Five reasons to route your flights via Dallas

The JFK assassination site, Fort Worth Stockyards and onward flights to Australia are among the reasons to consider an stopover in Fort Worth.

The worst big US city?

Of the big US cities I’ve visited, Dallas is my least favourite. And by a fairly long distance.

This Texas behemoth is sprawling, lacking in charm and extremely car-centric.

However, Dallas is not entirely without its merits.

This is particularly the case if you use it as a stopover destination. Dallas is a major hub for American Airlines and, thus, other Oneworld alliance airlines.

Routing your flight through Dallas, stopping for a couple of days, then continuing to your real destination is not the worst plan in the world.

Here are five reasons why this is worth considering.

The JFK Assassination site

Around Dealey Plaza, you’ll always find a conspiracy theorist or seven ready to share their view on who assassinated President Kennedy back in 1963.

There’s hours of fun to be add just chatting to them and listening to their increasingly unlikely explanations.

But you can form your own theories too, lining up the spot where the bullet (or bullets) hit, the grassy knoll and the Sixth Floor of the School Book Depository.

The Sixth Floor Museum inside the Museum provides plenty of food for thought too, going into great detail about the events of that tragic day and the highly dubious aftermath.

There are dozens of JFK-themed tours available in Dallas. But the best investment is one that takes you to key sites, as well as Lee Harvey Oswald’s rooming house, with a guided visit to the Sixth Floor Museum. These highly-rated tours cost $79.99.

Southfork Ranch

For a proper taste of the 80s, you need to head to the town of Parker just outside of Dallas.

This is where the big-hatted, glossy-toothed TV series Dallas was filmed.

It’s a pilgrimage site for many soap fans, and it’s possible to go on a tour of the Ewing family ranch if you make the trek out there.

It’s cheesy as hell, but that’s partly what makes it enjoyable, right?

If you’ve not got your own car, the smart move is to book a Southfork Ranch and JFK highlights tour. The half day combo tour covers most of what you’re likely to want to see in Dallas.

Billy Bob’s

If you want the modern cowboy thang, then you can find it in Fort Worth.

Billy Bob’s is something that can only be described as “a bit special”.

Proudly boasting that it’s the world’s largest honky tonk, it is beyond parody or snobbish disdain – it’s just somewhere that you have to buckle up the cowboy boots and go with the rollickingly absurd flow.

The former cattle barn hosts country music concerts, has an indoor rodeo with men being thrown off bucking bulls, offers mass group line dancing lessons and plays host to some very, very drunk people.

Cattle drives

If big and cow-heavy does it for you, then the Fort Worth Stockyards are a natural addition to the itinerary.

This is where daily cattle drives take place across cobbled streets just like it used to be done in the old Wild West days.

OK, it’s pretty much done for tourists in the 21^st century, but it’s still an impressive spectacle.

Several Fort Worth Stockyards tours, including food tours and pub crawls, are available.

Onward travel to Australia

No-one wants to fly from Los Angeles International Airport by choice – its horrors are well-documented.

But if you want to go on to Australia from the US, you’ve little option.

Unless, of course, you’re on the direct Qantas flight from Dallas to Sydney. One of the longest non-stop flights in the world allows you to complete the 8,500 mile journey in one sitting.