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Who we are

Spencer and Jess run Backroads Hill Country together, out of Bandera County. We did not grow up here — we were living in Austin and did not really know the Hill Country until 2016. We moved out two years later.

Most of what is on HillCountry.ai came out of that — the things we had to learn the slow way about which river has water, which road is worth the drive, and which town suits which kind of weekend, written down so the next person does not have to learn them the same way.

Along the way, we discovered that some of the most interesting places in the Hill Country are the ones you don't hear much about. An old schoolhouse tucked inside another building. A stretch of river that locals have visited for generations. A small-town business with a story worth telling.

Those are the things we enjoy finding, and they're a big part of why we started HillCountry.ai.

The people who make it

We've also been fortunate to build a community of more than 40,000 people who share their own photographs, experiences, recommendations, and knowledge of the region. Some have lived here their entire lives. Others are discovering it for the first time. We learn something from them almost every day.

What HillCountry.ai is

HillCountry.ai is our way of bringing that knowledge together — field guides, maps, local history, places to explore, and practical information that makes traveling around the Hill Country a little easier.

It's a work in progress, and probably always will be. There's simply too much here to discover.

• backroadstexas.net — the management side. 97 vacation rentals across the Hill Country, booked direct.
• HillCountry.ai — a guide for each town, a directory of 355 real places behind them, and 10 field guides on the water, the night sky, the fall color and the parks.
• The Hill Country Travel App — 425+ store reviews.
• The Facebook community group — 40,000 people who live here or keep coming back.
• Backroads Hill Country on Facebook — our page.

Backroads Hill Country

Backroads Hill Country has been helping visitors find vacation rentals throughout the Texas Hill Country since 2001. We purchased the reservations business in 2018, around the same time we made the Hill Country our home. Over the years, the people we've met, the places we've visited, and the stories we've discovered have all helped shape what HillCountry.ai has become.

We're still exploring, still learning, and still finding reasons to take the long way home.

How to reach us

Call See our phone number

The phone rings in Bandera. If we are out at a property, leave a message and we will call you back.

Have a place or story we should know about?

We'd love to hear it. This goes straight to us — no ticket queue, no auto-reply.

Towns on the network

Every town below has its own guide and its own directory of places. They are all part of one network of 100+ .ai domains, all running on this site.

If you run a business here

Getting a business or a rental property into the guides is a different conversation, and it has its own page. Read what being in the network means, then call.