San Angelo is the gem of West Texas that no one knows about! When people think of West Texas they think of El Paso, Amarillo, or San Antonio; but I LOVE San Angelo! This adorable little town is about 2 hours south of Midland and 2 hours north of San Antonio.
I remember when I first moved to West Texas about 11 years ago, San Angelo just seemed like another oil town. Over the last 11 years it has grown and become one of my favorite towns in West Texas! Since living in Texas I have grown, married, and started a family of my own and San Angelo has become a place that even my 3 young toddlers enjoy visiting. This town is covered in art and rustic treasures. There are animals, museums, history, and delicious eateries. There are just so many things to do in San Angelo, Texas!
Other Articles You Might Like:
Splash Pads In Midland, Texas To Visit This Summer
Things To Do In Odessa, Texas With Kids
Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue: The Best Thing To Do In San Angelo, Texas
Your Guide to Find the Best West Texas Pumpkin Patch
The Best Things To Do In Midland, Texas With Kids
Things To Do In San Angelo, Texas:
Take Pictures With Sheep
Did you know once upon a time San Angelo was named the Wool Capital of America? I know, who knew! I never would have thought. This town originally was built by sheep ranchers, but quickly was taken over by the oil industry that so commonly rules the West Texas economy.
In honor of its sheep ranching history the town began putting up painted sheep statues throughout it! So while in town you have to stop by and check out some of the sheep. There are over a 100 sheep throughout town so they aren’t hard to find. Here is the list of the sheep throughout town, all 93 of them, and where to find them.
International Waterlily Collection
One of the last things you would expect to find in the West Texas desert is a waterlily garden! For one, the lack of water makes it seem like this shouldn’t exist, but sure enough here in San Angelo, Texas is the International Waterlily Pad Garden.
This gorgeous little garden isn’t very big, but it is BEAUTIFUL! There are white, purple, pink, and green lily pads all over! Walk around and enjoy the lilies, dragonflies, and all the other flowers around all for FREE!
Now they obviously aren’t in bloom all year long so really around September is the best time to of year to visit the garden.
Location: 2 S Park St, San Angelo, TX 76901
Hours: Open 24 Hours
Admission: FREE
Art In Uncommon Places Museum/Pop Art Museum
I absolutely love quirky attractions, and I will tell you right now that there isn’t one more quirky than this. Saying that this is one of our favorite things to do in San Angelo! This old abandoned building has been restored or renovated into an art museum.
This is not your common art museum though. There aren’t security guards to keep you from getting too close, this isn’t a stiff building, there aren’t fancy frames or ropes marking off figurines. This art is interactive and immersive!
There are paintings on the wall, painted trees, the floor is painted, lets just say everything is painted. The art is different and odd, but fun as well. If you are super into Instagram-able spots than this is the perfect place to be. I mean it is like an outdoor selfie museum!
Location: 125 W Twohig Ave, San Angelo, TX 76903
Hours: Open 24 Hours
Admission: FREE
Sunken Garden
Surprisingly enough San Angelo is huge into art and beauty so not only is there art throughout town, but San Angelo has made its land into art as well. There is the famous lily garden, but there is also the Sunken Garden.
This garden is another small and free garden, but not short on beauty. I wish I was more educated on plants so I could name the types of flowers and plants that we saw. Alas I am no botanist, but I do recognize these flowers from different areas in the West Texas. That is the beauty of this garden, it is all of West Texas in one garden. Again September is the best time of year to visit the garden to see the flowers in bloom.
Location: Spanish Park
Hours: Open 24 Hours
Admission: FREE
South Concho River Trail
One of the hardest parts about visiting West Texas is that there are only a few places to hike like Ft Davis, Big Bend, El Paso, and Guadalupe National Park. Surprisingly enough San Angelo has some hikes! Our favorite hike is actually South Concho River Trail!
This trail is only 1 mile and it is super easy. This trail is a loop through a gorgeous woods or twisted and crooked trees. I have never seen so many deer in West Texas either. I feel like the entire hike we were constantly watching deer jumping through the woods.
This hike shows all the beauty that San Angelo has to offer. Deer, flowers, trees, so much cactus, and you even get a glimpse of South Concho River. For more information about this hike click here to be taken to the AllTrails website.
