There is a moment on a Central Texas road trip when everything shifts. The highway opens up into rolling hills stitched together with cedar and live oaks, limestone outcroppings catch the afternoon light, and the landscape starts doing that thing it does pulling your attention away from whatever you were worrying about before you left. Someone in the car turns up the music. Someone else rolls down the window. And just like that, the trip has actually started.
If you’re making that drive with your best girlfriends, snacks in the back seat, playlist already an hour deep, a group chat full of restaurant recommendations, and winery pins. I can promise you this: that moment is one of the best feelings in the world. And Central Texas delivers it every single time.
I went to college at Texas A&M, and a part of my heart has lived in Texas ever since. My youngest son was born in Austin. I still have family scattered from College Station down through the Hill Country, and friends I’ve known since freshman year who’ve planted roots in Austin, San Antonio, New Braunfels, and every charming small town in between.
Note: This article contains affiliate links. This site earns from qualifying purchases.
So when I say Central Texas is one of my favorite places on earth to take a girlfriends’ getaway, I’m not saying it because I Googled a list. I’m saying it because I’ve driven those roads more times than I can count, eaten the food, sipped the wine, floated the rivers, and wandered the antique shops until my feet gave out. And I keep going back.
This guide is for women who are ready to plan a trip around what they actually want: great food, good wine, live music, a little history, some shopping, and the kind of unhurried, laughter-filled time with your closest friends that you just can’t manufacture. Central Texas delivers all of it, in spades.
Why Central Texas Is Made for a Girlfriends Getaway
Let me be straight with you: Central Texas and the Texas Hill Country are almost unfairly well-suited for a women’s trip. The region packs an extraordinary density of experiences into a relatively small geographic footprint. Within a few hours of driving, you can go from world-class wine country to a river tubing town, from a Smithsonian-affiliated museum to a dance hall that’s been hosting live music since before your grandmother was born. It never feels rushed because the pace of the Hill Country slows you down in the best possible way.
From Oklahoma City, the drive to the heart of the Hill Country is roughly six and a half to seven hours. That is totally doable for a long weekend departure on a Thursday evening or Friday morning. And once you’re there, you’re in the middle of everything. Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, San Antonio, and Austin are all within striking distance of each other, which means you can build an itinerary that shifts between big-city energy and small-town charm without ever burning much time in the car.
Prefer to fly to Central Texas?
No problem. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and San Antonio International Airport both give you direct access to the region. Austin puts you closest to the Hill Country and the smaller towns, while San Antonio drops you right into the southern end with easy day-trip access to Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, and beyond. Either way, once you land, rent a car and let the adventure begin.
What I love most about this region
That would be the vibe. Central Texas is welcoming in a way that doesn’t feel performative. People actually talk to you in restaurants. Winery staff remember your name by your second tasting. Shop owners in small towns will tell you the full history of whatever you’re about to buy. It’s the kind of place where your group of girlfriends. Whether you’re all old friends or a mix of people who became close at different stages of life will find your rhythm fast and relax into the trip.
Fredericksburg
Wine, History, and German Heart in the Texas Hill Country
If there is one place I could pick up and move my entire friend group to for a long weekend every year, it would be Fredericksburg. I’ve been there more times than I can tally, and every single time I find something new. The town was founded in 1846 by German immigrants, and you can feel that heritage in the limestone buildings along Main Street, the German food at the restaurants, and the warm, deep-rooted character of the community. It’s a town that takes hospitality seriously, which is exactly what you want when you’re traveling with people you love.
Texas Wine Country
Here is a sentence that should get your group chat buzzing immediately: Fredericksburg is the epicenter of Texas Wine Country, and there are more than 50 wineries, vineyards, and tasting rooms in Gillespie County alone. The Texas Hill Country as a whole has over 100. This is serious wine territory.
Wine Road 290 is the main event. It is a scenic stretch of highway where you can pop in and out of tasting rooms all afternoon, nibbling and sipping and talking about absolutely nothing important. My personal must-stops are Grape Creek Vineyards, where you can actually stroll through the vines before you taste; Augusta Vin, which has that intimate, conversation-friendly atmosphere where you feel like a guest rather than a customer; and K Estate (formerly Kuhlman Cellars), where the wine and food pairing experience turns an afternoon into an event.
