Dallas-Fort Worth

Established in 1979, the Cattle Raisers Museum is dedicated to telling the story of the cowboy and cattle ranching industry of the southwest. Talking mannequins, interactive exhibits, authentic artefacts, and theatre presentations are used to bring alive the legends and lore of the Wild West, from Texas Rangers to rustlers.The exhibitions cover four broad eras of cattle herding: the Open Range trail from 1850 to 1890, the New Horizons trail from 1890 to 1940, the Vision trail from 1940 to 2000, and the Digital trail, from 2000 to the present day. Several exhibits are named after those who donated to them or played an important role in cattle herding, such as the Ken Spain Saddle Collection, the Joe Russel Spur Collection and the Leonard Stiles Branding Iron Collection, the largest collection of branding irons in the world.

Address : Located within the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, 1600 Gendy Street, Fort Worth

E-mail : [email protected]

Website : www.cattleraisersmuseum.org

Telephone : +817 332 8551

Opening times : Daily 10am-5pm.

Admission : $15 adults, $12 children, other concessions available.

The city of Dallas' history is preserved in a living museum nestled in 13 wooded acres just south of downtown, known as Old City Park.This historical village consists of 38 buildings and houses, including a working farm, elegant Victorian homes, a school, church, general store, saloon, and a bank that is alleged to have been robbed by Bonnie and Clyde, all dating from between 1840 and 1910. All the structures in this recreated turn-of-the-century village have been collected from various locations in and around Dallas, and restored and re-assembled here.Visitors are encouraged to make themselves at home in the village and interact with the houses, shops and other buildings. Visitors are also welcome to bring picnic lunches along and enjoy them on the park's lawns. The museum hosts several seasonal and year-round programs, such as the Plow, Plant and Shear program that takes visitors through the farming process.

Address : 1515 South Harwood Street, Dallas

E-mail : [email protected]

Website : www.dallasheritagevillage.org

Telephone : +214 421 5141

Opening times : Tuesday - Saturday 10am-4pm, Sunday 12pm-4pm, closed Monday.

Admission : $9 adults, $5 children, other concessions available.

The Dallas Holocaust Museum, Centre for Education and Tolerance, is a non-profit organisation dedicated to memorialising the Holocaust and its victims. It provides guided tours for groups, audio tours for individuals, public lectures, and exhibits.The current exhibitions at the museum's temporary location focus on the role of the bystander in the Holocaust. It portrays in detail three different bystander's behaviour, all on the same day during World War II. In this way, the exhibition brings to light both the courage and the indifference displayed in response to the Holocaust. The museum also contains archives and a library, and a Garden of Remembrance and Tolerance designed by a local boy scout.Originally situated in the Jewish Community Center, the museum has relocated to a larger premises in the centre of Dallas' historical district, adjacent to the Sixth Floor Museum, due to lack of space and having to turn away thousands of visitors each year. But even this is a temporary measure as an even larger museum is planned, which will be a powerfully symbolic structure to support its profound educational message.

Address : 211 N. Record Street, Suite 100

E-mail : [email protected]

Website : www.dallasholocaustmuseum.org

Telephone : +214 741 7500

Opening times : Monday - Friday 9.30am-5pm, Saturday - Sunday 11am-5pm.

Admission : $10 adults, $8 children, other concessions available.

Fort Worth is the place to experience the romance of the American Wild West, and the Stockyards National Historic District is the ideal starting point. The district encompasses 15 blocks packed full of exciting 'cowtown' attractions, from rodeos to cattle drives, country music shows, shops selling genuine cowboy gear, saloons, and Texan diners.The Stockyard District is also the venue for several annual festivals and western events and home to the world-famous Billy Bob's Honky Tonk, a giant (three acre) country music club comprising an indoor rodeo, a massive dance floor, many bar counters, cafes and restaurants, and a general store. Further attractions in the district include the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Jersey Lilly Old-time Photo Parlour, the Fort Worth Stockyards Stables, and the Stockyards Museum. The area also offers plenty of barbecue restaurants and steakhouses.

