DALLAS TEXAS – WHAT TO SEE AND DO IN DFW

Whether you visit Dallas for a convention, meeting or a vacation, you'll find new hotels, restaurants, attractions and entertainment.

Sculpture and waterfall. Dallas Museum of Art. Dallas.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

“Dallas is in the midst of an urban renaissance,” says Phillip Jones, President and CEO of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau. More than $14 billion dollars of new developments will supplement the existing accommodations, restaurants, malls, museums convention center and nightlife over the next four to five years.

Arts District

“Dallas has the largest urban arts district in the U.S.A.,” explains Jones. Located in downtown Dallas, it encompasses 13 cultural institutions in 19 city blocks.

Dallas Museum of Art boasts 23,000 works of art. Nasher Sculpture Center displays, researches and preserves modern sculptures. Visitors have free admission to the Crow Collection of Asian Art. All of these art galleries are within walking distance of each other and the theaters in the Dallas Arts District.

Dallas entertainment

When the $338–million Dallas Center for the Performing Arts opens in October 2009, it will comprise the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, Dee and Charles Wyly Theater, Annette Strauss Artist Square, City Performance Hall and Performance Park.

John F. Kennedy Memorial, where JFK was assassinated in 1963, and former Texas School Book Depository. Dealey Plaza. Dallas.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

The best way to for visitors to orient themselves to the new cultural venues in Dallas is on the free Arts District Stroll on Saturday mornings. They'll learn that The Dallas Symphony Orchestra performs at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. The Texas Ballet Theater is the one of the largest performing professional dance companies in the state. And Grammy-winning Norah Jones is a grad of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts, which reopened after a $55-million renovation.

Dallas history

In the West End, the John F. Kennedy Memorial marks the site where JFK was assassinated in 1963. The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, in the former Texas School Book Depository, houses JFK memorabilia.

Dallas architecture is a study in contrasts, from mirror-windowed skyscrapers and arts venues designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects to historic buildings in Dallas Heritage Village.

Located south of downtown Dallas, in Old City Park, the 13-acre living history museum depicts life in Dallas and North Central Texas from 1840 to 1910. Buildings include a saloon, general store, print shop, bank, church, school, farmstead, log homes and the George House, a Queen-Anne-style home, built in 1900.

The George House. Dallas Heritage Village at Old City Park. Dallas.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

Trinity River

According to Phillip Jones, the Trinity River area is undergoing an “amazing transformation.” Trinity River is the site where, in 1839, pioneer John Neely Bryan decided to settle and establish the city of Dallas.

Two signature bridges, designed by world-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, are planned, along with two lakes (separated by a two-mile long island) and a river. The Great Trinity Forest, which is larger than New York City's Central Park, will have hiking and biking trails. With the height of a 40-story building and a 1,200-foot cable stay bridge span, the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, the first of the two Trinity River suspension bridges, will become an international icon for Dallas. The $2 billion Trinity River Corridor Project will be a natural oasis in the heart of Dallas when completed in 2014.

Trinity River Audubon Center is located just eight minutes from downtown Dallas. The 120-acre urban nature center offers birdwatching, school field trips, nature walks and other ecotourism activities.

Dallas shopping

NorthPark Center draws crowds with more than 235 stores and restaurants, an art collection and a garden. Galleria Dallas also has more than 200 stores, as well as an indoor ice skating rink.

Neiman Marcus, which has its flagship store in downtown Dallas, is where Sarah Palin bought her wardrobe after the Republican Party selected her for their vice-presidential candidate in 2008.

Other places to shop in Dallas include Barney's (couture fashions), Highland Park Village (high-end boutiques), the Bishop Arts District (vintage clothing and upscale boutiques), West Village (specialty shops) and Mockingbird Station (trendy clothing and one-of-a-kind fashion stores).

Shoppers can enjoy tax-free shopping in Dallas. To receive their refunds of Texas sales tax, they must show their passports, original receipts from participating stores and flight information within 30 days of leaving the USA.

Dallas Convention Center and US flags. Dallas, Texas.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

Dallas hotels

Dallas has many four- and five-star hotels, including The Joule, Dallas, located in the Main Street District, Hilton Anatole, located in the Business Corridor, The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, located in the Uptown District, and the Hyatt Regency, located in the Dallas Convention Center District.

New Dallas hotels will include the W Dallas Victory Hotel, the Valencia Hotel in Park Lane, opposite NorthPark Center and Starwood Hotels aloft Downtown Dallas, near the Dallas Convention Center. Several Dallas hotels are newly renovated: The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Stoneleigh Hotel & Spa, Sheraton Dallas and Renaissance Dallas.

A new 1,000-room hotel will be attached to the Dallas Convention Center by 2012. DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) connects the Dallas Convention Center to nearly 4,000 hotel rooms.

Texas longhorn. Stockyards National Historic District. Dallas-Fort Worth.

Dallas transportation

Forty-five miles of new light rail lines will include expansions to Fair Park and the Cotton Bowl region. Dallas Love Field Airport will open a DART station in December 2010. DFW International Airport will have a DART station by December 2013. DART will double in size with a $3.3 billion expansion.

The TRE (Trinity Rail Express) brings visitors from downtown Dallas to downtown Fort Worth, Texas, in only 30 minutes. It's the ideal way to visit DFW attractions like The Stockyards National Historic District and Billy Bob's Texas, the largest honky-tonk in the world.

Reunion Tower. Dallas, Texas.

Dallas restaurants

The population of Dallas is 4.2 million. Because residents are multicultural, ethnic restaurants, from Afghani and Brazilian to Thai and Turkish, add diversity to the always-popular steak and barbecue restaurants.

Visitors can also splurge on upscale dining at restaurants like The French Room at The Adolphus, Fearing's in the Ritz-Carlton, Dallas, and the Stephan Pyles restaurant at Museum Tower in the Dallas Arts District.

The new $3 billion Victory Park development, in northwest Dallas, will also boast new restaurants, including N9NE Steakhouse, Medina Oven & Bar and Luna de Noche. The Screen Door, Tei An, Dali, Jorge's & Fedora restaurants highlight the One Arts Plaza development on the east side of the Dallas Arts District. Joule Hotel features a Charlie Palmer restaurant in downtown Dallas.

When renovations are completed, Wolfgang Puck will open a fine-dining restaurant on top of the 50-story Reunion Tower, at the Hyatt Regency Dallas.

Woodall Rogers Park

A $100 million project will build a deck over the Woodall Rodgers Freeway, between Pearl Street and St. Paul Street. The 5.2-acre area will connect downtown Dallas with uptown and the Dallas Arts District.

Woodall Rodgers Park will include an outdoor stage, with lawn seating for 3,300 people, a dog park, a kids' playground and a glass water sculpture.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau: www.visitdallas.com

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