Most Texans know Hill Country as a destination for wine, history, and music with a backdrop of rugged beauty. The town drawing the most visitors, Fredericksburg, was founded in 1846 by immigrants who kept German as the official language until the mid-1940s. What started as a community of hardy residents as rough-hewn as the limestone used to build their homes and businesses has become a Disney World of Wine, attracting more than 1.5 million tourists a year. Present-day travelers can expect sightings of pink stretch limos carrying bachelorette parties and wine shuttles zipping past tasting rooms on Highway 290. The in-and-out commercialism of chain hotels and boutique shops is a little removed from Fredericksburg’s scrappy origins.

Quiet escapes still hide in Hill Country, though. Lesser-known towns like Comfort, Stonewall, Hye, and Gruene deliver laid-back diversions more in tune with Willie’s drawl than party-bus beats. Revamped historic hotels and newly pitched glamping tents are transforming these areas into comfortable headquarters for vistas of rolling hills where hawks swoop and deer prance. The biggest draw of these smaller towns, though, is that they’re closer to Texas’s top wineries and historic dance halls, where “ain’t nobody feeling no pain” feels true.

If you’re in search of an off-the-beaten-path trip to Hill Country—or need one after a couple of rowdy nights in Fredericksburg—soak up the original charm of Texas’s wilderness in these four underrated towns.

Comfort

A welcome sign claims this is “an antique town with a bright future.” A walk through Comfort Cemetery provides a glimpse of the German Freethinkers who established the town; their folkloric, seashell-encrusted graves date back to the mid-1800s. No one is certain how the seashell trend started, but Marcus Wennrich of Visit Comfort suggests it was a pagan tradition symbolizing a request for rebirth that came from their German ancestors.

Not far away, the Treue de Union Monument is a gravesite dedicated to 68 area residents who were killed by Confederate soldiers in the Nueces Massacre for opposing slavery. A Harper’s Weekly article said of the monument a few months before it was established in 1866 that “the little remote site…must be to the nation as sacred as those places where thousands are deposited.”

Continuing with free attractions, the Cartoon Saloon is a roadside attraction with major backcountry character. It’s not actually an operating bar, but bringing your own drinks is welcome. Take a selfie (there’s a hitching post “stick” for it) at the Lone Star Christmas tree, a bushy evergreen hung with faded aluminum cans; or donate to the tip jar labeled the “armadillo defense fund,” because it’s also an armadillo sanctuary. Owner and cartoonist J. P. Rankin says the place is “never open or closed, but always accessible.”

Comfort also offers small-business shopping, like Verde Haven, a plant shop selling Texas natives, along with gifts for plant nerds and garden lovers
of all ages. The 8th Street Market antique store has a wide selection of curated art, furniture, and collectibles, as well as an in-house bakery and coffee shop. The Texas sheet cake is a regularly offered classic that pairs splendidly with a peppery tempranillo from Newsom Vineyards, which happens to have a tasting room across the street.

For heartier meals in historic buildings, don’t skip the wood-fired sourdough pies and locally made gelato at Comfort Pizza. Housed in a photogenic old gas station, it’s a popular local hub that also has cruiser bikes for rent. Also on High Street, in a 1962 fire station, High’s Cafe & Store serves fresh salads, soups, half-sandwiches.

Caffeinate at Wander’n Calf Espresso Bar and Scratch Bakery, a roomy coffee shop with housemade pastries, including gluten-free chocolate chip banana bread. Owner Wendy Riggott is a nurse who opened the shop in order to employ her daughter, who has special needs, and others like her. Later in the day, scoot up at Remedy Hall, a bar with local flavor. Old-school movies on a big screen, country dancing, karaoke, and pickleball could all transpire within a blurry, two-hour visit.

Renovated historic hotels with upgraded beds and amenities are roping in the growing number of tourists coming to Comfort. The Meyer Hotel, once a stagecoach stop, has stone-tiled bathrooms and porch views of Cypress Creek. Those traveling with young kids, or in large groups, can spread out at Camp Comfort, formerly a German athletics club and bowling alley.

Stonewall and Hye

With Stonewall Motor Lodge, a modernized 1960s roadside motel, and Outdoorsy Hill Country’s new rustic-luxe glamping tents, Stonewall is an ideal home base for the 300,000 visitors who come every year to hike Enchanted Rock, the second-largest granite dome in the US that was once a sacred site to the Comanche and Tonkawa tribes. Several different legends claim it’s haunted, but there are more scientific explanations for the eerie sounds: granite cracking during weather changes or axis bucks in mating season.

