Are you looking for things to do near San Angelo Tx that are affordable, less crowded and fun? We all have days when we need a change of scenery but don’t want to break the bank. There are several interesting day trips from San Angelo that are a perfect short easy get out of town trip. Whether you live in San Angelo or somewhere else in West or Central Texas, these destinations are fun and relaxing anytime of year. Some of these trips are particularly nice during 2020 as they can be done with social distancing in mind. Time to pack up the car and family and head out for a mini-adventure!
Quaint towns and/or diners Near San Angelo
Coleman, A Cute West Texas Town
Coleman Texas is a really fun day trip from San Angelo. Our day trip to Coleman usually includes fishing, a fantastic hamburger, looking at a few cute shops, and a little history. We like to start with fishing at Hord’s Creek Lake fishing pier. The lake has great places for picnicking, camping, and fishing. There are several boat ramps and great places to fish from the shore or a pier.
After a few hours of morning fishing,we usually head into the big city of Coleman (population 4400). We accidentally discovered the Owl Drug Store on our first visit to Coleman. The drug store has a small grill and old fashioned soda fountain. The hamburgers and milk shakes are fantastic. There is also a gift shop in the pharmacy with some neat original gifts. Be sure and take a stroll around town. There are several cute shops and a nice ‘step-back-in-time’ feeling.
Mason, A Great Place to Spend a Day in West Texas
Mason is one of the most delightful towns in the Texas Hill Country. We enjoy looking around the town square, eating a great meal, touring a historic home, hunting for blue topaz and driving the James River road. It is also a very pretty drive from San Angelo.
Town Square and Restaurants
The main part of town is arranged in a square around the courthouse. It is worth the drive if you only go to Mason to see the courthouse! There are interesting shops in the town square, as well as several restaurants with very good food. We really enjoyed the Mexican food at Nacho’s cafe.
Seaquist House
The Seaquist House is a beautiful old home in Mason that is being restored and is open for public tours. There is a small fee for the tour. The tour dates/times are limited so be sure and check the website for more information. I’ve heard that the house is decorated at Christmas and is a fun thing to see during the Holidays.
Blue Topaz
Several ranches around Mason have blue topaz in the creeks/rivers and allow guest to come look for the topaz on their ranches. We had a great time ‘panning’ for blue topaz at the Seaquist ranch. There is a small fee to access the ranch and creek for the day. Several of the ranches will provide tools for panning, we took our own pan and shoverl. We didn’t find any blue topaz on our trip, but we really enjoyed the day and found some other beautiful rocks. The ranches around Mason usually don’t allow blue topaz hunters during deer season. I recommend going in January or February before the snakes are out. This is a really fun adventure for the whole family!
James River Road
There is a fantastic drive outside of Mason known as ‘The James River Road’. We tried the drive several years ago and weren’t able to cross some of the creeks due to high water. The road is basically a loop from a few miles south of Mason on highway 87 to Hilda and back to 87. This year we also had to turn around due to high water, but we were able to see the other half of the drive from a different direction. The drive is so scenic that we have decided to write a post specifically on the drive… more to come!
Ballinger, Great Food and Historic Homes Near San Angelo
Ballinger is cute town with some great food, cute shops, and historic old homes. BeefMasters is one of my favorite places to eat a hamburger. I haven’t tried the lunch buffet, but have heard that it is great (it certainly looked good!). Alejandra’s also has really good steak/Mexican food options. There are several antique shops and a few vintage shops on the main street that offer a nice selection of clothes and gifts. Be sure and take a drive around town to see some of the beautiful historic homes/churches and the life size cowboy statue by the courthouse. When I was a child, I always wanted to sit on the horse statue…. this is still on my list of fun things to do (haha). As in most small Texas towns, the courthouse is very pretty.
Rowena, Fantastic Steak House Near San Angelo
Bonnie of Bonnie and Clyde fame was born in Rowena Texas. Around San Angelo, Rowena is best known for Lowake Steakhouse. Rowena doesn’t have a lot of businesses remaining, but it’s well worth a short drive from San Angelo to eat a steak and onion rings! While you’re there, take a look at the interesting old buildings in Rowena. Wonder how many times Bonnie went in the bank?
