When you arrive at El Cibolo Fort at Cibolo Creek Ranch, prepare to be torn between the inside and the outside at this luxurious one-of-a-kind slice of old Texas. The rooms and facilities are a homey and elegant combination of historic architecture and authentic décor that never slips into lazy cliché.

Cottonwood-beam ceilings, handmade adobe walls, Saltillo tile floors, Mexican and Spanish antiques and hand-stitched quilts provide the base for fanciful individual touches in each of the 21 themed rooms—from cowboy to Indian to Chinoise (yes, Chinese—trust me, it works).

All but five rooms also have built-in adobe fireplaces but none of the rooms have a television or telephone and your cell phone and PDA (blissfully) probably won’t work out here either (though there is a computer...