Location:
Admission: FREE
Length: 1 mile
Pecan Creek Farm and Ranch
Though this is more of a seasonal activity it is still a really fun one that I have to mention! This adorable little farm is open from October pretty much until the end of December. During fall it is a cute little pumpkin patch, which you can learn more about in this pumpkin patch article.
It has a petting farm, a mini corn maze, adorable photo ops, and a fun obstacle course for the kids. My daughter LOVED the huge silo slide the best, while my son could have ridden the barrel train all day long. Such a cute place to be to pick your Halloween pumpkin.
Come Christmas, this farm transforms into an adorable Christmas tree photo op. I mean even Santa Claus visits for a great picture with the kiddos! Center piece of it all is their fancy gourmet popcorns. The perfect gift basket or stocking stuffer for the holiday season.
Location: 13101 Door Key Rd, San Angelo, TX 76904
Admission: $10 ages 3+
Hours: Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 12pm-6pm (Oct-Dec)
San Angelo Nature Center
In my last almost 5 years of being a mom I have learned that there is one activity that will always be exciting and entertaining to my kids, that is anything to do with animals! I mean literally as a toddler this is the majority of what adults teach is what sound a cow makes and how does a kangaroo jump. I just can never go wrong with an activity involving an animal. That is why the San Angelo Nature Center is one of our favorites things to do in San Angelo.
This tiny little nature center doesn’t have much to it, but it has live animals so that makes it fun. They have an assortment of rodents from hedgehogs to prairie dogs, a parrot, a bobcat, porcupine, fox, racoon, and a lot of reptiles. The best part is that I have never been and not had them take an animal out the cage for us to pet or hold. We have had the opportunity to pet snakes, hedgehogs, a parrot, and a lizard.
Location: 7409 Knickerbocker Rd, San Angelo, TX 76904
Admission: $3 ages 13+, $2 ages 4-12, FREE ages 3 and under
Hours: Sun-Mon Closed, Tues-Sat 12pm-5pm
Mary E Lee Park
Right next to the San Angelo Nature Center is a park that you cannot miss! I know you are like why would we want to go to a park, one word swimming! Mary E Lee Park is an almost beach like area on Lake Nasworthy. Being at the lake just takes away that hot desert West Texas feel and makes you almost feel like you are having a day at the beach.
This beach has a sand of sorts to play with and a shallow area to swim. The thing about West Texas is that it is summer practically all year long so not much sounds more fun that relaxing lakeside and going for a swim in the cool waters. If you have a boat though, Lake Nasworthy is a great place to go boating. It does get a bit crowded, but it is a decent sized lake for West Texas.
Location: 2160 Mary E Lee Rd, San Angelo, TX 76904
Admission: FREE
Old Central Firehouse Pizzeria & Taproom
We found the cutest place to eat in San Angelo, Texas! This building looks like an old firehouse remodeled into a restaurant! They are famous for the pickle pizza and surprisingly it was delicious! It wasn’t your normal pizza obviously; it didn’t have any pizza sauce just a dill sauce drizzled over crust, pickles, and cheese! Even my toddlers loved it, and that’s saying a lot!
If you aren’t looking for pizza, but rather a place to stay for the night; this firehouse pizzeria is also an bed and breakfast! It is all firehouse themed and absolutely adorable.
Location: 200a S Magdalen St, San Angelo, TX 76903
Hours: Tues-Thurs 11am-8pm, Fri-Sat 11am-9pm, Sun 11:30am-5:30pm, Mon closed
Paint Brush Alley
One of the things that makes San Angelo so much fun is that they have converted their town into a giant art museum! I mean everywhere you look there is some form of art, whether murals, statues, or even the sheep spread around town! The best place to truly enjoy the art in San Angelo though is Paint Brush Alley!
My kids love Paint Brush Alley because the art is so interactive. There are photo ops galore! There are butterfly wings to stand in front of to make it look like you are a butterfly! There is a giant tree made of glass on a brick wall with a swing sticking out for you to sit on. The art is so immersive.
This is just a short walk over from the Art in Uncommon Places Museum, and is literally just an alleyway of murals on walls and other sorts of art pieces. It is fun for all ages!
