Big sky, red canyons and the hometown of Buddy Holly

Roswell: Guided UFO Incident Tour

Roswell is roughly three hours west of Lubbock across the Llano Estacado — an easy, classic road trip. This two-hour guided tour walks you through what happened in the summer of 1947, the places tied to the story and the theories that followed, so you get far more out of the town than a quick photo with an alien statue.

• The timeline of the famous 1947 “flying saucer” story
• Sites connected to the incident around Roswell
• What ufologists and sceptics have argued since

Fort Worth: Stockyards History Tour Pub Crawl

Most international visitors reach the South Plains through Dallas/Fort Worth, and the Stockyards are the perfect prelude: this is where the cattle trails ended. A local historian leads you between old saloons on Exchange Avenue, mixing cattle-drive history, outlaws and cowboy culture with cold drinks — the same ranching story you will meet again at Lubbock’s National Ranching Heritage Center.

• Hidden history of the cattle drives and cowtown saloons
• Several classic Stockyards bars with an expert guide
• Top-rated by guests (4.9/5)

Fort Worth: Guided Tour from Dallas or Fort Worth

The best-reviewed way to see “Cowtown” without driving in DFW traffic. The tour takes you to the Fort Worth Stockyards and the Cattle Drive visitor centre, with a guide explaining how the cattle trade built the city — a good warm-up before the long drive west to Lubbock and the ranching country of the Llano Estacado.

• The historic Stockyards and the longhorn cattle drive
• Cowboy history of “Hell’s Half Acre”
• Transport from Dallas or Fort Worth included

Terlingua: Rio Grande Full-Day Guided Raft, Kayak or Canoe Trip

If Palo Duro Canyon gives you a taste for West Texas canyons, Big Bend is the grand finale. It is a long drive (roughly six to seven hours south of Lubbock), so treat it as a multi-day extension: this perfectly rated full-day river trip takes you through the canyons of the Rio Grande, with the United States on one bank and Mexico on the other.

• Float between Texas and Mexico on the Rio Grande
• Canyons of the Big Bend region
• Raft, canoe or kayak depending on water levels

Santa Fe: Guided Historic Downtown Walking Tour

US-84 runs almost straight from Lubbock to Santa Fe, which makes the New Mexico capital (around five and a half hours away) the classic extension of a South Plains trip. This two-hour walk with a museum-trained docent unpacks four centuries of Pueblo, Spanish, Mexican and American history in the adobe streets around the Plaza.

• 400 years of history around the Santa Fe Plaza
• Pueblo-style adobe architecture explained
• Led by a museum-trained docent

From San Antonio: Hill Country Wine Tour to Fredericksburg

Here is a secret of Texas wine: a large share of the grapes poured in the Hill Country are grown up on the High Plains around Lubbock. If your Texas trip also takes in San Antonio, this perfectly rated day trip lets you taste the other half of that story in Fredericksburg, with two winery stops and time to explore the historic town.

• Tastings at two Hill Country wineries
• Free time in German-founded Fredericksburg
• Transport from San Antonio included

Albuquerque: Sunrise Hot Air Balloon Flight with Toast

Albuquerque sits on Route 66 roughly four and a half hours west of Amarillo, and it is the hot-air-balloon capital of the United States. After driving the Mother Road across the Texas Panhandle, this sunrise flight is a spectacular reward: calm dawn air, the Rio Grande valley below and the Sandia Mountains glowing in the first light.

• Sunrise flight with views of the Sandia Mountains
• Celebratory toast and light snacks after landing
• Perfect 5/5 guest rating

Dallas: Cowboys Stadium or The Star in Frisco Tour with Transport

Coming to Texas for Texas Tech football? Double down on the state’s great obsession with a tour of the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington or their headquarters at The Star in Frisco. Transport from Dallas is included, which makes it an easy add-on before or after your flight to Lubbock.

• Choose AT&T Stadium or The Star in Frisco
• Behind-the-scenes areas of an NFL giant
• Round-trip transport from Dallas

Buddy Holly Center

The rock ’n’ roll pioneer’s hometown museum, his famous glasses and the West Texas Walk of Fame.

Lubbock’s tribute to its most famous son, Buddy Holly, in a restored 1920s railway depot — with his trademark glasses, Crickets memorabilia, a fine-art gallery and the Buddy Holly statue and West Texas Walk of Fame across the street.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

The second-largest canyon in the United States, two hours north of Lubbock.

A vast red-rock canyon cut into the edge of the Llano Estacado south of Amarillo — around 120 miles long and up to about 800 feet deep — with the Lighthouse hoodoo, horseback rides, camping and the summer TEXAS outdoor musical.

National Ranching Heritage Center

Fifty-plus historic ranch buildings brought together on the Texas Tech campus.

A superb open-air museum of ranch life: more than 50 authentic structures — dugouts, adobe, bunkhouses, windmills and a railway depot — moved from across Texas and restored, plus galleries of saddles, art and cattle-country history.

Texas Tech University

Spanish Renaissance towers, a huge public-art collection and Red Raider game days.

Lubbock’s great institution: a large campus of Spanish-style architecture with a celebrated public-art collection, the Will Rogers statue, the Carol of Lights in December and Red Raider football at Jones AT&T Stadium.

High Plains Wine Country

Where most of Texas’ wine grapes grow — with tasting rooms in and around Lubbock.

The Texas High Plains AVA around Lubbock grows the large majority of the state’s wine grapes, thanks to high elevation, hot days and cool nights. Visit pioneering wineries south of town and walkable tasting rooms in the Depot District.

Caprock Canyons State Park

Red canyons, a free-roaming Texas State Bison Herd and a 64-mile rail trail.

Wild, uncrowded canyon country on the eastern Caprock escarpment near Quitaque, home to the official Texas State Bison Herd — descendants of Charles Goodnight’s herd — plus hiking, Lake Theo and the Caprock Canyons Trailway.