Halfway point between Plano and San Antonio

Estimated route sketch for the Plano–San Antonio drive (straight-line basis — turn-by-turn road geometry arrives with the routing upgrade). Markers: both cities, the three meeting towns, and the half-time point.

The fairest meeting point splits the driving time, not the map distance.

The 291.7 mi run from Plano to San Antonio takes an estimated 4 h 52 without traffic and trends southwest for most of the drive. Measured in time rather than distance, the halfway point lands near Killeen, TX, about 10 mi from the center of town — the spot where each driver has spent exactly half the total trip behind the wheel.

We rank the towns below by a blend of split fairness, detour off the direct line, town size, and estimated hotel supply. On this route that puts Temple first, Killeen second, and Waco third. Every number on this page is computed for the Plano–San Antonio pair specifically, and all drive times are traffic-free estimates.

Each card below is a real town within reach of the half-time point, scored for this exact pair. The chips carry the numbers that matter: how long each of you drives, what the stop adds, and how many places there are to sleep.

10 estimated lodging properties in Temple (Bell County) — chains and independents; confirm directly with the hotel. Counts in this early version are population-derived estimates, not live listings.

• For a 7 pm dinner in Temple, leave Plano around 4:05 pm and San Antonio around 4:09 pm — you both arrive by 7 pm, with only 4 minutes difference in total driving.
• The split through Temple is 50.6% / 49.4% of the 4 h 52 drive.
• Want to wake up closer to San Antonio? Killeen moves the split to 53.6% / 46.4% for about 51 extra minutes.

Fairness comes down to minutes. The table shows, for each candidate meeting point, how long each driver spends behind the wheel and what the stop adds to the combined drive. Temple splits the 4 h 52 run at 50.6% for the Plano driver and 49.4% for the San Antonio driver. The 40/60 and 60/40 points mark where one driver takes the longer share — useful when one of you needs to be home earlier.

All times estimated, traffic-free (straight-line × road factor). Detour compares the via-point drive with the direct Plano–San Antonio estimate of 4 h 52.

Beyond the three meeting towns, the middle of the Plano–San Antonio corridor has a few more places worth knowing. These are the seeded towns closest to Temple:

• Salado, TX — about 21 min from Temple (population 2,743).
• Georgetown, TX — about 1 h 09 from Temple (population 67,176).

The nearest major city to Temple is Waco, TX, about 1 h 01 north — handy if a third person is joining by plane from ACT.

Point-of-interest listings — parks, museums, roadside attractions — arrive with the mapped-data upgrade. We would rather show computed neighbors than invented sights.

A meeting point is only fair if both drivers know what they are signing up for. Here is the context at each end of the 291.7 mi drive.

From here you can branch two ways: every other halfway guide from Plano or from San Antonio, or pairs whose midpoint lands near this one. Siblings share a city; the last few share the same stretch of map.