Life in Central Texas
Around Temple
Train hard, live well. Lakes ten minutes out, hill country two hours down the road, and everything in between.
Home base
Temple & Belton
Downtown Temple
A revitalizing historic core around the Santa Fe Depot — coffee shops, breweries, live music at the Hawn & O'Brien venues, First Friday events, and the Railroad & Heritage Museum in the 1911 depot.
Discover Temple →
Belton Lake
12,000 acres of Corps of Engineers water — boating, wakeboarding, swimming beaches at Temple Lake Park, and striper fishing. BLORA on the north shore adds beaches and an off-road area.
Lake info →
Stillhouse Hollow Lake
The quieter twin — clear water prized by anglers and paddlers, with Dana Peak Park's swim coves and trails on its north shore.
Lake info →
Belton
The 1884 Bell County Courthouse anchors a classic Texas square — Schoepf's BBQ, Nolan Creek tubing in summer, the Bell County Museum, and July's rodeo and PRCA parade.
City of Belton →
Salado
A tiny arts village on Salado Creek: galleries, the Stagecoach Inn, wine tasting rooms, and the Christmas Stroll — the easy date-night trip.
Visit Salado →
Railroad & Heritage Museum
Temple exists because of the railroad — the museum in the restored Santa Fe depot tells that story with rolling stock outside and Amtrak's Texas Eagle still stopping at the platform.
Museum →Boots & trails
Hiking & Outdoors
Mother Neff State Park
Texas's original state park, on the Leon River — shady bottomland trails, the Tonkawa rock shelter, a CCC-era observation tower, and easy camping.
TPWD →Chalk Ridge Falls & Dana Peak
Chalk Ridge Falls Park below the Stillhouse dam hides waterfalls and a swinging bridge; across the lake, Dana Peak's ridgeline singletrack is the local trail-run and MTB standby.
Trail info →
Colorado Bend State Park
Gorman Falls — a 20-metre travertine cascade — plus wild cave tours and 35 miles of trail on the upper Colorado. The best day-hike within 90 minutes.
TPWD →
Pedernales Falls State Park
Tilted limestone steps where the Pedernales pours through polished rock — swimming holes downstream, mountain-bike loops, and superb night skies.
TPWD →
Enchanted Rock
The pink granite dome outside Fredericksburg — the Summit Trail at sunrise is a Texas rite of passage, and it's an International Dark Sky Park after dark. Reserve ahead.
TPWD →
Hamilton Pool Preserve
A collapsed grotto with a 15-metre waterfall curtain near Dripping Springs — the most photogenic swim in Texas. Reservations required.
Reservations →
Inks Lake State Park
Constant-level lake framed in pink gneiss — cliff-jumping at the Devil's Waterhole, kayak rentals, and some of the best lakeside camping in the Hill Country.
TPWD →
Jacob's Well & Blue Hole
An artesian spring dropping into a cave mouth, plus the cypress-shaded Blue Hole swimming park in the same little river town. Summer swims are by reservation.
Wimberley →
Lost Maples State Natural Area
The state's best fall color — a relict canyon of bigtooth maples that turns crimson late October to mid-November. Worth the drive exactly once a year, and everyone makes it.
TPWD →Worth the drive
Day Trips
Fredericksburg
German Hill Country: Main Street's biergartens and bakeries, 50+ wineries along US-290, peach stands in summer, and Oktoberfest & Christmas markets in season.
Visit Fredericksburg →
National Museum of the Pacific War
A world-class Smithsonian-affiliate campus in Admiral Nimitz's hometown — allow a full afternoon.
Museum →Dripping Springs
The “Gateway to the Hill Country” — Hamilton Pool, Jester King and a dense cluster of distilleries (Treaty Oak, Deep Eddy), Mercer Street honky-tonks, and Salt Lick BBQ in nearby Driftwood.
Visit Dripping Springs →
Texas Renaissance Festival
The nation's largest Renaissance festival — a 55-acre 16th-century kingdom, weekends October–November. Jousting, turkey legs, and every costume imaginable.
TexRenFest →
Waco
A national monument holding the nation's only recorded mammoth nursery herd, Cameron Park's river-bluff trails, the Dr Pepper Museum, and Baylor game days.
Waco Mammoth NM →
Magnolia Market at the Silos
Chip and Joanna's silo district — market, bakery, gardens, and food trucks. Visiting family will demand this one; plan accordingly.
Magnolia →
Inner Space Cavern
A living cave discovered by a highway core drill in 1963 — Ice Age bones and 22°C year-round, the perfect August escape. Georgetown's Blue Hole lagoon is ten minutes away.
Cavern tours →
Gruene & New Braunfels
Texas's oldest dance hall still hosts nightly music; tube the Comal or Guadalupe in summer, and Wurstfest runs every November. Bring boots and a change of clothes.
Gruene Hall →
Austin
Barton Springs' 20°C spring-fed pool, Zilker Park, the Congress Avenue bats, and more live music per capita than anywhere in America.
Visit Austin →And when the big city calls — Austin is an hour, Waco 35 minutes, and Dallas and Houston are both under three hours’ drive.
“Nestled in Central Texas, Temple provides easy access to everything — whether you want a weekend getaway or a night under dark skies.”
Get in touch
Program Contacts
Lindsey Goodnight
GME Program Administrator
Tel 254.724.5815
Fax 254.724.0408
Cari Cummings
GME Program Administrator
Tel 254.724.0884
Fax 254.724.0408
2401 S. 31st St., Temple, TX 76508
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Billy Hathorn (CC BY-SA 3.0); 25or6to4, Darrylpearson, Michael Barera, Aleksomber, Jay Galvin, Microbesandmuck27, jcutrer (CC BY-SA 4.0); Larry D. Moore, Myotus (CC BY 4.0); MarkScottAustinTX, G. Lamar, Brad Fults (CC BY 2.0); U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (public domain).