Friendly Fredericksburg

Texas Hill Country town is delightful

August 1, 2025 By Julie Summers Walker

Wine and flying do not mix. That said, you can park your airplane at the very GA friendly Fredericksburg, Texas, airport, stay at the aviation-friendly Hangar Hotel, have lunch at the pilot-friendly Airport Diner, and Uber into historic downtown Fredericksburg, the wine friendly capital of the Texas Hill Country. Here shopkeepers offer wine tastings and glasses full of local wine, and you can stroll down the street sipping and savoring.

Among the local businesses along Main Street in Fredericksburg are an assortment of indoor and outdoor eateries. Photography by Rebecca Boone

Gillespie County Airport (T82) famously celebrates general aviation with its on-airport Hangar Hotel and welcoming Airport Diner. Both feature the ambiance of the 1940s, with World War II memorabilia, model airplanes, and other period decorations. Also in Fredericksburg is the 55,000-square-foot National Museum of the Pacific War, the only museum in the country dedicated to World War II in the Pacific Theater. U.S. Navy Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz was born and raised in Fredericksburg. Here is the home of what is known as “Texas German,” a dialect that originated here because of the great concentration of German immigrants; Fredericksburg is named for Prince Frederick of Prussia.

Main Street offers more than 150 shops, boutiques, and art galleries as well as restaurants, wine tasting rooms, and a brew pub. Franchises and chain stores are not allowed in the town’s historic district, so everything is unique and interesting. The area is famous for its peaches; peach season runs from May through August. Flying over the area in the spring, you’ll get the best GA view of the wildflower bloom.