If you’ve never been to Austin, let me assure you…it’s a super fun city with LOTS to do! The city slogan is “Keep Austin Weird”, so you know it’s gotta be an interesting place to visit.
Outdoor Activities
The area of town where we will be celebrating is Lake Travis. If you’re coming in a few days early or leaving town late, you could rent jet skis, kayaks, stand up paddle boards, or boats to go explore the lake! If it’s warm enough to actually get into the water, there’s a little water park called Volente that isn’t too far from where we will be. There’s also several parks with water for hiking, swimming, or laying on the beaches of the Pedernales River.
If you’re looking for adventure, you could try cliff diving at Pace Bend, test driving a formula one car at the Circuit of the Americas (F1 fest is happening the weekend prior!) or surfing at the only surf park of it’s kind in North America, NLand Surf Park. Just try not to get hurt before the wedding!
Pace Bend State Park
Circuit of the Americas / Formula One track
NLand Surf Park
If you’re looking to spend a night or two closer to downtown Austin, some fun day time places you could check out are Barton Springs if it’s warm enough (it’s a spring-fed swimming pool that stays 680 year round!), Top Golf (a driving range with 3 stories of bays, full restaurant, and other games), Mount Bonnell or the Lady Bird Lake boardwalk to get a great view of the Austin skyline.
Barton Springs Pool
Top Golf
view from Mount Bonnell
view from the boardwalk
At the end of the day, be sure to check out the migrating bats from one of the largest fruit bat colonies in the states (Austin is kinda known for this) under the Congress bridge. You can stand on the sidewalk for free, or pay a small fare to watch them from underneath the bridge on one of the bat tour boats like Capital Cruises.
Food and Drink
Texas is known for it’s BBQ for a reason. The #1 hot spot to visit is called Franklin BBQ …but if you’re planning to check them out, you need to get in line bright and early, as it’s first come, first serve until they sell out. I recommend grabbing some breakfast tacos, bottled water and camping chairs if you’re going to camp out for this popular brisket spot. Black’s barbecue and Salt Lick are also top BBQ spots, but for a complete list of options as well as a link for Q tours, check out this site.
Franklin Barbecue
If you haven’t had Tex-Mex before, you are missing out. My favorite spots include TacoDeli (for breakfast tacos), La Mexicana (no frills Mexican bakery and tacos), Takoba, El Chile, and you can’t go wrong with long-time staples in East Austin, Cisco’s and Juan-in-a-Million. You actually can’t go wrong with pretty much any tex-mex place you stumble into in Austin! Check out eater.com, thrillist.com or yelp for lists of more top Tex-Mex spots.
Takoba
Other favorite restaurant spots include Perla’s, Clark’s, Truluck’s, and Eddie V’s (great happy hour on Sundays!) for seafood and steaks; Magnolia Cafe, 24 Diner and Kerbey Lane for delicious 24 hour diners; Botticelli’s, Juliet, and La Traviata for Italian; and for interesting small plates, check out Swift’s Attic, Odd Duck or Geraldine’s.
Perla’s
If you consider yourself a beer aficionado, you will not be disappointed in the brewery scene in Austin. My personal favorite place to visit is Jester King Brewery, known for their sour beers, they also have other type of drink options (wine, ciders, non-sours and non-alcoholic options) as well as some excellent pizza on site at Stanley’s Farmhouse Pizza. For a list of top breweries to check out around the Austin area, as well as brewery tours, click here.
Jester King
If you’re looking for some hot spots to check out for nightlife the most popular spots are 6th Street, West 6th and Rainey Street (a district of repurposed older homes that have since been turned into bars and restaurants). There are literally hundreds of bars between these three walkable areas. If you’re planning to walk between them, wear comfy shoes though (you can’t go wrong with flip flops here in Texas)!
“Dirty 6th” – 6th Street, Austin
The Brew Exchange on West 6th – prices go up/down based on supply and demand
Container Bar on Rainey Street consists of stacked shipping containers
Honorable Mentions for food and drink:
Best Fast Food: Taco Cabana (multiple locations)
Best Cajun: Evangeline’s Cafe (South)
Best Southern/Comfort Food: Moonshine (downtown)
Best Sushi: Piranha ($$)and Uchi ($$$$) (downtown)
Best French Restaurant: Chez Nous (downtown)
Best Coffee Shop: Mozart’s (lake view), Halcyon (downtown) and Spider House (UT)
Best Beer Bar/Hot Spot: Brew Exchange (downtown)
Best Sports Bar/Restaurant: The Park (South)
Best Karaoke Bar: Ego’s (South)
Best Dive Bar: Crow Bar (South)
Best Craft Cocktail Bar on the Eastside: Whisler’s (East)
Best Hidden Bar: The Cloak Room and Midnight Cowboy (downtown)
Best Wine Bar: Red Room Lounge (also a hidden bar)
Best Jazz Bar: The Elephant Room (downtown)
Best Ice Cream: Amy’s and Lick
Shopping
We’re staying close to the Hill Country Galleria, which will have pretty much whatever you need! The Domain in North Austin has high-end shops, boutiques throughout the South Congress district, South Lamar, and Burnet Road have fun finds, and you can get some great discounts at The San Marcos Outlet Mall.
Hill Country Galleria
Day Trips
If you’re staying a bit longer and have time to make a trek a bit outside of Austin, there’s a couple easy day trips: Natural Bridge Caverns, wineries in Fredericksburg/the hill country, tubing down the Comal River, or visiting Schlitterbahn (if it’s still open)!
Natural Bridge Caverns in New Braunfels
Grape Creek Vineyards in Fredericksburg
Tubing down the Comal River
Schlitterbahn – Massive waterpark in New Braunfels
As you can see…there’s a LOT to do. Hope you find some time to check out a few of these options in my first love, AUSTIN!
–Darcy
Gonsalves WedSite 