But the stop I tell everyone about first is the Rhinory. I know that sounds like I made it up, but I promise you that this is a 55-acre ranch where world-class wines and rhino conservation have somehow found each other, and it absolutely works. You sip incredible wine while rhinos roam the property in front of you. It is the most unexpected, delightful thing, and every single person I’ve taken there has had the same reaction: wide eyes, then a huge smile, then ‘we need to tell people about this.’ Yes. Yes, you do.
Meierstone Vineyards is another favorite. It’s a fifth-generation working farm and ranch producing premium wines from sustainably grown, locally sourced grapes. There’s something about sipping wine from a women-owned winery on land that a family has tended for five generations that puts you squarely in the right state of mind for a Hill Country afternoon.
History & Culture
For my history-loving friends, and I have several, Fredericksburg is a genuine destination, not just a backdrop. The Pioneer Museum in downtown Fredericksburg preserves the original German buildings from the town’s founding days, and walking through it feels less like a museum visit and more like stepping into the living memory of a community.
The National Museum of the Pacific War is a level above almost anything I’ve seen in a small town. It’s Smithsonian-affiliated, accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, and it tells the most comprehensive story of World War II in the Pacific theater that you will find anywhere in the country. We spent nearly three hours there on one trip, and nobody was ready to leave. If you have anyone in your group who’s a history buff or anyone who has a grandparent who served in the Pacific, you’ll want to block out a full morning for this one.
Dining
Farm-to-table isn’t a trend in Fredericksburg — it’s just how things have always been done here. The farms, orchards, and ranches surrounding the town feed the restaurants, and the restaurants take that seriously. You feel it in every meal.
Start at Das Peach Haus and Fischer & Wieser, which together form one of the most beloved food destinations in the Hill Country. Das Peach Haus is the flagship retail store for Fischer & Wieser’s legendary line of preserves, sauces, salsas, and specialty foods. This is the kind of place where you walk in for one jar of peach jam and walk out with a bag full of things you’re already planning to give as gifts. Dangerous and delightful in equal measure.
The Fischer & Wieser cooking class experience is genuinely one of the best things you can do together in Fredericksburg. They offer chef-led demonstrations and hands-on classes where your group prepares a full four-course meal, with chefs pairing Texas wines with each course as you go. By the end of the afternoon you’re full, a little wine-happy, and already talking about when you’re coming back. Book this in advance as it fills up fast.
For your first real dinner in town, Hill & Vine on South Adams Street is exactly what a group of women needs after a long drive: relaxed, welcoming, genuinely delicious, and deeply Texas. Owner Jesse Barter trained at the Texas Culinary Academy and built this restaurant around one core principle — source everything from Texas whenever possible. The menu reads like a love letter to the state, from smoked Santa Maria tri-tip and chicken schnitzel to fresh Gulf fish, all paired with an impressive selection of Texas wines.
The outdoor courtyard at Hill & Vine is one of the most charming spots in all of Fredericksburg with string lights overhead, a retrofitted 1974 Volkswagen Bus serving as Das Bar Bus at the center, and an atmosphere so unhurried that two hours can disappear without anyone noticing. They don’t take reservations for the main dining room, so arrive a little early, order a cocktail, and enjoy the wait. It is absolutely worth it.
For your special dinner night, make a reservation at Alla Campagna on West Main Street. Here you’ll find Italian cuisine inspired by the Italian countryside, and one of those restaurants that feels like a genuine discovery. Think fried potato gnocchi, prosciutto pizza that reviewers rave about, perfectly seared sea bass, and filet mignon, all in a warm, intimate setting with a cocktail program worth lingering over. They offer a private dining room for groups of five to eight, which is worth asking about for a celebratory dinner. Reservations are strongly encouraged.
And before you leave, stop next door to Das Peach Haus at Dietz Distillery. Dietz Fischer took his passion for spirits all the way to Scotland to earn a distilling degree, then brought that precision back to the Hill Country. His specialty is fruit-based spirits crafted with real craft and care. It’s a fun stop, a great story, and a bottle from Dietz makes one of the best souvenirs of the whole trip.
