Fort Worth to Galveston drive: Best stops, distance & time

Planning a Fort Worth to Galveston road trip itinerary

The Fort Worth to Galveston drive shows off two different sides of Texas – cowboys and beach breaks.

Fort Worth fully embraces its status as a cow town, with the Stockyards district full of cowboy heritage. And cowgirl heritage, as the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame shows off.

It’s also a place that knows how to have a shamelessly good time, with Billy Bob’s Texas Honky Tonk famously big on the yee-has and line dancing.

Other good Fort Worth experiences include a Stockyards food tour, electric bike BBQ tours, historic pub crawls and ghost tours

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.     

Fort Worth to Galveston distance and driving time

By car, the distance from Fort Worth to Galveston is 312 miles. That makes for a driving time of around four hours and 46 minutes. The quickest route is largely along the I-45.

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

Fort Worth 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 Fort Worth 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 Fort Worth 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.

A tall ship in Galveston Harbour, Texas.
A tall ship in Galveston Harbour, Texas. Photo by drtechfuchs/ Pixabay.

More Fort Worth road trips

Abilene to Fort Worth | Fort Worth to Albuquerque | Fort Worth to Amarillo | Fort Worth to Austin | Fort Worth to El Paso | Houston to Fort Worth | Fort Worth to San Antonio.

More Galveston road trips

Austin to Galveston | Dallas to Galveston | El Paso to Galveston | New Orleans to Galveston | San Antonio to Galveston.