roam for the holidays

Luxe rideshare Alto chauffers holiday light tours to 2 Dallas neighborhoods

Enjoy curated light tours — and that all-important designated driver.

Photo courtesy of Alto

In a festive city like Dallas, a jolly drive to see holiday lights is a time-honored tradition. But there are considerations: where exactly to go? What’s the perfect playlist? Is the trip worth risking a potential run-in with someone staring at their phone while driving?

And one other dilemma — who gets to imbibe the spiked nog and who’s the designated driver?

Luxury rideshare service Alto answers those pressing questions with its inaugural holiday light tours, covering two Dallas neighborhoods:

The East Dallas tour takes users through Lakewood, Swiss Avenue, and Lake Highlands
The West Dallas tour cruises through Highland Park, Preston Hollow, and Midway Hollow, and other sought-after destinations

Users log on to the Alto app and can reserve a West Dallas or East Dallas holiday lights trek, compiled by Alto’s Dallas team based on research and firsthand knowledge of the city, per press materials.

West Dallas users should plan for a pickup specifically at Inwood Village to start the tour. Once the trip is confirmed, Alto will send the exact pickup spot for the light tour. They’ll also credit user accounts $25 for the trip there. In East Dallas, light tour pickup is at Hillside Village.

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The tours make a for an easy date night, guest tour, or a research-headache-free holiday jaunt.

Alto Light Tours must be booked 24 hours in advance, are $150, and accommodate two to four users. Tour times run Thursday through Saturday, now through December 21, at 6 pm and 8 pm, and last between 60 and 90 minutes.

The company is simultaneously offering tours of two neighborhoods in Houston.

As this is Alto, expect a courteous, elevated experience, complete with a holiday playlist soundtrack. And since Alto is the designated driver, guests will also receive two to four Alto tumblers to toast the trip with the aforementioned spiked nog, spirit, etc. of choice — for all those good tidings and cheer.

holidays

Daring to care

Kindhearted Plano ranks among the 10 most caring cities in America

Visit Plano - Facebook

Plano is one of the happiest and most caring places to be.

Plano has some of the kindest, most generous residents in the country. So says a new report that ranks the Dallas suburb the No. 10 most caring city in the United States.

The personal finance website WalletHub compared 100 of the most populated U.S. cities across 38 metrics across three key dimensions for its study, "Most Caring Cities in America (2025)". They include caring for the local community, caring for the vulnerable, and caring in the workforce.

The north Dallas suburb made a big leap over its 2023 ranking as the No. 17 most caring American city.

Out of the three main categories, Plano performed the best for its "caring for the community" rank (No. 8), which was determined based on the city's crime rates, the civic engagement of its residents, the share of a household's income donated to charity, and more.

Plano also cares for its community in other ways, whether it's through maintaining its long-held family-friendly reputation or by maintaining a pristine park system. All of these reasons contribute to why so many people are choosing to live in the second-happiest city in the nation.

Plano also ranked fairly well in the overall "caring for the vulnerable" category (No. 12), which covers child and adult poverty rates, adoption rates, availability of paid family leave, the number of rehab centers per capita, pet shelters and rescue services, and the "disability-friendliness" of employers.

Plano still has plenty of work to do when it comes to caring for its workforce, however, as the city ranked No. 71 out of all 100 U.S. cities. This metric focused on the number of first responders, healthcare professionals, teachers, and counselors per capita.

WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo says there are many factors that make cities like Plano a true "caring" and supportive place for its residents.

"The most caring cities donate a lot of money to charity and have high volunteer rates, but being a caring city overall requires much more than just giving time or money," Lupo said. "In addition, the top cities have low crime rates, environmentally-friendly residents and low rates of poverty and homelessness."

But small steps are important, too. Community care is as simple as helping an elderly neighbor unload groceries from their car, keeping a vigilant eye out for porch pirates or suspicious activity, and spending quality time with loved ones.

Plano was once again the highest ranked Texas city in WalletHub's list. Other North Texas cities that earned spots in the report include Irving (No. 36), Garland (No. 39), Fort Worth (No. 54), Arlington (No. 58), and Dallas (No. 77).

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin ranked No. 45, while San Antonio (No. 89) and Houston (No. 91) barely skirted onto the list.

The top 10 most caring U.S. cities, according to WalletHub, are:

No. 1 – Virginia Beach, Virginia
No. 2 – Scottsdale, Arizona
No. 3 – Boston, Massachusetts
No. 4 – Gilbert, Arizona
No. 5 – Chesapeake, Virginia
No. 6 – Fremont, California
No. 7 – San Diego, California
No. 8 – Madison, Wisconsin
No. 9 – Colorado Springs, Colorado
No. 10 – Plano, Texas

wallethub plano community care top 10 cities plano