Hill Country Travel Blog
Chasing Waterfalls — Where to Find the Best Natural Swimming Holes in the Hill Country
When summer blazes across Texas, there's no better way to cool off than diving into one of the Hill Country’s sparkling swimming holes. These aren’t your average pools—think limestone cliffs, waterfalls, spring-fed rivers, and deep-blue grottos hidden in wild, natural settings. If you’re craving a true Texas adventure, grab your swimsuit and hit the road—here are some of the most magical swimming spots the Hill Country has to offer.
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Where to Ride: The Best Horse-Friendly Trails and Parks
It’s not just the scenery—it’s the spirit. The Hill Country is where the Old West lingers in the air and the culture of the cowboy is still alive. Riding a horse through these trails isn’t just recreation—it’s participation in a living tradition. You’re following in the hoofprints of pioneers, ranchers, and settlers who tamed this land not by taming it at all, but by respecting it.
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Biker Rallies of Texas
Supporting and boosting local businesses and events is at the very heart of what we do at Backroads Reservations! The good folks at Biker Rallies of Texas are the devoted organizers of the most popular motorcycle rallies in the Hill Country. With major rallies in the spring and fall, they work nonstop to assure safety, organization, great memories, and a good time is had by all attending! They’ve got their start in 2000, when they arranged rallies in Liberty County and Kerrville, Texas. Two years later, they found their permanent home in Bandera. Let’s take a look at the two major events they currently host.
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Highlights of the Haunted Hill Country
No matter what you may think of the world of the supernatural, there are a lot of places in the Hill Country that have carried a reputation of unusual sights, sounds, and just plain shivery feelings for over 150 years in the region. Let’s take a brief tour of places known for the paranormal here.
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Boerne’s Hill Country Mile
In the hustle of modern American life, it’s easy to lose sight of an important cultural fact: it’s difficult to get everything done on your daily to-do list without a car. Too many towns have been designed with outwardly-expanding sectors of commerce that put one business or attraction miles away from another. The larger the size of the town, the more true this adage seems to be.
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A Genuine Wild West Gunfight: The Bandera Cattle Company Gunfighters
When bad hombres ride into town, who were the good guys who stepped up and protected the innocent town folk? When we turn our imaginations back to the Wild West chapter of American history, one of the first images we often conjure up from that rough-and-tumble and sometimes lawless time is the good guy vs. bad guy gunfight! The brief but intense skirmishes that occasionally resulted are compelling tidbits of history; they present plenty of drama and conflict, and were often influential turning points in the history of the region.
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The Hill Country is Wine Country!
In the past two decades or so, the wine industry in the Hill Country has exploded with growth. That’s easy to see, with new wineries opening at a rapid pace...but we, and some of our readers, have questions. How are productive wine regions discovered? Are there official wine producing areas, and if so, how are they designated as such? This article will dig a little deeper into these questions and more.
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A Handy Hill Country Q & A
At Backroads Reservations, we’re especially aware that the Texas Hill Country is reliant in a big way on tourism. We’re proud to welcome people here, and to introduce them to our own little corner of heaven. With that said, we’re also aware that everyone can’t be from here; we have a tongue-in-cheeksaying that “I’m not from Texas, but I got here as fast as I could.”
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