4 Day Vacation In Marfa Texas
Over the weekend of March 12–15, my fiancé and I and three close friends of ours from Fort Worth made a much-awaited, year-long postponed trip to the small town of Marfa. If you’re ever looking for a town to go visit to get away from any hustle-bustle, to unplug, to relax, this is the place. At no point in our trip did the town ever have traffic, waves of tourists, or much of anything else going on be it a weekend or a weekday. It’s just a quiet, slow, easy-going town, pure and simple. Do make note!… this town and almost all the nearby towns have some very nontraditional days and hours of business operations. Be absolutely sure to check ahead for the times/days places are open as you may find yourself disappointed last minute when a spot listed below is not open. Here are the major spots we went and checked out during our stay in the order of which we hit them.
Just for some context, the five of us all stayed in a wonderful three bedroom AirBnB just blocks from downtown Marfa, making foot transport quite easy. We had a nice backyard with a fire pit and a full kitchen as well so we were able to chill out a lot back at the house in our downtime. That’s what a vacation is for after all. When we did go venture out, these are the spots we visited and suggest you do the same if looking for some truly unique, fun, tasty spots to try.
Dinner for the group just after we got to the AirBnB and unpacked. I had already made our online order for pick-up days in advance. You can pick up to-go orders between 4–5pm via the exact time you select when placing the order. We got ours at 440 and then took it over to the adjacent tables to eat. Mind you the tables are for dine-in only, available from 5–9pm. I made the mistake of thinking we could go right over there before this time frame which is not true since we did an online to-go order. Luckily the staff made an exception for us this time which was very kind of them. If you want to eat there on-site, don't order online, get there right at 5 sharp to place your order, and then take the plated foods/drinks over to the tables. The food is absolutely spectacular! The sides and the meats are all very good. The smoked chicken, pork ribs, and smoked turkey were my favorite. The sweet potato salad was my favorite side item. The house-baked sourdough buns are pretty unique and delicious! Toss some of their tender pulled pork on that with their mac n cheese…bam! This is not a BYOB spot mind you but they do sell beer and canned wine here. No one in our group left hungry, in fact, we had quite a bit leftover as the portions are generous!
A simple but unique spot for a pint of beer or glass of wine or cocktail. No craft beer here as I assumed I would find. Just macro brews but a lot of them to pick from. Several white and red wines are available as well. Reasonable prices across the board. They do offer some small plates of food as well but we had just got our fill with BBQ so food was not on our plans here. Tons of seating on two levels both inside and outside the beer garden space. Its an open-air setting but has smaller spots around the perimeter to sit in covered locations as well. This was the single busiest place we saw in town besides Cochineal mind you. The people seem to know where to go to chill out and grab a drink in town and we found it. They also have heat lamps set up all over on cool evenings like the one we came in on. Very nice touch as it would have been chilly without them. Our group enjoying a drink.
Big Bend National Park, Dog Canyon Trail
Stacy and I arrived at about 10 am after making the almost 90-minute winding-road drive to the north most entrance point of the park, also the shortest drive from Marfa. We met a line of about 25 cars waiting to get in but it moved quickly. 15 minutes or so to get in the park. A huge perk was that I got a free America The Beautiful annual military pass at no cost from the ranger at the check point! No $30 per car entrance fee, but a free pass good till the end of the year to any state park, national park, or historic site! Score for us! We picked the Dog Canyon Trail mostly because it was the first trail sign we came upon after entry to the park and it was a reasonably short hike to do. 5 miles out and back. This proved just right for us, not too long but just long enough. Just under 2 hours later we were done and ready to head out. The temps were great at about 77 and sunny with a little breeze. If you go, bring sunscreen, snacks, good hiking shoes, and a cell phone. That sun on a hot summer Texas day would roast ya if not careful!
Our hike and drive ramped up an appetite for us and our friends who then made our way in for a 615 indoor seating dinner for the 7 course pre-fixe menu they had going for the week. The reviews, accolades, and history of this place had me eager to try out this James Beard semi-final award winning best chef in small town Marfa. The venue is gorgeous inside and out. Fine dining indeed, high class, sophisticated and modern. The service is spot on with kindness, accuracy and detail to the plates being served. Our only issue was the length of time it took for plates to come out and the overall length of the dinner. 2 hours 15 minutes long. I have done eight others 5–10 course dinners before and none exceeded two hours long. The seats were not super comfy we all agreed, so perhaps that made the wait times seem longer also. The food was exquisite yes. No one denied that what we were eating was top quality and uniquely crafted. We also agreed that the 1–2 bite portions left a bit more to be desired, more so when ~20 minutes would pass before the next plates came out. The dinner was $85 a person with the option to add a wine pairing to each plate for $60 more but we did not partake in that as we had drink plans later back at the house. I feel that if we had done outdoor seating, had slightly faster service, this would have been a near perfect dinner spot to go splurge and indulge in top notch food and an experience to go with it.
