Things to do · Dallas · United States
18 best things to do in Dallas
18 sights and experiences ranked for a first visit, with honest notes on time, cost and crowds.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Brodie319, Public domain
Quick answer
The essential sights in Dallas are The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Dealey Plaza and the JFK Memorial and Dallas Museum of Art. Of the 18 picks below, 10 are free, 6 work on a rainy day and 7 suit children. Allow about 3 days to see the highlights without rushing.
Key facts
- Top sight
- The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
- Free sights
- 10
- Good on a rainy day
- The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
- Time to see the highlights
- 3 days
At a glance
| Sight | Area | Time needed | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza | Downtown | 1.5–2 hours | Mid-priced |
| Dealey Plaza and the JFK Memorial | Downtown | 30–45 minutes | Free |
| Dallas Museum of Art | Arts District | 2 hours | Free |
| Nasher Sculpture Center | Arts District | 1–1.5 hours | Mid-priced |
| Crow Museum of Asian Art | Arts District | 45 minutes | Free |
| Klyde Warren Park | Arts District | 1 hour | Free |
| Perot Museum of Nature and Science | Victory Park | 3 hours | Mid-priced |
| Reunion Tower GeO-Deck | Downtown | 1 hour | Mid-priced |
| Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden | White Rock Lake | 2–3 hours | Mid-priced |
| White Rock Lake | East Dallas | 1–3 hours | Free |
| Deep Ellum murals and music | Deep Ellum | 2–4 hours | Free |
| Bishop Arts District | North Oak Cliff | 2–3 hours | Free |
| Fair Park | Fair Park | 1–2 hours, or a full day at the fair | Free |
| Dallas World Aquarium | West End | 2 hours | Mid-priced |
| Dallas Zoo | Oak Cliff | 3–4 hours | Mid-priced |
| Pioneer Plaza cattle drive | Downtown | 20–30 minutes | Free |
| Katy Trail | Uptown | 1–2 hours | Free |
| George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum | University Park | 2 hours | Mid-priced |
The 18 best things to do
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Museum · Downtown
1.The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
Inside the former Texas School Book Depository, this museum traces President John F. Kennedy's life, his assassination on 22 November 1963 and the investigations that followed. The corner window where Lee Harvey Oswald fired is preserved behind glass, looking down on Elm Street.
Use the included audio guide and allow time on the seventh floor, which hosts changing exhibitions with a similar view.
- Time needed
- 1.5–2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Book ahead
- Entry is by timed ticket; book online for weekends and holidays.
- Iconic
- History
- Rainy day
Historic site · Downtown
2.Dealey Plaza and the JFK Memorial
The small park where Kennedy's motorcade turned onto Elm Street remains much as it looked in 1963, including the grassy knoll and the railway overpass. A block east, Philip Johnson's open, roofless cenotaph forms the John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza.
Stay on the pavement; standing on the white X marks painted in Elm Street means stepping into fast traffic.
- Time needed
- 30–45 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- History
- Iconic
Museum · Arts District
3.Dallas Museum of Art
With free general admission, the DMA covers about 5,000 years of art, from ancient Mediterranean and pre-Columbian pieces to European paintings by Monet and Van Gogh and modern American works, plus a strong collection of African art.
Start with the European and American galleries upstairs, then walk across Flora Street to the Nasher's garden.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Art
- Free
- Rainy day
Gallery · Arts District
4.Nasher Sculpture Center
A Renzo Piano building with a glass-vaulted gallery opening onto a walled sculpture garden, showing modern and contemporary sculpture by Rodin, Matisse, Picasso, Calder, Henry Moore and others. It is one of the calmest spots downtown.
Leave time to sit in the garden; the sculptures change character with the light through the day.
- Time needed
- 1–1.5 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Art
- Couples
- Outdoors
Museum · Arts District
5.Crow Museum of Asian Art
A small, free museum of art from China, Japan, India and South-East Asia, known for its jade collection, Buddhist sculpture and a carved sandstone façade from India. It makes a quiet half-hour stop between the DMA and the Nasher.
Check the ground-floor gallery for temporary exhibitions before heading upstairs to the jade.
- Time needed
- 45 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Art
- Free
- Rainy day
- Off the beaten path
Park · Arts District
6.Klyde Warren Park
A deck park built over the sunken Woodall Rodgers Freeway in 2012, joining downtown's Arts District to Uptown. It has lawns, a children's park with water features, a dog park and a daily line-up of food trucks, plus free activities such as yoga and outdoor games.
Grab lunch from the food trucks along the park's edge and eat on the lawn facing the downtown towers.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Food
Museum · Victory Park
7.Perot Museum of Nature and Science
A striking cube-shaped building by Thom Mayne with an outdoor escalator in a glass tube, five floors of hands-on halls on dinosaurs, energy, gems, the human body and engineering, and a children's area for the youngest visitors.
Take the glass escalator to the top floor and work down; it avoids the crowds at the ground-floor dinosaur hall.
- Time needed
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Architecture
Viewpoint · Downtown
8.Reunion Tower GeO-Deck
The tower topped by a lattice ball of lights, a landmark on the Dallas skyline since 1978, has an indoor and outdoor observation deck about 140 metres up with views over downtown, the Trinity River bridges and on clear days towards Fort Worth.
Go at sunset; the ball's light displays look best from the ground afterwards.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Views
- After dark
- Couples
- Kids
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Garden · White Rock Lake
1.Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
Display gardens on the eastern shore of White Rock Lake, known for the Dallas Blooms spring festival with hundreds of thousands of bulbs, the autumn Pumpkin Village of tens of thousands of pumpkins, and a large children's science garden.
