Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum
It is impossible to come to Dallas without hearing about 22 November 1963. President J F Kennedy was assassinated as his car passed by the grassy knoll at Dealey Plaza, having been shot from the sixth floor of what was then the Texas School Book Depository building, now the Sixth Floor Museum. The Plaza is simply an outdoor grassy area on the north side of Elm Street, surmounted by an unadorned white stone platform where people go for a few quiet and thoughtful moments. The museum, which is the most visited attraction in Dallas, gives full details of JFK's life and times, a minute-by-minute account of events on the infamous day, exhibits, over 400 photographs, video footage and an audio tour.

The actual JFK Memorial is nearby in downtown on Main Street and Market Street, at the Dallas County Historical Plaza, and was designed by New Yorker Philip Johnson, a friend of the Kennedy family.

411 Elm Street
Tel: (214) 747 6660 or 1 888 485 4854.
Website: www.jfk.org
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 1000-1800, Mon 1200-1800.
Admission charge.

Fair Park
Fair Park's 111 hectares (277 acres) was created in 1936, for the Texas Centennial Exposition. There is too much to do in one day, or even several days, as it comprises museums, concert facilities, theatres and other venues. It is best for tourists to choose what they wish to visit in advance and combine that with a stroll through the park, as the central promenade has murals and sculptures.

Through its four vaulted galleries, the African-American Museum fully details African-American art and history from pre-colonial times to the present day, with permanent and temporary exhibitions. The Museum of Nature & Science incorporates the former ‘Museum of Natural History' and ‘The Science Place'; in total, there are 60 dioramas of Texas flora and fauna, Texas dinosaur exhibits (including a huge protostega sea turtle around 90 million years old), numerous hands-on activities, various temporary exhibitions as well as the IMAX Theater and the Planetarium, offering nearly 400 exhibits in all.

Fair Park also contains The Women's Museum, Texas Discovery Gardens (www.texasdiscoverygardens.org), The Hall of State (www.dallashistory.org), the Museum of the American Railroad (www.dallasrailwaymuseum.com), Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Music Hall at Fair Park (www.dallassummermusicals.org). The Dallas Aquarium (www.dallaszoo.com/aquarium/aquarium.htm) is undergoing a major renovation and will reopen in 2010 as The Children's Aquarium at Fair Park.

1300 Robert B McCullum Street
Tel: (214) 670 8400.
Website: www.fairpark.org  
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours.
Free admission.

African-American Museum
3536 Grand Avenue
Tel: (214) 565 9026.
Website: www.aamdallas.org
Opening hours: Tue-Fri 1200-1700, Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1300-1700.
Admission charge.

Museum of Nature & Science
3535 Grand Avenue
Tel: (214) 428 5555.
Website: www.natureandscience.org
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 1000-1700, Sun 1200-1700.
Admission charge.

The Women's Museum
3800 Parry Avenue
Tel: (214) 915 0860.
Website: www.thewomensmuseum.org
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 1200-1700.
Admission charge.

For details of the other attractions at Fair Park mentioned above, please visit www.fairpark.org.

Dallas Museum of Art
The spacious permanent collection galleries at the Dallas Museum of Art cover different types of art from ancient to modern times, from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. Of particular significance is the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection of Impressionist paintings. Many visiting exhibitions from prized collections around the world include such treasures as the golden Tutankhamun mummies from Egypt. The museum shop is worth a visit for unusual gifts and souvenirs.

1717 North Harwood Street
Tel: (214) 922 1200 or 1803.
Website: www.dallasmuseumofart.org
Opening hours: Tue-Wed, Fri-Sun 1100-1700; Thu 1100-2100.
Admission charge; free Thu 1700-2100. Charge for special exhibits.

Fountain Place
In such a landlocked city, this square is made all the more attractive by its impressive water displays and its calming trees and streams. There are 172 ‘blubber fountains' (low dome-shaped fountains), while the Central Court Fountain has 360 fountain heads. Around 2.25 million litres (0.5 million gallons) of water pass through the plaza, and at night, coloured lights play on the shimmering cascades. The huge, 60-storey glass building is part of the design and is based on a prism, a favourite theme of architect I M Pei, who also designed the glass pyramid outside the Louvre in Paris (France, that is, not Texas). There are other designs by Pei around the city and discovering them makes a good theme for an unusual exploration. The Dallas City Hall (www.dallascityhall.com), which houses Henry Moore's largest bronze sculpture, is one example. The Morton H Meyerson Symphony Center (www.dallasculture.org/meyersonSymphonyCenter) is another.

1445 Ross Avenue, at North Field Street
Tel: (214) 855 7766.
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours.
Free admission.

Wilson Block Historic District
The Wilson Block is an entire block of houses on Swiss Avenue, which Henrietta and Frederick Wilson acquired in 1899. They proceeded to build six homes on the land. The Preservation Center, based in the Wilson House, their own Queen Anne home, is open to the public and introduces the district through walking tours, film and a resource library. The district contains many houses from the same period, another particularly striking one being the Arnold House.

Further out, along Swiss Avenue (beginning at block 4800) is another historic district, the Swiss Avenue Historic District (www.sahd.org), from La Vista to Fitzhugh Avenue. Here visitors can see more early 20th-century mansions in various styles, such as ‘gingerbread', ‘prairie' (after the school of architects developed by Frank Lloyd Wright) and Italianate.

2922 Swiss Avenue
Tel: (214) 821 3290.
Website: www.preservationdallas.org
Opening hours: Tues-Fri 1000-1600, Sat 1000-1400.
Free admission.