RV travel guide
Bandera County
County seat Bandera, 792 sq mi across Texas. Everything an RV traveler should read before rolling in — where you can boondock, the roads worth the detour, and the local rule that actually matters.
The county in brief
A traveler's read on Bandera County
Bandera carries an official Texas State Legislature designation as 'Cowboy Capital of the World' (Resolution HCR 64, 1995) — the only town in Texas with that specific legislative-record honorific, awarded on the basis of producing more world-champion rodeo competitors per capita than any comparable US town and sustaining the longest continuous historic-saloon scene in the Hill Country (the 11th Street Cowboy Bar and the OST Restaurant both operate in late-19th-century original buildings). The dude-ranch economy is the year-round tourism backbone — 16 active guest ranches operating with horseback-riding, cattle-work, and Western-heritage programming, the largest such concentration in the state per the Texas Dude Ranchers Association membership roster. Bandera County covers 792 sq mi of Edwards Plateau limestone-canyon topography between San Antonio and Kerrville, with the Medina River drainage cutting east-west and creating the springs-and-cypress riparian zones that make the county a Hill Country destination distinct from the more-arid western counties.
Hill Country State Natural Area at 5,400 acres is the largest equestrian-focused state park in Texas — 40 miles of multi-use trails open to horseback riders, hikers, and mountain bikers, with primitive equestrian camping that supports horse-trailer rigs up to 60 ft on first-come basis. Lost Maples State Natural Area in adjacent Real County (accessible from Bandera via TX-16 south then TX-187 north, roughly 60 miles) holds the only large stand of bigtooth maples in central Texas — the trees are isolated refugia from a wetter Pleistocene climate, preserved in the limestone-canyon microclimate of the Sabinal River, and produce reliable October-into-November red-orange fall color in a state where fall color is otherwise marginal. Reservations at Lost Maples open 5 months out and the campground sells out weekends throughout the color window. Bandera (population 967, the county seat) carries grocery, fuel, propane, and a Tuesday-Friday-Saturday rodeo schedule June through August at Mansfield Park Arena.
RV travel intelligence
Read the land before you roll in
The three things that shape an RV trip here — where you can boondock, the roads worth the detour, and the local rule that trips travelers up.
Dispersed camping
medium
Medium — mixed BLM / state-trust limits
Scenic drives & state byways
TX-16 Bandera Bluff · Medina Lake Loop
Ordinance note for RV travelers
Hill Country SNA permits 14-day max at primitive RV sites; Lost Maples SNA enforces seasonal vehicle limits during October fall color.
Sourced & cited
Every fact traces to an official source
Population and land area from the US Census; ordinances and park adjacency from county.gov, the National Park Service, and the US Forest Service.
More for Bandera County travelers
Go deeper around Bandera County
7 cross-linked peers across PickRV's places catalog — siblings, parks, public land, cities, and the parent state hub.
In the same state
Other Texas counties in our catalog
Parent state hub
Texas on PickRV
Sourced from the PickRV places catalog · live availability disclosed on every landing.
Nearby & related
Keep planning Texas
Sourced costs, campground directories, and the places worth a detour — the next layer of Texas trip planning.
- Texas RV rental costFuel · camping · tax, sourced
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- Campervan & van rentals in TexasVan-life routes, rules & rigs
- RV rentals in TexasPickRV Wiki · 6 min read
- BLM landsDispersed-camping country
- Historic sitesHistory worth the detour
- Wild & scenic riversFree-flowing river trips
- Deep trip guidesLong-form seasonal playbooks
Texas rules · last verified 2026-05-10
- State rental tax
- 10% · not collected by PickRV
- Min driver age
- 18+ std · 21+ Class A
- Gravel roads
- Allowed — disclosure required
- Generator quiet
- 22:00-08:00
Your next step
Seeing Bandera County from a rig
Dispersed camping here is a mix of BLM and state-trust rules, so a self-contained rig with real tank capacity gives you the most options.
What you'll see there
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What you'd pay
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If plans change
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Tell us when you want to drive Texas.
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