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Coastal holiday boat parades + 10 more Texas travel ideas for December

Winter is here, Texas! That means only one thing: It's time to plan a festive holiday getaway, or finally book that must-needed staycation to unwind from the Thanksgiving break blues.

North Texas travelers can head down to the coast for a weekend of holiday boat parades, get inspired at a Celtic holiday festival outside Austin, or keep things simple and local with an overnight stay at a Dallas Arts District hotel.

Here are our top 11 picks for winter Texas travel events, hotel news, and more in December.

Throughout Texas

There's a new luxury van service connecting Austin, San Antonio, and Houston: Shutto, a new mobility shuttle startup, is now offering luxe road trips Monday through Saturday with departure times in the morning and evening. Riders can enjoy complimentary WiFi while they relax on plush leather seats during their stress-free ride in Mercedes Sprinter vans. Van routes also include a guaranteed pit stop at Texas' favorite travel center Buc-ee’s. One-way fares range from $47-$87.

Austin

Immersive experiences are a fun way to spend time with friends and family, and a new virtual reality (VR) experience is giving visitors a look at ancient Egypt: Horizon of Khufu will debut at VieVR (11000 Middle Fiskville Rd., Ste. A1) on December 5. During the 45-minute tour, guests will explore the Great Pyramid of Giza, "fly" over the plateau, look off the top of the pyramid in every direction, explore the corridors and burial chambers as an embalming ceremony happens, and much more. Tickets ($36 for adults and $32 for children) are available via Fever.

Downtown Austin hotel Hyatt Regency Austin has completed a big renovation project to make over its 448 guestrooms and suites, plus its meeting rooms, public spaces, and more. The hotel has also opened three new dining concepts: Texas-inspired restaurant Ripple & Roots, a breakfast eatery called Cypress Grove, and grab-and-go food market Juniper Breeze Market. Nightly rates at the newly renovated Hyatt Regency Austin begin at $213 in December.

There's a piece of Celtic holiday cheer hidden in the rolling woods of McDade, a small town 35 miles east of Austin. The Sherwood Celtic Yuletide Festival is returning from December 12-14, transforming the grounds of the beloved Sherwood Forest Faire into a winter weekend of music, merriment, and holiday magic. Guests can expect artisan shopping, archery, live music, Highland Games like Scottish hammer swinging and shot put, and more. Tickets (including day passes, weekend passes, and camping) are available online starting at $12.50.

Sherwood Forest Faire Yuletide Festival 2024 Participants at last year's inaugural Yuletide Festival. Photo courtesy of Sherwood Forest Faire

Houston

The Thompson Houston hotel is kicking off the holiday season with its "12 Days of Thompson" series from December 4-25. A few of the special activities, created for both locals and visitors, include a hot cocoa station in the hotel library (December 8), a local maker's market (December 13), a pet-friendly photo hour (December 20), and many more mini celebrations. Rates at the Thompson Houston begin at $283 per night.

Along the Gulf Coast

Texas coastal city Corpus Christi is hosting multiple lighted holiday boat parades during December. The first extravaganza – the Port of Corpus Christi Illuminated Boat Parade – is scheduled on Saturday, December 6 starting at 7 pm. Local boaters will compete for the title of "most festive vessel of the season" and an after party will follow. La Posada Lighted Boat Parade will take place the following weekend (Dec. 12-13) with U.S. Marines on site for a children's toy drive at Doc's Seafood & Steaks to help Santa collect new, unwrapped toys.

San Antonio

The future site of San Antonio's Pearl mini golf course (1100 Springs Plaza) has been temporarily turned into an outdoor ice skating rink for the holiday season until January 4, 2026. The iconic Pearl district has made its own transformation into a winter wonderland shimmering with lights and holiday music. Tickets to the ice rink at Pearl range from $20-$28 and include skate rental. Skate sessions last about an hour, and the last skate at 9:15 pm is 45 minutes long.

At home in Dallas-Fort Worth

The first-ever CultureMap City Rink, presented by Verizon, has made its grand debut at the Main Street Garden in downtown Dallas, and will run until January 5, 2026. Visitors can expect themed pop-ups and a full slate of programming designed for every kind of holiday reveler. From romantic Date Skate Wednesdays to Family Movie Nights and Shop + Skate Saturday Markets, there’s something new happening each week. Tickets are $18 for all ages, and include skate rentals and 75 minutes of ice time. Advance tickets, group reservations, and private rink rentals are available at cityrink.culturemap.com.

CultureMap City Rink tree lighting 2025 The CultureMap City Rink will be open through January 5, 2026. Photo by Ashley Gongora

The HALL Arts Hotel in Dallas' Arts District is offering guests a special "Holiday at the HALL" package for stays booked from December 13-31. The package includes a single-night stay with a welcome amenity, complimentary valet, a $50 dining credit for hotel restaurant Ellie's Restaurant & Lounge, and late checkout. Nightly rates with the "Holiday at the Hall" package begin at $389 in December.

