Dude Ranches in Bandera

We live about 2.5 hours aways from the self-proclaimed cowboy capital of the world. So we make a yearly trek to Bandera Texas for a weekend at a dude ranch, usually in spring. The lure of a dude ranch is getting away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. On the ranch the air is clean, the food is filling, and horses are tame.

A typical day on the dude ranch starts with a big breakfast, single-file horse ride, swimming, lunch, afternoon horse ride, fishing, dinner, and evening entertainment. The same entertainers circulate amoungst the ranches. There's cowboy singers, animal shows, ropers, etc. By 9pm the whole family is beat and ready to turn in.

We've been to three different dude ranches over the last three years, and each has its own pros and cons.

Dixie Dude Ranch has about 20 cabins are various sizes, most of which are quite rustic. Accomodations for us were a bit tight but bearable. Food is served in a dining room with four large picnic tables. The horses are pretty old but the guides are fun and interesting. This is the only ranch we've found that allows kids under 6 to ride with a parent.

The Flying L is a time-share community, so we go to visit this ranch basically for free in exchange to listening to their sales pitch. It has a mix of 1950s cabins and brand new condos. As part of the free deal, we were only allowed one horse ride, but it was a good one. The trails here were more interesting and you had to actually steer the horse. The best part about the Flying L was the waterpark and its lazy river. It also has a golf course and lots of activities. This is very commercialized, so you don't really feel you're on a ranch.

This year we just returned from the Mayan Ranch. This all-inclusive ranch serves beer and sodas all day, plus has a nice bar for the evenings. There are around 50 cabins as well as bunk houses yet the landscape still resembles a ranch. There's a hayride each morning taking visitors to a fantastic cowboy breakfast. Herds of deer have been trained to follow the hayriders, some getting within 10 yards. The horse rides are a bit boring (straight and flat), but you get two per day. Swimming in the pool and the Medina river is fun for the kids as was the nightly entertainment.