Fort Davis National Historic Site, Fort Davis Hotel-Drugstore, Restaurant
Stacy and I made our way to the town of Fort Davis to go check out another Texas Fort which I am super fascinated by due to the war history it holds like so many others. We spent 2 hours at the site looking at building, remains, touring the visitors center, the surrounding mounds and trails, reading the historical facts on all the signs. A history buffs dreamland let me tell you! Its really cool how this national historic site also shares grounds with several miles of nature trails as well. You get a 2 for 1 deal if you really want to do both at once. This is one of the largest national historic site forts I have been to now. This fort also has one of the largest and supposedly best hospitals of it’s time west of San Antonio. The building alone was fascinating to walk through. We both learned that Fort Davis is nicknamed mile high city because it sits right at 5,280' elevation above sea level. In fact, if you stand in the roof of the visitor center at Fort Davis your just above 1 mile exactly. Go stand on the mountains surrounding the fort and your well above 1 mile. One note for all, if its windy…leave the hats in your car! We were here on a very windy day and boy did you feel that wind gust hit you! Sunny and warm but windy as heck at times also!
After the Fort Davis adventure and history lesson we ventured downtown to get some grub before heading just outside of town to taste some local wine. We could only find one place open to serve food. Yes, one place! Three other spots on the main drag were closed, odd for a Monday afternoon, non-holiday but again, we found this to be the norm around this area, odd hours and days of operation. Luckily this spot was a good one. Busy as can be which makes since since nothing else in town was opened! We placed our orders and took seats out front and waited about 30 minutes for our food which in the end, was worth it. My chicken salad was large, fresh, and delicious. Stacy got a triple decker club with onion rings and she too was quite please with her pick. From what we could see around us, the other parents, couples, and kiddos were all quite pleased with their big burgers, ice-cream sundae's, grilled cheeses, patty melt's and malts being served to them.
Just eight miles outside of town is a small and almost easily missed winery if your not careful. I had no clue what to expect here. Nothing more than Google reviews is what I had to go off of and the fact that not many other wineries exist in this area. I am so glad we came in as it turned out to be a truly hidden, off the beaten path, gem of a winery and food stop. I had made plans ahead with owner James Smith to come in at 230pm this particular Monday. He greeted us as soon as we walked up. We got seats outside as it was gorgeous outside. The place was only a little busy outside, and we never did peak inside. Our server was amazing and super knowledgeable about the wines we tasted. James is a wiz of wine making and a clearly creative type always exploring new and different ways to grow grapes and make great wine. From what we tasted, he is well on his way to doing that in spades. We loved every wine we tried and ended up getting 2 bottles of 2019 Rose’ to go and a 2016 Jack Rabbit Red. We also, on James suggestion, went to Porters Grocer in Marfa to pick up a bottle of the 2016 Heraldic Red which turned out to be my favorite of all the wines we tried. Its superb! I would be remised not to tell you that the food truck menu they have onsite. The house burger they have and the customized charcuterie board they have are top notch! The house burger may be one of the best I have ever had anywhere! The charcuterie board paired wonderfully with our wine varieties as well. Wino’s of all types must stop here and experience this place. Say hello to the cute little terrier they have there! His name is Moose and he loves treats!
This was a quick stop we all made on the final morning of our stay as we left town. We had word they were the best and most authentic, big burritos in the area. I was skeptical being a huge fan of Chipotle and Freebirds myself. We got there about 10am and again, as one of the only places open at that hour on a Tuesday, it was busy, a line about 20 deep. Despite this it moved fast, 15 minutes later we were at the ordering window which is the kitchen door essentially, placing our orders. I got the asada burrito minus cheese (lactose issues) and added egg. This burrito came with asada pork, red sauce, tomatoes, onions, potato, and beans. Stacy got the Gourdo. Not sure what that contained exactly but her attempt to just have a taste and save the rest proved futile. That thing was gone before we even left the lot. I withheld and ate mine later that night once home and to my surprise, although not as hefty and large as my go-to chain spots, this one was darn good! Homemade, scratch recipe flour tortilla, and those ingredients! The recipes I am told are unchanged for over several decades. Why change what ain't broke right!? For $7–8 each, worth every single penny to get authentic quality and flavor like this. This needs to be a stop for everyone's breakfast/burrito craving while in Marfa.
Our last stop as we passed through Alpine, Texas on our way back home was to hit up the original Reatas. Stacy knew of this place before we came and was dead set on going in. There is another second spot opened in Fort Worth as well with slightly different menu I am told. I was glad we could go in and try the original to cap off our trip with a good meal. It opens at 1130am Tuesday-Saturday. We got there just minutes before opening and already saw 20 some people out front waiting to get in also. We did not have an RSVP but got seated out back on the patio right away no issue. The patio is very nice I gotta say. We eyed up our orders fast, me with chicken fried chicken and two sides of green beans and broccoli. Stacy went chicken fried steak, corn medley and mashed potatoes. Our food came out pretty quick, 15 minutes tops. We both enjoyed our meals thoroughly but agreed that my chicken fried chicken was a slightly better pick. Not sure why as I normally edge steak over chicken any day but this time, chicken won out. Neither is a bad choice mind you! Good portions, good prices, fast service, cool place. The appetizer menu looked really good as well and we almost wish we had gotten several of those as a meal vs two entrees alone. Next time we come here, that's what we will do.
We really wanted to go see the Mcdonald Observatory but could not get tickets for many weeks in advance for the monthly stargazing event unfortunately so that did not happen on this trip. We will be back for this as I live astronomy stuff like this! Marfa also has a public stargazing visitors spot where people can park and simply watch the stars since so little to almost no residual light dampens viewers in this area.
We also made several strolls of downtown Marfa to pop in and out of several hot spots there such as The Wrong Store, The Paisano Hotel and shops, The Sentinal Coffee Shop and lastly Frama Coffee Shop.
See the full photo album here.
