Experience the best of Marble Falls

The town sits on Lake Marble Falls, one of a chain of reservoirs along the Colorado River, with its older streets running down to the water. The red granite of the Texas State Capitol in Austin was cut from Granite Mountain, a dome of rock just outside the town, and the same pink stone shows in outcrops all round the lakes.

The lakes draw boaters, anglers and swimmers, and Inks Lake State Park has granite outcrops and camping beside the water. Longhorn Cavern, a limestone cave near Burnet, lies north-west of Marble Falls, and the Hill Country wineries and the German-founded town of Fredericksburg are a little over an hour's drive to the south-west.

Texas barbecue is the local standard, with brisket and sausage from the smokers, and fruit pies and Tex-Mex fill out the menus. In April bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush cover the roadsides of the Highland Lakes, and the long hot summers send everyone onto the water.