Make summer in Dallas last by taking part in all the wonderful things to do around the city.
From beachside pop-ups to rockin’ bars, and psychedelic experiences, Dallas is truly popping off this July. Read on to discover 25 splendid things to do this July in the Big D.
1. Head to Dallas Zoo for $1 this month
Dallas Zoo, the oldest and largest zoo in Texas, has announced the return of its annual Dollar Days ticket specials.
Tickets are already being snapped up for the incredibly popular discounted days which will take place on Thursday, July 18, and Tuesday, August 6 so grab them while they last!
More information can be found here.
2. Check out Grand Prairie’s 60-ft water & light show
Following in the footsteps of Klyde Warren Park which unveiled its majestic new Nancy Best Fountain and an exhilarating light and water show, 172-acre park in Grand Prairie opened its own spectacular new water and light show named “Lluvia”.
With up to 60-foot water sprays combined with colorful lights, an exciting soundtrack, and state-of-the-art video projection, the “Vegas-style” water, and light show is reportedly the first-of-its-kind installation in North America.
Shows will take place 7 times a day with daytime water shows running between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm before returning at 5 pm through to when more extravagant spectacles begin as the night nears.
More information can be found here.3. Hit up a Village pool party
Non-residents can now enjoy the stunning pools and gorgeous cabanas at The Village Dallas on weekends all through July and August.
Home to a range of luxurious resort-style pools, as well as a sand beach entrance and a swim-up bar, guests can savor a chef-crafted food menu and specialty cocktails while kicking back in the Texas sun beside the pool or in their own luxury cabana.
More information can be found here.
4. Go for a Round of Mini Golf at Popstroke
Grandscape is now home to Popstroke’s sprawling 37-hole indoor/outdoor mini-golf facility. In addition to holes complete with fairways, bunkers, and roughs, the venue features a beer garden, gourmet restaurant, bar, and ice cream parlor.
Read more here.5. Slip Inside the Sinister Haunted Tavern
Summer is horror’s second favorite season. Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Sleepaway Camp, the list goes on. Get your ghouls together for a spine-chilling cocktail journey at the Haunted Tavern: A Dark Pop-Up Cocktail Experience. Located in The Underground of Frankie’s Tavern, the surreal experience features themed music, immersive decor, and more!
Get your tickets here.6. Send your senses soaring with a Dining in the Dark experience
Eminent psychologists have been advocating dining in the dark as the ultimate taste experience for many years. Studies show that 80 percent of people eat with their eyes; with that sense eliminated, the theory is that the other senses—namely taste and smell—take over to elevate your meal to a whole new level.
After donning your blindfold in the darkened, candlelit room, you’ll soon realize that focusing on taste and smell alone can be a truly enlightening experience—provided you’re not afraid of the dark!
Take your date night to the next level or enjoy a surreal experience with friends, tempting your senses with dark surroundings to focus on more important things like exquisite food and wine pairings.
Diners can choose vegan, seafood, or red meat options, enjoying a starter, main entree, and dessert.
Tickets and more information can be found here.
7. Head down to this top-grossing restaurant
Talking of top-tier dining experiences, 2022’s top-grossing restaurant in the United States, Komodo, has branched out to Dallas offering a lavish new dining experience in Deep Ellum.
The new restaurant from Groot Hospitality is 5,500 square feet bigger than the original Miami location measuring a whopping 22,500-square-foot.
Situated in the Epic Development, the two-story Southeast Asian-inspired restaurant offers a surefire unforgettable dining experience this July.
8. Enter a 2D cartoon-like world at Dallas’ newest Japanese restaurant
Another place you’ll find a dining experience that you won’t forget anytime soon is at the newly-opened Temakaria in Trinity Groves.
Having opened its doors in mid-May, Temakeria is now welcoming guests to a 2D-themed cafe that has been decorated with monochromatic comic book art creating a cartoon-like setting straight out of an artist’s sketch pad.
9. Dine with divas at Hamburger Mary’s
Another unique restaurant is about to open in the Dallas Fort Worth area that some may have seen in other parts of the country.
Described as “an open-air bar and grille for open-minded people” Hamburger Mary’s is known for its flamboyant dining experience and range of tasty food.
