12 National Parks, Monuments, and Preserves to Visit in Texas

In a state the size of Texas, it comes as no surprise that there is a wide array of national parks, preserves, and monuments that attract visitors and residents alike. Texas is home to several distinctive natural landscapes—here, you’ll find cypress tree-lined bayous, lunar-like desert wilderness, towering pine forests, endless miles of golden prairie and green-brown farmland, and lush hills rising out of the flatlands. There are two iconic (and, because of their remote location, under-visited) national parks in Texas, along with several national preserves that run the gamut from stretches of pristine coastline (Padre Island National Seashore) to swampy hotbeds of biodiversity (Big Thicket National Preserve). And of course, because this is Texas we’re talking about, there are parks and historic sites commemorating battles, Spanish missions, and frontier forts. Here are all the must-see parks, preserves, and monuments in the Lone Star State (though this is by no means an exhaustive list).