH's biggest issue is its high volume of flight cancellations, rather than delays. IAH has the 7th highest rate of flight cancellations nationally, though the airport's cancellation rate is just 1.8 percent. A silver lining for some travelers is that less than a quarter (24.22 percent) of all cancellations were the last flight of the day to that destination. The average number of same-day flights to the same destination at IAH is 3.69, so there's a high chance travelers will get re-booked on a same-day flight after a cancellation.

Fortunately, the rate of delays at IAH is lower than most other airports, according to the study. IAH has the 10th lowest moderate delay rate out of all the airports examined with nearly 20 percent of flights delayed by 15 minutes and up to three hours. About two percent of all flights are delayed by more than three hours, making IAH the 12th worst airport for severe delays.

The top 10 worst large U.S. airports for delays and cancellations are:

No. 1 – Ronald Reagan Washington National
No. 2 – Dallas Fort Worth International
No. 3 – Newark Liberty International
No. 4 – Miami International
No. 5 – Philadelphia International
No. 6 – Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
No. 7 – LaGuardia
No. 8 – Tampa International
No. 9 – Washington Dulles International
No. 10 – George Bush Intercontinental

Surprisingly, Los Angeles International Airport landed as the best major U.S. airport for avoiding travel disruptions. Phoenix Sky Harbor International (No. 2) and Seattle-Tacoma International (No. 3) round out the top three best airports for on-time travel.

In ConsumerAffairs' separate list of the worst medium-sized airports, William P. Hobby landed as the 18th worst out of 32 U.S. airports. About 19 percent of all flights at HOU experience moderate delays — the 5th highest rate in this category — and only one percent are severely delayed.

Pack your patience during the holidays
Flying from IAH may be more stressful during the holidays, as 22.5 percent of flights will suffer from disruptions during the Thanksgiving and winter holiday travel periods — starting the Tuesday before Thanksgiving through the Monday after, and again from December 18 to January 5.

IAH has the fourth lowest holiday disruption rate out of the biggest airports, and the 11th highest holiday severe delay rate. Put some padding on your itinerary, because two percent of all flights will be delayed more than three hours during the holidays

Additionally, 22.3 percent of all HOU flights will be disrupted during the holiday travel season, and 1.5 percent of flights will experience severe delays.

The report offers the following suggestions to help anxious travelers avoid flight disruptions: look into travel insurance to protect against delays or cancellations; look for nonstop flights; or book flights with earlier departure times on an airline with multiple departures to your destination.

For flights that do get delayed or cancelled, travelers need to "act fast" to rectify their situation, says Jennifer Rykaczewski, the CEO of nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Affordable Skies.

"In the first 10 minutes, open the airline app, see whether you have already been rebooked and search for acceptable alternatives," Rykaczewski said. "Throughout the process, save any documentation of the delay or cancellation, plus receipts for meals or hotels, in case you need it for an insurance claim later."

consumeraffairs flight delays flights holiday travel travel houston george bush intercontinental airport william p hobby airport hou iah anderson

where to travel right now

Hill Country wineries beckon + 9 more Texas travel ideas for June

Pack Your Patience

Houston's IAH declared 10th worst airport for delays and cancellations

Houston's award-winning East Coast-style Italian deli now open in Spring

Historic Houston theater secures $7 million loan to begin renovations

California-inspired Houston restaurant makes Infatuation's best new list