Congratulations are in order for Fort Worth and Frisco, which were the only two Texas destinations included among Good Housekeeping's "23 Unexpected City Vacations to Add to Your Travel Bucket List" in its 2026 Travel Awards. The lifestyle publication had more than 125 travel testers — including staff members, travel industry experts, and trained consumer evaluators — discover unexpected destinations with the best attractions, accessibility, lodging variety, safety, service, and overall appeal.

The luxurious Bowie House hotel in Fort Worth will teach North Texans all the tricks for making the best tamales during a tamale-making class on Saturday, December 20 from 2-3:30 pm. Attendees will learn how to make fresh masa, master the technique for wrapping tamales, and take home their own to impress their loved ones. Tickets are $85 per person and can be purchased online via Tock.

Photo courtesy of Downtown Corpus Christi

The Illuminated Boat Parade in Corpus Christi takes the festivities to the water.

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Pack Your Patience

DFW declared No. 2 worst airport for flight delays and cancellations

Photo by Izyan Sultanali on Unsplash

DFW International also ranks as the second-worst airport for flight disruptions over the holiday travel season.

Ahead of the busy holiday season, North Texans should budget extra time into their travel plans before flying out of the metro's bustling Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

DFW was just declared the No. 2 worst airport in the nation for flight disruptions by consumer review platform ConsumerAffairs, which analyzed the rates of moderate and severe delays, diversions, and cancellations at the 29 biggest U.S. airports. DFW also appeared as the No. 2 worst airport where holiday travel causes the biggest disruptions.

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia led the nation as the No. 1 worst airport overall — the only airport deemed more disruptive than DFW.

Unlike many other airports on the list that experience high cancellation rates, the report revealed DFW's biggest issue is its high volume of flight delays. DFW has the No. 1 highest moderate delay rate out of all the airports examined, with more than a quarter of all flights (25.18 percent) delayed by 15 minutes and up to three hours.

"It’s the kind of delay that eats into your day without necessarily blowing up your whole trip," the report's author wrote.

Nearly two percent of all flights are delayed over three hours, making DFW the fifth worst airport for severe delays. However, the study says there is a silver lining for travelers saddled with severe disruptions.

"DFW offered more scheduled backup flights to the same destination than many of the other airports on this list, giving travelers a decent shot at rebooking if a flight fell through," the report said.

These are the cancellation and diversion rates at DFW, per the report:

Cancellation rate: 2.31 percent
Diversion rate: 0.29 percent
Average same-day flights to the same destination: 3.95
Cancellations that were the last flight of the day to that destination: 24.88 percent

Flying at DFW will be even more stressful during the holidays, as 30 percent of flights will suffer from disruptions during the Thanksgiving and winter holiday travel periods — starting the Tuesday before Thanksgiving through the Monday after, and again from December 18 to January 5.

DFW has the eighth highest holiday disruption rate out of the biggest airports, and the fifth highest holiday severe delay rate. Put some padding on your itinerary, because about 2.5 percent of all flights will be delayed more than three hours during the holidays.

In ConsumerAffairs' separate list of the worst medium-sized airports, Dallas Love Field landed as the 15th worst out of 32 U.S. airports. About 22 percent of all flights at DAL experience moderate delays — the No. 1 highest rate in this category — and 1.07 percent are severely delayed.

Additionally, over 26 percent of all DAL flights will be disrupted during the holiday travel season, and two percent of flights will experience severe delays.

The top 10 worst U.S. airports for delays and cancellations are:

No. 1 – Ronald Reagan Washington National
No. 2 – Dallas Fort Worth International
No. 3 – Newark Liberty International
No. 4 – Miami International
No. 5 – Philadelphia International
No. 6 – Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International
No. 7 – LaGuardia
No. 8 – Tampa International
No. 9 – Washington Dulles International
No. 10 – George Bush Intercontinental

Surprisingly, Los Angeles International Airport landed as the best major U.S. airport for avoiding travel disruptions. Phoenix Sky Harbor International (No. 2) and Seattle-Tacoma International (No. 3) round out the top three best airports for on-time travel.

The report offers the following suggestions to help anxious travelers avoid flight disruptions: look into travel insurance to protect against delays or cancellations; look for nonstop flights; or book flights with earlier departure times on an airline with multiple departures to your destination.

For flights that do get delayed or cancelled, travelers need to "act fast" to rectify their situation, says Jennifer Rykaczewski, the CEO of nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Affordable Skies.

"In the first 10 minutes, open the airline app, see whether you have already been rebooked and search for acceptable alternatives," Rykaczewski said. "Throughout the process, save any documentation of the delay or cancellation, plus receipts for meals or hotels, in case you need it for an insurance claim later."

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