1. Walking Main Street
Almost everything there is to see in this quaint German town is located within three blocks of Main Street. You can walk it in a couple hours or spend a full day popping in and out of local boutiques, tasting rooms, and novelty shops. If your feet get tired, sit and stay a while at one of the many local restaurants, which constantly have live music.
Sample what seems like hundreds of sauces, nut butters, oils, and spices at Rustlin' Rob's Gourmet Food. Taste wine at $1 a pop at Texas Vineyards and Beyond. Get into the Christmas Spirit year-round at The Christmas Store. Have schnitzel for dinner at Auslander Restaurant and Biergarten...and take your beer to-go! Jaywalking may be illegal in Fredericksburg but public consumption is totally okay!
2. 290 Wine Road
There are no less than thirteen wineries within an eight mile stretch of Highway 290 leading into Fredericksburg. (And around twenty-six total- click here for a Google map!) Luckily, you have a few options...If you're a high roller or a bachelorette party you can take a private tour. If you're just here for a good time, there's the 290 Wine Shuttle. Grab an all day pass for $30/person and spend an afternoon visiting as many wineries as you can handle, hop-on/hop-off style.
Most wineries offer tastings for around $18, but can range from $10-$21. (Or more for a full tour or wine+food tasting.) Every winery offers something a little different- for instance at Messina Hof, you get six tokens to choose from a list of one or two token wines...While Fat Ass Ranch and Winery has six specific wines already chosen for a $10 tasting, or you can pick a $5 shot glass of specialty flavors, such as Prickly Pear Jalapeno Wine. Some wineries will let you count your wine tasting towards a wine membership and most wineries send you home with your wine glass (or shot glass) as a souvenir!
Picked up a few bottles of wine on your way? No problem- grab a tag from your driver to label your wine, (and those wine glasses of course), and send it back into town on the shuttle. Your souvenirs will be waiting at your final stop when you're done!
Each winery has it's own hours and rules, so be sure to check ahead of time if there are specific ones you want to visit. And if there's one you don't have time for, many of the wineries have tasting rooms on Main Street.
3. Enchanted Rock
Enchanted Rock is the largest pink granite monadnock in the United States (basically, a huge pink rock-hill-dome in the middle of flat land). It's named Enchanted Rock because of the sound (an "unexplained creaking and groaning") that can be heard coming from the rock itself, which the local native Americans had attributed to magic, but today geologists "attribute to the rock's night-time contraction after being heated by the sun during the day."
Be sure to arrive early- the park opens at 8am and they start turning people away once they reach full capacity, but the next 200 people receive passes for later entry into the park. Pay $7/adult and grab a map of the trails. Go ahead and take the steep Summit Trail directly up to the top of Enchanted Rock, but be sure to explore elsewhere. We had the most fun exploring the second, more interesting/less bare rock and the shady valley between the two. You can also hike the four mile trail around both rocks and end your day with snow cones in the parking lot (or head back into town for some peach ice cream).
4. Peaches
Speaking of peaches...Fredericksburg is covered in peaches. It seems like every street corner has a stand selling the fresh, local fruit. In fact, Fredericksburg produces 40% of all peaches in Texas! Stop by Clear River Ice Cream and Bakery to try multiple kinds of peach ice cream, including peach sherbet, peach pecan, and strawberry peach pecan (YUM!). Or, if you want to indulge in two of Fredericksburg's greatest passions, it's not hard to find a glass of peach wine. This town is not joking around.