Founded over 50 years ago in San Francisco in 1972, the vibrant bar and grille has built a reputation for its frequent events and entertainment such as “Dining with the Divas” drag shows and charity “HamBingo Mary’s” as well as karaoke, trivia nights, and more.
Now all of that can be enjoyed in Dallas’s Oak Lawn neighborhood.
10. Board the largest party barge in Texas
One of the best ways of enjoying the warming weather is, of course, by spending as long as you can on or next to any lake you can find.
Luckily down at Lynn Creek Marina there is one lake plan that will surely stir up excitement in any Dallasites down for an adventurous day on the water.
Enjoy the ultimate lake day on the largest party barge in the state complete with slides, lounge chairs, giant coolers, and a BBQ just 30 minutes south of Dallas
11. Enjoy a sunset paddle experience
If you’re looking for an aquatic activity that is a bit more tame and suited to couples and quieter occasions then a sunset paddle might just be for you.
You and your loved one can glide across the tranquil waters of Lake Lewisville, basking in the beauty of the lake while drinking in the romantic glow of the sunset.
With the choice of paddleboards, kayaks, or canoes and top-quality equipment you’ll be fully prepared as you head out on the water.
To add a touch of culinary delight, savor a delicious charcuterie board when you’re back on shore.
Get your tickets for Couples Date Night – Paddle Experience at Lake Lewisville here!
12. Marvel at the magic of a Candlelight Concert
With better weather comes new events and experiences that we’ve not been able to enjoy for several months. One of these is open-air concerts which offer an enchanting combination of flickering candles and melodic sounds.
Fever Originals’ wildly popular Candlelight series concerts are taking place in extraordinary indoor and outdoor venues all over the city this July so rain or shine there is always an option whatever the weather.
Can’t decide? Gift a loved one a Candlelight Concert with a Candlelight gift car.
Choose from concerts featuring jazz, rock, pop, classical music, and even movie soundtracks in spectacular venues around Dallas or any other city in the U.S. throughout the year.
See the full list of candlelight concerts taking place in Dallas here.
13. Venture into Wonderland at this Fantastic Pop-Up
Escape to a whimsical Wonderland in Dallas this summer. From now until mid July, The Apothecary, a cutting-edge cocktail garden and speakeasy, is hosting an Alice in Wonderland-themed pop-up event running all season. Guests can enjoy a fantastical experience with creatively themed food and drinks, set against a backdrop of stunning decor inspired by the beloved tale.
14. Attend a concert beneath the stars
Concerts Under the Stars is another terrific outdoor musical experience taking place on one special night this month.
On Wednesday, July 17, experience a Sinatra serenade at Sky Blu Rooftop Bar with renditions of the legendary crooner’s biggest hits.
15. Relax with yoga, namast’ay for the goats
With the weather heating up there are plenty of things happening in Dallas’ wonderful outdoor spaces. Another outdoor experience worth doing is this cuddly iteration of yoga.
Like meditation, yoga is a practice of centeredness and concentration. It’s a discipline of balance in the face of stress and adversity — that which may be difficult to do when resisting the urge to snuggle one of the baby goats bouncing around.
16. Cuddle up at East Dallas’ cat café
If you like kicking back with some four-legged friends, you’ll be happy to hear that East Dallas now has an adorable new cat café.
As both a casual café and a place for potential parents looking to adopt, Whiskers and Soda is the perfect place for any feline fanatics wanting to kick back with a cup of coffee and mingle with some furry friends.
Operating in partnership with animal rescue and adoption agency A Voice for All Paws (AVAP), where Caroline is president, Whiskers and Soda ensures the cats are fully vetted and in the most relaxed environment to hang out with humans.
Read more about Whiskers and Soda here.
17. Let loose at Bolder Adventure Park
Time to come back to the real world, and wake that body up with a real taste of the action at the new Bolder Adventure Park.
A short drive down to Grand Prairie, thrill-seekers of all kinds can find an array of activities across a 66,000-square-foot air-supported dome.
Rain or shine, two via ferrata courses, rock climbing, zip lines, tubing slides, synthetic ice skating, bumper cars, paintballing, a six-story free fall experience, and much more promise an exhilarating day out for friends or family with different levels of adventure for all.
More information can be found here.
18. Check out the Activate Games experience in Plano
If physical challenges float your boat you might also be interested in Activate Games. The indoor, interactive gaming experience, has just opened a new location in the Dallas-Fort Worth area offering an exciting new futuristic form of entertainment and competition.
