Round Top
The tiniest town in Texas with the biggest antique fair in America
Quick Facts
Late March and late September for the antique festivals.
About Round Top
Round Top has a permanent population of about 90 people and hosts one of the largest antique markets in the country. Twice a year — in spring and fall — the surrounding fields fill with hundreds of dealers and tens of thousands of shoppers for the Round Top Antiques Festival, transforming this tiny crossroads into a temporary city. In between markets, the town offers the Festival Hill Concert venue, excellent restaurants, and the charm of a perfectly preserved 19th-century German Texas community.
Things to Do
Round Top Antiques Festival
Held in late March/early April and late September/early October, the market sprawls across dozens of fields, barns, and tents along U.S. 237 and FM 1457. Over 500 dealers from across the country sell furniture, jewelry, art, vintage clothing, and the occasional inexplicable treasure. Book accommodations months in advance.
Festival Hill Concerts
The International Festival-Institute at Round Top is a serious classical music training program that hosts public concerts throughout the summer in a beautiful concert hall. The caliber of performance rivals anything in Texas's major cities.
Henkel Square
A collection of restored 19th-century structures — a church, a dogtrot house, a barn, merchant buildings — assembled on a square in the center of Round Top. It's a living museum of early German-Texas architecture and is beautiful year-round.
Explore the Countryside
The rolling farmland around Round Top is some of the prettiest in Texas. Drives through La Grange, Fayetteville, and Carmine pass fields of wildflowers in spring and blazing hardwood trees in fall.
Where to Eat
Royer's Round Top Cafe
Famous for its pies — particularly the jalapeño pie — and for comfort food that draws a devoted following from Houston and Austin. It's the most celebrated small-town restaurant in Central Texas.
Henkel Square Market
Simple but excellent food in a courtyard setting during the antique markets and on weekends. The sausage wraps and kolaches reflect the German heritage.
🗺️ Getting There
100 miles east of Austin and 95 miles west of Houston, roughly midway between on TX-71.
📅 Best Time to Visit
Late March and late September for the antique festivals. Summer is peaceful and beautiful. November for Fall Antiques Week.
🤠 Did You Know?
“Round Top is the smallest incorporated municipality in Texas that still holds municipal elections. Its population of ~90 makes it smaller than the graduating class of most Texas high schools.”