The best things to do in Dallas

Goodsurf is making waves in Deep Ellum—literally. The surf club lets you ride real waves on surfboards in a high-tech pool, which is a fun way to stay cool as the temperature warms up. The urban oasis also has a beach patio, live music, pickleball courts and good food courtesy of Nick Badovinus, who created the menu for the venue’s Quality Hang restaurant.

This immersive venue shows games on an 87-foot-diameter, 12K+ LED dome that makes you feel like you’re sitting right next to the action. Check the schedule, then go for NBA and NHL playoff games, college baseball, Premier League soccer and other events, like Cirque du Soleil shows and select movies. When you’re not being awestruck with visuals, head to the beer garden for drinks, a full food menu and lawn games.

Lee Harvey’s adjacent pool bar just opened for the season, so that’s your cue to drink a frozen margarita in the water. Become a member to gain access ($350 for the season), or just buy a $20 day pass when the mood strikes, and you can lounge in shady cabanas, wade in the pool and avail yourself of the bar and restaurant. It’s serving summer staples like burgers and fish tacos, plus Aperol spritzes, vodka-spiked cherry limeades and several frozens. An icy margarita or piña colada in the pool is scientifically proven to make summer better.

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The storied Deep Ellum venue reclaimed its name and debuted (or re-debuted) in April as the Bomb Factory. It’s celebrating the what’s-old-is-new-again name change with a compelling slate of summer shows, including Perfume Genius, Tennis and Tripping Daisy, followed by Father John Misty and Royal Otis in September. The iconic bombs are back outside the front doors of this historic building, named for its past life as a munitions factory during World War II, so grab tickets and get your cameras ready.

Dallas has several walkable neighborhoods, but none are quite as charming as Bishop Arts. 1920s-era bungalows now house restaurants, bars and shops, so there’s plenty to keep you entertained for an afternoon or the whole evening. Itinerary permutations are endless, but a few good stops include The Wild Detectives to browse books with a glass of wine, and We Are 1976 to stock up on Japanese stationery and art. When you’re hungry, treat yourself to oysters and cocktails at Hugo’s Seafood Bar followed by dinner at Little Blue Bistro, then bring it all to an energetic close and dance to vinyl DJs at Ladylove Lounge & Sound. 

Beginning Memorial Day Weekend and running through Labor Day, Omni properties in Las Colinas, Frisco and Fort Worth are hosting Tiki Social, a pop-up bar created with Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, the author, Tiki historian and owner of Latitude 29 in New Orleans. Indoor and outdoor bar spaces are being transformed into tropical escapes, open to resort guests and the public alike. The special menu features eight original cocktails and two mocktails, so plan a return trip to try them all. One standout is the Coconutty Islander, which combines rum, coconut, passion fruit, lime and macadamia liqueur and is served in a fresh coconut.

This trippy, immersive art installation hails from Sante Fe and debuted in DFW in 2023 as the brand’s fourth permanent exhibit. Dubbed “the Real Unreal,” it tells the story of a suburban family that went missing after unlocking portals to a different world. You can explore their home, where nothing is as it seems, to unravel a series of clues across more than 30 rooms. It’s weird, wild and worth a visit.

DFW is stocked with breweries, so you’ve got plenty to choose from. Fortunately, some of the city’s best beer makers are congregated around downtown and the Design District, so you can make a day of it and check out spots like Community, Peticolas, Manhattan Project and Pegasus without spending all day in the car. We mean someone else’s car, obviously—this is a job for Uber or Lyft.

The Great Trinity Forest, just south of Downtown Dallas, is one of the largest urban forests in the country. It’s also home to the Trinity Forest Adventure Park, where you can partake in aerial adventures like zip lining, ropes courses and military-style obstacles. Race through the treetops from 50 feet above the ground on more than 30 zip lines, test your balance across wobbly bridges and tight ropes and see nature in whole new ways.

Dallas’s best barbecue is found in a little strip mall, where the Cattleack team is serving perfectly smoked brisket, dino-size beef ribs, pulled pork and sides like burnt end beans and hatch chili mac and cheese. It’s only open for lunch on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and the first Saturday of the month, so plan your schedule accordingly. Pro tip: get there before the doors open to limit your time in line.

