Luxurious Hillside Resort with Award-Winning Golf Courses and Fine Dining

Red oaks and sycamores line the last hole at Fazio Canyons, a sinuous par 5 at the award-winning golf course leading to a ranch-style clubhouse. Cliff-lined fairways and limestone caves dot the Canyons’ sibling course, Fazio Foothills, which was named fourth among America's 100 best resort courses by Golfweek magazine. And they’re just two of the four total distinguished golf courses that blanket the Barton Creek Resort and Spa’s country estate, framed within 4,000 acres of rolling wooded hills. Beyond the emerald landscape, fine-dining restaurants, a year-round indoor swimming pool, and a European spa boasts luxurious hill-country hotel marked by authentic southern charm.

During the annual Holiday Lights and Ice event, 240,000 twinkling lights turn the rural resort into an incandescent wonderland. Star-capped Christmas trees, reindeer displays, and undulating waves of garlands are ablaze with colorful bulbs as families carve figure eights and grocery lists into the largest outdoor ice rink in Austin. After skating under canopies of sparkling snowflakes, guests gather in the Family Fun Room to decorate gingerbread-man cookies and countdown calendars.

Elegant country charm graces the resort guest rooms, whose décor sports nods to Texan culture. Beyond the hardwood entryway, plaid and floral linens top beds, which reside next to exotic cowhide chairs and carved armoires that open up to 42-inch plasma TVs. Ink prints from native artists depict indigenous wildlife and lend a colonial air to the 425-square-foot accommodations. A diverse buffet spread featuring homemade pastries, fresh fruit, and yogurt awaits overnighters in the morning.

Austin, Texas: Offbeat Vibrant City with Outdoor Recreation

Wooded trails, shallow swimming beds, and large limestone cliffs populate the Barton Creek Greenbelt, a 7-mile urban oasis with public access via Loop 360. Both moderate and challenging hiking trails unravel past idyllic sites such as Sculpture Falls and Campbell's Hole. Just 8 miles southeast of the resort reside rock-climbing walls and Airman's Cave, the longest of its kind in Travis County.

Beat-up pickup trucks and luxury SUVs mingle outside art galleries and saloons in the colorful downtown Austin, which sits about 10 miles from Barton Creek. The Keep Austin Weird bumper sticker is peppered throughout the shops, its slogan almost as ubiquitous as a longhorn tattoo. Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, country-rock legends Janis Joplin and Willie Nelson entertained crowds at underground beer joints, and the city maintains its status as the live music capital of the world thanks to its hundreds of honky-tonks, upscale restaurants, rooftop party decks, and feral microphones.