Location: 33 W Twohig Ave, San Angelo, TX 76903
Hours: Open 24 Hours
Admission: FREE
San Angelo State Park
One of the not near as beautiful parts of San Angelo, but still a fun one to do is the state park. Living in Colorado for a portion of my life, when I hear the words state park I always picture giant lake, flowers everywhere, and green trails. Do not show up to San Angelo State Park expecting these things.
This is West Texas we are talking about, and this state park truly engulfs you in the West Texas feel. I mean there is a lake, but the majority of the park is mesquite trees, cactus, and dirt. It is not the most beautiful state park, but it does offer several hikes which is always fun in an area where not many hiking trails are offered.
My kids favorite part about this state park is the wildlife! Not necessarily the rattlesnakes, we could definitely pass on seeing those, but the buffalo and longhorns that roam the land! There are 2 separate pens, where you can drive to see a small herd of buffalo and a small herd of longhorn cattle. So not only do you get the nature of West Texas, but the wildlife as well.
For more information about the other state parks in West Texas click here.
Location: 362 FM 2288, San Angelo, TX 76901
Admission: $4 ages 13+, FREE ages 12 and under
Hours: 8am-5pm daily
Kids Kingdom Park
Normally I would not mention a specific playground as something to do in a place you travel to, but this is such a cute playground that I can’t help but share it! This huge playground is built like a giant castle! Really do I need to say more than that!?
Location: 290 W River Dr, San Angelo, TX 76903
Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue
Best for last! This is our favorite thing to do in San Angelo, Texas! Hidden in the outskirts of town there is a donkey rescue or more than a 1,000 donkeys. I have never seen that many donkeys in my entire life!
This unique rescue center doesn’t just rescue donkeys and rehabilitate them, they also allow people to come and tour the property. This hour long tour takes you around to meet donkeys of all shapes, sizes, and color! You get to pet the mini donkeys, mules, a cow, tall donkeys, mama donkeys, baby donkeys, just any kind of donkey you can imagine!
The tour is mostly just petting donkeys but also educates you on what they do at the rescue center. I was a little worried about how my toddlers would handle a guided tour, but honestly they loved it because the whole time you are interacting with donkeys!
Our favorite part was meeting the white baby donkey that they named after Betty White who was a huge donator to the farm. Now challenge is going to this farm and leaving without a donkey! Trust me, you will be dying to adopt one before you are done with the tour. For more information about this farm and what the tour is like, click here.
Location: 8317 Duckworth Rd, San Angelo, TX 76905
Admission: FREE
Hours: Sat-Sun Closed, Mon-Fri 9am-3pm, call ahead to book a tour
Mayer Museum
San Angelo is a college town, home of ASU. ASU has a FREE museum and it has dinosaurs! As you walk into the museum you will find a group of dinosaur bones and even a megalodon mouth! There are 2 other exhibits on the bottom floor. One is and art museum and a duck taxidermy wall. The other is a temporary exhibit that changes from time to time. When we visited the exhibit was blown glass.
Upstairs is the kids area, which consists of books, dinosaur toys, and drawers of all kinds of cool stuff. My kids loved opening the drawers and seeing tons of bugs, butterflies, rocks, and so many other cool things. The last room in the museum is the government museum. When we visited it was about the governor of Texas.
Location: 2501 W Ave N, San Angelo, TX 76904
Admission: FREE
Hours: Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun-Mon closed
San Angelo Nature Trail
We absolutely love to hike! Unfortunately in West Texas there are few places that you can actually hike; San Angelo is one of those places. One of our favorite hikes is the San Angelo Nature Trail. Come prepared to see fields of cactus! So just a precaution, you may want to wear hiking boots that can protect your ankles from the cactus prickles all around!
This trail is super easy and not even a whole mile long. There is no up hill or down hill, I mean this is west Texas so its pretty flat. My 2 year old hiked the whole thing no problem; his only complaint was that it was hot. So bring water!
Our favorites on this hike were seeing the cardinals, the flowers, and the cactus! It is just a quick loop to truly see the desert beauty that San Angelo has to offer!
Location: 7464 Spillway Rd, San Angelo, TX 76904
Distance: 0.80 mile loop
Admission: FREE
Other Fun Things To Do In San Angelo, Texas:
I am an Amazon Affiliate, which means I may earn a commission from any purchases made through the links in this post. For more information, please read my privacy page.
