Dallas.

BEST HOTEL

The Mansion on Turtle Creek. Enjoy a sense of seclusion at this small property on terraced hills less than a half hour from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and a short walk from the downtown business district. In recent years, this nine-story hotel has won every major award, including Zagat's rating as the top hotel in the U.S., and Travel & Leisure magazines ranking as the No. 1 hotel for service in the world. For more than a decade, the Mansion has received Mobil's Five-Star rating and the American Automobile Association's Five-Diamond rating. The hotel has 143 guestrooms, including 16 suites, all tastefully decorated with antiques and original art. Booms include three phones, Internet access, fax machines, CD and video cassette players. Meeting rooms seat up to 100 people. Prices range from US$400 for superior rooms to $2,400 for the 125-square-meter terrace suite, which includes a king-sized canopy bed. Phone: [1] [phone]. www.mansiononturtlecreek.com

BEST RESTAURANT

The Mansion on Turtle Creek. This exquisite restaurant is located in the hotel of the same name that once served as the home of 1920s oil baron Sheppard W. King. Enter the hotel through 19th-century Spanish cathedral doors, corkscrew columns and a 32-foot-high rotunda with arched windows. Relax in the bar, which has the feel of a private club due to its carved ceilings, leaded-glass windows and 18Lh-century hunting scenes. The restaurant has two fireplaces and paintings that any CEO would love to own. Chef Dean Fearing, who was named one of the nation's Top 10 young chefs by Food & Wine magazine, specializes in Southwestern U.S. cuisine. Start your business meal with tortilla soup or Louisiana crab cakes in a sauce of oysters and smoked peppers. Move on to roast Iowa lamb with artichoke tarragon sauce and wild mushrooms. For dessert, try chocolate mousse in a tulip shell with raspberry sauce. Phone: [1] [phone]. www.mansiononturtlecreek.com

BEST NOT-ACTUALLY-IN-DALLAS

Fort Worth. If Dallas is new money, Fort: Worth is old money. Old cattle money, specifically. The stockyards where the cows are still auctioned are a must-see, and the steakhouses are legendary. Eat at Cattleman's, where boots and hats are normal dinner wear and oil paintings of prize-winning head adorn the walls. 2458 North Main Street, Fort Worth. Phone: [1] [phone]. www.cattlemenssteakhouse.com

BEST DAY OUT

Deep Ellum. After a day of meetings, many business visitors unwind in this trendy area a short drive from downtown. This was the city's first black neighborhood, settled by former slaves after the Civil War. Over the last two decades, the neighborhood has been transformed into an eclectic and colorful urban scene that pulses with art galleries, bars, clubs and restaurants. Amid refurbished loft apartments and walls featuring artistic graffiti, take your pick of venues with live jazz, R&B, rock and blues. The neighborhood association sponsors an annual film and arts festival. Dallas residents once considered the area, located on Elm Street, to he far from downtown and called it "Deep Ellum" with a southern drawl. The area once thrived with black-owned businesses, including 10 pawnshops and a factory that made parts for the Model T car and was a popular stop for jazz and blues legends such as Blind Lemon Jefferson. www.deepellumtx.com

BEST HISTORIC SPOT

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Very chilling, to say the least. The museum dedicated to the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy is housed in the actual spot where Lee Harvey Oswald pulled the trigger--the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository overlooking Dealey Plaza. Plenty of material to see, but the real draw is the corner where Oswald sat, now enclosed behind glass and undisturbed. The window overlooking the plaza remains open. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. 411 Elm Street. Phone: [1] [phone]. www.jfk.org

BEST FUN TOUR

Southfork Ranch. You've probably seen Dallas, the legendary U.S. TV soap opera that lives on in reruns worldwide. Here's your chance to visit the former TV home of the program's notorious Ewing family. Located about 25 miles outside of Dallas, Southfork is kitsch done with Texas charm and practicality. The ranch is a business meeting venue that's home to more than 1,400 events per year. It's also a tourist attraction that draws several hundred thousand visitors annually. And it's a Western theme park and museum, which includes the gun used to shoot the character J.R. Ewing and Jock Ewing's 1978 Lincoln Continental The ranch features more than 5,800 square meters of meeting space and ten ballrooms. Phone: [1] [phone]. www.southforkranch.com