Visit on a weekday morning during Dallas Blooms; spring weekends get very busy.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Outdoors
- Kids
- Couples
- Photo spot
Nature · East Dallas
2.White Rock Lake
A reservoir park about 10 km north-east of downtown with a trail loop of roughly 15 km for cycling, running and walking, sailing clubs, birding spots and views back to the skyline. It is where many Dallasites spend weekend mornings.
Rent a bike and ride the loop clockwise, stopping at the spillway and the Arboretum side of the lake.
- Time needed
- 1–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Outdoors
- Active
- Nature
Neighbourhood · Deep Ellum
3.Deep Ellum murals and music
Once a blues district where musicians such as Blind Lemon Jefferson played, Deep Ellum now has dozens of large murals, live-music venues, bars and some of the city's best-known barbecue. Walking Elm and Main Streets by day shows off the street art; by night the venues fill up.
Walk the murals in the afternoon, eat barbecue early to beat the queues, then stay for a show.
- Time needed
- 2–4 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Art
- After dark
- Food
- Free
- Photo spot
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Neighbourhood · North Oak Cliff
4.Bishop Arts District
A compact grid of restored brick storefronts with independent boutiques, bookshops, pie and chocolate shops, bars and restaurants. It is one of the few Dallas neighbourhoods built for strolling, and it is lively on weekend evenings.
Take the Dallas Streetcar from Union Station and spend an afternoon shopping before an early dinner.
- Time needed
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Shopping
- Food
- Free
- Couples
Historic site · Fair Park
5.Fair Park
Built for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition, Fair Park has one of the largest collections of Art Deco exhibition buildings in the United States, set around the Esplanade's long reflecting pool. It hosts the State Fair of Texas each autumn and the historic Cotton Bowl stadium.
Visit during the State Fair for the full experience, or on a quiet day to see the Art Deco murals and sculptures without crowds.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours, or a full day at the fair
- Cost
- Free
- Architecture
- History
- Free
- Photo spot
Aquarium · West End
6.Dallas World Aquarium
A privately run aquarium and zoo in a converted West End warehouse, built around a multi-level South American rainforest walkthrough with sloths, monkeys, toucans and an underwater tunnel with manatees and fish from the Orinoco River.
Go early on weekends; the narrow rainforest walkway gets congested by late morning.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Nature
Zoo · Oak Cliff
7.Dallas Zoo
Dallas's long-established zoo, just south of downtown, has a large African savanna section with giraffes you can feed, elephants and lions, as well as a children's zoo. A DART light-rail station sits at its entrance.
Ride DART's Red Line straight to the Dallas Zoo station and visit in the morning before the heat.
- Time needed
- 3–4 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Outdoors
- Nature
Landmark · Downtown
8.Pioneer Plaza cattle drive
A park next to the convention centre with 49 larger-than-life bronze longhorn steers and three cowboys driving them down a hill and across a stream, commemorating the cattle drives along the Shawnee Trail. It is a popular free photo stop.
Combine it with the Pioneer Park Cemetery next door and a walk to Dealey Plaza, about 10 minutes away.
- Time needed
- 20–30 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Kids
- Photo spot
- History
Park · Uptown
9.Katy Trail
A former railway line turned into a tree-shaded path of about 6 km through Uptown and towards Southern Methodist University, used by runners, cyclists and dog walkers. Restaurant patios and an ice house bar sit right beside it.
Walk or run it early on a summer morning, then have breakfast in Uptown.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Outdoors
- Active
Museum · University Park
10.George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
On the Southern Methodist University campus, the museum covers the Bush presidency including the September 11 attacks, with a full-size Oval Office replica and an interactive Decision Points Theater. The grounds include a Texas rose garden and native prairie.
Allow time for the native-prairie walk behind the museum, which is pleasant in spring wildflower season.
- Time needed
- 2 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- History
- Rainy day
Pick by interest
| Interest | Best picks |
|---|---|
| Art and museums | The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center and Crow Museum of Asian Art |
| History | The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Dealey Plaza and the JFK Memorial, Fair Park and Pioneer Plaza cattle drive |
| Views | Reunion Tower GeO-Deck |
| Outdoors and nature | Nasher Sculpture Center, Klyde Warren Park, Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden and White Rock Lake |
| Food and markets | Klyde Warren Park, Deep Ellum murals and music and Bishop Arts District |
| After dark | Reunion Tower GeO-Deck and Deep Ellum murals and music |
| With children | Klyde Warren Park, Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Reunion Tower GeO-Deck and Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden |
| On a rainy day | The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Dallas Museum of Art, Crow Museum of Asian Art and Perot Museum of Nature and Science |
What to book ahead
- The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza: Entry is by timed ticket; book online for weekends and holidays.
Plan the rest of your trip
Questions travellers ask
+What is the number one thing to do in Dallas?
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Inside the former Texas School Book Depository, this museum traces President John F.
+What can you do for free in Dallas?
Dealey Plaza and the JFK Memorial, Dallas Museum of Art, Crow Museum of Asian Art, Klyde Warren Park and White Rock Lake. More free things to do.
+What is there to do in Dallas when it rains?
Head indoors to The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Dallas Museum of Art, Crow Museum of Asian Art and Perot Museum of Nature and Science.
+What is there to do in Dallas at night?
Reunion Tower GeO-Deck and Deep Ellum murals and music are best after dark.