Dallas to Galveston drive: Best stops, distance & time

The best road trip stops on the Dallas to Galveston drive are Corsicana TX, Huntsville TX and Houston. The distance from Dallas to Galveston is 292 miles, with a 4h10m driving time.

Planning a Dallas to Galveston road trip itinerary

The Dallas to Galveston drive shows off two different sides of Texas – slick city and beach breaks.

Dallas has plenty of high quality cultural attractions. These include the Nasher Scupture Center, Pioneer Square and the Perot Museum of Science and Nature.

But for many visitors, the main reason to visit Dallas is the JFK assassination. Yes, you can go up to the Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald supposedly took his shot from.

Top Dallas experiences include a JFK Assassination and Museum tour, the GeO-Deck at Reunion Tower and a self-guided scavenger hunt.

Top Dallas accommodation choices include the plush Hyatt Regency downtown and the charismatically luxurious Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek.

How to do the JFK sites in Dallas

The best way to combine the JFK sites in Dallas is a special themed tour. This takes in the JFK Memorial, Dealey Plaza and the Grassy Knoll before heading to Lee Harvey Oswald’s rooming house. It finishes in the Sixth Floor Museum of the Texas Book Depository. On the way, expert guides take you through the assassination facts and theories. Find out more here.

Galveston TX has a dual personality. On one hand, it is a serious port city, in particular serving the oil industry. On the other hand, it is a beach city, crammed with holiday-friendly attractions such as the Moody Gardens amusement park.

On the museum front, there’s the Wild West history-focused Bryan Museum, the pirate-centric Legends of the Gulf Coast Museum and the Moody Mansion.

Top things to do in Galveston include ghostly history tours, dolphin-watching cruises and e-bike adventure tours. There are also haunted pub crawls, thrill rides on a jet boat and Segway tours.

Dallas to Galveston distance and driving time

By car, the distance from Dallas to Galveston is 292 miles. That makes for a driving time of around four hours and 10 minutes. The quickest route is largely along the I-45.

The best stops to add to a Dallas to Galveston road trip itinerary are Corsicana TX, Huntsville TX and Houston.

Dallas to Galveston road trip attractions: Corsicana TX

The derrick in Petroleum Park, Corsicana, marks the birthplace of the oil industry in Texas. That’s largely just a photo stop, but visitors to Corsicana can also admire the heritage buildings at Pioneer Village or taste wines at the Angelita Vineyard..

Other options while in town include learning about the Civil War in the Pearce Museum and swimming in Lake Halbert.

Best stops between Dallas and Galveston: Huntsville TX

On the edge of both the Sam Houston National Forest and Huntsville State Park, Huntsville also has a couple of cultural attractions worth considering.

This is where Sam Houston, first president of the Republic of Texas, died. The Sam Houston Memorial Museum on the family homestead tells his story and, with it, that of Texas.

The other key attraction in Huntsville is the Texas Prison Museum, which looks at prison life and the criminal justice system.

Things to do on the Dallas to Galveston drive: Houston

The top Houston attraction is unquestionably the NASA Space Center, which takes you behind the scenes of the Johnson Space Center. This includes the Mission Briefing Center, and a vast array of high tech exhibitions.

Other attractions include the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Children’s Museum,

For more Houston experiences, try hip hop party bike tours, foodie walks in the Montrose neighbourhood and quirky tours of Houston’s tunnel system.