How to Spend 6 Hours in Dallas: Streetcar to Bishop Arts and Lake Cliff
Updated October 6, 2026
Six hours in Dallas is enough to cross the Trinity River by streetcar to Oak Cliff. Eat brisket in Bishop Arts, browse its shops and galleries and have pie, then walk to a historic lakeside park.
Oak Cliff sits on bluffs across the Trinity River from downtown, and it was a separate town until Dallas annexed it in 1903. In the 1920s, shops grew up around a stop on the old streetcar line at Bishop Avenue and Davis Street, and those brick buildings are now the Bishop Arts District, a walkable cluster of independent shops, restaurants and galleries. The modern Dallas Streetcar runs from Union Station over the Houston Street Viaduct and drops you there in about ten minutes, with cars every twenty minutes from early morning until late at night, every day. As of October 2026, a ride costs $1, paid with a contactless card or the GoPass app; there is no cash fare. Eat first, then wander, and leave the park for last on the way back.
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The 6 hour plan, stop by stop
Stops and travel: 3 hr 39 min to 5 hr 14 min of 6 hours
Lockhart Smokehouse brings Central Texas barbecue to Oak Cliff, and co-owner Jill Grobowsky Bergus comes from the family behind Kreuz Market in Lockhart. Meat is sold by the pound and served on butcher paper, and the sausage is Kreuz Market sausage from Lockhart itself. It is on West Davis Street, a few steps from Bishop Avenue, and opens daily from late morning, staying open later on Friday and Saturday.
Tip: Order a little of several meats rather than a lot of one, and try the original Kreuz sausage. Brisket can sell out late in the day, so come for lunch rather than dinner if it matters.
- Time here
- 1 hr 10 min to 1 hr 30 min
- Website
- lockhartsmokehouse.com
NaviTime to head out from Lockhart Smokehouse, Bishop Arts for Bishop Arts District. It's a 6 minute walk if you leave now. Here's the link
The district spreads along Bishop Avenue and Davis Street in low brick buildings from the 1920s and 1930s, many restored after a local developer began buying them in the 1980s. Boutiques, bookshops, galleries, bars and coffee shops fill the blocks, nearly all independent. There is no single sight; the pleasure is in the browsing, and most shops open from late morning every day.
Tip: Walk at least one block off the corner of Bishop Avenue and Davis Street in each direction, since many shops and galleries sit on the side streets rather than on the main corner.
- Time here
- 1 hr 15 min to 2 hr
- Website
- bishopartsdistrict.com
NaviTime to head out from Bishop Arts District for Emporium Pies, Bishop Arts District. It's a 4 minute walk if you leave now. Here's the link
Emporium Pies opened its flagship shop here on Bishop Avenue, and it now has several shops across the Dallas and Fort Worth area. The menu changes with the seasons, with fruit, cream and nut pies by the slice or whole. Its motto is Fine Pie for Fine Folk. It opens daily from late morning, staying open later on Friday and Saturday nights.
Tip: Order a signature slice, such as Lord of the Pies, apple with a streusel top, or the Drunken Nut, bourbon pecan on a shortbread crust, and split two slices rather than committing to one.
- Time here
- 20 to 35 min
- Website
- emporiumpies.com
NaviTime to head out from Emporium Pies, Bishop Arts District for Lake Cliff Park. It's a 19 minute walk if you leave now. Here's the link
Lake Cliff Park opened in 1906 as a private amusement park, promoted as the Southwest's Greatest Playground. The city bought it in 1914 and turned it into a public park around its sunken lake, which has views of the downtown skyline to the northeast. At the northwest entrance, a stone pergola from 1944 surrounds a terraced rose garden first planted in the 1930s. It is free and open every day.
Tip: The streetcar runs close to the park on its way back to Union Station, so board at the Oakenwald stop on Zang Boulevard, a short walk north of the park, instead of walking back to Bishop Arts.
- Time here
- 25 to 40 min
- Website
- dallasparks.org
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