Fusing technology and physical activity, the Winnipeg-based company has a wide range of high-tech, real-life games. Hundreds of combinations of live-action challenges have been designed to test physical and mental agility pitting teams against each other in one to three-minute face-offs.
Those interested in a casual night out or a fierce competition against friends can now head down to Plano for a live-action gaming experience like no other.
19. Check out the world’s biggest esports arena
Swap that blindfold for a VR set and reignite your reactions with a trip down to the biggest virtual reality esports arena on the planet.
Located 30 minutes north of Dallas, the new Esports Virtual Arenas (EVA) outpost in Flower Mound is their first in the United States and offers a groundbreaking new form of esports that transports gamers into massive arenas to face off against other players in epic battles.
More information can be found here.
20. Head out to Frisco to one of the biggest libraries in the state
An enormous new state-of-the-art library has just opened in Frisco after two years of construction. Located inside a warehouse built in 1998 for rocket construction, the $62 million project offers a 157,000 square feet space that is now one of the biggest in the state.
With 40-foot floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the new library is swamped with natural light and boasts a terrace, a second-floor mezzanine, a community event room, quiet reading rooms, and plenty of other gathering spaces for different ages and purposes.
One of the library’s most exciting new features is its striking centerpiece “Rexy”, a full-size model of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton that greets kids in the children’s area.
21. Cozy up in the nooks of this bookish coffee shop
For all the people out there who have ever been shushed at a library – this place is for you. At the Funny Library Coffee Shop, guests are encouraged to crack up as much as they are to crack open one of its many books.
For all the people out there who have ever been shushed at a library – this place is for you. At the Funny Library Coffee Shop, guests are encouraged to crack up as much as they are to crack open one of its many books.
Shelved inside the ground floor at the Virgin Hotels Dallas lies the Funny Library. Part coffee shop, part library, part Kubrick set a la A Clockwork Orange, Funny Library offers Dallasites a hyper-stylized escape from the hustle and bustle.
22. Travel back to the ’80s at FlashBack RetroPub
Some of us weren’t around in the ’80s, but that doesn’t stop us from the feeling of vivid nostalgia we have for new wave hits, technicolored-patterned jumpers, and all the zaniness the decade had to offer.
For those who were around in those simpler times, games that are today seen as extraordinarily plain and primitive compared to today’s digital depth were portals to unchartered territory.
Hours and hours were spent contesting those most competitive cutting-edge classics that were so beautifully basic.
In Dallas’ Bishops Arts District old gamers can take a trip down memory lane, or simply a journey back in time at Flash Back Retro Pub in Oak Cliff.
More information can be found here.
23. Sneak into a stylish speakeasy
There’s something special about speakeasies. The secretive, vicarious forbidden feel of transporting back to the prohibition or entering an establishment only known to the few in-the-know fellow attendees makes imbibing cocktails all the more tantalizing.
Here are a few of our favorite speakeasies in and around Dallas:
- Rare Books Bar is a bookish speakeasy that requires a password via phone booth to enter. Read more about it here.
- Atwater Alley is a dimly lit and old timely yet enchanting den hidden near some dumpsters behind Henry’s Majestic. Read more about it here.
- Room 520 at the SOVA Hotel is an intimate speakeasy adorned with Japanese-inspired decor selling six unique Kyoto-styled cocktails from the confounds of one secretive hotel room. Read more about it here.
24. Sink your teeth into the best cuts of meat in the city
Dallas is well-known for its unbeatable selection of steakhouses. Whether you’re in the mood for a succulent melt-in-your-mouth filet or a juicy ribeye, the city’s iconic steakhouses won’t disappoint.
From classic ambiance to modern interiors, each steak restaurant brings its own unique flavor to the table. Expect high-quality cuts of meat served up with signature sides, and perfectly paired fine wine to create an unforgettable culinary experience.
We’ve rounded up our best steakhouses in Dallas which you can find here.
25. Dine royally up in the clouds
Savor the high life by escaping the city streets to the Monarch Restaurant high in the sky. Perched on the 49th floor of The National, Monarch is designed with floor-to-ceiling windows, giving restaurant-goers the chance to dine on their wood-fired Italian dishes with an epic view of the city.
[Featured image from Shutterstock]