Plano TX to Austin road trip: Best stops, distance & drive time
The distance from Plano TX to Austin by car is 215 miles, with a 3h12m driving time. The best road trip stops on the Plano to Austin drive are Dallas, Waco TX and Kissing Tree Vineyards.
Planning a Plano to Austin road trip itinerary
The drive from Plano to Austin takes you from a city in the northern part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to the capital of Texas.
Highlights of Plano TX include downtown food tours and the Heritage Farmstead Museum.
Austin is renowned for its live music scene, although it has plenty of more conventional attractions too. These include Austin Zoo, the Museum of Ice Cream and the Bullock Texas State History Museum.
Top Austin experiences include ebike tours taking in the city highlights, haunted pub crawl walks and segway tours.
You can also try highly-rated downtown food tours, half day wine shuttles in the Hill Country, brewery-hopping beer tours and sightseeing on a boat cruise.
Plano to Austin distance and driving time
By car, the distance from Plano to Austin is 215 miles. That makes for a driving time of around three hours and 12 minutes.
The quickest route is usually down the US-75 then the I-35. The best stops on a Plano TX to Austin road trip itinerary are Dallas, Waco TX and Kissing Tree Vineyards.
Plano TX to Austin drive: Dallas
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.
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.
Things to do on the Plano TX to Austin drive: Waco TX
To the west of the I-35, the Waco Mammoth National Monument is home to the biggest ice age Columbian mammoth fossil find anywhere in the world. The skeletons of 16 mammoths – a nursery herd – were found her in an archaeological dig that started in 1978.
Guided tours of the site take place every 30 minutes – just rock up and join the next departure.
The Brazos River runs through Waco, and the best way to see the city is on a morning or sunset boat tour. The cruises depart from next to McLane Stadium, and take in several city attractions, including Baylor University, the enormous Waco Suspension Bridge and Cameron Park. The latter is the best place in Waco for spotting the local wildlife.
Book your Waco boat tour, or search for other Waco experiences.
Best stops on a Plano TX to Austin road trip: Kissing Tree Vineyards
A short detour off the I-35 between Waco and Temple, Kissing Tree Vineyards in Eddy is a boutique winery with an emphasis on hand-crafting its wines. The tasting room is open every day except Sundays.
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