Waco Surf

AT A GLANCE

Why go?

Waco Surf is a 450-acre surf resort in the heart of Texas, about 90 minutes from both Dallas and Austin, where an inland wave pool produces real, ocean-style surf and a seasonal water park wraps around it with a mile-long lazy river and big slides. Labeled simply as a water park on the map, it is really a multi-zone getaway: surf lagoon, standing wave, cable park, sandy beach, lodging and a slate of land activities all share one property.↗↗

The draw is the contrast. Surfers fly in to carve chest-to-head-high, uncrowded waves generated by PerfectSwell technology, while families who never touch a board spend the day racing down The Wedge waterslide or floating the lazy river. Live music, a beach, stocked lakes, a cable park for wakeboarding and even a lemur lagoon fill out the rest of the visit.↗↗↗