If you’re traveling Route 66 west through Texas, Amarillo offers roadtrippers five must-see stops promising a fun experience. Amarillo, located on Highway 40 alongside the historic Mother Road, is a gem in the Texas Panhandle.
Amarillo, Texas: Roadside Stops Worth Checking Out on Route 66
The Big Texan Steak Ranch & Brewery
One of the most well-known destinations in Amarillo is The Big Texan Steak Ranch & Brewery (7701 I-40 Highway) for its larger-then-life steak dinner challenge and wide variety of craft beer on tap.
The restaurant is famous for their steaks including the 72-ounce steak dinner challenge dating back to 1960. If you eat the entire meal (pictured above), it’s free and you’ll become one of small percentage of participants that are successful.
We chose instead to enjoy two cold beers at the Big Texan Brewery, a saloon-themed bar with first come first serve seating. They have nearly a dozen of their own handcrafted beers on tap or you can order from the cocktail menu.
Before you leave, I recommend walking the restaurants open areas to take see photo-worthy areas, including giant chairs, taxidermy, and retail merchandise. Remember, everything is bigger in Texas, so expect to have a larger-than-life good time.
Downtown Mural Tour
Amarillo’s vibrant murals are installed throughout the downtown area like little colorful jewels. The city puts a priority on promoting public art. Use the Mural Scavenger Hunt Map to find them all.
The mural pictured above, Daydreaming, was designed and painted by artist It’s A Living aka Ricardo Gonzalez. Emphasizing typography, It spans 78 feet by 24 feet.
Pescaraz Italian Restaurant
How did we select a restaurant for dinner when Amarillo’s dining scene has so many options? Eating Italian food may not seem like an obvious choice in Texas cattle country, but Pescaraz Italian Restaurant’s (3415 S. Bell Street) stellar online reviews convinced us.
The dining room was filled with locals even during the early dinner hour, but we were sat quickly without a reservation. Specializing in hearty pasta dishes and salads, we choose the Eggplant Parmigiana prepared with white sauce and a helping of seafood pasta. Each entree was covered with copious amounts of cheese. Bring your appetite.
Cadillac Ranch
You can’t drive to Amarillo without stopping to view Cadillac Ranch (I-40 Frontage Road), a public art installation located along Route 66 west of the city. It’s a bit of a tourist trap since 1974, it’s well worth stopping for 15-30 minutes to view it.
Visitors bring spray paint to deface the half-buried cars making the roadside attraction a fun, immersive experience. If you forget to bring paint, you can purchase a can from the retail store trailer nearby.
A nice lady was finished with her spray paint and offered it to us. A few half-emptied cans rested on the ground around the cars.
Other visitors choose to bring engraved padlocks to attach to the fenced entrance to confirm their visit.
PRO TIP: It was quite windy and cold the afternoon of our May visit, making spray painting the cars a bit challenging but possible. Dress appropriately for the weather.
Second Amendment Cowboy
The appeal of traveling Route 66 is spotting larger-than-life Muffler Men. The giant statues were a way of attracting road-trippers to frequent businesses. Second Amendment Cowboy (2601 Hope Road) sits in front of a RV Park entrance.
It’s located a short distance from Cadillac Ranch, making pulling over for photo opps at each one a no-brainer. The statue, promoting the right to bear arms, includes two pistol-shaped barbecue smokers at its base.
Road trips are more fun when you build in time to pull over for new-to-you discoveries, whether its quirky public art or to eat where the locals dine. The nostalgia of cruising Route 66 remains. Add these five stops in Amarillo to your cross-country itinerary.