Ice skating is considered a winter activity, but we certainly like to take a trip around the ice in any season! That’s why we’ve put together a list of ice skating rinks in the Plano area that you can visit at any time of the year. All of these rinks offer open skate sessions, where you can lace up skates no matter your experience level. You also have the chance to take lessons or rent the rinks for private use. Keep reading to discover where to go skating near Plano, Texas.
Children’s Health StarCenter
Plano’s Children’s Health StarCenter is one of eight skating rinks associated with the local hockey team, the Dallas Stars. The StarCenters offer public admission and private rink rental as long as the hockey team doesn’t have an event happening. The eight locations are:
- Plano.
- Euless.
- Farmers Branch.
- Frisco.
- Mansfield.
- McKinney.
- Richardson.
- Valley Ranch.
If you’d like to try ice skating in Plano but have never been on skates before, Plano’s StarCenter is an excellent place to start. The rink offers a feature it calls “bucket zones,” in which props are available for beginner skaters to learn balance and gain confidence on the ice. These bucket zones are available at specific public skating sessions: Friday, weekend, and themed sessions. The various StarCenters also offer free 30-minute sessions called Try Skating for Free, which any beginner skater can attend.
Cost: $10 admission plus $5 for skate rental. Children under 3 enter for free. Group rates are also available for parties of 10 or more.
Address: 4020 W. Plano Parkway, Plano, Texas 75093
Allen Community Ice Rink
Just under 10 miles from Plano is the Allen Community Ice Rink. This is a fun skating rink with skate sessions geared toward all levels, including an open skate calendar, a stick time calendar, and a freestyle skate calendar. Some open skates are geared toward adults, homeschoolers, and other groups. Stick time is also divided into different sessions, including adults, children, and parent/child pairs.
In addition to public skating sessions, you can take lessons at Allen Community Ice Rink. The Learn to Skate program takes place over a course of seven or eight weeks; your fee covers skate rentals, a weekly 30-minute session, and open skate credits so you can practice on your own. Classes range from beginner to advanced for children and adults, and there’s a separate hockey class for kids ages 6 to 14.
Cost: $5 admission plus $3 skate rental for open skate, $10 per hour for freestyle.
Address: 200 E. Stacy Road, #1350, Allen, Texas 75002
Galleria Dallas Ice Rink
Image via Flickr by Dave R Chasteen
This ice rink, located inside the Galleria Dallas Mall, is open for skating year-round. It’s 12 to 15 miles away from Plano, depending on which route you take and wherein Plano you’re located; the trip shouldn’t take you more than 20 to 25 minutes, and a trip here is well worth the drive. Skate for as long as you like during public sessions, enroll in skating lessons or rent the rink for a private event. Keep in mind that they don’t allow people to leave and re-enter the ice during public sessions.
If you’d like to learn to skate, the rink offers beginner classes, private lessons, and group lessons. An introductory private lesson at a special rate is available for people who have never been on the ice before and would like extra assistance. For more advanced skaters, freestyle sessions are available. You have to perform some figure skating basics to attend a freestyle session, which is $10 for a walk-in on a first-come, first-served basis.
Cost: $12 admission plus $5 skate rental, or buy 10 admissions for $10 each and 10 skate rentals for a total of $35.
Address: 13350 Dallas Parkway, Dallas, Texas 75240
NYTEX Sports
If you or your family is interested in ice hockey, the 40-minute drive to NYTEX Sports is definitely worth your time. One of the coolest parts about this rink is its open hockey sessions. These are opportunities for people to come onto the ice in full hockey gear and practice skating and sticking or play small games with groups of friends. Reserve your participation in advance; the cost is $15. The rink also offers hockey camps for children.
NYTEX Sports offers public skating at lunchtime every day from 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and nearly every Friday evening from 6:45 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. You are welcome to bring your own skates or rent a pair when you get there. The facility encourages you to book your admission online before you arrive.
Cost: $10 for lunchtime public skate admission, $12 for Friday evening public skate admission, and $5 for skate rentals.
Address: 8851 Ice House Drive, North Richland Hills, Texas 76180
Ice at the Parks
Take a trip to The Parks Mall at Arlington to visit a full-size hockey rink inside an airy shopping center. While this is the farthest ice skating rink from Plano on our list, we wanted to include this option because of the opportunities to enter figure skating competitions or skate in seasonal shows at ice at the Parks.
Lessons are available for kids, teens, and adults in both figure skating and hockey. Group lessons come with the chance to enter a competition or perform in a show, but you can also book private lessons if you’d like extra instruction. Freestyle figure skating sessions are available Tuesdays through Saturdays in both the morning and evening. Public skating is also available every day of the week.
Cost: $11 for adult (14+) admission, $9 for youth (6-13) admission, and children 5 and under enter free. Skate rentals are $4.
Address: 3815 S. Cooper St., Arlington, Texas 76015
We hope you enjoy skating year-round at these ice skating rink suggestions, brought to you by Huffines Hyundai Plano. Did we include your favorite place to hop on the ice? If we missed any great rinks, please let us know so we can update this list and offer the best Plano area suggestions. Drop us a line and tell us where you like to skate around Plano!