Luckenbach: Cold Beer, Live Music & Pure Texas
You simply cannot be this close to Fredericksburg and not make the short drive out to Luckenbach. It’s about ten miles east of town, and when you turn off the highway and follow those backroad signs, you will understand immediately why this place has its own Willie Nelson song. Luckenbach is barely a town. It’s a general store, a dance hall, a few old buildings tucked under giant oak trees, and more atmosphere than most cities could manufacture in a hundred years.
The Luckenbach Texas General Store Bar & Dancehall is where you grab a cold beer, find a spot on one of the wooden benches under the trees, and let whoever is playing that afternoon wash over you. There is almost always live music — sometimes a big name, often a songwriter playing for the love of it — and the crowd is a perfect mix of locals and visitors who all share the same understanding: we are exactly where we’re supposed to be right now. For a group of women who appreciate a good story and a real Texas moment, Luckenbach delivers both. Budget an afternoon, bring cash, and don’t be in a hurry to leave.
Where to Stay
Fredericksburg has over 1,500 Airbnb and guesthouse rentals, which means you can almost certainly find a house big enough for your whole group to stay together and that changes the entire dynamic of a girlfriends trip. Sharing a kitchen, a porch, a bottle of wine at the end of the day in your own space? That’s where the best conversations happen.
If you want a truly unique stay, HoneyTree’s elevated treehouses are gorgeous and romantic in a Hill Country kind of way. The Hanger Hotel is unlike anything else, aviation-themed and genuinely cool. And if you want to be steeped in the history of the town itself, a traditional Sunday House puts you in a piece of Fredericksburg’s original character.
But my top recommendation for a girlfriends group right now is the Hill Country Herb Garden, which was beautifully revived in 2021 and is one of those places that makes you genuinely wonder how you went this long without knowing about it. The property features 14 thoughtfully curated cottages set among luscious botanical gardens, and I don’t use that word lightly. The onsite gardens are home to 154 unique botanical species, 60 of them native to Texas, plus 33 herb species in a dedicated culinary garden that is worth a slow walk all on its own.
The 5,000-square-foot spa is reason enough to book. After a full day of wine tasting and wandering Main Street, there is nothing better than surrendering completely to spa treatments while surrounded by gardens that smell of lavender, rosemary, and things you can’t quite name but absolutely love. The Restaurant on-site offers garden-inspired craft cocktails, sake, wine, beer, and light fare, so you can have a quiet evening in without going anywhere.
Before you check out, give yourself time in the Marigold gift shop. It carries hand-selected apothecary goods, jewelry, and home goods that are genuinely beautiful — the kind of thoughtful, well-curated shopping that feels like a gift to yourself rather than a souvenir stop. Fair warning: leave room in your bag.
Find great rates on rooms at the Hill Country Herb Garden Lodgings on Booking.com.
New Braunfels & Gruene
Where the Guadalupe River Meets Old Texas Soul
There are few things in this world as restorative as floating a Texas river on a warm afternoon with your best girlfriends, a cold drink in hand, and absolutely nowhere to be. New Braunfels, nestled between San Antonio and Austin, is where you go for exactly that feeling.
The Guadalupe River and the Comal River run through this town, and both offer tubing that is, frankly, perfect. The Comal is shorter and gentler, making it ideal for a few hours on the water. The Guadalupe has more length and a little more character. Either way, you show up, rent your tubes, get in the water, and let the river do the rest. I’ve done this in June when the heat was relentless and the cold water was borderline shocking, and it remains one of my favorite afternoons in all of Central Texas.
Just down the road, the Gruene Historic District is one of those places that gets under your skin. Cypress trees line the streets, antique shops compete for your attention, and Gruene Hall, Texas’s oldest operating dance hall, sits at the center of it all like it has always been there, because it has. Live music spills out of Gruene Hall even on weekday afternoons. I once stopped in on a Wednesday with no plan, ordered a cold beer, found a spot on the porch, and listened to a guy play country music for two hours. It cost me nothing and I would rate it a ten out of ten.
Dripping Springs
Craft Cocktails, Wildflowers, and the Perfect First Night
Dripping Springs sits about 25 miles west of Austin and has quietly become one of the most interesting small towns in all of Texas. It’s known as the ‘Gateway to the Hill Country,’ and for a road trip coming in from Oklahoma, it makes a natural first-night stop — close enough to Austin that you have options for dinner, far enough west that you already feel like you’re in the Hill Country.