The Sixth Floor Museum chronicles the life and assassination of JFK from a historical, social and cultural perspective. Poke through more than 90,000 artifacts and stand in front of the window from which Lee Harvey Oswald fired his rifle. Afterward, head to the Grassy Knoll to see the “X” in the street where JFK was fatally shot before making your way to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza a few blocks away.

This 66-acre botanical garden is one of the top botanical gardens in the country, offering spectacular nature exhibits throughout the year, such as the largest floral festival in the southwest, Artscape (an arts and crafts show) and jaw-dropping pumpkin and Christmas displays in the fall and winter.

This June, check out the Cool Thursdays Concert Series, which brings live shows to the shore of White Rock Lake. Tribute band the British Are Coming pays homage to British rock favorites, while other bands channel Whitney Houston and Journey. Bring a blanket or chairs, and sing along with a bottle of BYO wine and picnic snacks. The series takes a break during way-too-hot July and August and then picks back up in September.

Dallas isn’t known for public transit, but in addition to the DART rail, the city has historic street cars that trundle along McKinney Avenue in Uptown and roll through the Arts District. The trolleys operate daily and are free to ride, so hop on to add a little fun to your commute. You can hit a few bars along McKinney Ave, stop at Klyde Warren Park for an al fresco lunch or learn something new at The Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

Embrace your rodeo dreams, or just live vicariously through actual cowboys and cowgirls at the Stockyards Championship Rodeo in Fort Worth, which is held each Friday and Saturday night. It’s only about 45 minutes from Dallas but feels like a world away, with a full roster of events like breakaway roping, team roping and barrel racing, plus bull riding and special showcases that bring in the best talent from across the country. 

Dallas boasts the largest contiguous urban arts district in America: a 118-acre expanse packed with museums, restaurants and theaters. Get your bearings with a Saturday architecture tour before deciding where to invest your time. The AT&T Performing Arts Center is a good place to start. It’s a multi-venue music and theater complex centered on the striking drum-shaped Winspear Opera House. Check the calendar often to find performances like Stomp and Life of Pi as well as touring Broadway shows. Also, check out the Dallas Museum of Art and Crow Museum of Asian Art (admittance is free at both!), and the Nasher Sculpture Center, with its famous outdoor sculpture garden.

Seattle has the Space Needle, New York has the Empire State building and Dallas has the Reunion Tower. This skyline icon is more than just a pretty observatory, although the views from 470 feet up are hard to beat. Check the calendar for yoga classes, sound baths and holiday events, or make a reservation for brunch or dinner at Crown Block, the 360-degree restaurant and bar. On the lookout for over-the-top romance? Lovers can also book a “Love Is in the Air” proposal package to pop the question with bubbles in a private section.

Klyde Warren Park opened in late 2012 on top of the Woodall Rodgers Freeway and has since become one of the most popular spots in Dallas. This 5.2-acre park stretches across several blocks and connects Uptown with the downtown Arts District. You’ll find a playground for kids, a stage that hosts live concerts, and food trucks (Andy’s Frozen Custard is a must when it’s hot out) lining one side of the park. Free daily activities like table tennis, badminton, chess and yoga are supplemented with special events like movie nights and silent discos, so there’s always something to do. Check the calendar and choose your own adventure.

Locals like both kinds of music in Dallas: country and western. The best way to enjoy both? By two-stepping, naturally. With six bars, karaoke, a pool room and a large dance floor perfect for busting a move, don your cowboy boots and get ready to boogie at Round Up Saloon. This glitzy gay bar and dance hall offers popular line dancing lessons nearly every night of the week, so get ready for box steps and partner-swinging galore.

Shopping is a local sport in Dallas, so if you want to play ball with your credit card, you’ve come to the right place. Highland Park Village—the first outdoor shopping center in the U.S.—is renowned for its Spanish-influenced architecture and haute couture (think Chanel, Dior and Alexander McQueen). After shopping, fuel up at Café Dior. The gorgeous new restaurant from three Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn is now open on the second floor of the boutique, serving lunch, afternoon tea and desserts.

Get a breath of fresh air on this 3.5-mile trail, a route stitching together several Dallas districts that follow the path of the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. While you won’t find any trains along the trail, you will find almost everything else; the Katy Trail is popular among cyclists, dog walkers, inline skaters and runners alike. The best part: You can finish up that exercise, or “exercise,” with a stop at one of the bars and restaurants along the path, like the Katy Trail Ice House and its sprawling patio, or the newly opened neighbors, Rose Cafe and Le PasSage.