First Date Spots in Dallas

Wander the galleries together at the Dallas Museum of Art in the Arts District, where general admission is free. A stroll through the museum makes a romantic outing, and adult programs include Late Nights cocktail parties and guided tours. A cafe is on site, and the Nasher and Klyde Warren Park are close by if you want to keep walking afterward.

The museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 5pm and closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Reserve your free general admission tickets in advance.

The art gives you something to talk about at the Nasher Sculpture Center, an Arts District museum and sculpture garden, and it shows how your date thinks. Admission covers the galleries, the sculpture garden, and the cafe.

Entry is free on the first Saturday of each month, and from March to October the Nasher stays free until midnight on the third Friday, starting at 6pm. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 5pm. Buy tickets online ahead of time or at the front desk when you arrive.

Meet outdoors at Klyde Warren Park, a casual spot over Woodall Rodgers Freeway between Downtown and Uptown, next to the Arts District museums. Free programming includes movies in the park, social events, and a festival.

Hold hands in the afternoon sun among manicured hedges, fountains, and old trees at Marie Gabrielle Gardens, which is free to enter. Stop for photos together too.

Begin with brunch at the on-site cafe, where honey chipotle salmon, avocado toast, and crispy brussels sprouts are among the bites, then take the garden walk.

Browse restaurants, specialty food vendors, and makers at Dallas Farmers Market, an indoor food hall in Downtown Dallas. It is open every day year-round, and a Night Market runs as well.

Follow the 3.5-mile Katy Trail, an urban trail on a former rail line with scenic views of Uptown. Go for an active walk together, or keep it casual in the Knox area right beside the trail. Katy Trail Ice House is another stop afterward.

Find a quiet indoor corner to talk or sit out on the patio, which suits a daytime date, at The Wild Detectives, a bookstore with a bar and coffee in Oak Cliff. Coffee and Topo Chico are there if one of you is not drinking. Start with a negroni if you are.

Events include poetry on the patio, salsa classes, trivia, and a chess club.

Bring your dog to meet your date at Good Boy Coffee, a very small, dog-friendly shop inside the Hey Koneko vintage store on Main Street, just outside Deep Ellum.

Inside, the room has dark greens, leather and wood accents, and velvet green seating. Espresso drinks use Lemma Coffee Co. beans, and the menu also covers matcha, chai, and loose-leaf tea, with house-made syrups like lavender and brown sugar.

Soft lighting makes Ladylove Lounge & Sound, a record lounge and bar in the Bishop Arts District, an intimate place for happy hour, with louder music and DJs later on. The 70s-style room has a neon sign, a disco ball, a mirrored bar, and velvet couches in the back.

DJs spin vinyl, and the menu has a cocktail list and small bites, including a Cuban sandwich and Disco Fries. We recommend the CDMX cocktail, a gin drink with rose water, prickly pear, and grapefruit.

Live piano seven nights a week sets the scene at St. Martin's Wine Bistro, a French restaurant in Old East Dallas that has served the city since 1980. The dining room is dark, with a piano, chandeliers, and checkerboard floors.

Try the Champagne-Brie soup, the house signature. Dinner runs from 5pm to 10pm Sunday through Thursday and from 5pm to 11pm on Friday and Saturday. Reserve online through the restaurant's website.