The craft spirits scene here is booming. Distilleries, wineries, and craft breweries have clustered around this town over the past decade, giving it a food and drink culture that’s well beyond what you’d expect from its size. Plan a first evening here, have a good dinner, sample some local cocktails, and ease into Texas at the pace the Hill Country prefers.
If you’re traveling in spring — and if you can at all manage it, you should — the bluebonnets along the roads heading into Dripping Springs are genuinely spectacular. There is something about driving through rolling hills covered in wildflowers that makes the whole trip feel cinematic. Take your time. Pull over. Take the photos. You’ll be glad you did.
Round Top
Antiques, Art, and the Best Little Weekend in Texas
Round Top has a permanent population of fewer than 100 people and hosts one of the largest antique fairs in the entire country twice a year — once in the spring and once in the fall. If your trip aligns with one of these, prepare yourself. The fair transforms the surrounding countryside into a sprawling wonderland of vintage finds, folk art, handmade goods, and objects you never knew you needed until you saw them. Junk Gypsy alone could take an afternoon.
But even outside fair season, Round Top charms the socks off everyone I’ve taken there. Royers Round Top Café serves the kind of food that makes you want to sit down and stay. There’s a vibrant arts community, a lavender farm worth seeking out, and the kind of unhurried energy that reminds you what a small town is supposed to feel like. For the group member who is a decorator, a vintage lover, or just someone with an excellent eye, Round Top is dangerous. I mean that as a compliment.
The area also has unique lodging worth knowing about. The Flophouze Shipping Container Hotel is exactly what it sounds like and is one of those places that photographs beautifully and delivers on the experience. For a group trip, it’s a great conversation starter and a genuinely fun stay.
A BBQ Detour Worth Every Calorie
Since Round Top sits in Fayette County and this area holds a very specific place in my heart from my years living in and around this part of Texas, I have to tell you about Giddings Meat Market in Giddings. If you’re routing through this part of the state, please stop here. This is old-school, open-pit Texas BBQ the way it was always meant to be, no frills, no line around the block, no national press attention. Just exceptional meat cooked right, the way it’s been done in this town for generations. I lived in Giddings for a stretch, and this place was in regular rotation.
Now, I know you’ve heard about Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, and yes, it’s worth it, and yes, you should go if you can get there early enough on a Saturday morning before they sell out. But if Snow’s has a line that wraps around the building (which it often does), Giddings Meat Market is my personal answer. Same spirit, same Central Texas open-pit tradition, and nobody’s blocking the sidewalk to get in. This is the kind of hidden gem that makes a road trip feel like yours — not a highlight on someone else’s influencer itinerary.
San Antonio
History, the River Walk, and a Margarita with Your Name on It
Every Central Texas girlfriends trip deserves at least one big-city night, and San Antonio delivers that with more soul and history than almost any city in Texas. This is a place that knows what it is deeply rooted, proud of its story, and incredibly good at feeding and entertaining visitors.
The River Walk is one of those things that earns its reputation. Walk it at dusk when the lights are coming on, find a table on the water, and stay for dinner and a round of margaritas. It’s a ritual, and it never gets old. From the River Walk, you’re in easy walking distance of La Villita Historic Village for shopping, the Tower of the Americas for views, and the Briscoe Western Art Museum if your group is in the mood for something cultural.
The Alamo is right there too, and if you haven’t been in a while or if someone in your group has never been, then it’s time go. I want to give you a heads up, though: the Alamo is currently undergoing major restoration work on its roof and is expected to be closed through 2027. The grounds and some exhibits will remain accessible, but if a full interior visit is on your must-do list, check the current status before you plan around it. The exterior is still iconic and worth seeing regardless.
For the night you want to feel genuinely pampered, La Cantera Resort & Spa is the answer. It sits above the Hill Country with sweeping views, a beautiful pool situation, spa services, and the kind of atmosphere that makes everyone in your group feel like they made an excellent life decision by coming on this trip. If you’re going to splurge one night, this is the night.
Don’t miss the Pearl District while you’re in San Antonio. It’s built around a converted brewery and has become one of the best collections of James Beard-recognized restaurants, boutique shops, and weekend farmers markets in the entire state. Saturday morning at the Pearl, coffee in hand, is a very good way to start a day.
