Editors' picks across 8categories — the dock with the deepest channel, the winery with the view, the restaurant with the right wine list, the trail nobody's on at sunrise.
The marina restaurant at Canyon Lake Marina — smoked BBQ, burgers, and seafood, with a lakeside patio and live music. Operated for years as Baja Icehouse & Grill before rebranding under its current name, same address and phone.
Visit ↗A boat-up waterfront bar and grill at the marina — craft cocktails, fresh seafood, burgers, and Tex-Mex, with lake views from the patio.
Visit ↗A craft-cocktail bar and grill across from the Whitewater Amphitheater — burgers, sandwiches, and shareable plates in a laid-back, outdoor-seating setting.
Visit ↗A local weekend-morning favorite for homemade baked goods, eggs benedict, and chicken and waffles, with a second location on the lake's north side.
Visit ↗A sit-down Italian trattoria in Startzville — wood-fired pizzas, house-made pastas, and a loyal weekend following.
Visit ↗The lake's largest marina — wet slips, outdoor dry storage, a ship store, fuel dock, boat club, and pontoon/tritoon/jet-ski rentals on the north shore.
Visit ↗A full-service marina on the lake's northwest shore, named for one of the two rural communities submerged when the lake was built. Boat storage, rentals, and a ship store.
Visit ↗A 6,830-foot rolled-earthfill dam completed in 1964 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, authorized after floods in 1921 and 1935 devastated the Guadalupe River valley. Impounding the lake required relocating the rural communities of Cranes Mill and Hancock.
Visit ↗A 64-acre gorge carved in three days when floodwater topped the emergency spillway for the first time on July 4, 2002, at 67,000 cubic feet per second — exposing 110-million-year-old Cretaceous limestone, fossils, and dinosaur tracks. The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority runs guided and self-guided walking tours by reservation.
Visit ↗