Fredericksburg, Fun Excursion Near San Angelo
Most people go to Fredericksburg to shop in the cute shops and eat at the restaurants, but there are a few other less crowded options around Fredericksburg that we prefer for our day trip. The best time to go is during the week and not on a holiday week so you can avoid the crowds. We love to go to Wildseed farms to see the gardens, look at their shop, and buy a few plants. We also like to go to Fredericksburg during ‘peach season’, mid-May thru mid-August. There are several places to buy fresh peaches. You can’t go wrong with any of the peach stands, all are great!
Fredericksburg has a lot of awesome places to eat, if you like German food this is the place to be! One of our favorite low-key places to eat is a Opa’s Market and Deli. All of Opa’s sandwiches are wonderful, we usually have a sausage link wrap on a stick. (delicious and affordable). The deli is take out only, so we usually go to Lady Bird Johnson municipal park for a picnic. The park has several picnic area’s by the creek, some hiking trails, and a small garden.
Fredericksburg also has several state parks nearby and some great museums as well. VisitFredericksburg.com is a good website for other suggestions.
LBJ Texas White House, Historic Tour Near San Angelo
The LBJ Texas White House National Historic Site located on hi-way 290 east of Fredericksburg, is a fun and educational destination. The historic site has a wonderful self-drive auto tour to see the buildings and the ranch land. You can see the school house, a wonderful car collection (one of the cars is an aquatic car), LBJ’s jet, a pre-depression era working farm, and LBJ’s/Lady Birds ranch home. There a fantastic tour of the home, but it may not be open during the pandemic (check here to confirm the hours, etc). All ages will enjoy touring the grounds and the home!
More Things to do Near San Angelo Tx – Forts and deserted towns
Fort Chadbourne
We were pleasantly surprised with both the visitor center and the golf-cart tram tour of Fort Chadbourne. The Fort is about 12 miles north of Bronte and is a really pretty drive from San Angelo.
The visitor center/museum has an award winning film that is well worth seeing. The visitor center is a self-guided tour at your own pace, but there is someone on sight to answer any questions. In addition to the film, there is a large antique gun collection, a fantastic arrowhead collection, a historic homestead, a stagecoach, etc. They even let us sit in the stage coach. There were four adults over 50 on my last trip to the Fort, and we all wanted to sit in the stage coach. Sounds kind of dumb, but it was a lot of fun. Even if stage coaches are really small and very uncomfortable.
There is also a tour of the fort buildings on a tram that is pulled by a golf cart. The tour stopped at each building and we went inside several of the buildings. Our tour-guide was a lot of fun and had several interesting stories about the fort and local history.
We’ve been a few times and the Fort has never been crowded. A trip to see the Fort and museum is a wonderful way to spend part of any day.
Sanco, Deserted Town
I am always fascinated by old deserted towns. I wonder what life was like back in pioneer days and how the pioneers survived. It seems like most deserted towns are either inaccessible (private land) or there isn’t much left to see. Sanco, close to Robert Lee is a fun deserted town to visit. There are several buildings still standing and you are free to look at the outside of the buildings and walk around the town. There is a school, a church, a store, and some other unidentified buildings. The site of the town if close to where the Fort Chadbourne soldiers skirmished with Indians so this is a good add-on to the Fort Chadbourne day trip.
Fort McKavett
Fort McKavett is another interesting day trip from San Angelo. The fort is 75 miles south of San Angelo. We like to take hiway 87 south through Wall. There is a small road called Fort McKavett Road after Vancourt that is the most scenic route from San Angelo. The Fort has a nice visitor center, several restored structures, and several ruins to tour. The Fort is off the beaten path, somewhat in the middle of nowhere. The remoteness is actually part of the appeal of visiting the fort. All in all, this is a neat way to see some history.