Address : Intersection of Main Street and East Exchange Avenue, Fort Worth

E-mail : [email protected]

Website : www.fortworthstockyards.org

Telephone : (817) 624 4741

Opening times : Monday - Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 11am-5pm

Fort Worth's Zoo started off quite humbly in 1909 with one lion, two bear cubs, an alligator, a coyote, a peacock, and a few rabbits. Since then the zoo has grown and is now ranked as one of the top five in the United States, home to more than 5,000 animals living in natural habitat settings like Raptor Canyon, the Koala Outback, and Asian Falls.A recently opened new eight-acre section called Texas Wild takes visitors on a journey through the state to see indigenous animals like swift foxes, ocelots and white-tailed deer. This section includes a mock-up of a Texas town with a restaurant, store, saloon, and jailhouse. Another popular diversion here is the chance to try managing a computer-simulated ranch.Even more recently, a Parrot Paradise, Great Barrier Reef display, Penguins exhibition and a Museum of Living Art (MOLA) have been opened. In addition to wildlife focused attractions, there are further entertainments available, such as a rock-climbing tower, a movie theatre, a carousel, a small express train, a weather theatre, and a shooting gallery.

Address : 1989 Colonial Parkway, Fort Worth

E-mail : [email protected]

Website : www.fortworthzoo.org

Telephone : (817) 759 7555

Opening times : Daily 10am-5pm

Admission : $14 adults, $10 children.

Fort Worth's Modern Art Museum is second only in size to its counterpart in New York, and is the oldest art museum in Texas, having been chartered in 1892. It was initially conceptualised by a group of 25 women keen to make the town more than just a centre for cows and horses. The collection officially began in 1904 with the group's acquisition of George Innes' Approaching Storm. Five years later the museum had grown enough to host its first exhibition of 45 paintings. From there the museum continued to grow by leaps and bounds and became the impressive collection that it is today.The museum's permanent collection of modern and contemporary paintings includes works by Picasso, Andy Warhol, Rauschenberg and Pollock, and is particularly strong on works in the Pop and Minimalist genres, as well as German art from the 1970's and 1980's. The museum also hosts visiting exhibitions and features a large sculpture collection. Altogether, the permanent collections on display amount to 3,000 works.The museum is housed in an elegant building, consisting of five long flat-roofed pavilions atop a 1.5-acre pond, designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando and opened to the public in 2002. The new space boast 53,000 square feet of gallery space and has a state-of-the-art auditorium attached to it. Performances and shows are regularly hosted in the auditorium.

Address : 3200 Darnell Street

Website : www.themodern.org

Telephone : (817) 738 9215

Opening times : Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday to Sunday 10am-5pm, Friday 10am-8pm, closed Monday.

Admission : $16 adults, free for children, other concessions apply.

The first of the Six Flags theme parks, Six Flags Over Texas has been a consistently popular family attraction for over 50 years. Situated in the small town of Arlington, midway between Dallas and Fort Worth, the amusement park is an ideal family day-trip destination. The park offers something for everyone, from 'thrill rides' (including the award-winning Texas Giant), to kids rides, to attractions and activities that can be enjoyed by the entire family at once.Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, the largest water park in north Texas, is just across the road from the main Six Flags park and provides many water-based rides, pools and other water-based fun for the whole family. Six Flags Over Texas also stages events and festivals throughout the year - such as Spring Break Out, and Fright Fest (held over Halloween). With over a million annual visitors, Six Flags Over Texas has earned its reputation as one of the premier theme parks in America, and visitors to Fort Worth - and especially those travelling with kids in tow - would be ill-advised to miss it.

Address : 2201 Road To Six Flags, Arlington

Website : www.sixflags.com/overTexas/index.aspx

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy is commemorated in the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza where the 1963 shooting took place. Most chilling of the exhibits is the window area in the former Texas School Book Depository building from where sniper Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired the fatal shots at the 35th President's motorcade.The sixth floor of the museum also documents Kennedy's life and legacy, featuring more than 20,000 artefacts and a large amount of archival material, recreating the socila and political climate of 1963 and making the assasination a reality to those who didn't live through it. The seventh floor hosts temporary exhibits related to the shooting in some way, such as A Photographer's Story: Bob Jackson and the Kennedy Assasination, and Dallas Law Enforcement: Voices from History.A granite marker at the corner of Houston and Main Streets outside shows where Kennedy was assassinated and a memorial stands in nearby John F. Kennedy Plaza. Visitors to the museum can also view the Zapruder film of the assassination.

Address : 411 Elm Street, Dealey Plaza, Dallas

Website : www.jfk.org

Telephone : +214 747 6660

Opening times : Monday 12am-6pm, Tuesday to Sunday 10am-6pm