The main attraction of Stonewall and Hye, though, is proximity to Texas’s finer wineries. Sitting atop a rolling grassy hill in Stonewall, Pedernales Cellars is worth a visit, as is William Chris Vineyards in neighboring Hye, whose sophisticated operation includes multiple tasting experiences, including one with a picnic lunch. Standouts among Pedernales’s Spanish and Rhône-style varietals include the winery’s tempranillo and viognier, and William Chris’s winemaker and cofounder, Chris Brundrett, has a magic touch with mourvèdre.

Smaller-scale wineries like Calais, Ab Astris, Narrow Path, and Adega Vinho also exceed expectations in the two qualities of a desirable wine tasting—that is, superior wines in a setting that will make you question your whereabouts. Look for the French flag that marks Calais’s discreet tasting room, where you can sample some of Benjamin Calais’s Bordeaux-style wines that frequently sell out. Ab Astris is making a name for itself with tannats, Narrow Path’s roussannes go down almost too easily, and Adega Vinho’s estate-driven program thrives with rosé. Aside from Calais’s tasting cave, all of these are set in idyllic vineyards where you can open a bottle and take in wide-open views to a soundtrack of birdsong.

It’s not just wine here, though. Whiskey connoisseurs will want to see how the good stuff is made at Garrison Brothers Distillery, Texas’s first legal whiskey distillery and the first to make bourbon outside of Kentucky. After Dan Garrison lost his savings in the stock market because of the Enron scandal, his wife, Nancy, encouraged him to save money by making his own bourbon. So that is what he did. Garrison’s 10 rainwater-proofed expressions are aged in custom barrels with staves to withstand the heat, leading to awards and a reputation as “the best little stillhouse in Texas.” One-and-a-half-hour tours are best capped with a brisket Philly cheesesteak, catfish po’boy, or fried rabbit tenders at the on-site Whiskey Shack, where Garrison’s smooth bourbon is blended into drinks with frozen Dr. Pepper and lemonade.

Fill up between tastings with creamy Italian-style cheeses, pizzas, and gelato made from Texas’s only water buffalo dairy, OroBianco Italian Creamery. For nighttime entertainment, relax under Albert Ice House’s sprawling oak tree for almost-daily live music, or boot-scoot in the 100-year-old dance hall. Albert isn’t an actual town, but don’t tell any double-fisters that at the bar.

Gruene

Another place in Hill Country that is no longer an actual town—but you’d never know it from the business names—is historic Gruene. With “downtown” and “uptown” districts, it’s a paradise for shoppers and country dancers that’s separated from the bustle of New Braunfels by the jade-hued Guadalupe River.

The star attraction is Gruene Hall, believed to be Texas’s oldest dance hall, built as a saloon and social hall for the area’s cotton farmers in 1878. It still fills up nightly with two-steppers coming for live music from 6 to 10pm, and it’s customary for unaccompanied ladies to be asked for an innocent dance. In order to blend in, hats and boots help. If you’ve forgotten them at home or just need a refresh, Gruene Hat Company and Gruene Boot Company across the street have affordable options that don’t skimp on quality. And for merch to prove you were there, Cotton Eyed Joe’s is also on the other side of the street with Texas-centric gifts, caps, and T-shirts.

Gruene Hall doesn’t sell liquor, only beer and wine, so if whiskey gives you courage—or you just need fuel in the form of Shiner Bock onion rings and a “big dog” hot dog with jalapeño mustard and sauerkraut—Mozie’s is kitty-corner from the dance hall. The well-worn bar shows scuffs that could very well go back to when the H. D. Gruene Mercantile building was erected in 1904, one year after the post office changed the town’s name from Goodwin to Gruene. Next to the hall, Gristmill River Restaurant was once the area’s main cotton gin, and is now famous for chicken-fried steaks, Jack Daniel’s pecan pie, and its patio hanging over the river.

Enjoy more live music outdoors with a Texas-forward wine list at the Grapevine in Gruene. And the Gruene Grove is an all-shop stop with a patio bar mixing up Texas mules, a food truck cranking out German bratwursts, and an underground speakeasy that’s quite popular at night. It makes a fine break between shopping at the Gruene Antique Company, along with the several other consignment and gift shops that spill over onto each other. The house-roasted brews at Gruene Coffee Haus also help with energy for shopping and dancing.

To sleep within walking distance of Gruene’s attractions, the Gruene Mansion Inn is a charming guesthouse with claw-foot tubs and private patios furnished with rocking chairs. Farther out, the freshly restored Hacienda del Rio boasts riverfront views, and, if the weather is still warm enough, you can arrange for a tube or take a dip in the pool. Outdoor grills and a beach volleyball court also make for a good party with old or newly made Texas friends.