Things to Do in Austin: Tours, Tickets & Day Trips

Ranked by traveller reviews: 1) the Best of Austin small-group driving tour, 2) a taco, BBQ and food-truck food tour, 3) the Hill Country BBQ and wine shuttle to Fredericksburg and Driftwood, 4) an electric bike tour of the lake, murals and neighbourhoods, 5) the Congress Avenue Bridge bats at dusk, 6) a sunset kayak tour under the bat bridge, 7) the Texas State Capitol, 8) Barton Springs Pool and Zilker Park, 9) a Lake Austin or Lake Travis sunset cruise and 10) live music on Sixth Street, Rainey Street and at the Continental Club.

Plan two to three days. Day one: Capitol tour, a city driving tour, lunch on South Congress, a food tour and Sixth Street at night. Day two: Zilker Park and Barton Springs, Mount Bonnell, a Lake Austin cruise or kayak, then the bat flight from a kayak or the bridge. Day three: a Hill Country day trip for wineries and brisket, or Lake Travis and Hamilton Pool. Add a day for San Antonio, 90 minutes south.

Watch the bats from Congress Avenue Bridge or the Statesman lawn, tour the Texas State Capitol, walk or run the Lady Bird Lake trail and the Boardwalk, climb Mount Bonnell, picnic in Zilker Park, browse South Congress and the ‘I love you so much’ mural, visit the Blanton on Thursdays and the Bullock Museum on the first Sunday, and catch free live music on Rainey Street, at Mozart’s on the lake and at the Central Market and Whole Foods stages.

The Texas Hill Country — Fredericksburg’s wineries, Dripping Springs’ distilleries and the Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood (45–90 minutes; shuttle tours from $75); Lake Travis and Hamilton Pool (45 minutes, Hamilton Pool needs a reservation); Lockhart, the BBQ capital of Texas (35 minutes); Gruene and New Braunfels for river tubing (50 minutes); San Antonio’s Alamo and River Walk (90 minutes); Enchanted Rock and Wimberley.

Start with the bat flight at dusk, then live music: the Continental Club and C-Boy’s on South Congress, Antone’s for blues, the Broken Spoke for two-stepping, the Mohawk and Stubb’s for bigger shows, and the bars of Sixth Street and Rainey Street. Alternatives: a haunted history or murder-mystery walk, a BYOB sunset cruise on Lake Austin, Alamo Drafthouse, or the view from Mount Bonnell at sunset.

Winter is mild (highs in the 60s°F) and the city is at its calmest. The bats are mostly gone from November to February, but Barton Springs stays 68°F year-round, the food, BBQ and Hill Country wine tours run as normal, and December brings the Trail of Lights in Zilker Park and the lights at Mozart’s Coffee on Lake Austin. Museums — the Bullock, the Blanton and the LBJ Library — fill any cold day.

The Thinkery children’s museum, Zilker Park with its Zephyr miniature train and Barton Springs, the bat flight, the Texas State Capitol, the Bullock Texas State History Museum, the Austin Zoo, Peter Pan Mini-Golf, a Lake Austin boat cruise, the Austin Nature and Science Center and kayaks or pedal boats on Lady Bird Lake. In summer add Deep Eddy Pool and tubing in New Braunfels.

March to May, with SXSW in March and the bluebonnets in April, and October to November, when ACL Fest and the Formula 1 race arrive and the heat breaks. Summer regularly tops 100°F — plan water and evenings. Winter is mild and cheap but the bats are away.

Yes — watching 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats stream out of Congress Avenue Bridge from the water is one of the highest-rated experiences in Austin, and far less crowded than the bridge itself. Tours run from March to October, with the biggest flights in August; book a few days ahead in summer.