State Parks – another good option for Things to do Near San Angelo Tx
San Angelo State Park is a fun way to spend a morning or afternoon, there are also several state parks that are good San Angelo day trip ideas. The two parks listed below are usually not crowded and are absolutely beautiful. There are several other great State Park options nearby, but we’ll start with these two.
South Llano, Junction Texas
South Llano State Park is a beautiful state park on the LLano River in the Hill Country, just outside of Junction. The river is clear and running, float trips are a blast! There is an abundance of wildlife and birds in the park, we saw several types of deer and some turkey. The four bird blinds in the park are fantastic, each has a water feature and well supplied feeders. Each blind had a nice variety of birds and we were close enough to get some great pictures.
If the state park leaves you hungry, Isaacks is a cute fifties style diner in Junction. The menu is mostly home cooking, everything we had was excellent. The eight year old on our trip declared it to be the best hamburger she has ever had in her entire life! The chicken strips were also wonderful.
Pedernales Falls State Park
Pedernales Falls State Park on the beautiful Pedernales river is absolutely gorgeous. It is a clear flowing river that flows over huge slabs of limestone. The park is a wonderful place to hike, fish, swim, bike or just relax. The park is close to Austin and can be crowded on weekends and holidays. An advance purchase pass is recommended. The scenery in the park is spectacular and well worth the trip!
Things to do near San Angelo tx That May Require An Over Night Stay
There are several easy overnight trips from San Angelo. Of course, there is always San Antonio, Dallas or Austin, but we want to mention a few of the smaller less crowded destinations that are worth a two-day trip:
Fort Davis and Alpine, Things to do Near San Angelo Tx When it is Hot
Fort Davis
When it is hot in San Angelo and you want somewhere just a little cooler, Fort Davis can be a great option. Fort Davis is the highest town in Texas, so the temps are cooler and there is mountain scenery!
McDonald Observatory, Fort Davis National Historic Site, and Davis Mountains state park are all in the vicinity. We did not visit the Observatory on our last visit, but it is an amazing place to go for all ages. Fort Davis National Historic site has a wonderful visitor center and several outside buildings that can be toured. Davis Mountains state park has beautiful scenery and several hiking trails that are well worth your time. And did I mention that Fort Davis is less humid and cooler than San Angelo?
Alpine
We like to visit Alpine on the same trip as Fort Davis. Alpine is also less humid and cooler than San Angelo. Be sure to stroll through downtown Alpine. The downtown area is a step back in time, with several interesting shops and galleries. There is also a fabulous museum in Alpine and several wonderful restaurants.
Alpine, Museum of the Big Bend
The Museum of the Big Bend is a very pleasant surprise. The museum has exhibits on area history, paleontology, a wonderful Native American artifact collection, and a full-scale replica of a dinosaur fossil. It is worth a drive to Alpine just to see the museum and eat at one of the restaurants below.
Alpine, Restaurants
We ate three meals in Alpine and all three were fantastic. La Casita is a great place for Mexican food. The restaurant is small and you may have to wait for a table, but the food is worth the wait. We chose Reata for our other two meals in Alpine. We both had tenderloin tamales with pecan mash. These were the best tamales I’ve ever had. So good that we went back there for our third meal in town.
Garner State Park
Garner State Park is one of the prettiest State Parks in Texas. It can also be one of the most crowded, depending upon the time of year that you visit. The summer is fun for swimming in the Frio River, but the park is really over crowded in the summer. We like to visit in the fall during the middle of the week. Most of the summer concessions are closed in the fall (no miniature golf, no tube rental for swimming, etc.), but the fall leaves are beautiful and the trails are not crowded. We stayed in one of the park cabins and really enjoyed our time. The cabins are very basic, but are clean and quiet.
Conclusion, Things to do near san angelo tx
These are just a few of our recommended things to do near San Angelo Tx. We’ll add more post’s along the way for some of our other fun destinations. Let us know your favorite things to do near San Angelo Tx, especially less crowded (off the beaten path) places!