More Central Texas Stops That Belong on Your List
Wimberley is the Hill Country’s artist town, tucked along Cypress Creek about 45 minutes southwest of Austin. Market Days happens the first Saturday of each month and draws makers, artists, and vendors from across the region. Blue Hole Regional Park is a stunning natural swimming spot that your group will want to linger at all afternoon. If you’ve never been to Wimberley, this is the trip to fix that.
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area near Fredericksburg is a massive pink granite dome that you hike to the top of and are rewarded with panoramic Hill Country views that feel completely earned. It’s not a difficult hike, but is really just a sustained climb and it’s the kind of thing that makes you feel capable and alive. Bring water, wear comfortable shoes, and go earlier in the day to beat the heat.
Boerne (pronounced ‘Bernie,’ for the uninitiated) is a German heritage town that often gets overlooked because Fredericksburg gets all the attention. That’s your advantage. Main Street in Boerne has wonderful boutique shopping, a beautiful creek walk along the Cibolo, and a dining scene that is genuinely impressive for a town of its size. The Kendall Inn is a lovely stay if you want something a little quieter than Fredericksburg. And someone in your group is going to end up in that cinnamon roll bakery whether you plan for it or not, so just put it on the itinerary now.
Wimberley’s neighbor, Dripping Springs, and the whole corridor along RR 12 is worth taking slowly on a scenic drive if you have an afternoon to spare. The Hill Country light through the live oaks in late afternoon is something you don’t forget.
How to Plan Your Central Texas Girlfriends Trip: A Few Hard-Won Tips
Best time to go: Spring (March through early May) is my personal favorite — the wildflowers are out, the weather is mild, and the Hill Country is at its most beautiful. Fall (October through November) is equally magical, with wine harvest events, Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg, and cooler temperatures that make outdoor time genuinely comfortable. Summer is hot, but the rivers make it work, and the crowds are thinner on weekdays.
How long to plan: A long weekend (Thursday evening through Sunday) will hit the highlights if you’re focused. Five nights is the dream with enough time to breathe, linger over a winery visit, take a slow morning, and still feel like you saw everything you wanted to see.
Getting there: From OKC, you’re looking at 6.5 to 7 hours to Fredericksburg. Waco or Georgetown make a good halfway stop for fuel and food. If you’re flying, Austin-Bergstrom and San Antonio International both work well — grab a rental car and you’re set.
Group lodging: Fredericksburg alone has over 1,500 Airbnb and guesthouse rentals. Renting a house for the group keeps everyone together and often costs less per person than multiple hotel rooms. There is nothing better than a shared porch, a bottle of Hill Country wine, and your best girlfriends at the end of a full day.
Book ahead: Fredericksburg weekends fill up fast, sometimes 2 to 3 months out, especially in fall. If you’re targeting Oktoberfest or the Fredericksburg Food & Wine Fest, start planning earlier than you think you need to.
What to pack: Comfortable walking shoes for cobblestone Main Streets. Layers, even summer mornings in the Hill Country have a chill before 10 a.m. An extra bag for wine, antiques, and all the things you told yourself you weren’t going to buy.
Need help pulling it all together? As a certified travel advisor, I love helping women plan trips like this one — from logistics and lodging to itinerary flow and hidden gems that don’t make it onto most lists. Drop me an email at [email protected] and let’s start planning your Central Texas girlfriends getaway.
The Road Always Leads Back to Texas
I’ve traveled a lot of places, and I’ll keep traveling. But there is something about pointing south from Oklahoma, watching the landscape change, knowing that somewhere in that direction there are people who love me and a Hill Country landscape that will slow me down and fill me back up that never stops feeling like a gift.
Central Texas isn’t just a collection of destinations. For me, it’s a piece of my story. My Aggie years, my early adulthood, the friendships that have lasted decades, the tables where the best conversations happened. Sharing it with the girlfriends who make life richer is one of the things I look forward to most.
If you’ve been putting off the group trip, waiting for the perfect window, the right combination of schedules, the moment when everything lines up, here’s my advice: stop waiting. Start the group text. Pick the dates. Pick a couple of places from this list and leave some room to wander. The Hill Country will handle the rest.
Now, who’s in?