Fort Worth: Dallas's Better-Dressed Cousin

Thirty miles west. Dallas believes in glass towers. Fort Worth believes in cattle and the proposition that a city can be world-class without abandoning its boots. The daily cattle drive at 11:30 and 4:00 sends Texas Longhorns down Exchange Avenue driven by actual cowboys, and the sight of horns wider than a car door navigating a tourist-lined honky-tonk street is the kind of spectacle that would be ridiculous if it weren't genuine.

The Kimbell Art Museum — Louis Kahn, widely considered one of the most beautiful museum buildings in the world — holds Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Monet in rooms lit by cycloid vaults channeling natural light with a softness no fixture has matched. A Caravaggio in Kahn's building is worth the drive alone. The Renzo Piano expansion doubles gallery space.

I-30 West, thirty minutes. The Stockyards, Cultural District (Kimbell, Amon Carter, Modern Art Museum), and Sundance Square are all walkable clusters. Fort Worth is not a detour from Dallas. It's a destination that happens to share a metro area.